Praying Through Proverbs

 

Lately this thought of praying through proverbs has come to my mind. Each day I read a chapter that corresponds to the day of the month. That works really well because even if I miss a day I can pick up the next. Because God's word is alive and powerful and sharper than any double edged sword and His mercies are new every morning. I do this in concert with reading through the Bible chronologically. Its so much fun to see How the Bible fits together. The other thing is that our church is praying through some verses this year in anticipation of seeing God move. One of those passages is Jeremiah 9:23-24 which I am trying to memorize.

 It's interesting because in the practice of memorizing it kind of causes you to think about the word and that is where the fun begins.

So keeping this thought in mind I read Proverbs 17:3 which reads The refining post for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts.

**That made me think about silver because silver in the Bible represents redemption and that means Jesus! Judas was given 30 pieces of silver. It was the price of a slave. Jesus paid for me so that I am no longer a slave to sin. Also when silver is refined it is heated up until the refiner can see his own reflection.  We want Jesus to be seen in us don't we? 

**Gold is associated with kings. One of the gifts the wise man gave to baby Jesus was gold. Gold is pliable. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo were in the firey furnace because they would not compromise and worship the way Nebuchadnezzer  demanded. Jesus was that fouth man in the fire! Gold also made me think of old movies where I have seen men bite into a gold coin. They did this to test the metal because pure gold is soft.

**Testing the heart. God is not a big bully doing mean things. He isn't up in heaven giving us a whole bunch of rules to follow. He wants us to have peace. He knows whether or not we will pass the test. He tests us to show us where our loyalties really are. Sometimes we fail. It's part of the process. Just like when we are in school we have tests. It is a way to measure what we know and don't know. Did you think that God didn't know that Adam and Eve would fail? He did know! Jesus was always plan a. God wants children not robots. 

Proverbs 17:24  Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth. 

** This made me think of Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the Lord is wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

**That brought  this thought: Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord searching all the inner depths of his heart.

**That made me think of John 14:23 Where Jesus says, " If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him and We will make our home with him."

Proverbs 17:27 He who has knowledge spares his words and a man of understanding has a calm spirit.

**So this makes me see that I need help in this area. The Lord knows I am a wordy person. I have always been a chatter box and love to share information. So please pray for me as I seek to follow Him.

I am just a little nobody with average intellect, who loves Jesus and wants to follow Him with every fiber of my being and I want you to walk with me as I walk with Him.

Fruit from the Root

 These days that we are living in are crazy for sure but what is more sure is that God is still on the throne. Jesus warned us that coming deception would be a really big deal before He returns. 

Maybe this will help someone today. That is my prayer!

Proverbs 12:12 The wicked covet the catch of evil men,
But the root of the righteous yields fruit.

It takes a long time for  an apple tree to grow and bear fruit. It has to grow a really good root system. That's kind of like spiritual life. Some people have big instant transformation. Everyone has joy even if it takes a while for that to become consistent. But the other things like peace and faithfulness and goodness, sometimes those take longer. It did for me. Think of being born again as the seed of the Word.  If you claim the name of Christ but you don't have any spiritual appetite, you may not be saved.  You could be in deception. As with natural life, so with spiritual. I am beating this drum because somebody reading this needs to consider very carefully why there is no hunger. 

Jeremiah 9:23-24

23 Thus says the Lord:

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the Lord.

15 Proverbs 12:15-16

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But he who heeds counsel is wise.
16 A fool’s wrath is known at once,
But a prudent man covers shame.

Strong Delusion

 

2 Thessalonians 2:10-13

and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. ...

When we have to ask if biological men can get pregnant it's delusional.

When a woman cannot define what it means to be a biological woman it is delusional.

When we are unwilling to allow the word of God to correct us it has no power to protect us from deception. We are essentially telling God get out and so He does because He is a gentleman. He will never demand audience with us. 

The Key to My Joy

 

Recently I was the subject in a conversation. The question was asked, "Why is she so happy?" That brought a smile to my face because that wasn't always the case!

I have been a Christian for many years, but I didn't always have joy. In fact all of my life I have been an emotionally driven person who really struggles with impulse control. Most of my Christian life I was what is known as a cherry-picker. I was not taught how to properly read and study the Bible. But that doesn't mean I didn't truly have a love for it!

I was born-again as a teenager and a young one at that! I didn't have a lot of repenting to do because I hadn't really experienced much of life yet but when I gave Jesus my life and He entered my heart something did happen. The biggest change was that I was hungry for the Word. That is something that happens to everyone who is truly born-again.

But there were other changes too. I was involved in choir, theater and dance. Almost immediately I lost I  interest in my dancing career. I was convicted because of skimpy costumes and provocative movements.

Because of my habit of cherry-picking I misapplied scripture many times. I am sure in my immaturity I wounded many people. If you are one of them I apologize! Also cherry-picking didn't bring me victory over being a moody, impulsive, blab and grab person.

This year I am entering my third year of reading through the Bible and attending a church that teaches chapter by chapter, verse by verse expositional teaching and I am learning so much! 

So how can I be happy when there is so much chaos in the world? 

I don't process my feelings with just anyone. Yes, I cry and get angry and frustrated. But I don't keep that anger and sorrow. Jesus never intends for us to hold on to those things and by venting to others it only puts my pain and burden onto them and that's not a good thing either. I give it to Jesus and my prayer partners. And reading through the Bible every day helps to give us the mind of Christ. 

There have been times in my life where I got distracted and didn't follow Jesus as I am now. I know this, had I died I still would have gone to heaven absolutely I know that. But I also know that even believers can be ashamed at His appearing. That is another story for another day.

 

I understand what it means to be filled with the Spirit! I understand that some folks think I am crazy and that that is not my burden to worry about!  Do I still struggle sometimes with my feelings and impulses? Do I struggle with being a control freak?  Oh you bet I know I don't have to be governed by those things any more. I mess up every day and when I do I repent, confess, get up and get back on that horse! If being a Christian was easy we wouldn't need His armor! 

Today I can have joy because I know Who I belong to!

I can have joy because I am a child of the King and can never be unadopted.

My question for you is can you call Jesus "Father"?

Romans 8:15

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

 

Isaiah 29:16

New King James Version

16 

Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

A helpful memorization method

It's a  New Year with new challenges. So here is an idea to help with scripture memorization.

Write the passage on an index card and on the back side write only the first letter each word to prompt you. 

Remember if you memorize scripture nobody can take it from you also the Holy Spirit cannot bring to your memory something that you have no memory of! He needs something to work with!

 

                                                   

The Proof in the Pudding

 

The proof is in the pudding is an old idiom that means, the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it. I think that there is some spiritual truth here as well. This is what I mean. Jesus said that we must be born again to see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3) It's a new life with a new nature and a new appetite. Healthy people have appetites. We get hungry.  One of the best signs of a born again believer is a healthy spiritual appetite.  

I John 5:

 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.

I Peter 2:1-3
2 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow [a]thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious

Helpful Tip for Left-handed Note-takers

 This is just a little helpful hint for people with left hands. A close friend of mine is a lefty who has a hard time taking notes on wire-bound notebooks. So the idea came up to simply turn the notebook upside-down and backwards. The point is not that we have a beautiful notebook or notes but that we learn!

Don't be intimidated by other people's methods! There is no wrong way to take notes we sometimes learn best by trial and error! We believe that the idea was given to us by the Holy Spirit. He is the Helper, Teacher, and Comforter!