Read Pr. 28: 27, 28
I remember hearing a pastor on TV talking about disciplining your child. He said we have 3 choices when we see our toddler do something wrong. We can lovingly discipline them, overlook it, or pretend we didn't see it. I will have to say I defaulted to the third one many times when I was just too tired to get up and rebuke my 3 year old one more time. But God doesn't let us get away with that one. We will be cursed if we see the poor and don't do something about it. My husband saw a man picking up cans the other day and drove on by. He was so convicted on his way back he looked for the man. He finally saw him and asked him if he needed some money. The man laughed and said that he had committed to picking up that section of the interstate and he did it every day. We got a laugh out of that one but God loved Dave's heart because he was willing to give. We have many opportunities to give to the poor and to pretend we don't see them will bring a curse on us. If we give we will never be in their place. That is a promise. The next verse talks about leadership. The problem with the verse is that when the wicked rise we need to rise higher and not hide. We need to learn to fight in our prayer closets against the powers of evil, then when we are faced with them in human form we will not be afraid or back down.
Lord, open our eyes to the needs of others and stand firm against the enemy.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Fri.'s Devo - Our Hearts
Read Pr. 28:25, 26
God hates pride. Proverbs 16:5 says that every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Pride makes you think you have power and power in the wrong hands leads to strife and wrongdoing. When you have a proud heart then the end justifies the means and pretty soon your judgment becomes cloudy and you are deceived. But, trusting in God brings his anointing and his blessings. God told Solomon to serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you: but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever. Even to trust in our own hearts is not wise because our hearts are evil. That was Paul's dilemma in Romans. The bottom line is we can't trust our hearts, but we can trust the heart of God that is also in us. His heart is pure and undefiled so ours can be too because today scripture says that if we walk wisely, we shall be delivered from ourselves. Amen.
Lord, enlarge our hearts to receive more of yours. May we become small and you become large in us. Deliver us from pride and vainglory.
God hates pride. Proverbs 16:5 says that every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Pride makes you think you have power and power in the wrong hands leads to strife and wrongdoing. When you have a proud heart then the end justifies the means and pretty soon your judgment becomes cloudy and you are deceived. But, trusting in God brings his anointing and his blessings. God told Solomon to serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind: for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts: if you seek him, he will be found of you: but if you forsake him, he will cast you off for ever. Even to trust in our own hearts is not wise because our hearts are evil. That was Paul's dilemma in Romans. The bottom line is we can't trust our hearts, but we can trust the heart of God that is also in us. His heart is pure and undefiled so ours can be too because today scripture says that if we walk wisely, we shall be delivered from ourselves. Amen.
Lord, enlarge our hearts to receive more of yours. May we become small and you become large in us. Deliver us from pride and vainglory.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Thurs.'s Devo - Honoring
Read Pr. 28:24
Our pastor just preached a series on parenting. His first sermon was on honoring our parents. It was so convicting and powerful. We tend to take our parents for granted and especially their stuff. Even when we are adults we still think what they have is ours. It is not true. Now that I am an adult of adult children I know this by experience. I don't want them to take whatever they want or need from my house. That is unhonoring. Today's scripture says that it is stealing and that it is destructive to your relationship. The word "honour" in the Greek means to prize or to fix value upon. If we fix value on our parents we will fix value on their stuff and what is theirs. We will honor their boundaries. I know as a parent the thing that I desire more than time with my new grand daughter, or any gift they could give us; I want them to desire to spend time with me. I know that is how God feels. Jesus stole away to spend time with his father. A man who went to heaven and came back said that there are different levels of heaven and the ones that are closest to the throne are the "friends" of God, the ones who chose to spend time with him. That is where I want to be.
Lord, we desire to be your friends so teach us about honoring our parents here on earth because you say that it is first the natural and then the spiritual.
Our pastor just preached a series on parenting. His first sermon was on honoring our parents. It was so convicting and powerful. We tend to take our parents for granted and especially their stuff. Even when we are adults we still think what they have is ours. It is not true. Now that I am an adult of adult children I know this by experience. I don't want them to take whatever they want or need from my house. That is unhonoring. Today's scripture says that it is stealing and that it is destructive to your relationship. The word "honour" in the Greek means to prize or to fix value upon. If we fix value on our parents we will fix value on their stuff and what is theirs. We will honor their boundaries. I know as a parent the thing that I desire more than time with my new grand daughter, or any gift they could give us; I want them to desire to spend time with me. I know that is how God feels. Jesus stole away to spend time with his father. A man who went to heaven and came back said that there are different levels of heaven and the ones that are closest to the throne are the "friends" of God, the ones who chose to spend time with him. That is where I want to be.
Lord, we desire to be your friends so teach us about honoring our parents here on earth because you say that it is first the natural and then the spiritual.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Wed.'s Devo - The Truth
Read Pr. 28:23
People appreciate the truth. Period. I would rather someone be open and honest with me even if it hurt than for them to lie just to save my feelings then complain about me to someone else. There is a godly way to rebuke someone. Just think of how the Holy Spirit rebukes you. He is loving and kind and does it in a way that changes your heart rather than devastate you. It helps to know that God loves me totally. Seminars will tell you that if you need to correct an employee you first build them up and tell them all the things they are doing right then you slip in the one thing that they need to work on. The Bible tells us not to discipline when we are upset but to wait until we are calmed down and can have a better perspective on the situation. The promise today says that if you discipline a person the right way they will eventually come back around and be your friend. I experienced that one day in the grocery store. I ran into an old friend and she was telling me about a guy she had just met and really liked. I told her to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. I could tell she was offended and wasn't going to take my advise. She didn't and we didn't talk for a year. Then I ran into her again and she came up to me and said, "The next time you tell me to run the other way, I'm going to listen." She appreciated that I would stick my neck out and tell her the truth but I loved her too much to smile and say, "that's great" when I knew it wasn't.
Lord, give us grace to speak the truth in love and know when to do it. Remind us that we can pray and our prayers will be affective.
People appreciate the truth. Period. I would rather someone be open and honest with me even if it hurt than for them to lie just to save my feelings then complain about me to someone else. There is a godly way to rebuke someone. Just think of how the Holy Spirit rebukes you. He is loving and kind and does it in a way that changes your heart rather than devastate you. It helps to know that God loves me totally. Seminars will tell you that if you need to correct an employee you first build them up and tell them all the things they are doing right then you slip in the one thing that they need to work on. The Bible tells us not to discipline when we are upset but to wait until we are calmed down and can have a better perspective on the situation. The promise today says that if you discipline a person the right way they will eventually come back around and be your friend. I experienced that one day in the grocery store. I ran into an old friend and she was telling me about a guy she had just met and really liked. I told her to run as fast as she could in the opposite direction. I could tell she was offended and wasn't going to take my advise. She didn't and we didn't talk for a year. Then I ran into her again and she came up to me and said, "The next time you tell me to run the other way, I'm going to listen." She appreciated that I would stick my neck out and tell her the truth but I loved her too much to smile and say, "that's great" when I knew it wasn't.
Lord, give us grace to speak the truth in love and know when to do it. Remind us that we can pray and our prayers will be affective.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tues.'s Devo- God's Principles
Read Pr. 28:18-22
God's way is always the s-l-o-w way. It is not that God is slow; it is because God loves process. There is always a lesson to learn that brings about a growth that makes us mature and wise. The only way to truly learn anything is by experiencing it. Book knowledge is hard to retain but personal experiences are never forgotten. God has some principles to live by that will save us a lot of heart ache. The first one is in verse 18 and it says that if we walk uprightly we will be saved. How true. If we walk in God's steps then he will open up the way for us and his blessing will follow us. To walk contrary will cause us to stumble and fall because God has not removed the obstacles in that path. The second principle is in verse 19: if we work hard we will have enough to eat. God has given each of us talents to use and a job to do and when we stick to our job he blesses it. If we get greedy and try to do other people's jobs just to get their pay also we will transgress God's laws. The third principle in todays scriptures is to treat everyone with the same amount of respect. If you don't then you will find yourself cheating in business and loving money more than God.
Lord, help us to wait on you for everything. Help us to have your heart for people and to realize that you value relationships more than things.
God's way is always the s-l-o-w way. It is not that God is slow; it is because God loves process. There is always a lesson to learn that brings about a growth that makes us mature and wise. The only way to truly learn anything is by experiencing it. Book knowledge is hard to retain but personal experiences are never forgotten. God has some principles to live by that will save us a lot of heart ache. The first one is in verse 18 and it says that if we walk uprightly we will be saved. How true. If we walk in God's steps then he will open up the way for us and his blessing will follow us. To walk contrary will cause us to stumble and fall because God has not removed the obstacles in that path. The second principle is in verse 19: if we work hard we will have enough to eat. God has given each of us talents to use and a job to do and when we stick to our job he blesses it. If we get greedy and try to do other people's jobs just to get their pay also we will transgress God's laws. The third principle in todays scriptures is to treat everyone with the same amount of respect. If you don't then you will find yourself cheating in business and loving money more than God.
Lord, help us to wait on you for everything. Help us to have your heart for people and to realize that you value relationships more than things.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Mon.'s Devo - The Blood Applied
Read Pr. 28:17
Blood is very precious to God. Our life is in our blood. It was Jesus' blood that cleansed our sins and still does. Blood seems to be eternal since God told Cain that Abel's blood cried up from the grave. So to shed another person's blood violently is a great sin against God and will not go unpunished. David was not allowed to build the temple for God because of all the blood he shed on the battlefield. If you killed someone in the Old Testament you were to be stoned. Yet the temple was full of blood. The priests sacrificed so many oxen on feasts days that they were covered with blood. Jesus was so bloody he was unrecognizable. The blood of goats and bulls were suppose to cover their sins just like the blood of Jesus covered our sins once and for all. Last night I attended a Jewish seder which is a Passover dinner. We remembered how God told the Israelites to smear the blood on their doorposts and then enter into their house and be saved from the death angel. Today's verse says that if a person murders another person we are not to get in the way of God's judgment on them. There is only one way to rescue yourself from death and that is the blood of Jesus applied to doorposts of your heart.
Blood is very precious to God. Our life is in our blood. It was Jesus' blood that cleansed our sins and still does. Blood seems to be eternal since God told Cain that Abel's blood cried up from the grave. So to shed another person's blood violently is a great sin against God and will not go unpunished. David was not allowed to build the temple for God because of all the blood he shed on the battlefield. If you killed someone in the Old Testament you were to be stoned. Yet the temple was full of blood. The priests sacrificed so many oxen on feasts days that they were covered with blood. Jesus was so bloody he was unrecognizable. The blood of goats and bulls were suppose to cover their sins just like the blood of Jesus covered our sins once and for all. Last night I attended a Jewish seder which is a Passover dinner. We remembered how God told the Israelites to smear the blood on their doorposts and then enter into their house and be saved from the death angel. Today's verse says that if a person murders another person we are not to get in the way of God's judgment on them. There is only one way to rescue yourself from death and that is the blood of Jesus applied to doorposts of your heart.
Friday, May 20, 2011
Fri.'s Devo - Give it All
Read Pr. 28:11-16
Jesus said that it was hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. He didn't say it was impossible, just hard. Sadly, most rich people don't realize they have been entrusted with wealth to give to the kingdom of God, not for their own pleasure. When they do realize that, they are great givers. Godly leaders bless a nation, a business, or wherever they lead, but ungodly leaders usually oppress their workers. But, verse 13 gives them hope. It says that he that confesses his sins and forsakes them will have mercy. It is never too late to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Verse 16 gives us a great promise: if we give freely and don't covet our stuff then God will prolong our days. He gives us more time because we are producing what he wants produced and we are not holding on to what he has given us. I have found that the more I give, the easier it is the next time. This stuff we have is so temporal and will not follow us to heaven so why do we always want more?
Lord, help us to give you everything and not covet anything. Give us a vision of eternity.
Jesus said that it was hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. He didn't say it was impossible, just hard. Sadly, most rich people don't realize they have been entrusted with wealth to give to the kingdom of God, not for their own pleasure. When they do realize that, they are great givers. Godly leaders bless a nation, a business, or wherever they lead, but ungodly leaders usually oppress their workers. But, verse 13 gives them hope. It says that he that confesses his sins and forsakes them will have mercy. It is never too late to ask for forgiveness and mercy. Verse 16 gives us a great promise: if we give freely and don't covet our stuff then God will prolong our days. He gives us more time because we are producing what he wants produced and we are not holding on to what he has given us. I have found that the more I give, the easier it is the next time. This stuff we have is so temporal and will not follow us to heaven so why do we always want more?
Lord, help us to give you everything and not covet anything. Give us a vision of eternity.
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