August 18th – Proverbs 18: Vain Imaginations

“The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall.” – Proverbs 18:11

In this Proverb we have two contrasting statements. The first is a declaration that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the person that runs into it is safe:

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” – Proverbs 18:10

In this statement, there is no ambiguity, it’s simply the truth. The name of the Lord is the only REAL protection available in our world today. Many are looking all over for something or someone that they can put their trust in. 

Some people trust in politicians. Just a few years ago, Barack Obama was hailed as the great Hope of America. Millions of Americans pinned their hopes for their personal and national prosperity and security on the ideas of a freshman senator from Illinois. In just a few short years, many of those millions have realized what the Bible has told us for thousands of years: the ONLY real hope and security available today is found in the name of the Lord!

Some people trust in riches. This is the reason for this Proverb. The writer declares to us: 

“The wealth of the rich is their fortified city…” – Proverbs 18:11

Wow! So are we really to believe that wealth is a sure place of safety? If we were to stop there in the Proverb, that is what we might be led to believe. But when we keep reading, the reality sets in. 

“they IMAGINE it an unscalable wall.” – Proverbs 18:11

In the IMAGINATION of the rich, wealth is an unscalable wall. In their minds, the rich believe that in their great wealth is salvation; that in their great wealth there is peace. An illusion forms and the urgency of seeking God personally starts to wane. If they get sick, they can afford the best doctor, why seek God for healing? If they have difficulty in their marriage, they can afford the best counseling, why go to Jesus? But this is a smokescreen, an illusion. In reality, wealth is like every other false hope or false promise. 

Am I against great wealth? Absolutely not! You can do great good with great wealth. Somebody needs to make the money and it might as well be the righteous! But it’s when we try to make money or wealth something that it is not; a place of safety and security. Markets rise and fall, currencies crash and economies hit the skids. Believing that any piece of paper (or gold for that matter) can provide protection and security against the wiles of the enemy and this fallen world is a false hope. 

LIFE LESSON:

HOPE in a man? I think not. SECURITY in paper or a rock? Ridiculous! The ONLY true source of safety and security for a believer is the name of the Lord. 

August 17th – Proverbs 17: Son of FAIL

“A wise servant will rule over a disgraceful son, and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.” – Proverbs 17:2

Man, in the church we LOVE our titles, don’t we? People LOVE reveling in the fact that they are a “SON” of the Most High! We are all “FRIENDS” of God; we’re “KING’S KIDS!” We claim and flaunt the benefits of our salvation, secured through the blood and torture of the Lord Jesus yet we regularly forget that there are RESPONSIBILITIES that come with the title! This Proverb reminds us that titles are NOT everything; we must live up to the title bestowed on us through the life and death of the Lord Jesus.

Many Christians want nothing to do with being called a servant of God, they love it when Jesus said:

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:15

Woohoo! We’re not servants anymore, we’re friends… right?

“You are my friends IF you do what I command.” – John 15:14

Yikes. You mean we actually have to do something to be called the friends of God?? Ok then, forget the whole friend thing…let’s move on to Sonship!

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26

Yes, you may be a son, but have you ever thought for two seconds what KIND of son you are? Remember the parable about the father with two sons? One lived as a Prodigal and the other stayed in his father’s house. One brought his father joy, the other grief. Which are you?

“A foolish son brings grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.” – Proverbs 17:25

Have you ever stopped to consider the reality that God HIMSELF has anointed and appointed you as His son? This “title” He has bestowed on us comes with a responsibility to BE worthy of such a name.

“He who gathers crops in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during harvest is a disgraceful son.” – Proverbs 10:5

When we don’t work when it’s time to work and harvest when it’s time to harvest, we bring disgrace. Our laziness in the things of God comes with a heavy price. God won’t disown you as a son, but you MAY be known as a son that brings disgrace. This word for disgrace means; ashamed, disappointed or delayed. God looks at our lives and wonders, “When will they ever become what I have called them?” Half of the Christian life is a process of becoming what God has called us! We have to participate in the process! Step up and BECOME what God has called you!

LIFE LESSON:

“Only let us live up to what we have already attained.” – Philippians 3:16

August 16th – Proverbs 16: Recipe for Restoration

“Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.” – Proverbs 16:6

There is a lot of talk in the church today about restoration of those who have fallen, probably because there are a LOT of ministers falling! We’ve got heterosexual immorality, homosexual immorality and gross financial impropriety all going on in the church right now like never before. These days, before you even get a tearful repentance from the offender, there is a LOUD call for their restoration to ministry. It’s weird, we’re not even sure that this person WANTS to be restored, yet the restoration police come rushing in to MAKE SURE that the fallen pastor is in the pulpit WITHIN THE WEEK!

Why this rush to restore? Why the absolute NEED for fallen leaders to be put back in the place where they fell from? Why can’t they go sell cars or do something else for a living? Why should a pastor that has abused the trust given him be given more trust? I believe that this comes from a basic misunderstanding of repentance as detailed here in Proverbs.

First of all we should look at the end of this verse: “Through the fear of the Lord a man avoids evil.” It’s when we cultivate a relationship with the Lord and actually FEAR Him that we become sin proof. When we are looking into the eyes of the potential adulteress, we remember that we serve God and GOD is watching our every move. This recognition of the Lord in our life would KEEP us from evil! That means when Minister A “falls” (pssst! This stuff doesn’t happen overnight) into gross homosexual sin you can rest assured; he doesn’t fear the Lord! A leader that doesn’t fear the Lord isn’t a very good leader; their sin reveals this fact. When your leader is caught in a gross sin, you SHOULD take a step back and ask, “Do I really want to follow this guy?” If he’s walking into sin and he’s a leader, what is he leading you into? Righteousness???

I rest my case.

Secondly, it’s important to see that path of restoration or atonement in the scripture: “Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for.” Your sin CAN be forgiven and you can receive restoration WHEN you apply this verse. It’s the first part that we are comfy with, the LOVE that atones for sin. God so LOVED us that we have been forgiven, absolutely. People can be restored to God INSTANTLY through the forgiveness available by the blood of Jesus, NO QUESTION. But if you want a working relationship with the people you have hurt in the past, if you want to rebuild the destruction that your sin has caused, you MUST keep going to FAITHFULNESS. 

One of the faults of many who have violated confidence and broken trust in their sin is that they enjoy the love of Jesus for their forgiveness, but forget the faithfulness necessary to RESTORE their trust. This word faithfulness is translated “truth”. It’s defined as: stability, truth, trustworthy, established, right, sure and true. Without these things being PROVEN in the life of the offender, their “restoration” is shallow and unproven. Yes, you receive forgiveness instantly, but you BUILD trust through faithfulness over TIME. The wife whose husband has cheated on her NEEDS to forgive him instantly, but has NO BUSINESS trusting him unless he PROVES himself faithful over TIME. The church member whose leader is revealed as an immoral adulterer NEEDS to forgive him instantly, but has NO BUSINESS trusting this clown to lead them into the pat of righteousness unless he proves himself over TIME. Even then, he's now unqualified to lead anyone out of anything.

Paul tells us:

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” – I Corinthians 4:2

LIFE LESSON:

Yes, we’re forgiven by His blood, but our faithfulness is just as necessary to RESTORE.

August 15th – Proverbs 15: A Love/Hate Relationship

“The way of the wicked is hateful to Jehovah, but He loves him who pursues righteousness.” – Proverbs 15:9

This scripture reveals several things about the Lord. First of all, it says that the Lord HATES the WAY of the wicked. It doesn’t say that he hates the wicked person, only their WAY. We’ve talked about it many times before on here, but our WAY determines our WALK. Wicked people have a WAY of walking that is detestable and hated in the sight of God. It’s a well-worn path, a road or course of wicked behavior that has become familiar to the wicked man. THIS is what God hates! And when we are talking about wickedness, it simply means WRONG. Morally for sure, spiritually maybe, but the bottom line is that they are wrong and walking the wrong WAY.

Just as righteous people have righteous habits, traits and characteristics and so do wicked people. The righteous worship God and serve their fellow man. The wicked worship their own thoughts and desires and serve themselves. The default of the righteous is to extend themselves for the benefit of their brothers and sisters; the default of the wicked is to extend themselves on behalf of themselves. All that the wicked contemplate is serving self and making their self happy. It’s irrelevant to the wicked who they hurt to attain their goal of self-satisfaction. Whether it’s making money, experiencing physical pleasure or achieving their goals, the wicked could care less who they hurt or how much they hurt on the way to THEIR goals.

Righteous people PURSUE righteousness. They run after, they follow and like the Hebrew word says, “Hunt” righteousness. Their PRIMARY concern is doing justly and they have made a habit of pursuing this way of life. The person who has righteousness is LOVED by God. Not just their WAY, but they personally are loved by Jehovah. That is an awesome promise! If we will run after and pursue righteousness, God will love us. It doesn’t say anything about attaining righteousness, it just says that the person pursuing this way of life will be loved by God. It’s interesting that the pursuit of righteousness has such a wonderful benefit. In the New Testament, we are told that simply pursuing righteousness will bring about a much different outcome.

“Yea, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” II Timothy 3:12

It’s amazing that this scripture doesn’t tell us that the achievement of righteousness will bring persecution, only the pursuit of righteousness. So yes, you will be persecuted as you attempt to lay hold of righteousness, but you will also be loved by God! I’d say that the benefits FAR outweigh the drawbacks.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” – II Corinthians 4:17

LIFE LESSON:

God LOVES the righteous, but the righteous will be persecuted for pursuing righteousness. Sounds fair to me! Everything costs something.

August 12th – Proverbs 12: Lose Some Weight!

“Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, But a good word makes it glad.” – Proverbs 12:25

I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. Around 2003, I had gotten in debt up to my eyeballs. I tried to start and maintain a business on credit. DUMB. Things would look up, I would sell a big job and the tension, pressure and anxiety would relent, but only for a minute.  Then something would come up, a vendor would wreck the job and I would have to pay to make it right, destroying my profit and taking us back to square one. Day after day the pressure and anxiety of financial pressure would mount. The bills were getting bigger, the credit lines were almost maxed out and I felt like I was drowning. That sick feeling in my gut was anxiety about finances, bills, my income, etc. How was I going to provide for my wife and kids? How in the WORLD was I going to get out of this mess? I was desperate for answers and mainly just desperate relief from the crushing weight of anxiety.

And then on the floor at a conference in Toronto, Canada God spoke to me. I had been whining and complaining to Him about our financial situation. I was asking for help, insight, whatever! My main complaint to God was “How am I going to provide for MY wife and MY kids? I feel like a bad Dad, I’ve gotten us all into this mess, how are we going to get out?!” After several hours of whining and crying, I had said what I needed to say. As I sat there waiting on the Lord, God answered.  He told me simply, “Before YOUR wife is YOUR wife, she is MY Daughter! Before YOUR son is YOUR son, he is MY Son!” 

What He said INSTANTLY relieved the weight of anxiety. The burden was gone! My wife was HIS daughter and my son was HIS son! My perspective shifted and I was free! I got up off the floor about 1,000 pounds lighter and almost floated home. It would take several years of disciplined action to get where we needed to be financially, but now it was possible because I was no longer carrying that burden of anxiety.

Anxiety is like a weight. You can literally “feel” anxiety in your heart. It’s a terrible burden that we as Christians don’t have the grace to carry… EVER! So let me ask you; what extra weight of anxiety are you carrying? Maybe like me, you have financial pressure that weighs you down. Maybe you have health related pressure or a marriage impossibility. Whatever it is, I can tell you that you can be free TODAY. 

Just DO this verse:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:6, 7

LIFE LESSON:

Give your anxiety to God, He can handle it. You can’t.

August 11th – Proverbs 11: Hide & Seek

“He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it.” – Proverbs 11:27

Those in the world call this principle the “Law of Attraction”. Here is the definition from Wikipedia:

The Law of Attraction is a metaphysical New Thought belief that "like attracts like", that positive and negative thinking bring about positive and negative physical results, respectively. According to the Law of Attraction, the phrase "I need more money" allows the subject to continue to "need more money". If the subject wants to change this they would focus their thoughts on the goal (having more money) rather than the problem (needing more money). This might take the form of phrases such as "I have as much money as I need" or "I have a job that pays very well".

I believe that this principle is way less mystical than they might tell us. The simple reality is that you find what you are looking for. How many of us have been looking at buying a certain type of car, and then miraculously, all of a sudden, everywhere we go, we see the car we are thinking of buying! Did the roadways suddenly become populated with the make and model of car we are looking for, or did we just start “seeing” what we are looking for?

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” – Philippians 4:8

We see this principle play out time and time again in all sorts of different situations. Folks come to our church many times after a bad experience at their last church. Maybe they had a falling out with the pastor or someone in authority at the last church. When they arrive here, they are “looking” to get hurt by people in authority; and they aren’t disappointed! All that it takes for someone like this to get hurt is a sideways glance or someone no saying hello when they come to church. It doesn’t matter how nice or how understanding we can be, when people are looking to get hurt, they get hurt!

Many believers want good things to come upon them. They want a life full of passion, power and prosperity. But they are looking in the wrong place! Instead of seeking after such things, they turn on the TV and watch a bunch of worldly crap or they read trendy gossip rags. They call their friends for the latest gossip and spread slander about their pastor or maybe complain about their marriage, their husband and their finances. They are looking for bad stuff and they aren’t disappointed! The negativity just COMES to them.

If they simply changed their behavior and went looking for the right stuff, they would find it! You want passion? SPEND TIME WITH JESUS! You want to see the power of God? Then CONSISTENTLY put yourself in positions of impossibility where you need to see God move! PRAY FOR THE SICK! You want prosperity? Then turn off the TV, get off the phone with your stupid friends, put down the gossip rag and DO YOUR WORK WITH DILIGENCE! Oh yeah, you also need to give your time, energy and yes, MONEY generously.

LIFE LESSON:

Want Good? Seek Good will.

August 10th – Proverbs 10: Fear is CREATIVE!

“What the wicked dreads will overtake him; what the righteous desire will be granted.” – Proverbs 10:24


Dread or fear, should never be a part of the Christian life. Jesus came and delivered us from ALL fear. His love revealed through His death on the cross destroyed the yoke and bondage of fear that had been on us for generations. His sacrifice on the cross set us free from fear. Instead, He gave us His spirit, by which we cry, Abba!


“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." – Romans 8:15


If fear or dread comes upon us, the Bible is clear, it’s NOT from the Lord!


“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” – II Timothy 1:7


The ONLY fear we should have as a believer is the fear of the Lord, which is pure and leads to life.


“The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.” – Psalm 19:9


When people fear, it’s about punishment. They believe that they are being punished or should be punished for their sins. This creates a sense of dread, or foreboding. Spiritually, they are waiting for “the other shoe to drop”. But God has delivered us from this sense of fear and dread through His great love.


“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” – I John 4:18


The Bible says that what the wicked dread will come upon them. That’s because fear is just faith for all the wrong things. In the same way that faith “creates” or “manifests” the will of God, fear “Creates” or “manifests” the will of the devil! How many people have you encountered that have a deep, abiding fear of cancer that get cancer! We need to be careful what we fear, even the wicked can “create” their reality by faith in all the wrong things… FEAR!


The righteous only need to desire a thing and their DESIRE is granted. This is a real secret to the Christian life. I know MANY Christians that spend hours each day telling God what they want. But I believe that I only need a desire in my heart for God to grant it!


“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” – Psalm 37:4


LIFE LESSON:
The Wicked’s fears create for him a reality; the righteous’ desires do the same. BE RIGHTEOUS!