Category: Proverbs–BibleTrekToday
Sharing Gospel blessings!
Scripture reading for August 11th: 1st Corinthians 9, Psalm 10, Proverbs 5
1st Corinthians 9:19-23 “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
After finding Jesus Christ as Lord, Paul was a free man from the law of God. Jesus had taken the penalty for his (and our) sins and given him the Holy Spirit and the law of Christ which is love. Paul became a willing bond-servant of God, offering his own self as a witness and preacher of the Good News to win lost people to God. He sought to find a way to relate to each person in order to share the Good News. His focus was their salvation, regardless of their background or religious upbringing. He knew God’s heart of compassion for hurting and oppressed people and for the sake of the Gospel allowed the Holy Spirit to use him for their healing and deliverance through faith in Jesus.
Psalm 10:17-18 “O Lord, You hear the desire of the afflicted; You will strengthen their heart; You will incline Your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may not strike terror no more.”
Prayer: Father, thank You for hearing the cries of the afflicted and hurting, the fatherless and oppressed and acting for them by sending Your Son. Thank You that You see all of our ways and ponder all our paths that You might win us to You by sending servants like Paul. Fill me with Your compassion and love and send me today to those in need of Your grace. Pour out Your blessings through the Gospel!
Proverbs 5:21 “For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths.”
Love builds up!
Scripture reading for August 10th: 1st Corinthians 8, Psalm 9, Proverbs 4
1st Corinthians 8: 1-3 “Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.”
Paul, writing to Christians in a culture of idolatry, cautioned them against spiritual pride and using their freedoms and “knowledge” in a manner that might cause weaker or younger believers to stumble. “Knowledge” puffs up a person with pride. Using even right knowledge that an idol is nothing and that food does not necessarily defile you, even if offered to an idol, could cause those who still believe that is defiling to stumble and violate their conscience. The law of love says that we follow the Holy Spirit in caring for others and limiting our freedoms that all might grow closer to Jesus Christ. When we love God in this way, God takes note and upholds each loving believer.
Psalm 9:9-10 “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your Name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”
Prayer: Father, thank You for being our stronghold in times of trouble and in this idolatrous culture. Help me daily to stay humble and avoid the trap of pride. May Your love flow in me by the Holy Spirit to love God and show love towards others seeing them built up in their faith. May we not stumble as we run the race of faith and follow Your path of wisdom and uprightness.
Proverbs 4:10-12 “Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have lead you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble.”
The appointed time is short!
Scripture reading for August 9th: 1st Corinthians 7, Psalm 8, Proverbs 3
1st Corinthians 7: 25-31 “Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. This is what I mean brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.”
Paul, out of love and concern for the believers, writes to them with compassion from the sincerity of his heart. He honestly believes that the time of Christ’s promised return is very near. The circumstances of the culture of his time were very like those of the day we live in. Marriage was lawful and proper between believers. Yet, in tough times, the unmarried can devote more fully to serving the Lord and spare themselves some trouble and heartache. Believers must maintain a very loose grip on the world and its goods and attractions. All of life and our possessions are temporary. The world in its present form is indeed passing away, and the time is short! God’s love is eternal and He alone is worth worshipping!
Psalm 8:1-2 “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your Name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.”
Prayer: Father God, Your Name is majestic, holy and above all that this earth and world has to offer! We honor You and praise You alone. Help me today to hold this world’s goods with an open hand and keep me from idolatry in relationships, placing You first in everything! Thank You for these instructions from Your Word and Your Father’s love and discipline. May I delight You in my journey to Your eternal house!
Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the Lord reproves him who He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”
One Spirit with the Lord
Scripture reading for August 8th: 1st Corinthians 6, Psalm 7, Proverbs 2
1st Corinthians 6: 13-20 “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by His power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, Whom you have from God? Your are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
Sexual immorality is defined in God’s Word as a very serious matter. Through the sexual union between a man and a woman, God partners with humans to bring forth children made in His image with eternal souls. Two people become one as they join their bodies and God amazingly is at work in creation of that eternal soul. This is why sexual immorality–any sex outside of a marriage covenant between a man and a woman, is wrong. If a person has repented of his sins and received grace through Jesus Christ, past sins are forgiven. Our bodies belong to the Lord and we are joined with Him in ‘one spirit’. It would be very wrong to commit sexual immorality, even using pornography. May it never be! Lord, help us to listen and obey!
Psalm 7:11-13 “God is a righteous Judge, and a God Who feels indignation every day. If a man does not repent, God will whet His sword; He has bent and readied His bow; He has prepared for him His deadly weapons, making His arrows fiery shafts.”
Prayer: Father God, help us as Your people and one in spirit with You, to understand the seriousness of our sexuality and Your plan to procreate through our bodies. Deliver us from the evil one and the temptations around us through our culture and old nature. Forgive us our sexual sins and empower us to live as Your Holy Temple, reflecting Your love to our family and world.
Proverbs 2:16-19 “So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; for her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.”
Judging inside Christ’s church
Scripture reading for August 7th: 1st Corinthians 5, Psalm 6, Proverbs 1
1st Corinthians 5: 9-13 “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people–not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler–not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.””
The Word of God makes it clear that sitting in the place of God and judging others is not right. Only God is righteous and knows how to judge each person as He knows their hearts perfectly and sees all facts. He has given all judgment to His Son, Jesus Christ. However, God has given limited judgment to His people to purge evil from His Church. This judgment is to be exercised based on facts of two or more witnesses. Opportunity to repent and ask for grace is to be given. If there is a refusal to repent, the unrepentant person who claims to be a believer must be put out of the church and association with them cut off. This is to bring them godly sorrow in hopes of repentance and restoration. Sin, like leaven in bread, can infect the whole church if not dealt with. Lord give us grace to hear and obey!
Psalm 6:8-9 “Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer.”
Prayer: Father God, it has been with weeping and pleas for repentance that I have obeyed this passage in Your Word. Thankfully, I have seen fruit of repentance in some but others turned away. I am thankful that all final judgment is given to Jesus Christ, the righteous Judge. Help me and Your church leaders to follow Your instructions to purge evil from Your church and see Your grace draw many to the cross.
Proverbs 1:32-33 “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
Lord, give us more ‘fathers’!
Scripture reading for August 4th: 1st Corinthians 4, Psalm 5, Proverbs 31
1st Corinthians 4: 9-15 “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.”
Paul was explaining how God used him in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To the world, he appeared as a fool and a man of weakness and someone to revile. He had no permanent home, and was destitute of worldly goods. He was slandered and spoken of as evil, even as one sentenced to death. He was sometimes without food and poorly dressed and was treated as the scum of the earth by those in the world. But Christ in him gave him power to bless those who reviled him and to endure the persecution and ill treatment and hardships and sorrows. His encouragement was those who received the message of Christ Jesus and became children of God. He became their ‘father’ through the Gospel. The new ‘household’ of God was clothed in the scarlet of Christ’s blood and had a secure position in God’s eternal family! Amen!
Psalm 5:5-6 “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.”
Prayer: Father God, Your heart of love and mature witness expressed in the life of the apostles and in Paul’s life convicts me and inspires me. I long to see more lost people come into Your eternal family and be clothed in the scarlet of Christ’s sacrifice and then the white robes of His righteousness. I pray for more fathers in the faith to be raised up who will fully give their lives to increase Your family and glory!
Proverbs 31:20-21 “She (the excellent wife) opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.”
Works tested by fire
Scripture reading for August 3rd: 1st Corinthians 3, Psalm 4, Proverbs 30
1st Corinthians 3: 10-15 “According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds on it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw–each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”
Paul emphasized that as a preacher for God, his job was to lay a foundation of faith in Jesus Christ as the cornerstone of each spiritual building. After that foundation, each person was responsible for how they built their lives on that foundation. The life of faith and good works that we chose or the life of living in the flesh will each be tested by fire at the judgment seat of Christ. The works will be tested by fire. Some believers will lose their reward because of works of flesh. Others will have a rich reward. All will still experience salvation. Our prayer should be for daily guidance in building on the solid foundation of Jesus.
Psalm 4:1, 3 “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have given me relief when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!” . . .“But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for Himself; the Lord hears when I call to Him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the solid foundation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thank You for those who preached the Word of faith that I might hear and believe. Thank You for hearing my prayers and guiding my life each day into the works You have prepared for me. May my life and works bring glory to Your Name and expand Your kingdom rule to all who hear the Good News.
Proverbs 30:7-8 “Two things I ask of You; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, . .”
The Power of God
Scripture reading for August 2nd: 1st Corinthians 2, Psalm 3, Proverbs 29
1st Corinthians 2: 1-5 “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Paul came humbly to the Corinthians with the simple but all powerful message of Christ Jesus crucified. This message was packed with God’s power to bring revelation and salvation through repentance and faith. Paul was not a great orator or debater. In fact, he came in weakness and in fear and trembling and his speech was not exceptionally packed with the world’s wisdom. But the anointing of God’s Spirit brought power and conviction and salvation as people heard and believed. Through the cross, God had defeated all man’s enemies and brought His blessing of salvation and the gift of adoption into His forever family. Jesus arose from the dead, breaking the teeth of our wicked enemy, Satan, and bringing salvation to all who would believe and receive! Christ Jesus is the Wisdom and Power of God!
Psalm 3:7-8 “Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; Your blessing be on your people!”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the power of God released through the simple message of the cross and Your Son, Jesus Christ suffering there for our sins. Not only that, but His resurrection defeated death and the grave and brought eternal blessing on those who would believe! Fill me with the power of this message to turn away Your wrath from those who scoff and bring eternal blessing to all you send me to.
Proverbs 29:8 “Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.”
God’s saving wisdom!
Scripture reading for August 1st: 1st Corinthians 1, Psalm 2, Proverbs 28
1st Corinthians 1:18-25 “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
Paul wrote this letter to the believers in Corinth, a city where he had spend considerable time preaching the Gospel. The result was many were saved as they believed in the message of the cross and Christ Jesus offering Himself there for the sins of the world. This message was foolishness to all who were perishing, both Jew and Gentile. But God, in His infinite wisdom, chose this simple message to save those who would believe. This put all men on level ground at the foot of Christ’s cross. Anyone who trusts in his own mind and reasoning will be a fool. Those who choose Christ will become wise and walk in wisdom. The choice is available to all for a limited time! Today is the best day to kiss the Son!
Psalm 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him,”‘
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your amazing wisdom and mercy found in the message of the cross and the Son of God Who offered Himself there for all as a sacrifice for sin. I humbly bow before You and pay homage to Jesus Christ, Son of God. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and wisdom to share this message with both wise and foolish that they may believe and be saved from the coming wrath.
Proverbs 28:26 “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.”
Faithful to His last breath!
Scripture reading for July 28th: Luke 23, Psalm 150, Proverbs 26
Luke 23: 44-49 “It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit!” And having said this He breathed His last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this Man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all His acquaintances and the women who had followed Him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.”
God gives each of us the breath of life. Every breath we take is a gift to be cherished and used to praise the Lord and fulfil His Word and will. Jesus’ example of perfect faithfulness to His Father is recorded here in Scripture as He took His last breath. He placed His Spirit (Pnuema) (breath) and ultimate destiny in His Father’s hands. John’s Gospel records “It is finished,” as His last words before giving up His Spirit. Jesus totally obeyed His Father in perfect love and honor. This act of service and sacrifice brought a hardened Roman centurion to declare Jesus’ innocence! We can use our breath to declare God’s truth or to share lies and gossip and quarrel with others. We never know when our last breath is coming!
Psalm 150: 1-2, 6 “Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! Praise Him for His mighty deeds; praise Him according to His excellent greatness! . . .”Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Prayer: Father God, I ask You for mercy when I have not used my breaths wisely during my time on earth. Forgive me for gossip, quarreling, and lies. I give my breaths to You to use to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and declare Your praise and glory in prayer and worship. I ask You to fill me with Your Holy Spirit each day that I might give every breath to You until I breath my last here on earth!
Proverbs 26:20 “For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.”