Page 7 - BACK TO BETHLEHEM

that they need something in addition to Jesus. They say, “Oh
yeah, I have been saved. I have trusted Christ as my Savior, but
now I need something in addition to that.”
Sometimes you hear people talk about a second blessing, “I
have been saved, and I have Christ as my Savior, but now I need
a second blessing or a baptism of the Holy Spirit or some
additional experience. There is no second blessing but there is
a rediscovery of the first blessing, and sometimes that
rediscovery of the first blessing is so dramatic that you might
call it a second blessing.

When you receive Christ as your Savior, God has given you His
everything. He does not give you Jesus plus anything; not Jesus
plus power; not Jesus plus patience, not Jesus plus love. When
you receive Christ, you receive all of Christ and He is all of
those things in your life. You may not enjoy all of those things
but you do not need more of Christ; you need more eyesight.
We need to see what we already have in Christ.

Every time a person gets saved he is in Bethlehem. He is totally
blessed. If you are not enjoying fullness in Bethlehem it is not
because you have not received it; it is because you left it. The
Book of Ruth begins where every Christian begins; on level
ground. Nobody has an advantage with God. We have Christ,
and that is all we need, and sometimes we depart from that and
we go off to Moab.

In Ruth 1:20&21 Naomi said, “Do not call me Naomi; call me
Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went
out full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do
you call me Naomi, since the LORD has witnessed against me
and the Almighty has afflicted me?” Now if you have an NIV
or a New American Standard Bible, you will notice in the
margin for the word “Almighty” that it says “Shaddai” or “El
Shaddai”. The Hebrew word for God in this translation is “El
Shaddai”.

What does the word El Shaddai mean? Let me paraphrase it. It
is one of the most marvelous titles of God. It is the word that