Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone. We need others who will build into our lives as we build into theirs. A true friend is like a safe harbor providing security and protection. Best of all, a good friend “loves at all times.”
The problem with the talker? Sooner or later, they tell a story they shouldn’t. They take a “just between you and me” and make it headline news. They contradict themselves, leaving people scratching their heads. They exaggerate or embellish the facts. They say some things they regret and many things they can’t remember.
God is not silent about sexual sin. He doesn’t whisper the needed truth. He doesn’t spell out the words to protect our “innocent” ears. In this section of Proverbs, God slams the hammer down with four important warnings.
The proverb bluntly says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool.” But when you walk in the wisdom of God and his Word, you will save yourself from some devastating decisions.
God knew the danger of people pleasing long before Psychology Today. Pleasing people is a no-win proposition that leaves you exhausted, distracted, and wandering far from God’s path.
An unloved child is an undisciplined child. Someone doesn’t care enough to help form the child’s spirit. But our heavenly Father loves us with a love that he initiates, that’s free and guaranteed. God sent Jesus to deliver you from a road of sin that would have destroyed you and separated you from God for eternity.
Tell God all that is on your heart, as one unloads one’s heart, its pleasures and its pain, to a dear friend. Tell him your troubles, that he may comfort you; tell him your joys, that he may sober them; tell him your longings, that he may purify them; tell him your dislikes, that he may help you to conquer them; talk to him of your temptations, that he may shield you from them; show him the wounds of your heart, that he may heal them;
The sermon he preached that day to our church, meeting in a high school auditorium at that time, was not about storms but about the One who gives us confidence in the storm. We don’t have to live in fear—even when the storm comes—the Lord is our confidence. He is all we need. He is all we will ever need.
The name of the Lord describes his person, character, and works. God—all he is and all he does—is a strong tower. We run to him, embrace him, and cling to him. He provides safety and security. Like a child hanging on to his father, we cling to him, and he upholds us with his powerful right hand (Ps. 63:8).
In western culture, they’ve been portrayed as larger than life…and a myth. But while they’ll be all too real, they’re certainly no match for the One who is Life Himself.
But the “eyes of the Lord are in every place” (Prov. 15:3). He does not distinguish between “on stage” or “backstage.” He puts our hearts on his scale to reveal if our pretending outweighs our commitment to him. When we turn our hearts wholly to him, the playacting is over.
An angel of light, a great red dragon, handsome and loathsome, cunning and foolish. Satan is all these things…and he wants to be your god.
Fearing the Lord is not living in terror and dread of him. That’s what Martin Luther called servile fear—a prisoner waiting to be tortured or executed. Rather, fearing God is a filial fear (filial in Latin means family). This fear is love, awe, and respect for the One who provides us with security and fills us with significance.
Until then, we live in awe and respect God—in fear of the Lord—for his sovereign work in the world and our lives—even when we don’t understand.
So, when we read in Scripture that we should live in fear of the Lord, it means that we are to live in awe and respect for our heavenly Father, who demonstrated his great love to us by sending his Son to die for our sins. We live in awe of his love, his greatness, and his power.
Human events have stepped through the centuries, heading to a set point known only to the Father. But as history finally counts down to the end, God has some extraordinary things to reveal and conceal.
Whether rich or poor, we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Whether rich or poor, we all need a Savior. Whether rich or poor, the question is, “Have you trusted in Christ alone to forgive your sins and place you in a relationship with the living God?”
The calm before the great storm is nearing its end. When it has given way to the ill winds of the Great Tribulation many will die.
Prosperity does not come from material things but from the spiritual discipline of following God’s instruction. Blessing does not come from anything the world can offer but from a deep trust in the sovereign Lord.
At the end of days, as the storm of man’s evil and God’s judgment of it scours the earth, there is still shelter to be found.