Category: Proverbs–BibleTrekToday
A good testimony!
Scripture reading for October 6th: 3rd John, Psalm 50, Proverbs 14
3rd John: 9-14 “I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God. Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and you know that our testimony is true I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.”
John calls out two people in this short letter by name. One he warns for evil in speaking lies against John and hindering the support of godly ministers. Diotrephes was self-centered and rebellious towards God’s established authority. John warned that he would confront him openly when he arrived. The other person, Demetrius, had received a good testimony from the believers and church leaders. Demetrius was following the Truth, as taught in Jesus Christ. John also testified that this was truth. John asked the believers not to imitate evil, but imitate good. This imitation was not to be a show, but come from a true relationship with Jesus Christ and obedience to Truth. John desired to come and be with them face to face to fully work through these matters with love and grace. He greeted them and asked the church leaders to greet each person by name, speaking God’s peace over them.
Psalm 50:5-6 “”Gather to Me My faithful ones, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice!” The heavens declare His righteousness, for God Himself is judge!” Selah
Prayer: Father God, Your testimony about me is the most important. But I know that my life impacts my spouse, my family, other believers, and those in the world I live in. May I not just imitate what is good, but do good from a healthy relationship with You and those I live with. I have made a covenant with You through the sacrifice of Your Son, Who is my righteousness. May He testify for me at the Judgment!
Proverbs 14:11-12 “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
Tough love!
Scripture reading for October 5th: 2nd John, Psalm 49, Proverbs 13
2nd John:6-11 “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.”
John’s short letter continues his emphasis on walking in the love of God through obedience, the highest form of worship. The believers must guard against deception and continue to walk in the truth of the Gospel of grace through faith. The deceivers that attacked the church John wrote to were denying that Jesus was truly human and came to earth in the flesh. This teaching undermines the Gospel and leads people away from truth. Those who come to believe this heresy do not know God and are in danger of eternal damnation. It is a serious issue. John warned these believers not to receive these false workers into their homes or even to greet them. To do so was to share in their deception. This is tough love designed to protect believers from deception. Prayer for those caught up in this is still our privilege.
Psalm 49:15 “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for these clear instructions and warning against those who falsely teach against the virgin birth and Jesus, Son of Man and Son of God. Have mercy on those in this darkness and turn them again to the light of truth. May Your pastors and church elders and deacons teach the uncompromised Word of Truth and bring protection to the flock of Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 13:17-18 “A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing. Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored.”
Victory in Jesus!
Scripture reading for October 4th: 1st John 5, Psalm 48, Proverbs 12
1st John 5:1-5 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world–our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one that believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?”
John has a way of making salvation and new birth very simple and easy to understand. He states simply that everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. To believe means to have faith. Faith is the confident trust that Jesus Christ is God’s Son Who came to earth to save us from our sins as the ‘Messiah’–‘Anointed One’. If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, we love other children of God and we love God. We demonstrate our faith by acting on what God has said, pleasing Him, and turning away from all that God hates. Through faith, by grace, we overcome the world and the god of this world. By faith we love God and obey His commandments with joy because they are not burdensome, but a delight!
Psalm 48:12-14 “Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us in obeying Your Word and loving You and others each day. Thank You for Your righteousness, that I might be a guide to my neighbor in love of his soul. Use me to tell the next generation that God is my God forever and ever! I claim victory over the world, flesh, and devil through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, my Savior and King!
Proverbs 12:26 “One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
King of love
Scripture reading for October 3rd: 1st John 4, Psalm 47, Proverbs 11
1st John 4: 7-12 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us.”
John, the ‘beloved’ disciple, calls Christ’s followers “beloved!” He proclaims that God is love and that all who love are born of God and know God. Those without love do not know God. God made His love known to us through His Son. Jesus Christ came into the world that we might have life through His sacrificial death! We would not even know love if God had not made it visible to us in Christ. Since God loved us through giving Himself for us, we have an obligation to love one another. When we love one another, God abides in us and makes Himself visible to others and perfects His love in us. Hail King Jesus, King of Love!
Psalm 47:4-7 “He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom He loves. God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for showing us what love looks like through Your Son! Thank You that we have a King Who loves us and abides with us through His Holy Spirit. Thank You for the privilege of knowing Your love and sharing that love with my family and brothers and sisters. I long for Your love to be perfected in me when the trumpet sounds and You return and take me to dwell in Your presence!
Proverbs 11:10-11 “When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is overthrown.”
Loving in deed and truth
Scripture reading for October 2nd: 1st John 3, Psalm 46, Proverbs 10
1st John 3: 16-18 “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
Jesus revealed to us God’s amazing love in His total obedience to His Father in laying down His life for us, even when we were yet sinners like Jacob of old. John encouraged Christ’s followers to not just say that they love the brethren, but to show that love in practical means. If your brother or sister is hungry and you have food, share with them. True love is demonstrated by loving acts of service, not by judging and closing of the heart towards the needy, regardless of their spiritual state. God is now living in us by the Holy Spirit and will lead us to deeds of love done in truth. God is working now to make wars and strife between brothers and sisters to cease. If we heed His instruction, we are truly on the path of life.
Psalm 46:7-9 “The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how He has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for showing us what love looks like in the sacrifice of Your Son on our behalf. Help me to apply this love I have received through the Holy Spirit living in me. Direct me in acts of love towards the hurting, poor, orphans, and widows. Soften my heart as I open it to You to make me more like Your Son in laying down my life for others.
Proverbs 10:17-18 “Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool.”
Choosing a firm foundation!
Scripture reading for September 29th: 1st John 2, Psalm 45, Proverbs 9
1st John 2: 15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
There is a war going on for the affections of mankind. We are born centered on ourselves. We love ourselves and want anything that pleases us. The world appeals to the desires of our flesh and whatever pleases our eyes or body, just like a seductive woman appealing to a simple man. John, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, warned believers against loving the world. This world is temporary and passing away. We can’t love the world and love God our Father. There is no room for both. Wisely choose to love God, Whose throne is forever and ever! When we love God, we embrace righteousness and choose to love God and do His will! We depart from wickedness and that which is passing away to embrace the eternal!
Psalm 45:6-7 “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of Your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness beyond Your companions.”
Prayer: Father God, give me discernment today concerning the seductions of this world and its appeal for my affections. I choose to love God alone and be faithful to do His will and worship Him alone. Anoint me with the oil of gladness today that those in the world might be drawn to ask me the reason for my hope and joy. I will share with them the Good News of a Savior, Christ the Lord, Whose joy is mine!
Proverbs 9:13-118 “The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, and her guests are in the depths of Sheol.”
Complete joy!
Scripture reading for September 28th: 1st John 1, Psalm 44, Proverbs 8
1st John 1: 1-4 “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life–the Life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the Eternal Life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us–that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”
According to Holy Scripture, joy and rejoicing mark the Holy Trinity. God delighted in creation and He and His Son were there from the beginning. God is the ‘Living God’ Who gives the ‘breath of life’ to mankind. He created man and set him in the Garden of Eden (delights)! The psalmist says that God planted Israel in their land and set them free because He delighted in them. The writer of Proverbs stated that “Wisdom” was beside God as a ‘master Workman’, daily delighting in God and rejoicing before Him. I believe that “Wisdom” is Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Master Workman! He also delighted in the children of men! Now in 1st John, John states he writes this letter concerning the Word of Life that our joy may be complete!
Psalm 44:1-3 “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds You performed in their days, in the days of old: You with Your own hand drove out the nations, but them You planted; You afflicted the peoples, but them You set free; for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but Your right hand and Your arm, and the light of Your face, for You delighted in them.”
Prayer: Praise the Father! Praise the Son! Praise the Holy Spirit! Three in One, all our Joy and Delight! Thank You for making Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Wisdom, our Joy, our Salvation, and our Eternal Life! Thank You for making us in Your image and delighting over us! Thank You for making our joy complete by forgiveness of our sins and adoption into Your forever family! May I proclaim this truth each day!
Proverbs 8:29-31 “. . .when He (Wisdom) marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him, like a master Workman, and I was daily His Delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.”
Washed and renewed!
Scripture reading for September 27th: Titus 3, Psalm 43, Proverbs 7
Titus 3: 3-7 “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, let astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
We who are followers of Christ have a ‘past life’ that we are not proud of. We were born in sin and until we were ‘born again,’ we lived like the world in the passions of our flesh. But when Jesus Christ laid hold of us and we repented of our sins, we were saved out of the old life and washed from our sins through faith in Jesus’ blood applied on the altar of heaven for us. We received the gift of the Holy Spirit, Whose job it is to form in us the image of Jesus Christ and renew our minds to think the thoughts of God and humbly walk by faith. We are ‘justified’, made right with God, and adopted into His forever family. We are full of exceeding joy as we now have Light and Truth living in us. We respond in worship and embrace Jesus, the Living Word in worship and adoration! He is our Wisdom and Insight now and forever!
Psalm 43:3-4 “Send out Your Light and Your Truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding Joy, and I will praise You with the lyre, O God, my God!”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Light and Truth in Your Son! Thank You for washing me from my sins and adopting me into Your family, renewing my mind and giving me true wisdom and insight through Your Holy Word. You are my ‘exceeding Joy’ and my delight! I trust You to keep me each day from the seduction of this world and my flesh. Use me to proclaim Your goodness and mercy to those still lost.
Proverbs 7:4-5 “Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend, to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.”
Grace to renounce ungodliness.
Scripture reading for September 26th: Titus 2, Psalm 42, Proverbs 6
Titus 2: 11-15 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed Hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”
Human self-will cannot overcome our flesh. It is through God’s grace made visible in His Son, Jesus Christ, that we can have the power to renounce our flesh and live in self-control and holy expectation of the return of Jesus. Grace is an inside job coming through repentance and faith and it involves the Gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit shows us that we are new creations, adopted into God’s family. We are now God’s own children and belong in His Household forever. We know this in the depths of our heart as the river of God’s love flows in us through the Spirit. We can sing His song of redemption and with zeal share the Good News of salvation and redemption awaiting the coming of our Savior to take us home!
Psalm 42:7-8 “Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have gone over me. By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your amazing grace through Jesus Christ, revealing You as our Father and us as Your children. Thank you for grace to renounce our old way of life and embrace godliness and the joy of Your love and Jesus’ return. Thank you for cleansing me from the things You hated, and commanding Your steadfast love and a continual song of redemption in my heart! Hallelujah! Amen!
Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
Loving pastoral rebukes
Scripture reading for September 25th: Titus 1, Psalm 41, Proverbs 5
Titus 1: 12-16 “One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.”
Teaching, instruction in righteousness and rebuke or correction are all part of pastoral ministry. Paul, writing to Titus, instructed him about his calling to minister to those in Crete, where he was pastor. The Cretans were Gentiles who were not instructed in God’s law. On hearing the Gospel, many came to faith in Christ and needed instruction and correction. But Jewish false teachers tried to lure them away from following Christ. Titus was called to rebuke these who were straying away and defend his congregation from these false teachers. Profession and possession of true faith will produce godly character and works. A defiled mind and conscience will render us and others as unfit for any good work.
Psalm 41:1-3 “Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; You do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness You restore him to full health.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for clear instruction regarding pastoral ministry. It is difficult to rebuke another person, warning them of consequences of their sinful actions or attitudes. Help me to always seek You for what to do and say. May I love discipline and reproof and listen to those you send to teach me. I trust You to protect me and sustain me. May my works bring glory to Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 5: 12-15 “. . and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors. I am at the brink of utter ruin in the assembled congregation.”