Archive for the ‘Proverbs 04’ Category

Proverbs 4:4 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: November 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 04, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:4 He taught me and said, “Lay hold of my words with all your heart; Keep my commands and you will live

Here is the greatest gift of a father – wisdom and truth! What is your family transferring from generation to generation? Solomon admitted that his father, David, had taught him. So he taught his children to continue the perpetuation of knowledge from father to son. He stressed that a successful life required his son to retain and keep this knowledge.

Note the proverb’s opening words: “He taught me also.” Solomon was the favorite son of David, so the instruction David gave him came from a loving heart desiring the very best for his son (Pr 4:1-4). In faithful fulfillment of his own office as father, King Solomon appealed to his own children to hear instruction from him like he had from his father.

How is truth perpetuated in the earth? What is the greatest gift parents can give children? The greatest heritage parents give their children is wisdom and truth, which is how both are kept in the world. Two passages of Scripture carefully describe four generations as every man’s goal (Ps 78:1-8; Joel 1:1-3). Therefore, godly families should never repeat the same mistakes, and they should greatly increase in wisdom, generation by generation.

Fathers are to be teachers. This is not an option or suggestion. Under both testaments, the father was the designated teacher (Deut 4:9; 6:4-7; Eph 6:4). If a child remains a fool and shames his parents, it is because the father did not do his job (Pr 22:6; 29:15). It is a horrible shame that television, public schools, and peer pressure do most teaching today.

Sons like Solomon are not chance events. David and Bathsheba taught Solomon. While God blessed Solomon with much wisdom after he became king, it was David who had given him an excellent foundation from his youth up. Surely David had seen the dire consequences of neglecting his other sons, Adonijah, Absalom, and Amnon (I Kings 1:6).

David taught Solomon three things. First, retain what I teach you. Do more than hear me. Listen to what I say, grasp its meaning, agree in your heart with its righteousness and truthfulness, meditate on it, review the principles, and apply them to every case you see. Remember the lesson by careful comprehension at first hearing and by frequent review.

Second, keep my commandments. It is not enough to hear and retain a father’s advice, you must keep it – you must do it. As with the word of God, it is the doers of the word who are blessed, not the hearers (Jas 1:21-25). Parental rules are only good to the degree the rules are obeyed. Sons must be taught to obey, and their obedience must be enforced.

Third, the goal and result of this instruction is your successful life. You are not reading about minor things here – you are dealing with life, your life! Keep these rules and live. Live well! Live righteously! Live abundantly! Grow in favor with God and men. This is the good life. This is the blessed life. This is the protected life. This is the prosperous life.

Wisdom for the Soul – Proverbs 4:23

Posted: June 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 04, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Your heart determines your life. This may be the most important proverb. The favor or grief in your life depends on ruling and training your heart. If you direct and instruct your heart with godly inputs, there is no limit to your potential success before God and men.

Every sin starts in your heart, and your character and speech reflect your heart. You can only pretend to be different than your heart for a short time, for it will quickly regain control and dictate your actions. Others know your heart by your words and choices.

Our heart, our feelings of love and desire-dictates to a great extent how we live because we always find time to do what we enjoy. Solomon tells us to guard our heart above all else, making sure we concentrate on those desires that will keep us on the right path. Make sure your affections push you in the right direction. Put boundaries (Guard Rails) on your desires: don’t go after everything you see. Look straight ahead, keep your eyes fixed on your goal, and don’t get sidetracked on detours that lead to sin.

David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). What a description! This should be your life goal! But David guarded his heart by careful self-examination, confession, prayer, friends, singing, etc. (Ps 4:4; 9:1; 15:2; 17:3; 19:8,12,14; 24:4; 26:2; 27:3,8,14; 28:7; 32:11; 34;18; 37:31; 51:10,17; 57:7; 61:2; 62:8,10; 66:18; 77:6; 84:2; 86:11-12; 101:2-5; 108:1; 111:1; 112:7-8; 119:11,32,36,63,111; 139:23-24; 131:1; 141:4-5).

Your heart is your greatest asset, for it can do more for you than anything else. It is much more than the muscle beating 70 times a minute in your chest. You need to consider and prize the inner, decision-making part of you that loves certain things and chooses to do them over other things. Learn to set your affections on good things (Col 3:2; Matt 6:21).

You can keep your heart good, or you can let it become bad. You can be diligent in this project, or you can be lazy. God’s children have an old man that tempts them to evil, but their new man calls them to godliness. Your heart must decide between the two often. Every person makes a series of choices each day. What are you going to do today?

Whatever is in your heart comes out in your life. If your heart is full of good things, your life will show that goodness; if your heart is full of sinful thoughts, your life will show them. The large tests and decisions you will face many times in life are dependent on your heart, and so are the small choices that you make hundreds of times a day.

Is your heart pure? Are you working to keep it pure today? Do you know that laziness in this matter will bring severe trouble and pain to your life? You must eliminate negative inputs to your heart e.g. Hollywood entertainment, foolish or sinful friends, and worldly music. You should feed your heart with godly music, the Bible, prayer, and holy friends.

Jesus Christ condemned the Pharisees for emphasizing man’s outward appearance; He emphasized man’s heart instead. He said the following in two different places:

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Matthew 12:34-35

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Matthew 15:18-19

Sin begins in the heart. Lust for a sin attracts your heart, so you think about it. If you think about it enough, you will do it. The result of this choice is death. Protect yourself by keeping your heart diligently from sinful thoughts (James 1:13-16). God sent the Flood to drown the earth for their wicked imagination (Gen 6:5), so hate any evil fantasies.

Think about an evil heart and how it affects the various issues of life. Sexual fantasizing will lead to filthiness, fornication, adultery, or defrauding your spouse – all because you allowed sinful thoughts in your heart. The same is true of bitterness toward others, coveting things you do not have, pride, excess ambition, envy, and other sins like them.

How can you keep a pure heart? Protect it from influences toward sin (Ps 101:3; I Cor 15:33), and supply it with influences toward holiness (Ps 119:11,63; 101:6). Get away from evil things, and spend your time with good thoughts and things (Phil 4:8). This is actually quite simple, but it takes strong personal commitment and discipline to do it.

Since even thinking about foolishness is sin (Pr 24:9), and desiring another woman is adultery in your heart (Matt 5:28), you must often examine your heart with the Lord’s help (Ps 139:23-24). Hiding scripture in your heart by reading, meditation, and memorization will further protect you from sinful thoughts (Ps 119:9,11,15,105).

Jesus Christ sees your heart clearly and fully (Heb 4:12-13), so He will reward diligence if He sees a faithful heart (II Chron 16:9), and He will punish folly if He sees a heart with idols set up in it (Ezek 14:3-8). It is foolish to think He does not see every idea and thought of your heart (Jer 17:9-10; Rev 2:23). He knows you better than you know you.

As David kept his heart, you can keep and perfect your heart. Remember, he was careful and faithful to examine himself, to confess his sins, to pray, to delight in God’s words, to choose only godly friends, to give thanks and sing praises to God. These heart exercises will keep your heart noble and righteous, and keeping it like this will bring God’s favor.

Solomon taught you to work at fearing God each day. He wrote elsewhere, “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long” (Pr 23:17). The apostle Jude put it this way: “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). You can and will stop loving and fearing God, if you allow sin to harden your heart (Heb 3:12-13). Never forget this proverb, and with God’s help and strength, keep your heart diligently.

Proverbs 04:07 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: March 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 04, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:07 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Here is the key to Proverbs! Here is the key to life! These are King David’s words to his son Solomon (Pr 4:1-9). They explain the purpose of the book of Proverbs. They describe the greatest goal for your life – the important pursuit of wisdom and understanding.

Most men get distracted pursuing all kinds of other things. It is man’s folly and trouble that any other ambition ever competes with this goal. It is your duty and blessed privilege to consider the wonderful opportunity of wisdom and seek it with all your might.

Wisdom is the principal thing – the most important matter in life. What is wisdom? It is the power of right judgment – the ability to choose the correct solution for any situation. It is knowing how to think, speak, and act to please both God and men throughout life.

Wisdom is the basis for victorious living. Without wisdom, men make choices that bring pain, poverty, trouble, and even death. With it, men make choices that bring them health, peace, prosperity, success, and life. Your future depends on your degree of wisdom.

Understanding is connected to wisdom, and it also is an important goal. Understanding is the power of discernment – to see past what meets the eye and recognize the actual faults or merits of a thing. It is the ability to grasp a matter or situation and assess it correctly.

Without understanding, men are easily deceived and led astray. Without it, men are confused and perplexed. With it, men can see what others miss, and they can avoid the snares and traps of seducing sins. With it, life’s difficulties become quite simple.

Here is the road to success! What will you do with this axiom? If you neglect wisdom, you will bring pain and trouble upon you and your family. If you make it a priority to get wisdom and understanding, you will bask in pleasant prosperity. Finding wisdom brings life and God’s favor; neglecting it wrongs your own soul and brings death (Pr 8:35-36).

The world spends trillions on education, but neglect wisdom and understanding. Parents sacrifice for children to “get an education,” as if it were the noblest of human goals. They do not realize learning without wisdom or understanding is dangerous, for it gives false confidence in knowledge. An educated fool is worse than an ignorant fool (Pr 26:12)!

It matters little who discovered Bolivia, or if it was discovered. Unless you work for NASA, calculus has little use, though it does excuse a lower grade point average! Regurgitating facts you will never use in the real world is one of the greatest hoaxes ever sold. Paul warned of much learning that never leads to truth or wisdom (II Tim 3:6-7).

Wisdom is the principal thing, but it is not in the scope and sequence of any grade, of any state, of any nation. A bachelor’s degree in America takes 17 years of formal education, but the degree is granted without any evaluation of wisdom. Resumes formally list education and professional experience, but there is not a single line about wisdom.

Wisdom and understanding require knowing and fearing God (Pr 1:7; 9:10; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10). You cannot even start to be wise without fearing and loving the true Creator God – Jehovah of the Bible. But these vital prerequisites and their source document are forbidden and ridiculed in America and other nations’ institutions of “higher learning”!

What higher learning are educators talking about? Irrelevant facts and insane reasoning! Facts without the correct context and a productive purpose are irrelevant and distracting. Reasoning without the correct First Cause and moral absolutes is hallucination. These educators need to study, The Emperor’s New Clothes, by Hans Christian Andersen.

What are the main goals of so-called enlightened nations? Pleasure! Which is no better than the Epicurean madness of the Greeks (Acts 17:16-34). Money! Which is the root of all evil and drowns men in destruction (I Tim 6:6-10). Health! Which is quite worthless, if your stronger and longer life is used to extend your dysfunctional living (Pr 13:15).

Parent! What do you do with and for your children? Do you teach them the power of right judgment and right discernment? Do you have these abilities yourself? Or do you think you are a great parent by providing three squares a day, a few hours of restricted television, and picking them up from soccer practice after school? Life is so much more.

Parent! Wisdom is found in the Bible, and any thoughts contrary to it are dark ignorance (Ps 119:128; Is 8:20; I Tim 6:3-5,20). You must learn wisdom from the Bible, and you must teach it to your children (Deut 6:4-9; Eph 6:4; II Tim 3:15). Miss Huckleberry at the elementary school will not do it. Most pastors and churches do not even do it today.

Parent! Wisdom is a Bible worldview. Men are drunk on nihilism, naturalism, humanism, pantheism, etc. Your children must be convinced of a Creator God, Who revealed absolute truth in the Bible, which is perfect in every part, and contains the facts of Jesus Christ, the devil, the origin and future of man, eternal punishment, and rules for living.

Parent! Wisdom may be seen clearly by comparing it to folly, as many of Solomon’s proverbs do. You have daily opportunities in this confused and profane world to identify the foolishness of man and show the answer of wisdom – straight from the Word of God. It is the blessed privilege of the righteous to mock and ridicule the ignorance of fools!

Parent! God did not leave you without tools. He gave you an inspired library of sixty-six books covering the entire scope of wisdom and understanding. He inspired David and Solomon to give you the proverb before you. The book of Proverbs should be required learning for every child. He also gifted and ordained pastors and teachers to help you.

Wisdom takes a commitment (Pr 18:1) to reject your thoughts (Pr 3:5; 17:16; 18:2). It cannot be a part-time pursuit, for it requires the careful diligence that hunting for hidden treasure requires (Pr 2:1-9). You must redeem your time for the pursuit (Eph 5:15-17). Yet it is easy for those who love it and seek it with humble readiness (Pr 8:17; 14:6).

May God bless His children to simplify their lives – getting rid of unnecessary noise and distraction – to focus on the principal things – wisdom and understanding. Do not let the world or devil distract you with frivolous and worthless pursuits. Do not join most co-called Christians today as they turn from the truth to fables as Paul warned (II Tim 4:3-4).

Jesus grew in wisdom and in favor with God and man (Lu 2:52), the perfect goals for you and your family. In Him are hid all treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:3). God put His elect in Christ Jesus and made Him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption for them (I Cor 1:30). The greatest wisdom is to believe this and live like it.

Proverbs 4:13-17 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 04, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:13-17  Hold on to instruction; do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life. Do not set foot on the path of the wicked, or walk in the way of evil men. Avoid it, do not travel on it, turn from it and go on your way. For they cannot sleep till they do evil; they are robbed of slumber till they make someone fall. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

Even friends can make you fall. It is difficult for people to accept the fact that friends and acquaintances might be luring them to do wrong. Young people who want to be accepted would never want to confront or criticize a friend for wrong plans or actions. Many other people can’t even see how their friend’s actions could lead to trouble. While we should be accepting of others, we need a healthy skepticism about human behavior. When you feel yourself being heavily influenced, proceed with caution. Don’t let your friends cause you to fall into sin

Spiritual Training 04 February 2013

Posted: February 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs 04, Romans, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

 Dead to sin, Alive in Christ

Romans 6:16-19 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.  Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever –increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 

It is impossible to be neutral.  Every person has a Master-either God or sin.  A Christian is not someone who cannot sin, but someone who is no longer a slave to sin.  He or she belongs to God.

Lets Bring it Home:  Who is your Master?

Proverbs 4:5-7 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 4, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 04, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 4:5-7  Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them.  Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; lover her, and she will watch over you.  Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.  Though it cost all you have, get understanding.  

If you want wisdom, you must decide to go after it.  This will take resolve-a determination not to abandon the search once you begin no matter how difficult the road may become. This is not a once-in-a-lifetime step, but a daily process of choosing between two paths-the wicked (Proverbs 4:14-17, 19) and the righteous (Proverbs 4:18).  Nothing else is more important or more valuable.

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