Chapter 21 of Proverbs was a comfort to me.  It reaffirms that God cares about your heart; what you do in His name He will bless.  An encouragement was given to not make your heart cold and hard to the Lord.

The Scriptures went on to pinpoint the fact that even though we see evil people succeeding, God is going to see that evil and overcome it.  The chapter ended up with the thought that the horse is used for the battle, but God is the one who makes us victorious. Make we go forth in His name to victory!

Proverbs 20 highlighted the idea that only God knows mans’ ways; how are we to grasp which path to take in our own understanding!?  It got me to think on how many times David asked God to search his heart and try his ways. God’s opinion and direction should be all we are concerned about.  I wanted to share a happening that took place when I was about twelve years old.

One day I was approached by “my best friend,” and she wanted me to reveal my true feelings about our mutual friend.  My friend, unbeknownst to me, had talked to this acquaintance and wanted me to spill how much I was bothered by her.  Thinking I could trust my “best friend,” I revealed my feelings.  She then went and told this girl how I truly felt about her.  This Proverbs mentioned to stay away from a tale bearer because you will be hurt.  I learned a difficult lesson!

Bottom line, when we are concerned about what God thinks of us and what He wants us to do, we will have light for our path. God, I ask that you will help all of us concern ourselves about what you want us to do or say ; not to put our of others’ beliefs/feelings before yours.  In your name, Amen!

The Holy Spirit was speaking to me this morning about direction.  As Solomon stated here in Proverbs 19, it is not worthwhile to have a strong drive without channeling.  A person’s efforts will be fruitless without the enlightening of God.  This pertains to a strong-willed child; personally, the section in this chapter about wives encouraged me.

I praise God He has given me Alan; I need to remember it is Him that placed me in my husband’s life.  My prayer is that I will be given understanding as to how to be an excellent wife, so I will be a good servant.  I want to be told I did a good job!  I have learned it does a wife nothing when she just has the desire of being a successful wife.  She needs to be on her knees asking God for direction in her awesome responsibility.

Today’s reading was from Proverbs 18. When I looked at these verses, what jumped out to me was God being a strong tower. He is protection for us, and He is strong enough to rescue us from all our difficulties and trials.

One of the verses mentioned that the heart contained deep waters; but, in God’s wisdom He provides rivers of living water. He is able to cleanse us and to rescue us from all the destruction that lies in the heart of man.

Another verse stated how men love to flaunt their own hearts’ beliefs. This chapter says they are foolish. Instead, we should all seek after understanding, God’s understanding. When flippant answers are given, it shows that we only believe ourselves and are prideful. When we take time to consider God’s ways, oh how that will bring answers and life to all of us!

Throughout Proverbs 17, these verses hinged on making peace. The peace spoken about is with God and man. It spoke of different cases of how important making wise choices is.

It opened up with stating how it was much better to dine in peace than to have an eloquent meal with turmoil. The Chapter proceeds to bring up how a wise son brings joy/satisfaction to his Parents. It dealt with the fact that it was important to be accessible to talk with; but, when someone repeatedly sins against you, that is the time to protect yourself against them. It is true, as stated in this chapter, that those who go around stirring up bitterness are like someone cracking a dam.

On the subject of peace with God, it brought up an interesting fact. It stated that God tries the heart like the furnace purifies gold. I was reminded of when God allowed Satan to afflict Job. I am sure that God allowed that to happen so that Job’s righteousness in Christ would be shown ( looking forward to his Messiah coming.) Lord I ask that you would make us right with you, at peace with you, and at peace with others. In Your name, Amen!

The Lord truly is the author of wisdom! This chapter started off with the thought of man’s hearts controlling him or her, but God directing the tongue. It then mentioned man planning what is going to be done, and God directing his path. This speaks to me of needing the Spirit’s direction.

I can amen the fact that we can have emotions and desires; but, we are incapable of harnessing them in and directing these feelings/ideas. A lot of times the reason we do not see good coming forth from our lives is that we have not tuned into the Creator!

Lord, I pray that all of us will look to you to shine the light of direction for us. We need your supernatural power to be good stewards and to be able to bring good fruit from our hearts’ desires. We love you Lord! Amen!

Proverbs 15 spoke to me of God’s consideration of everyone.  He is truly cognizant and knowledgeable of everyone’s actions.  I was left thinking about my growing up in my Parents’ home; it truly was a righteous/wise place!

We were not swimming in riches, but had a stable home built upon the wisdom of God. My Parents instilled the importance of honoring the Lord and loving others in our work and deeds.  I have followed their example of going to God for everything, and He has never let me down.

In contrast, In observing and studying some rich families in America I have noticed instability and unnecessary chaos. It truly is better to dine on simple meals where there is peace rather than bountiful dinners!

The last thought I had while studying this chapter was how we can count on God to provide for us. He promised blessings to this who supported the widows…that means the disadvantaged are noticed by the Lord. I praise Him that we can count on His hearing and noticing the needy!

Today’s characteristic of wisdom is understanding, careful consideration.  It takes time to calculate what is the best route to take to make oneself or situation better.  Once the wise person has pondered this, he or she must be willing to see a period of messiness.

As a wife, I am asking God to help me find the best way to build my house.  I need wisdom as to how to encourage my husband as he is working for our family. I am asking the Lord to help me not become discouraged, as I may see some messiness in our situation.  In our restoration of our marriage, there will be periods of it appearing to be overwhelming…in our faithfulness to God and each other, grace will be poured out on us.

May we all be people of more than just words! It is my desire that Alan and I will remain strong in God and will not lose our resolve. Both of us have the deep down yearning to do what is right; but, we are seeking God for the strength to put in the hard work required. I do know that when we put our hands to the plow, God will enable us to get the work done! In Matthew it mentions Christ’s yoke being easy and His burden light.

When I was reading Proverbs 13, the Spirit was highlighting to me the importance of seeking His direction/wisdom.  It was instructed through Solomon how to speak with each other, how to gain our wealth, and how to discipline our children.

When communicating with people, we should not just blurt out the first things coming to our minds.  It would save us the pain we will probably cause people in doing this so quickly.  It takes the Spirit’s guidance in knowing what to say.  He has promised us that He would give us the right words at the right time, when we are witnessing, so I am sure the same God can anoint our tongues when we are speaking in general.

The topic of earning money/wealth was brought up several times.  It is not right or profitable to try to earn wealth rapidly using whatever measures we can think of.  When we resort to gaining riches right away, it usually ends up that we will see them quickly leave us. It does mention in Scripture that the love of money is the root of all evil.

It also was sharing that the evil people see coming from their children can be curtailed by proper discipline.  It does take proper care and nurturing when correcting our offspring.  It should be done at the time of offense with the proper love; explanation should be given as to why we are correcting them.  When I have had some time with children, I have noticed they respond better with attention and nurturing. 

Lord, please give us the ability to trust you for the speed in attaining things in life, and I pray for the faith that you will hear and provide for us.  You do not need us trying to accomplish things in our own power. 

In Your precious name, Amen!

Chapter 12 of Proverbs was dealing with the importance of knowledge. God has given us His Word and others to learn from. It is vital that we heed the knowledge that is shown us.

The Lord has given us His knowledge; His laws are written on our heart. In Micah it states that God has told us to do what is just, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God. When we are walking humbly with God, we seek Him for direction on how to handle things.

Pastor Kevin was so right this morning when he shared that only God has the just payment on things. When we try to pay back people for what they have done against us, it always ends up off balance.

The rest of Chapter 12 spoke about issues like the righteous taking care of their animals. It always seems that when people try to highlight things that will make a great statement, or what they think is important, they end up missing out on taking care of the little important things. Lord, I ask that you will give us insight as to what are important things to focus on, and to let You judge people. In your name, Amen!