Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us for today's Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Dr. Paul Cannings. Pastor Cannings continues today with our current series Relationships, Marriage and Family. What would God think about the relationships in your life? At home, work, or your social life? Are you considering marriage, and if so, what are your priorities? And how can you make a wise decision in this area?

Through the profound story of the book of Ruth, Pastor Cannings teaches us about how God orchestrates relationships when we're committed to him. Here's Pastor Cannings now, helping us to understand what true commitment looks like as exemplified by Ruth.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Now watch this carefully. The servant said the worst thing of all. The servant in charge of the reapers said, "She is a young Moabite woman." Why is that word "woman" so key? The word "woman" is key because God doesn't talk about husband and wife until he says man and woman. So since this is going to be something in the Bible to teach us how God is telling us relationships work, he goes back to Genesis to help us learn.

In Genesis, God didn't name Eve Eve. Adam did by watching her character and defining her by who she was. In the Old Testament, they defined a person's name by who they are. So when he sees who she is, then he says, he starts off by saying, "Woman." In other words, "You are different than me."

The man is cultivating the garden. He is working. He is responsible. And that's why many times when we get hooked up on relationship based on feelings, we got kibbles and bits because we went to number one, not number two, before we talked about husband and wife. And the Bible is careful to bring Genesis back into the book of Ruth by saying, "Who is this woman?"

Then he says, "Wrong situation," the servant is saying to him. "It's wrong. You can't do this. She's young and she's a Moabite." Go on about your business. He's implicitly telling his boss, "Keep moving." The boss says, "Uh-uh. There's something different about this woman."

It's a divine appointment. Now here's why it's a divine appointment. You can't get her—watch how this goes back to Genesis—you can't get her to Boaz's field until you can get her to have a heart for God. She couldn't go to the field. She would never have been in this field.

Because she committed to God, God took her to the right field. There are so many fields. They're divided by hedges. She could have gone to any other field. But because her heart was for God, she ended up in the right field. Many of us want the man. "I want to look for my Boaz." But are you first listening to God to get you to the right place? If you are in a nightclub, he didn't lead you there.

That's what the Bible is saying. Remember Joseph? What did Joseph do? "Can't touch you. You belong to your husband. I'm out of here." Did it make his life better for him? No, he struggled. But he became king. And he found a wife that made a nation.

The Bible says it has to be a divine appointment. Because you're committed to God, he leads you to the right places. If a person is forcing you to the bedroom before you get married, and if you don't do that, he gets upset, he doesn't love you. He loves himself.

I tell my granddaughters as they get older, if you can walk a man through these doors to your family and he has an issue with your family right away, and he doesn't have a relationship with his family, run. Delete his number. Don't do the nice sweet thing. Do Joseph. Run. Delete the number so it's a strange number when it comes in. Block it.

But is that not kind of radical? No, you can see them in the marketplace. "Hi, how are you doing?" But when they call, it's a blocked number. That's running. Done. It's the best way because you're emotionally connected. And when you're emotionally connected, it is very hard to disconnect. Any human being. Very hard to disconnect.

So watch this carefully. He got the investigation done. He's a Moabite. But Boaz decided to do an investigation. Now we have a biblically corrected process that leads to relationship that brings out Christ. Understand folks. You have a biblical appointment that leads to relationship that builds a legacy.

This is what true biblical attraction is all about. The physical, all right. But let's come here. And if this is canceled by here, run. It's better to be alone and struggling than to be married and struggling. Can I get a witness?

Look at chapter two. Let's look at verse eight. This is what biblical attraction is all about. Boaz persists. Don't chase a man. You can seek a man, but don't chase him. If you gotta chase a man, the Bible is saying, you can get him, but he isn't really there.

Ruth is done. She's still working. His investigation, his questions, do not change her life. Don't give up your life for a man until he gives up his life for you. Let's throw that in there. Some women say, "Well, I don't know if I should buy a house because I want to get married." Buy a house. "I don't know if I should finish my education because one of these days I'll get married and be a stay-at-home mom." Finish your education.

"I don't know if I should just get this job and do all this stuff." Live your life. Ruth is like, "I'm committed to Naomi. I'm committed to her God. I'm going to do what I gotta do. I gotta get this food home. I gotta make sure we got food enough for her and me. And I don't even know if they're going to welcome me back the next day because I'm a Moabite. So I better get all I can because they may not tell me yes tomorrow." So Ruth is breaking her neck working. He's talking. He's investigating. But she is still living her life. You must live your life.

I said, "Son, you got to get out of school and get a job before you marry and you have to come and buy a house." That's the structure in the Bible. We're following it at this house. But this is what you got to do to bring your bride home. So guess what the brother did? Finished college in three and a half years. He was done. Came home. Did I tell him go look for a job? He was looking for a job. I said, "This boy wants Monica." This boy isn't playing.

Same thing with my oldest son. "Son, uh-uh. You playing football all over the place. Isn't going to work. You got to settle down. You got to do this. You got to come within our home." He followed it. His wife and him doing well.

And you got to work this job. You got to decide what you want to do, what you want to be in your life. When all of that happens, then let's see if this is a divine appointment. So I held her hands and Paul's hands and said, "God, give them trouble." My son was the one who was sliding his hands out of my hand. She was holding on tight. That was an interesting scenario. And I looked at him and said, "Oh no, no, no. Marriage is trouble. If you can't handle trouble in dating, you aren't ready for marriage."

If she doesn't stick with you through trouble, she isn't going to stick with you in marriage. If you don't stick with her in trouble, you're not a man you need to be to be a man in a home. That's what you see here first in real attractions.

In chapter two he says, "And then Boaz said to Ruth, 'Listen carefully, my daughter. Now listen carefully, my daughter.'" So what does that mean? He's an older man. "Do not go—and don't forget this, a lot of widows out there. It's not like she's the only widow. Glean in another field. Furthermore, do not go from this one, but stay here with my maids." He didn't have other women, just people picking up stuff helping out in the field.

Why would he do that? He's going to tell us later on why he did it. Boaz, verse 11: "All that you have done for your mother-in-law," he investigated it. He said, "All that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband." "I know you were married before." What did this man do? Investigate Ruth. "I know about you." The relationship moved forward for Boaz with all these maidens around because, "I see in you loyalty. I see in you that you were committed to care for somebody. You committed to care for her when you didn't even have to. You were done."

That's why the standard thing I tell people, if you're going to marry somebody that doesn't have a commitment to family and a commitment to stick through the difficult times of a family, they're not going to help you build one. And we tend to run into relationships and we're not investigating are they committed to their family. They're going to disconnect to be married to you, but is the commitment to the family first?

This man is investigating who this woman is. And then he says, "Don't go to nobody else's field. I'm going to be loyal to you because you're loyal to your mother-in-law." Why is that a huge deal? What did he do that is number one in a relationship? Protection.

She's a Moabite. If somebody—watch this word carefully—they may touch you. He's saying in this workplace, you being a Moabite, you could be raped, abused, and nobody will go to jail for you. So I have decided to put you in my field and to tell all my servants to not do nothing but help you because I've decided to be your protector.

In a relationship where you're going to be with a man and he doesn't want to do protection, run. You keep trying to break it off. What I'm telling you as your pastor is run. Because you're a human being.

If you don't find a man—I'm not talking about this obsessive protection. "Where you at? What floor in the parking lot did you park?" That's crazy. I'm not talking about a person who will oppress you. I'm talking about a person who, when they become committed to you, they will first look out for you. You got a flat on the highway? "Hey, listen, I'm getting off of work. Pull over, lock your door. I'll be there." "Hey, I noticed you don't change the oil in your car very often. Let me get that for you."

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. As a believer in Christ, you're a new creation and can truly wait on God to lead and guide you to the spouse of his choice for you. And in that waiting period, may our love and loyalty to God be exemplary to others. Now friends, would you take a few minutes and visit us online at powerwalkministries.org and prayerfully consider becoming a Power Walk partner? Again, that's powerwalkministries.org.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I praise God that this ministry has blessed many lives. It encourages us to keep going. So pray folks that you would partnership with this ministry by encouraging other people to come and listen to us, by getting on our website, making purchases, by supporting our ministry.

I guarantee you, it will go to the better use of God's kingdom resources to touch lives. That is our heart because what we felt God was calling us to is to touch lives. Share the word, pass it on, and pray for us regularly. God bless.

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