DAILY SHOWER April 25, 2022 Devotion and Declarations
Prayer before the Word:
_O God, I celebrate Your goodness in my life. I pray for Your wisdom and understanding as I study Your word today in Jesus name, Amen_
TODAY’S TOPIC: The Tears of Joy
Text: Ruth 1:14-22 (NIV Bible)
"1:14 At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her.
1:15 "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
1:16 But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
1:17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
1:18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.
1:19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, "Can this be Naomi?"
1:20 "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.
1:21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
1:22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning."
*SHOWER:*
The story of Ruth is a story worth reading or listening to again and again. She's from Moab but married to one of the Naomi's sons. If you read from the begining of Ruth 1, you will discover that the two sons of Naomi died and their wives became widows. But when the other widow left, Ruth stood her ground that she would remain with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Hence, they returned to Bethlehem. Where we should consider as a reference point or memory verse (s) in today's scripture are 16 and 17. Ruth decision in these two verses surprised Naomi. It was prayer and answers affirmation. She had no option than to accept her. We need this type of faith and utterances to get whatever we need from God. Ruth chose to live and die with pain. Fortunately for her and Naomi, that decision to live and die in pains became profitable at last. The blessings that followed at the end was that she, Ruth got husband from her first husband's relatives and was blessed with a son, Obed. God used Obed to bless Israelites and mankind. It was through Obed we got Jesse, the father of David. David's children children were blessed with our Lord's Jesus Christ.
*PRAYER/DECLARATIONS*
I thank You, O God of remembrance. Remember me for good in Jesus name, Amen!
*1. My God will remember me for good. All my worthless efforts will be blessed and turn to my favour.*
*2. God will favour me beyond my imagination, and to surprise of all.
*3. I hereby decree and declare that today shall be my day of upliftment. My tears and sorrow are turning into joy in Jesus name, Amen.*