August 5th – Proverbs 5: Marley Was Right!

*Some might say that I’m a little morbid or negative with these blog posts. But that isn’t the case. What I am attempting to do is uncover the practices of fools so we can AVOID the destructive results of their lives. No little girls have ever told their Mom, “Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be an alcoholic!” When we are young we ALL want to be a person of significance. We want to accomplish great things and be great people. By studying the Proverbs, we can understand what LEADS to destruction and uncover what leads to a life of fulfillment and righteousness.

“The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the cords of his sin hold him fast. He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by his own great folly.” – Proverbs 5:22

Remember that part in “A Christmas Carol” where Marley meets Scrooge in the middle of the night? He comes into his room all spookily floating and carrying these huge chains wrapped around his body. He tells Scrooge that the chains were fashioned link by link as they failed to show goodness and mercy on earth! Now is this just a silly fiction or truth in disguise?

The Bible says that the evil deeds of wicked men become a snare, or a trap to them. It says that the cords of his sin hold him in bondage. So it’s true that our behavior sets the course of our lives, whether for good or evil. We are held by what we do. When we live righteously, our righteous acts pave a road ahead of us and the road is level, smooth and firm:

“The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.” – Isaiah 26:7

When we live unrighteously, every evil deed we do becomes another obstacle to overcome. Some people, not showing self-control in their finances and living above their means, get in the horrible bondage of debt. Then, to get out from under the first bondage, they will do something else that just compounds the problem. They might cheat on their taxes,, just to keep a little extra to pay their bills with. Or maybe they get involved with a shady investment or crooked business scheme. In a minute, they are completely ensnared by their unrighteousness. What started as a relatively small thing ultimately consumes their lives!

I think it’s interesting that what the wicked ultimately die from is NOT their wickedness and sin, but from a lack of discipline. Several years ago I was sitting in a car repair shop next to a man in his late eighties. He was full of life and full of excitement, I really enjoyed talking to him. He was a WWII Veteran, loved the Lord and was as happy as could be. Before I left I asked him, “What would you tell a young man like me is a key to living a great life?” His answer surprised me. He told me, “Son, the #1 thing you need to get a hold of is discipline. Without it, your life will always be a mess!”

LIFE LESSON:

Listen to the happy old fella, go get you some DISCIPLINE!

August 4th – Proverbs 4: You ARE What You EAT

“They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.” – Proverbs 4:17

We are fed by our works. What we do in life is the sustaining force of our being. If we do evil, we feast on wickedness. Doing wickedness is nourishment and sustenance to our base, carnal nature; our flesh. The Bible refers to it as “the bread of wickedness”. Bread is a real food, capable of sustaining a person and keeping them alive. When we do wickedness, we nourish the old man, our old nature. We keep it alive and sustain it.

Jesus spoke of His works being food:

“Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about." Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” John 4:31-34

Jesus was sustained in HIS life by doing the will of the Father. Doing the will of the Father was the spiritual food of Jesus. To nourish Himself unto righteousness and holiness, Jesus DID the will of the Father. Jesus was strong in Spirit because He ate the right kind of food.

So many Christians are anorexic in the spirit. Towards the spiritual food of righteousness, they are somehow afraid of their food, which is doing the will of the Father. They’ll say things like, “That’s just striving” or “I’m saved by grace, not by works”. When they say these things, they are pushing back from the table of the Lord. They aren’t eating and they wonder why they grow gaunt and thin, unable to ENDURE any difficulty. What they should do is what Jesus did, belly up to the table and FEAST on DOING the will of the Father. As they do so, they would grow strong, nourished in their spirits, capable to accomplish the will of the Father.

Yet towards sin and wickedness, they treat it like an all you can eat buffet. Plate after heaping plate of spiritual death, they gobble down pornography, immorality and carnality. Their old man grows and is nourished, ultimately overcoming their spirit man, weak and sickly from a lack of sustenance. The final end of this person is a sad one. Their marriages, families and finances end up in a sad, broken mess as this evil tyrant of the flesh declares ultimate victory.

“Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.” – John 6:53-56

LIFE LESSON:

What you feed, you empower. What you starve, you can overcome.

August 3rd – Proverbs 3rd: An Inconvenient Truth

“The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.” – Proverbs 3:33

Wow, I really like half of this scripture, you know the part about the blessing of God being on the house of the righteous. I just LOVE God’s blessings! I’m not so crazy about the other part of the verse, you know the part about curses… Are you serious, God sends curses?? Certainly not the God of the Bible? There is NO WAY that my precious daddy of grace, mercy and happiness would EVER send a curse… right?

“Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.” – I Samuel 16:14

What?? God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul?? Are you serious?? What kind of sick, sadistic God are we talking about here?? My Happy Santa “PAPA” would NEVER do such a thing! Maybe this is just Old Testament?? There is ABSOLUTELY no way that God would send something like a curse on someone in the New Testament… right??

“The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” II Thessalonians 2:9-12

ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS!??? God sends POWERFUL delusion on people? In the New Testament?? Maybe it’s just a bad translation, let me check and see what the Message says about this… There’s no way! This doesn’t sound like the Santa God of happy, peace, love and joy that I give a few minutes and dollars to every now and then. MY Sappy, Happy Daddy God would NEVER do such things! His ONLY desire is to happy bless me with flowers of comfort and joy!!

“Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet. Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God." When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.” – Acts 5:1-5

WHAT!? God killed someone? That’s it. The God that I SERVE would NEVER do such a thing!

LIFE LESSON:

Maybe the God you are serving ISN’T the God of the Bible?

August 2nd – Proverbs 2: The Paths of the Righteous

“Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.” – Proverbs 2:20

If you pay close attention to the path you are on, you will be able to tell what company you are in. Righteous people have lived the same way for all generations. They have trodden well-worn paths that are easy to spot for someone that is looking. Good men all walk the same way. They love God and they love their brothers. Love for God will keep you from violating half the commandments, loving your neighbor will keep you from the rest. It’s been this way from the beginning.

“This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” – Genesis 6:9

Noah was righteous; he was blameless among the people. He didn’t steal his neighbor’s possessions or sleep with his neighbor’s wife. He didn’t harm or murder his fellow man. As a result, the Bible records that he was “blameless among the people of his time”. He stood out. Anyone could look at Noah and recognize that he was a good man. But more than that, the Bible says about Noah, “he walked with God”. Righteous people have been walking with God for thousands of years. Noah walked with God, Abraham walked with God, even being called “God’s friend” (II Chronicles 20:7). Isaac, Jacob and Moses all walked with God and this was before the blood of Jesus!

Good men have been walking out a “way” in the midst of wicked people for generations. Righteous people have been cutting paths through the wasteland of unrighteousness and faithlessness for thousands of years. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel and create a way; we just need to find the existing paths. The Bible tells us a few things about the path of the righteous:

“The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.” – Proverbs 4:18

The path of the righteous is a path of increasing light. It gets brighter!

“The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.” – Isaiah 26:7

The path of the righteous is level. It’s not this up and down roller coaster of emotion. It’s steady, stable and always heading gently upwards.

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” – Matthew 7:13,14

The road of the righteous that leads to life is NARROW. It’s small and only a few find it; not many people are walking on it.

LIFE LESSON:

Look down. What path are you walking on?

August 1st – Proverbs 1: The Point of No Return

“Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.” – Proverbs 1:28

Wow. At what point does the Savior of the world and the God of grace and mercy turn his ear from our cries for help? At what point does He hide Himself from us and suddenly become impossible to find? Well, one thing is for sure, this didn’t happen overnight. This was a long and arduous process. Most likely months and years have passed.

The Bible tells us:

“But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke,” – Proverbs 1:24,25

God calls to people all the time. He calls them out of deception and out of wickedness into the truth and into the light, yet many REJECT His call! God stretches out His hand to help and many just bat it away. He extends Himself on our behalf to bring healing, light and mercy, but so many pay no attention and give no heed. God speaks to us out of His word and through His people, offering His advice and counsel on our situation, but sadly He is ignored. When His call, His hand and His advice are spurned, He then turns to a loving rebuke by a loving Father. He chastises and corrects us, many times through difficult circumstances.

In Hebrews it tells us:

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?” – Hebrews 12:7

But even then, as God chastises and rebukes us, many STILL will not accept it. The result is SCARY.

“I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you— when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.” Proverbs 1:26-28

God is a patient, loving Father. But there is such thing as a point of no return. There is a place where we’ve gone too far to turn back. In this age of the popular deception, “once saved, always saved” many think that it’s an impossibility to lose their salvation or for their lives to be in danger of the fires of Hell. But wake up, the Bible is FULL or warnings just like this.

LIFE LESSON:

We need to accept His call, reach for His hand, heed His advice and accept His rebukes.

July 29th – Proverbs 29: Brought Low

“A man's pride brings him low, but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.” – Proverbs 29:23

Over the years, I have been shocked by how LOW believers can go. You expect the crack heads and degenerates that don’t know Jesus to hit bottom, but rarely do you expect born again Christians to bottom out. Many people come to Jesus when they hit bottom but we’re not supposed to bottom out as Christians! If we do, this Proverb tells us why.

The ONLY reason that we bottom out and “hit the skids’ is because of pride. Pride is that amazing ability to COMPLETELY ignore the facts and be utterly deceived by our own “greatness”. The root word for pride in the Hebrew means; to mount up, to grow up, to rise up, swelling. Think of a loaf of bread rising before baking. That leaven gets in there and releases gas, making the dough rise to two and three times its normal size. But the second you touch it, or “punch it down” it releases the air and goes back to its ACTUAL size.

Pride has the same effect in the life of the believer. A little “leaven” of pride and we swell up like a tick. We’re fooled by our “growth”, barley recognizing that it’s all just hot air. It’s not real growth. Pride brings us LOW. I have known believers to completely bottom out financially, physically, relationally and emotionally. Now, everyone goes through hard times, even good people. But the kind of lowliness I am talking about here is extreme and totally unnecessary. Things like blowing through hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling, getting caught in multiple affairs, wrecking their lives and reputations with alcohol and even going to jail for not paying traffic tickets!

The scriptures say,

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." – James 4:6

Humility is not walking around with your head hanging low or speaking softly. No, humility is being aware of your need for God! When humble people hit a wall (and they do!) instead of try to tackle the impossibility themselves, they call on JESUS for help! Yes, they go to God in prayer, but God answers them THROUGH PEOPLE. Remember, he called us the “Body of Christ”! So they humble themselves to their spouse when they are struggling with lust, averting adulterous disaster. They confess their lack of self-control with drinking to their pastor or friend and GET HELP. Instead of “press through” financial impossibility, humble people ask for wisdom. It’s humbling in the moment, but in the end, it brings honor.

People that humble themselves are honored and people that honor themselves are humbled.

LIFE LESSON:

The grace we need to overcome whatever difficulty we’re encountering is only one act of humility away.

July 28th – Proverbs 28: Rebuke a Man = Gain Favor

“He who rebukes a man will in the end gain more favor than he who has a flattering tongue.” – Proverbs 28:23

I’m not known for giving praise. In fact, I seem to be developing a reputation for being a straight shooter that will more likely rebuke you than praise you. This isn’t a bad thing. Sure, I have a LOT fewer friends than the person who praises everyone, regardless of whether that person is deserving of praise or not. But in THE END, it will go better for me.

Many who are easy “praisers” have such low standards that everyone deserves praise, everyone deserves honor and respect. You know the type; they endorse EVERYONE’S book with glowing accolades. But if you read the book, it’s crazy! They endorse EVERYONE’S ministry, even if they have a long history of immorality, alcoholism and greed. But this is NOT biblical teaching. Some in fact do NOT deserve honor or praise but they are DUE a stern rebuke!

“Therefore give to all their dues; to the one due tax, the tax; tribute to whom tribute is due, fear to whom fear is due, and honor to whom honor is due.” Romans 13:7

In many cases someone’s good deeds are used as a justification for their evil behavior. You’ve perhaps seen this before. It’s amazing how much “grace” the adulterous and greedy evangelist (e.g.-Todd Bentley) gets from other “leaders” in the body. Why does he get such preferential treatment? Because he “wins the lost” or because he was “instrumental in leading a revival”. But the greater question is, what exactly was he winning the lost to; If not the Gospel that requires holiness and purity? He’s leading a revival of what? Adultery & Immorality in the church?

You see these mega church pastors (e.g.-Eddie Long) that I guess are given a pass to seduce and sexually violate teenage boys. Why? “Because they do so much good in the community!” Where is it in the Bible that you are allowed to buy little boys expensive gifts with church offerings, take them on lavish “ministry” trips in order to seduce and perform all kinds of homosexual horror on teenage boys? But according to spineless, compromised DEVILS (e.g.-Creflo Dollar) he just “had a wreck” but “he has insurance” and “Jesus paid the premium!”

I guess I missed that passage in the Bible where homosexual pedophilia perpetrated by leaders in the church gets a pass.

LIFE LESSON:

It's like David Baker said, "Some believers are 'Coupon Christians' with a 'Discount Jesus'!"