Category Archives: scripture

Live It… Your Children Will Be Blessed- Reflections on Proverbs 20

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Practical wisdom, Proverbs offers plenty of it: working with diligence, living in faithfulness, dealing with honesty, avoiding gossip… even warnings of being led astray by wine and beer are just a few of the topics of this chapter.

As I read it, there is a promise that stands out to me summarizing the result of practicing all the practical wisdom the entire book of Proverbs contains:

”The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed (happy, fortunate, enviable) are his children after him.“
Proverbs 20:7 AMPC

The righteous or Godly man is the man who lives his life set apart to God. The one who obeys what God has commanded in His Word. The promise is that his children will be blessed or happy.

As parents we want what is best for our kids. The BEST thing you can give your kids is to live your life in complete surrender to God and His ways. This comes by learning what it is that He, out of His great love, has commanded in His Word… i.e. study your Bible, and OBEY what it says. This also comes by a relationship with God. We hear Him speak through His Word, and we talk to Him in prayer throughout our day. It is a continual, moment by moment, focus on God.

Long ago, as a young mom, I heard it said, “If you want your kids to love God and know Him, you have to love God yourself. You cannot impart what you Do Not Have!” Simply put, if you want your kids to have the blessings — joy, peace , and happiness of knowing God, you must have a deep relationship with Him as well. Model it in front of them! Your children are following your lead!

The Way to Life- Reflections on Proverbs 6

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Good instruction and good teaching are priceless. Solomon admonishes his son to keep his command, and to “not forsake his mother’s teaching.” He encouraged his son to put them prominently before him at all times. Because his commands will illuminate his way showing the pathway to life.

”My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For this command is a lamp, this teaching is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life.”  Proverbs 6:20-23 NIV

This verse is very similar to a Psalm Solomon’s father, David wrote:

”Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.“ Psalms 119:97-98, 105 NIV

God’s Word is the BEST instruction! It is wholly and completely tried and true. In order to live a life of success, His Word needs to be ever before us. We cannot make it without God’s Word illuminating our way. The Word is “the way to life!”

“Take Hold” the Pursuit of Jesus — Reflections on Proverbs 4

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Have you ever watched a sprinter in the Olympics? They are all in: eyes focused on the finish line, every muscle in their body working towards the goal at hand, every thought in their mind concentrating on the race. Today’s Proverb speaks of a pursuit similar to that:

”Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.“

Proverbs 4:4 NIV

God has laid out His path to victory for our lives— the pursuit of God Himself. He tells us to “take hold of His Words with all our hearts.” We are to be “all in” in our pursuit of Him!

The spiritual heart is where our thoughts, our feelings, and our decisions originate from. It is that heart that we are to focus like a lazer beam on taking hold of God’s Words. Every bit of our thoughts, feelings and our decisions are to be set upon His Word. Why? Because God is His Word and His Word is God (John 1:1). He is to be the focus of our life.

Verse 7 states “Get Wisdom (truth in practice- Jesus the Wisdom of God) Though it cost you all you have…” Jesus is worthy of our most focused pursuit! He is worth giving up our own plans, our own desires, our own ways in order to attain! Why? Because He is life itself! All the things we prize that are not of him are only “deep darkness” that “makes us stumble.” Verse 19.

We are to be like the Olympic runner I mentioned at first. Focusing all we are on the race towards attaining Him. It is the only way to have life that is full of joy, peace, and contentment. Because joy, peace and contentment are only found in Jesus, the Wisdom that the book of Proverbs speaks of pursing.

Jesus the Wisdom of God: Reflections on Proverbs 3

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Proverbs is a book of Wisdom or applied truth. In scripture, wisdom is knowing God, seeing Him for who He is, loving Him, and obeying Him fully. Paul refers to Jesus as being the wisdom from God. (1 Corinthians 1:30) When we see Jesus for who He is, God, we love Him and desire to obey Him. We will experience Him as the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.“ (Colossians 2:3 NIV)

Today’s Proverb describes the benefits of wisdom: long life, riches and honor, pleasant ways, peace, the tree of life to all who take hold of her, a blessed life… Solomon admonished his son to “not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight…” Proverbs 3:21. This admonition applies to us today. We come to God in need of wisdom. We need to know how to apply the truth in our lives. We apply the truth when we receive it and act upon what it says. The most practical way we can experience wisdom in our lives is to see Jesus for who He is, accept Him into our lives, and act upon what He says.

We are told in Proverbs 3:13 that we are “Blessed” when we find wisdom. To be blessed is to be happy and prosperous. Simply put the way to true happiness and true prosperity is to seek God’s Wisdom from above, Jesus! He promises to be found by us when we seek Him with all our hearts. (Jeremiah 29:13)

Once we experience God’s Wisdom from above, we must not let Him out of our sight. Our focus must be Jesus! As Solomon told His son, wisdom and understanding are life to us. (Verse 21). We cannot truly live happy and fulfilled (i.e. blessed) lives unless Jesus is the center!

The New Life is a Life of Knowing God!

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We can KNOW God! That statement seems to be a little out there if we only look at it through our human eyes, but it is so very true. In fact, to KNOW God is what we were made for, anything short of KNOWING Him will end in death and eternal separation, or hell.

What is KNOWING God? It is first hand experiential KNOWING. It is living a life of intimacy/ closeness to Him. This is the kind of KNOWING that Jesus spoke of:

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” John 17:3 NIV

This KNOWING is the New Life. It is eternal life. It is the kind of life we all long for and desire. But it will not be realized within us unless we allow Jesus into our lives. If we keep Jesus at a distance and are content to just do good deeds or live a “good” life, or be a good person, we really don’t know Him.

Jesus warned us of us “trying to be a good person” on our own without really knowing Him.

“”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23 NIV

What a sad outcome to a life! They never KNEW Jesus! The truth of the matter is what we do to make ourselves feel and look good are described as a bunch of “filthy rags” in comparison to a Holy sinless God. (Isaiah 64:6)

That is why if we want to experience the New Life that is eternal life, we must know God through a close and personal relationship. We must come to Him, believing in Jesus His Son, asking Him to forgive us for and cleanse us of our sinful lives. We must invite Him to come and live in us so we can KNOW Him. Then the New Life of knowing Him will grow. As we seek Him in His Word, He will change us to be what we needed to be all along. As we pray to Him, listen to Him, and OBEY Him, we will KNOW Him!

That KNOWING produces the promise in us New Life that is eternal. We will live connected to Him with no fear of eternal separation from Him or death in hell because we will KNOW our God and and His eternal life!

The New Life is a Life of Faith.

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Jesus has offered us the New Life, His own life that is abundant. The New Life is more than we could ask, think or imagine. It is His life working in us!

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20 NIV

This Life is a life of faith. Faith is defined by Andrew Murray as being, “Nothing other than the certainty that what God says is true.” It is believing the truth of the Word. It understands that each and every promise in the Bible is for the one who believes, as well as each and every command. If we want to live the New Life and experience it’s fullness we must receive the Word by listening, reading, studying, memorizing, etc. Faith comes by the Word of God. We must believe it is true through faith.

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 ESV

When we truly receive the New Life in Jesus, we experience His intimacy and closeness, His power to break the chains of sin off of our lives, His freedom. When we are born again we have new desires. That desire is to no longer do things our old way following ourselves, but we desire to follow God. We want to please Him. We want to OBEY! This requires Faith. It requires seeking God in His Word.

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV

The New Life is a life that is a life of Faith that seeks God first. It is not a passive life. It is a pursuit! It grows as we seek God and believe what He says in His Word: The New Life of Faith!

The New Life Begins With a Seed.

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Life begins with a seed whether a plant in a garden or a baby in the womb. Life starts when the seed is placed in an environment where it can grow. The New Life of Jesus begins with a seed as well. The seed that begins the New Life is the Word of God and the environment it grows is within our hearts.

“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”James 1:21 NIV

Our role is to receive or “accept the word planted” in us. The Word is supposed to grow there just as an earthly seed grows in the environment it is implanted in and fills it up completely. The Word is supposed to fill up the entirety of our Heart.

When we say to a person, “I have you in my heart.” We are saying that we hold them dear to us. We think of them often. We want to spend time with them. When we receive Jesus, the Word, into our hearts, we hold Him dear to us. We think of Him often, we want to spend time with Him. This seed of God’s Word implanted in our hearts becomes the focus of our lives. The more God’s Word grows in us the more of the New Life becomes our entire life.

God’s desire is to plant the seed of the Word in our hearts so it may grow. He wants His Word to fill us! Because He knows this is the only life that will truly satisfy us giving us His love, peace, and joy. So He comes to us asking for us to let Him fill our hearts with His Word so His New Life grows abundantly in us. The question is will we allow Him to?

May our desire be as King David’s. 

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalms 119:11 NIV

(Based off of “The New Life” by Andrew Murray)

Bible Reading Fun Fact Day 12: Reading the Bible Daily Gives Us a Desired Closeness to God.

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When people are asked about the time they feel the closest to God, there are a variety of answers such as: “I feel the closest to God when I am in nature.” “… when I look at. A night sky.” “…when I hold a newborn baby.” etc…

We may feel a sense of God’s presence each of these times. Our hearts may long to know the one who created these things.

BUT there is a sure fire way to be close to God or to KNOW Him. That is to KNOW His word.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 NIV

Jesus is the Word. The Word and God are one. They are inseparable. In order to know Jesus in a close and intimate relationship we must know His Word because He speaks to us through His Word.

I’ve been hitting pretty hard the past two weeks on the point that we all need to read, study, memorize, and take in God’s Word. That is because won’t really know God until we know His Word. God has made us for relationship with Him. He longs for us to know Him because He loves us!

If we want to experience the closeness of God, we must experience the life changing power of God’s Word.

“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” Psalms 19:7-10, 14 NIV

Bible Reading Fun Fact Day 11: The Truth in the Bible Answers Life’s Most Basic Question, “What is My Purpose?”

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(Written specifically to my Millennial and Gen Z friends)

The Millennial’s and Gen Z’s generations combined could easily be described as the next “Lost Generation.” This title is not a new one. It described the generation who came of age during World War 1. They were described as “intellectuals and creatives” who lost faith and traditional values and ideals after witnessing the carnage and death of WW1. They were described as “hedonistic, rebellious, and aimless—“lost.””
I believe we are here once again. In your lifetime you have either witnessed or felt the effects of 9/11, a drastic increase of mass shootings, a global pandemic, and what seems to be unprecedented corruption in political arenas, etc… Life seems to be pointless…
UNLESS you know the Author of Life- God! As Creator of All, He has the right to define us and give us the knowledge of the purpose for which we have been created. This knowledge is found in our Creator’s Book, The Bible! If we are ignorant of what Scripture defines as our purpose we will live believing we are nothing more than “The Lost Generation” and our lives will reflect that sad reality. Without knowledge of the purposes of God as defined by His Word, the Bible, we truly are “aimless and lost.”
One other characteristic of “The Lost Generation” of the 1920’s that “The Lost Generation Now” shares is you are “intellectuals and creatives.” You see what is going on and want what is real. You are sick of pretending. You want the Truth!
God has declared that Truth! It is in His Word!

“Your Word is truth.” John 17:17


But you will never experience a life living in Truth if you do not engage the Bible you likely have in your home or on your phone and become intimately aware of its content.
God has created you with a purpose. It is to know Him and to make Him known. Your life will be unfulfilled and aimless until you commit yourself to pursuing your purpose!
I am attaching a song that I would encourage you to listen to. I believe it is an anthem to your generation.
True Life, with purpose, only comes in knowing God and Jesus who He sent! We come to know Him through His Word!

“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”
‭‭John‬ ‭17‬:‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

(Information on the Lost Generation from the article “The Lost Generation: Who They Are and Where The Name Came From
By Sunny Jane Morton
April 7, 2020”)

Bible Reading Fun Fact Day 10:

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The Truth of the Bible is Greater Any Human Field of Science. Reading and Studying the Bible Connects Us to that Truth!
During the years of professional counseling that I went through, there were two statements made by the counselors that were dangerous to internalize.

  1. “I don’t know what the Bible says, but I do know what science says.”
  2. “The Bible backs up science.”
    These two statements are pretty common in our culture because we have elevated Science (our human knowledge) of any kind to a higher position than God and His Word.
    This is not a new sin. It actually is the original sin. The serpent tempted Eve in the garden.

““You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.””
‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭4‬-‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Science, which is defined as knowledge, has been wrong in the past when it contradicted God’s word. (Remember the general Scientific thought of Columbus’s time was the earth is flat. Disproved by Isaiah 40:22 written long before Columbus.) Science has changed as new discoveries have come along. Consider the common thoughts over the past 50 years about a human baby, “fetus”. The technology of ultrasound has given us views that discredits the Scientific thought of just a few years ago. That “scientific knowledge “ was used in support of abortion. Our laws have changed because our “scientific theories” have changed. But I can tell you God’s Word has not changed! It is always on the right side of social debates 💯 of the time!

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭13‬-‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It is dangerous to build our lives on Scientific theories that discredit the Truth of the Bible. God’s Word is always first! It is also dangerous to believe that God’s Word confirms Science. Ultimately, Science will confirm God’s Word! History has proven that true!
This is why we must KNOW our Bibles (God’s Word)! There is so much bad information in our world. There is so much confusion. But only one Truth has stood the test of time, God’s Word!
When Scientific thought contradicts what the Word of God says, beware! Culturally it is more acceptable to go with Science as the ultimate authority. As believers, may it never be so with us! God’s Word is Truth! There is no other truth! God’s Word is the Way! There is no other Way!

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬