Posts Tagged ‘Scripture Memory’


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 8:32-36 “Now then, my sons listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.  Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.  Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.  For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.  But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”

 God approves of those who listen to wisdom’s counsel.  Those who hate wisdom love death.  Wisdom should affect every aspect of one’s life, from beginning to end.  Be sure to open all corners of your life to God’s direction and guidance.


Under Gods Command

 Jeremiah 48:29 – We have heard of Moab’s pride-her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart. 

 Moab was condemned for its pride.  God cannot tolerate pride because pride is taking personal credit for what God has done or looking down on others.  God does not condemn our taking satisfaction in what we do.  (Ecclesiastes 3:22), but he stand s against overestimates of our own importance.  Romans 12:3 teach us to have an honest estimate of ourselves.


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 5:15-21 – Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well.  Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?  Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers, May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.  A loving doe, a graceful deer-may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love.  Why be captivated, my son, by an adulterous?  Why embrace the bosom of another man’s wife?  For a man’s ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all his paths. 

 In contrast to much of what we read, see, and hear today, this passage urges couples to look to each other for life-long satisfaction and companionship. Many temptations entice husbands and wives when marriage becomes dull in order to find excitement and pleasures elsewhere.  But God designed marriage and sanctified it, and only within this covenant relationship can we find real love and fulfillment.  Don’t let God’s best for you be wasted on the illusion of greener pastures somewhere else.  Instead, rejoice with your spouse as you give yourselves to God and to each other.


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.


Under Gods Command

Jeremiah 46:28 Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you,”  declares the LORD, “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy your.  I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”

 God punished his people in order to bring them back to himself, and he punishes us to correct and purify us.  No one welcomes punishment, but we should all welcome its results: correction and purity.


Under Gods Command

Jeremiah 44:9-10 Have you forgotten the wickedness committed by your fathers and by the Kings and queens of Judah and the wickedness committed by you and your wives in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?  To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed my law and the decrees I set before you and your fathers.

 When we forget a lesson or refuse to learn it, we risk repeating our mistakes.  The people of Judah struggled with this; to forget their former sins was to repeat them.  To fail to learn from failure is to assure future failure.  Your past is your school of experience  Let your past mistakes point you to God’s way.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 2:11 Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. 

 Discretion is the ability to tell right from wrong.  It enables the believer to detect evil motives in men and women.  With practice it helps us evaluate courses of action and consequences.  For some it is a gift; for most it is developed by using God’s truth to make wise choices day by day.  Hebrews 5:14 emphasizes that we must train ourselves in order to have discretion.


Under Gods Command

Hebrews 5:14 – But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. 

Our capacity to feast on deeper knowledge of God (“solid food’) is determined by our spiritual growth.  Too often we want God’s banquet before we are spiritually capable of digesting it.  As you grow in the Lord and put into practice what you have learned, your capacity to understand will also grow.


Under Gods Command

Jeremiah 43:1-2 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God everything the LORD had sent him to tell them.  Azariah son of Hosaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘you must not go to Egypt to settle there.’  But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”

 Johanan and his tiny band had come to Jeremiah for God’s approval of their plan, not for God’s direction.  This is a recurring problem for most of us-seeking God’s approval of our desires rather than asking him for guidance.  It’s not good to make plans unless we are willing to have God change them, and it is not good to pray unless we are willing to accept God’s answer.


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 28:09 – If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law even his prayers are detestable.

 God does not listen to our prayers if we intend to go back to our sin as soon as we get off our knees.  If we want to forsake our sin and follow him, however, he willingly listens-no matter how bad our sin has been.  What closes his ears in not the depth of our sin, but our secret intention to do it again.  God hears our intentions as clearly as he hears our words.