Wow what a powerful verse this morning.
Proverbs 23:17-18 (New King James Version)
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter, And your hope will not be cut off.
Why is it we look at sinful man and are envious? Rock stars, movie stars, athletes, so many times we want to be like these folks and not what God wants us to be. If you look at the lives of many of the folks listed they fall into the devils traps so much easier because of riches and temptations placed before them. God in this verse tells us who we need to be chasing after.....The Lord. He is to be our Hero, our Idol, our Heartthrob, our King, our Superstar. So much that we have an awe or fear of Him all the day! Wow. Is Jesus like that for you? If we could help folks see that Jesus is so much more than our favorite sports team or Twilight characters or whatever draws us away from Jesus to something that won't last. Look at verse 18. We had better realize there is a hereafter and get our priorities right so that we won't be cut off from the only hope we have...Jesus Christ.
So who are you chasing today Jesus or some sinner? After all we are all sinners right? I choose to chase the only perfect man...Jesus Christ for He alone is worthy! How about you?
Tom
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Want to make God rejoice?
Proverbs 23:15-16
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.
I pray this morning that it is our desire to serve God in a way that it makes Him rejoice. One way to do that is to make sure our hearts are wise. How do we do that? By growing in our relationship with Him. Prayer, Bible study, church, and Sunday school are ways to become wise. Also choosing godly folks to hang around and to learn from will make your heart wise. When we do these things and then apply them to our lives which includes speaking right things in a kind and loving way, we then make God rejoice at our faithfulness to Him! Knowing that makes me want to be faithful. Just like bringing a smile to your fathers face, how much more when we bring it to our heavenly Fathers face????
Be wise my friends!
Tom
15 My son, if your heart is wise,
My heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice
When your lips speak right things.
I pray this morning that it is our desire to serve God in a way that it makes Him rejoice. One way to do that is to make sure our hearts are wise. How do we do that? By growing in our relationship with Him. Prayer, Bible study, church, and Sunday school are ways to become wise. Also choosing godly folks to hang around and to learn from will make your heart wise. When we do these things and then apply them to our lives which includes speaking right things in a kind and loving way, we then make God rejoice at our faithfulness to Him! Knowing that makes me want to be faithful. Just like bringing a smile to your fathers face, how much more when we bring it to our heavenly Fathers face????
Be wise my friends!
Tom
Monday, January 10, 2011
Work for what lasts...not riches!
A great couple of verses to kick off our week!
Proverbs 23:4-5
4 Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
This verse is pretty simple to understand. Riches are not to be our top priority. Now be sure to recognize that God did not say do not work, He is saying do not over work. What He means by that is when we are working to just gain more stuff we do not have a good understanding of what God wants our lives to be like. As He tells us in these verses our riches do not last for ever. So what does God desire us to do if it is not to gain riches? His Word tells us we are to win souls for an eternity in heaven which will last forever! That should be a top priority in our life! Next would be loving folks. Starting with your family and then others. Instead of working yourself to death spend some time with your spouse and kids, memories last for ever. They will remember times you spent with them way more than anything you ever bought them. In reality you can not buy love.
So on this Monday take a look at your life and see what you are working for....something that will last or something that will fade away!
Tom
Proverbs 23:4-5
4 Do not overwork to be rich;
Because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not?
For riches certainly make themselves wings;
They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
This verse is pretty simple to understand. Riches are not to be our top priority. Now be sure to recognize that God did not say do not work, He is saying do not over work. What He means by that is when we are working to just gain more stuff we do not have a good understanding of what God wants our lives to be like. As He tells us in these verses our riches do not last for ever. So what does God desire us to do if it is not to gain riches? His Word tells us we are to win souls for an eternity in heaven which will last forever! That should be a top priority in our life! Next would be loving folks. Starting with your family and then others. Instead of working yourself to death spend some time with your spouse and kids, memories last for ever. They will remember times you spent with them way more than anything you ever bought them. In reality you can not buy love.
So on this Monday take a look at your life and see what you are working for....something that will last or something that will fade away!
Tom
Friday, January 7, 2011
Watch who you hang with!
Proverbs 22:24-25
24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
25 Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.
I bet many of you have learned this lesson God is teaching us this morning the hard way. I know I have. It seems their are some in life who live in anger. I know life can be tough and we all go through hard times but God does not want us to have anger as our attitude. If we will just stop and look around God has blessed us all so much. That fact alone should remove the anger from our lives and give us an attitude of gratitude to God. God warns us in this verse to keep our distance from those who live in anger. If you hang around with folks who are bitter and angry all the time it will start to ware off on you. Just look at who your friends are right now. If you look closely you will see that you have picked up some of their characteristics over time and they have picked up some of yours too. God's word is clear. He wants us to be people of love. patience, and kindness. Anger has none of these qualities and God wants us to stay away from anger.
Take time to evaluate yourself this morning. Get anger out and love in!
Tom
24 Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
25 Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.
I bet many of you have learned this lesson God is teaching us this morning the hard way. I know I have. It seems their are some in life who live in anger. I know life can be tough and we all go through hard times but God does not want us to have anger as our attitude. If we will just stop and look around God has blessed us all so much. That fact alone should remove the anger from our lives and give us an attitude of gratitude to God. God warns us in this verse to keep our distance from those who live in anger. If you hang around with folks who are bitter and angry all the time it will start to ware off on you. Just look at who your friends are right now. If you look closely you will see that you have picked up some of their characteristics over time and they have picked up some of yours too. God's word is clear. He wants us to be people of love. patience, and kindness. Anger has none of these qualities and God wants us to stay away from anger.
Take time to evaluate yourself this morning. Get anger out and love in!
Tom
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Men beware!
Men listen to this warning from God.
Proverbs 22:14
14 The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
He who is abhorred by the LORD will fall there.
If God is warning us of this then we can be certain it has been a problem for a long time. With that being said we live in a time now where immoral women are idolized by many. Stop and think of how many singers and actors pop into mind. When our young folks idolize these women they then want to be like them, oh how we must be in prayer and teaching our kids the Word of God. God warns us very clearly that these immoral women are a deep pit and we need to stay away from them! I am reminded of Joseph in the old testament. Potiphar's wife tried to lure Joseph into her bed and what did Joseph do? He ran!!! He got out of there. That is a good example for us. When tempted by an immoral woman run! Look at the second part of this verse as it is a Word for us men. If we fall in the trap we are abhorred by God...wow! Abhorred means to detest utterly. In other words God is extremely disgusted with those who fall in this pit!
So fellas let us pay close attention to the Word this morning and ladies you can also just turn this a little to apply to you for their are plenty of immoral men around too!
Tom
Proverbs 22:14
14 The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit;
He who is abhorred by the LORD will fall there.
If God is warning us of this then we can be certain it has been a problem for a long time. With that being said we live in a time now where immoral women are idolized by many. Stop and think of how many singers and actors pop into mind. When our young folks idolize these women they then want to be like them, oh how we must be in prayer and teaching our kids the Word of God. God warns us very clearly that these immoral women are a deep pit and we need to stay away from them! I am reminded of Joseph in the old testament. Potiphar's wife tried to lure Joseph into her bed and what did Joseph do? He ran!!! He got out of there. That is a good example for us. When tempted by an immoral woman run! Look at the second part of this verse as it is a Word for us men. If we fall in the trap we are abhorred by God...wow! Abhorred means to detest utterly. In other words God is extremely disgusted with those who fall in this pit!
So fellas let us pay close attention to the Word this morning and ladies you can also just turn this a little to apply to you for their are plenty of immoral men around too!
Tom
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Are you training your child?
Proverbs 22:6
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
These are some comforting Words from the Lord for me and I hope you too. God expects us as parents to train our children in the Lord. If we do not train our children the world will I can promise you that. In the old testament God gives us some great advice:
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
It doesn't get more plain that that does it. We should be training our children from the time they get up til the time they go to bed. The more we can teach them about God the better off they will be. Look at what the second part of the verse from proverbs says...when he is old he will not depart from it. What I catch there is the word "old". Growing up our children may make some mistakes and turn from God for a time but I am a firm believer if we trained them about God when they are young they will come back!
So ask yourself this morning...how are you doing training your children about Jesus? Don't leave it to others it is your responsibility!
Tom
6 Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
These are some comforting Words from the Lord for me and I hope you too. God expects us as parents to train our children in the Lord. If we do not train our children the world will I can promise you that. In the old testament God gives us some great advice:
Deuteronomy 6:5-9
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
It doesn't get more plain that that does it. We should be training our children from the time they get up til the time they go to bed. The more we can teach them about God the better off they will be. Look at what the second part of the verse from proverbs says...when he is old he will not depart from it. What I catch there is the word "old". Growing up our children may make some mistakes and turn from God for a time but I am a firm believer if we trained them about God when they are young they will come back!
So ask yourself this morning...how are you doing training your children about Jesus? Don't leave it to others it is your responsibility!
Tom
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Make sure you hide!
Proverbs 22:3
3 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.
Another word for prudent is wise. God is giving a clear warning this morning to stay away from evil. There are many forms of evil out there and we need to be on the lookout at all times. If we are reading our Bibles we should have no problem at all recognizing evil. But if we are not reading our Bibles evil can creep up on us and we may not even see it. As the Bible clearly teaches the ole devil is out and about trying to deceive us. This verse says not only should we see evil coming but we should foresee it and anticipate that it is coming and then get out of the way! We can only do that if we are on our toes! Look at the second part of the verse but the simple or unwise just keep right on going and don't get out of the way. Then what happens? They are punished or have to pay the consequences of their sin!
So let us be prudent and in the Word so we can catch that evil before it even gets close!
Tom
3 A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself,
But the simple pass on and are punished.
Another word for prudent is wise. God is giving a clear warning this morning to stay away from evil. There are many forms of evil out there and we need to be on the lookout at all times. If we are reading our Bibles we should have no problem at all recognizing evil. But if we are not reading our Bibles evil can creep up on us and we may not even see it. As the Bible clearly teaches the ole devil is out and about trying to deceive us. This verse says not only should we see evil coming but we should foresee it and anticipate that it is coming and then get out of the way! We can only do that if we are on our toes! Look at the second part of the verse but the simple or unwise just keep right on going and don't get out of the way. Then what happens? They are punished or have to pay the consequences of their sin!
So let us be prudent and in the Word so we can catch that evil before it even gets close!
Tom
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