Proverbs 10 "Yes, Lord"

"As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to eyes,
  so is a sluggard to those who send him." Proverbs 10:26

As a mother, I firmly believe slow obedience is no obedience. Nothing aggravates me more than having to call for a child more than once or repeat a request knowing I was heard the first time! I'm sure you can relate! :)

Back to the verse above. Smoke burns and irritates the eyes. Vinegar tastes horrible. In the same way a sluggard irritates and leaves us with a bad taste when thinking of or seeing him.

When God calls us to action and we become scared, unsure or feel inadequate, we tend to ignore Him. We tend to push Him away. Some, including me, flat out say "No, I wont. I can't. Find someone else." While He has great patience and mercy, I wonder if we make ourselves like smoke to His eyes and He's left standing there, violently blinking trying to make the burning go away, thinking "that has to stop". Maybe we make ourselves like vinegar and He's left standing there spitting and choking and gasping, trying to get our taste out of His mouth. Are we a sluggard to God? Are we being slow to obey Him?

Whether God is calling you to a ministry, a more disciplined life, better steward of the money He gives you, to make one more effort to save your crumbling marriage, to find reconciliation in a painful relationship, the list goes on.....DO IT NOW!

Just say "Yes, Lord."

Your situation, your feelings, your hurt won't be fixed in the snap of a finger. Neither does He promise that. His promise to you is that in obeying, you will heal, learn, grow. Sometimes obedience is simply waiting while being willing to to obey. Just saying 'Yes, Lord. Have Your way, Lord." is obedience.

Trust Him "with the measure of faith God has given you" Romans 12:3 Even small faith moves to action. Saying 'yes' and being willing to do His will, willing to be used for His great plan, is action. He wants to know you want to obey. Don't fear the thing He's asking you to do. You can be assured that He won't let you come to nothing! He won't let you become destroyed! He will gift you with more and greater faith with each next step in His great plan for your life! (Eph2:8)

So trust Him! Do not be a sluggard!

Slow obedience is no obedience.

Take the first step of faith and say "Yes, Lord."







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Proverbs 9 "Wisdom and Folly"

Ever wonder where wisdom comes from? How to get it?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" Proverbs 9:10

This verse says the fear of the Lord is where it begins.

OK. Not fear of the Lord as in being scared of Him, but rather as we read in Proverbs 8:13;

"To fear the Lord is to hate evil."

How simply put! It doesn't get more understandable than that.

To hate evil is to "hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech." Proverbs 8:13

To hate those qualities is where wisdom starts.

Let's take a look at the opposite of wisdom: foolishness. In today's reading we were introduced to the woman Folly. "The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge." Proverbs 9:13 The complete opposite of yesterdays prude, which we also read more of today in verses 1-6. Woman Folly is loud, obnoxious, has no moral direction and not smart.

Remember how we read in Proverbs 1, that throughout Proverbs the word 'simple' generally denotes one without moral direction? Well, this woman Folly actually invites immoral company into her house, saying "Let all who are simple come in here!" Poverbs 9:16 Very bluntly, she is an immoral, dumb woman who loves the ways of death and destruction.

When we fear the Lord and hate evil, we have the promise that our "days will be many, and years will be added to [our] life." Proverbs 9:11 What a great promise!

Let's close with the next verse (v.12),

"If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;
  if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer."

Lord, thank you for Your great promises. Thank you for Your wisdom. Father teach us of Your wisdom. Give us a desire to hate all evil, but first the evil in ourselves lest we think more of ourselves than we should. Lord, let us not invite immorality into our homes like the woman Folly does, but rather fill our hearts and our homes with Your goodness, Your love, Your presence so that all who know us, all who hear us speak and all who come through our homes may know that we love You. Amen.

Proverbs 8 "Be A Prude"

While Proverbs was written to gain wisdom as we learned in Proverbs 1, today we read

      "I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion." Pr.8:18

So often 'prudence', root word being 'prude', is used in a negative light. We've all heard, "Don't be a prude." Over the years, words such as 'prude' and 'prudence' have lost their popularity and value. Let's find a better understanding of the word.

Prudence is having the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. Synonyms of prudence are good judgement, self control, common sense, forethought, etc. All of which are desirable qualities in all of the human race.

The root word is 'prude'. A prude is a person who is concerned with decorum or propriety. While today being called a prude is not a compliment, it wasn't so in the 1600-1700s. Traditionally, it was associated with wisdom, integrity, usefulness & profit.

So what happened that these words have lost their popularity, and their understanding has become demeaning? I believe, plain and simply, the decline of moral values.

In all honesty, I believe God loves prudes. Not only does He love them, He's calling us to be one. God condones morality, modesty, self control, good judgment, wisdom, all good qualities. In fact He is all good qualities, so might I suggest, our God is prude. He invites us to be imitators of Him as dearly beloved children saying,

"among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking...For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person...has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God." Galations5:1-5

Doesn't this sound like God encourages a life of prudence?

Now, let's get this straight! Being a prude does not mean God expects us to be a tight-lipped, rigid person. It just means you are concerned with decorum and therefore practice selfcontrol.

Being prude means you are a wise, well-disciplined, teachable, thoughtful, morality practicing person on a mission to claim his/her inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God! What a privilege this should be to us! What a joy! That joy will not cause us to be unhappy, unsmiling and cold, but rather warm, smiling, inviting, gentle and loving to all those around us.


Let's be a bit more of a prude today! It's OK! It's downright beautiful to our Lord!

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Proverbs 7 "Tablet of my Heart"

      "...keep my words and store up my commands
        within you. Keep my commands and you will live;
        guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
        Bind them on your fingers; write them on the
        tablet of your heart." Pr.7:1-4

Throughout scripture we read the promise of life when we obey the Lord's commands. Deuteronomy 30, holds this promise three times.

      "The Lord will again delight in you and make you
        prosperous...if you obey the Lord your God
        and keep His commands." Deut. 30:9-10

        "love the Lord you God, to walk in His ways, and
          to keep His commands, decrees and laws;
          then you will live..." Deut.30:16

         "I have set before you life and death,
           blessings and curses. Now choose life,
           so that you and your children may live." Deut.30:19

 Solomon tells his son to keep his teachings as the apple of his eye. When something is dear to us, whether good or bad, it becomes who we are; our very life. Let's keep God's words as the apple of our eye and store up His commands and promises within us so that His "word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart." (Deut.30:14, Romans10:8) Also, so we can "always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have." 1Peter3:15

The best way to write God's word on the tablet of our heart is to read His word every day and yes, memorize scripture. I find this to be a tough one. Doable but tough,  and a bit overwhelming! I mean, where do I start?!!

My New Years resolution is to memorize one verse or some section of scripture each month. So, by the end of the year, I will have 12 new things written on the tablet of my heart. Doesn't sound too hard, right? Here's my game plan! Feel free to join - I need motivation and accountability!

   ~ Set small goals. One verse a month! I can do this!

   ~Print out that verse and other verses. Tape them to areas I see regularly, then be intentional about reading them over and over.

   ~Hang a framed verse on the wall. Or update/add to the collections I already have in my home. Not only are these being written on my heart, but also on the hearts of my family! This thrills me!

   ~Practice the verses while driving. Chant it & do the head bang if it helps! :)

   ~Make up a tune for the verse & belt it out in the shower! ...OK, maybe, that's going a bit too far, but sounds fun to me! :)

Deuteronomy 30:20 says "For the Lord is your life", and Colossians 3:4 reads of "Christ, who is your life." Let's keep Him as such by keeping Him as the apple of our eye, and continuously 'storing up' something new on the tablet of our heart!

Proverbs 6 "Trapped By Words"

Ever have something you said come back and bite you in the rear? Get caught in a lie? Or something you said got found out?

We have two choices when our tongue gets us in trouble: PRIDE or HUMILITY.

      "if you have been trapped by what you said,
        ensnared by the words of your mouth,
        then do this, my son, to free yourself,...
        go and humble yourself; press your plea
        with your neighbor!" Pr.6:2-3

Aknowledge you're wrong. Ask forgiveness. Choose humility. Do it asap. Verse 4 says even before you sleep: "Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids."

      "Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter
        like a bird from the snare of the fowler." Pr.6:5

This verse gives an interesting picture. When a bird is caught in a snare, there is much flapping, fluttering & struggling. Because of the captured foot, it never goes any further than the snare allows, which jerks it back over & over again.

This is exactly what happens when we choose pride. We will never be able to grow further than the snare of the bondage of sin will allow. We try to cover up. We struggle to appear genuine. We live in fear of the being found out. We dread the day it'll happen. And it will  happen.  How much easier life could be if we'd chose humility from the start. No fear, no anxiety, no covering up...just peace. Beautiful, restful peace!

Have you spoken harsh words to your child? Spouse? Right now, ask forgiveness. Have you made a degrading comment to or about a co-worker, neighbor or friend? Right now, ask forgiveness.

I've been surprised over and over how relationships have grown, simply because I was quick to be humble enough to ask forgiveness. Sometimes it was rough and the healing took a while, but in the end it was worth it. So worth it.

A few evenings ago, my husband made a smart remark about a new dish I made. "Eat or make your own!" I snapped defensively. The second those words left my mouth I regretted them. So my next  sentence had to be,"I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that."

The evening progressed in complete unity. So much more peaceful than the option of pride would have been. Bless his heart, he ate the dish. Which, by the way, I will not be making again. Pinterest fail!

Seeking forgiveness softens the heart of the offended, making them willing to extend grace to the offender.

So do it early.

Do it first.

Proverbs 5 "Warnings Against Adultery"

Today we are dramatically warned against adultery. In today's society of baring extra skin, its easy to let the eyes wander and thoughts indulge. From billboards to books, aka, mommy porn, let's face it: this isn't just a male issue.

This is what Proverbs 5:5-6 says about an adulteress:

     "Her feet go down to death;
       her steps lead straight to the grave.
       She gives no thought to the way of life;
       her paths are crooked, but she knows it not."

No thought?!! How can it  be? Yet, this is exactly how the enemy works. We are tempted with 'just one more time' or 'it can't hurt to look' or 'just one more book, I'll throw it away when I'm done'. The more we become accustomed to these thoughts, the easier it is to give in, all the while darkening our way, narrowing our view of our eternity to the point where we don't see it at all & we literally give no thought to the way of life. This makes me want to shake her and shout "Wake up, girl! Don't you know

      "a man's ways are in full view of the Lord,
        and He examines all his paths." Pr.5:21


       "At the end of your life you will groan,
         when your flesh and body are spent.
         You will say,"How I hated discipline!
         How my heart spurned correction!
         I would not obey my teachers
         or listen to my instructors.
         I have come to the brink of utter ruin..." Pr.5:11-14

'Pay attention' Solomon wrote in verse 1. I don't think he said it gently. I think he said it adamantly, just like we do when we have something important to say to our child. Maybe he even took his son by the shoulders, got inches away from his face & said, " 'Pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight'. (v.1) Don't go down the road of adultery. It leads only to death!"

Imagine a road map with people walking along the roads. Do the people take the roads marked surest to heaven or do they veer off to the side roads? Dead ends? Literal dead ends.

Dead to life.

Dead to truth.

Death today.

Death tomorrow.

Death eternally.

Wake up!!! Think! "Listen!" Solomon said. Today, right now, if you have a book or magazine or movie that is not edifying to your eternal life, throw it away. 'But it cost money to buy this.' Exactly, but that money wasn't spent wisely. The choice wasn't made in the Lord. Now throw it away! A $15.00 book or movie is peanuts compared to the cost of your eternity. Let's not wait till the end of our lives when we will groan, at the brink of utter ruin.

The beauty in this is, It's not too late, yet!! We don't have to stay dead!! Today if you have the sin of adultery in your heart, rip it out! Give it to Jesus! He can handle it!

Join me in prayer:

Father, help me recognize impurity at it's introduction. Don't let me become callus to images, thoughts and impure ways of the world. Cleanse me of anything not glorifying to You. Lay on my heart anything that isn't edifying to my walk with You, then give me the courage to purge my heart and home of these things. In Jesus, I am an overcomer! May my thoughts, all that is in my home, and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to You, my God.  Amen.
     

Proverbs 4 "A Brighter Light"

  

       

       "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
               shining ever brighter till the full light of day." Pr.4:18

Maybe this morning you watched the sun rise. First there was a small hue of pink. As time wore on the sky became brighter & brighter until finally the sun itself peeped over the horizon giving a grand display of light.

When we first come to love Jesus & the path of righteousness, we have and hold on to a small flicker of hope. As we hold on to and cultivate this small flicker of hope & light, we notice it becomes brighter, growing bigger, stronger and spreading into more areas of our lives. This light penetrates all corners of our hearts and scatters sin and darkness. We become stronger in our faith, more sure of our hope, more reliant on our Maker.

Just like rays from the sun becoming brighter & brighter, so are we as we continue to cultivate this hope. Our light for Jesus becomes brighter & brighter, until one day in glory we have a great blazing crescendo of light bursting into the gates of heaven. (I say burst, because I don't plan to make my entrance with hesitation & timidity!) Oh, what a glorious display of unending, everlasting beauty and perfection!

In today's reading, verses 20-27, encourage us to pay attention to God's words, hide them in well guarded hearts, speak purely and in truth, to stay encouraged and keep looking ahead, to watch how we walk and to not stray to evil ways.

Stay focused! Stay true! Eyes on Jesus to keep your perspective right! Don't let your light grow dim! He deserves a great display.

      "Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
        guard it well, for it is your life." Pr.4:13

Instruction obeyed, the flicker of hope & faith held on to,

gives life,

strengthens life,

lengthens life,

speaks life,

breathes life,

is to be your very life.

Hold on to it.