Day 7: Listen to Bold Advice

Beloved, do you want to really walk in wholeness, restoration, and prosperity? If so, then you’ve got to listen to bold advice. And today, in Day 7 of our series about 21 Days of Great Exploits, we are learning from the book of Ruth just what it looks like to heed bold advice.

Related: Click here for the 21 Days of Great Exploits FREE blog series table of contents, so you can read all the other articles in this series as well.

Our Scripture passage for today is found in Ruth 3:1-5:

“Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, ‘My daughter, shall I not seek security for you, that it may be well with you? Now Boaz, whose young women you were with, is he not our relative? In fact, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

Therefore wash yourself and anoint yourself, put on your best garment and go down to the threshing floor; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. Then it shall be, when he lies down, that you shall notice the place where he lies; and you shall go in, uncover his feet, and lie down; and he will tell you what you should do.’

And she said to her, ‘All that you say to me I will do’” (Ruth 3:1-5 NKJV).

In this story, Ruth and Naomi were both widows.

Naomi is the mother-in-law; Ruth the daughter-in-law. Ruth had chosen to leave her home and family in Moab and follow Naomi home to Israel after both Naomi’s husband and Ruth’s husband (Naomi’s son) had both died. So, Ruth basically became Naomi’s adopted daughter.

Things were hard at first for Naomi and Ruth in Israel.

They didn’t have relatives to take care of them, so they were two widows trying to get by. Naomi taught Ruth the Israelite laws about how the poor could glean (pick up spare stalks of grain) in the fields, and Ruth went out to do so, just to gather some food for them to eat. And the Lord led her to the fields of Boaz, a rich man and a kind, godly man.

Well, after Boaz had a chance to notice Ruth, Naomi (the mother-in-law) told Ruth to go out at night to where the man would be, lie down at his feet, and beg him to marry her when he woke up.

That’s a pretty bold move, don’t you think?

The move wasn’t totally unprecedented, however. The possibility of Ruth’s marriage to Boaz was in accordance with an Israelite custom about remarriage for widows. So, it was a plausible idea.

But, Naomi’s advice for Ruth to go so boldly to the man at night, alone, and to make such a brazen request herself–all by herself, too–was indeed quite a gutsy move. Going to a man alone at night would have been just as sensational then as it is now; that’s why Boaz later told people not to let anyone know that Ruth had visited him.

But Ruth listened to Naomi’s bold advice.

She trusted that Naomi could see something she herself could not see, and she listened to someone who had permission to speak into her life–someone who was endowed with a holy boldness from the Lord. And, sure enough, the Lord blessed this strange idea of Naomi’s:

• Boaz did in fact marry Ruth.
• In fact, he made the marriage arrangements the next day.
• And not too long after, Ruth had a son–a son named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of David–and who was in the lineage of Christ.

But none of this would have happened unless Ruth had listened to bold advice.

There’s something transferable about boldness. Boldness just works.

It’s almost like–it is like–the faith of the bold person giving the advice drives along God’s response to the bold action by the second person, if the second person–the one who hears the bold advice from the first person–actually heeds it.

Yes: when you listen to bold advice, God very often comes up underneath you and lifts you up, as if on eagle’s wings, to soar and accomplish great exploits. Just as He did with Ruth, the Lord will bless your courage, faith, boldness, and obedience …

… but Ruth had to step out in courage and faith to do something bold and unprecedented. She had to heed the bold advice the Lord sent her way.

If you want to carry out great exploits, you will have to do the same.

But usually, more often than not, what I see is …

When people hear bold advice, they say/think, “Well, I have to decide what’s right for me.”

And they think on it for awhile, only to decide that XYZ is not right for them–and that doing nothing, or doing something really tame that gets little results, is right for them. And all the while, it’s very often not that God told them to do anything less …

… but rather that they let their fear, their paradigm, their lack of self-esteem, or their habit of small thinking reduce their willingness to accept the bold advice. Therefore, they throw that bold advice in the rubbish bin, when actually that advice was a key to their deliverance and prosperity.

For example:

• “Start that website!” Response: “No, I need to get a degree / get certified first.”
• “Teach that class!” Response: “No, I’ll start with something smaller and easier.”
• “Go all in and start that business! Stop watching TV if you have to, in order to find the time; start your business today!” Response: “No, I don’t think it’s the right time for me.”
• “Start a church! Please, Pastor-without-a-church, please! Start a church!” Response: “No, I know it’s been years without open doors, but I’ll still wait and see what doors God opens for me.”

But beloved! Beloved beloved beloved beloved beloved!

Your breakthrough was in the bold advice!

Your breakthrough is in the taking of the Kingdom by force!

As Matthew 11:12 says:

“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12 NKJV).

And friend, if you want to walk in victory and carry out great exploits on the earth …

… if you want to walk in power and wholeness …

… then you need to start taking some bold advice!

Sometimes you need to listen to the people who see more in you than you do; to the people who have done more than you have done; to the people who can see you more objectively than you can, and who are not influenced by your low self-esteem …

… And sometimes you need to take some bold advice!

Go ahead! Give it a shot! Give it the old college try! Try it one time, or two times, or three times! For example:

• Go ahead and organize the church-planting exploratory meeting with people who might be interested in helping you. See what happens at the meeting! An exploratory meeting is not a lifetime commitment; see what God does!
• Go ahead and advertise that you’re going to teach that class, and see who signs up! If no one signs up, you’re not out anything. But what could happen in your life if people do sign up???
• Start that business now, and give yourself a year to work on it before you even judge or measure your progress at all! See what you can do by simply doing one thing every day, if that’s what it takes–and see how your efforts compound over time! Your career is not going to magically become a path to prosperity if it isn’t already; the highest levels of prosperity come with entrepreneurship!

O beloved! Your life might not be suffering because of enemy attack, but rather because of your own passivity!

As the Word of God says in Isaiah chapter 52, YOU have to be the one to wake up, put on your own strength, shake yourself from the dust, and free YOURSELF from your own chains! That’s the outright Word of God, beloved, not just my own opinion. Check it out:

“Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!” (Isaiah 52:1-2 NKJV, emphases mine).

So what are you waiting for? Do you want to do great exploits or not?

If so, you’ve got to listen to the bold advice that is coming your way:

• Trust that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors.
• Trust God to stop you if you start doing something that is not His will!
• Believe Him to BLESS you if you start doing something that IS His will!
• Trust that He sends bold counselors into your life for a reason, and that sometimes other people can see your potential and anointing more clearly than you can!
• And go ahead and step out in faith, so you can give yourself a chance to walk on water!

If you’re ready to do great exploits and listen to bold advice, pray this:

“Dear Heavenly Father, I come before You in Jesus’ name.

Abba Father, thank You for having great big plans for my life. Thank You that You have things for me to do, see, experience, and receive that I cannot even imagine yet. I praise You for Your goodness, kindness, and graciousness toward me.

Holy Father, in Jesus’ name, I ask today that You would help me step out in faith where I need to step out in faith.

Your Word says that the righteous are as bold as a lion. And I have been told to do some big, bold things, but I have never stepped out or acted on that.

Father, I’m ready to change. I’m ready to listen to bold advice and receive bold counsel. I’m ready to see things with Your eyes, instead of with my limited vision.

Father God, please give me wisdom:

• Please show me what bold and courageous ideas You want me to act on.
• Fill me with Your fire, Your power, Your anointing, and Your glory more than ever before.
• Please give me the perseverance it’s going to take to start and continue with what You have assigned me to do.
• Help me to see what YOU want, and for my vision not to be cloudy or blinded or obscured at all by my own biases, weakness, lack of vision, low self-esteem, or bad experiences.
• Please help me to be bold as a lion, and to be one of the spiritually-violent ones that takes Your Kingdom by force!

Lord, I’m ready to listen to bold advice.

Please keep me in Your perfect will in this, but help me to walk on water too. Instruct me and teach me in the way I should go, and guide me with Your eye upon me.

Thank You, Abba Father. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”

Friend, if you want to do great exploits, you’re going to have to listen to bold advice.

Don’t be afraid! Trust God for wisdom! Compare every potential course of action to God’s Word to ensure that it is holy, of course. But as long as it is–step out, friend! Your time has come!

Do you need to take someone’s bold advice today? Are you ready to carry out great exploits of boldness? If so, leave a comment below!