Ruth 2:2-13 – New International Version (NIV)
2 And Ruth the
Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover
grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”
Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a
field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was
working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.
4 Just then Boaz arrived from
Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”
“The Lord bless you!” they answered.
5 Boaz asked the overseer of
his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”
6 The overseer replied, “She is
the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me
glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into
the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short
rest in the shelter.”
8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My
daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away
from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men
are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to
lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the
water jars the men have filled.”
10 At this, she bowed down with
her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in
your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?”
11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told
all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of
your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to
live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be
richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose
wings you have come to take refuge.”
13 “May I continue to find favor
in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking
kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your
servants.”
What did Ruth ask Naomi to allow her to do (verse 2)?
Where did Ruth end up gleaning (verse 3)?
How did Boaz greet the harvesters (verse 4)?
How did the overseer answer Boaz’s question about who Ruth was (verses
5 and 6)?
How hard had Ruth
worked (verse 7)?
Where did Boaz tell
Ruth to work (verse 8)?
Where is Ruth to
drink from (verse 9)?
How did Boaz answer
Ruth’s question “why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me-a
foreigner” (verses 10 and 11)?
Where does Boaz say
that Ruth has taken refuge (verse 12)?
What did Ruth hope
for from Boaz (verse 13)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this
passage?
In your opinion, what does this
passage teach us about asking God for blessings?
Matthew 7:7-12 - New International
Version (NIV)
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For
everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who
knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he
asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you,
then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in
everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums
up the Law and the Prophets.
When “will it be
given to you” (verse 7)?
Who “receives”
(verse 8)?
In your opinion, what does Jesus want us to understand from the question,
“which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (verse
9)?
Who knows how to “give good gifts to your children” (verse 11)?
What kind of gifts will our Father in heaven “give to those who ask
him” (verse 11)?
What “sums up the Law and the Prophets” (verse 12)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion, what does this passage teach us about asking God for
blessings?
In your opinion, what can we learn about the promises of Jesus in Matthew
7:7-12 from the interaction of Boaz and Ruth in Ruth 2:2-13?
James 1:2-12 - New International Version (NIV)
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and
sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because
you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let
perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should
ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be
given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not
doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and
tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to
receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is
double-minded and unstable in all they do.
9 Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in
their high position. 10 But the rich should take pride in
their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For
the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom
falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade
away even while they go about their business.
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because,
having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the
Lord has promised to those who love him.
What should Christian brothers and sisters consider “pure joy”
(verse 2)?
How is perseverance produced (verse 3)?
What are Christian brothers and sisters like when
perseverance finishes “its work” (verse 4)?
How does God give (verse 5)?
How does the translation of doubting as “to be in strife
with oneself” (Hebrew – Greek Key Word Study Bible) help us understand what it
means to say “you must believe and not doubt” (verse 6)?
Who is “doubleminded and unstable in all they do”
(verses 6, 7, and 8)?
What should “believers in humble circumstances” do
(verse 9)?
Why should the rich “take pride in their humiliation”
(verse 10)?
When will the rich “fade away” (verse 11)?
Who is “blessed” (verse 12)?
In your opinion, what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about asking God for blessings?
In your opinion, how
does Boaz’s blessing of Ruth, “May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have
come to take refuge” in Ruth 2:2-13 help us understand what James means about
believers taking “pride in their high position” in James 1:2-12?
In
your opinion, how does James’s instruction to “believe and do not doubt”
in James 1:2-12 impact your understanding of Jesus’s statement “ask and it
will be given to you” in Matthew 7:7-12?
Galatians 5:13-26 - New International Version (NIV)
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were
called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the
flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For
the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out
or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and
you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the
flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary
to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to
do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the
Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious:
sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry
and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies,
and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against
such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since
we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let
us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
What
should believer’s freedom allow them to do (verse 13)?
How is the
entire law fulfilled (verse 14)?
What might happen if believers “bite
and devour each other” (verse 15)?
When do we not “gratify
the desires of the flesh” (verse 16)?
What “are in conflict
with each other” (verse 17)?
Who is “not under
the law” (verse 18)?
What is obvious
(verse 19)?
What are “love,
joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control” (verses 22 and 23)?
Who “crucifies
the flesh with its passions and desires” (verse 24)?
Why should
Christians “keep in step with the Spirit” (verse 25)?
What should
Christians “not become” (verse 26)?
In your opinion,
what is the basic message of this passage?
In your opinion,
what does this passage teach us about asking God for blessings?
In your opinion, how
is Paul’s instruction in Galatians 5:13-26 to “serve on another humbly in
love” demonstrated in Ruth 2:2-13?
In your opinion, how does the discussion of the “acts of
the flesh” and the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:13-26 help
us understand what kinds of gifts Jesus meant when He talked about how our
Father in heaven will “give good gifts to those
who ask him” in Matthew 7:7-12?
In your opinion, how
does the discussion in Galatians 5:13-26 about the conflict between the desires
of the flesh and the Spirit help us understand what James 1:2-12 means when it
says that “Believers in humble circumstances ought
to take pride in their high position. 10 But the rich
should take pride in their humiliation”?
In your opinion, what do these Scriptures from Ruth, Matthew,
James, and Galatians teach us about how the conflicts that we have within
ourselves can influence our prayers?
In your
opinion, how do we receive the blessing of “good gifts” from our Father
in heaven today?
(sprucewhispers.blogspot.com)
