Month of Prayer, Day 10

Lord, how I do love Your Word.  Not only is it the weapon You have given us against the enemy, but it is life, and truth, and love.  Your Word is living and powerful.  It transforms and reforms.  It cleanses and guides.  It breathes life into our thirsty souls.

I love Pr. 10:3, that says You will not allow the righteous soul to famish.  Lord, Your Word is living water and food for our hungry souls.  Only You can fill the void within us.  That is why we can delight in Your Word and in Your commandments; because Your Word protects us, shapes us, and breathes truth into our inmost beings.

Lord, we can walk securely and at liberty when we follow Your precepts.  Your precepts and commands are what keep us safe.  In Proverbs 10, Solomon wrote of the peril, destruction, danger, and consequences of living a life outside of Your will.  But, oh my God, You made us Your righteousness through the blood of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and You, Lord, will keep us safe when we follow You.

Lord, keep my feet from stumbling onto any path that is not laid out by You.  When I face a fork in the road, let Your law I have kept be my compass.  Let Your statutes I have meditated upon make my decisions easy and my choices clear.  Lord, Your Word gives me very clear guidance.  Help me to heed it.

Thank You that Your way is strength for the upright.  Thank You that the righteous will never be removed, and that our labor leads to life.  Thank You for the security, the love, and the salvation that You have given us.

Oh God, let me be wise enough to make You glad.  Let my life please You and be a sweet-smelling offering for You, as I walk in love and in Your wisdom.  You are the amazing God!

I love you,

jamie

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Month of Prayer, Day 5

In Ps. 119:20, the psalmist declares, “My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times.”  Oh, God, his desire to know more of You was so strong that it overcame him and ‘broke his soul’.  His desire for You exhausted and wore on him, zapping his strength in the best of ways.  God, that I would allow that type of desire to take hold in my own heart.  Oh, that my desire to know You would consume my thoughts as much as any unfulfilled desire ever could.

Lord, in Pr. 5, Solomon pleads again with his son to pay attention to his wisdom and his understanding.  He instructs his son not to be enraptured by an immoral woman.  He warns him of the dangers of being seduced by desire towards her.  Lord, Your Word tells us the same things.  We allow our desire for so many things to take our steps away from You, but all the while, we should be so consumed with a desire for You that nothing else will satisfy.  Forgive me, Lord, for placing my desire in other places.

Help me to hear Your Word as the instruction that will truly keep from reproach and contempt.  Help me not to depart from the Word of Your mouth that was given to keep me from being caught in the cords of sin, and quite literally from death.  Do not let me despise Your instruction, nor let me be consumed by anything other than my desire for more of You.  You alone are worthy of my life.  You alone are worthy of my desire, my longings, my devotion.

Oh, that Your Word would give me more delight than any other thing could even imagine to bring.  Awaken in me a new desire, Lord, for more of You.  Awaken a longing such as I have never had before.

Let my longing for You be passed to my children and my children’s children.  Let the generations to come long for You so strongly that it also breaks their souls.  Oh, that our longing would produce works that will glorify You and You alone.  You are worthy of all that and more, Lord, our Creator, our Savior, our Deliverer, and Strength.  Your power and might, Your faithfulness, Your peace…all these things and more make You more desirable than all else.  Keep that in our hearts and in our minds.  Help us to meditate on these things above all other things.  Move in us and use us for Your glory, Lord.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

Walking safely

Pr. 3:23:  “Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble.”

After I got out of the vehicle at church last night, I promptly tripped.  Although there was nothing noticeable on the ground in my path, I stumbled, but thankfully didn’t fall.

In this chapter of Proverbs, Solomon tells us about the benefits of having wisdom.  One of the benefits of keeping sound wisdom and discretion close is that we will walk safely in our way, and our foot will not stumble.

God’s wisdom helps us to be more aware of the obstacles and roadblocks satan places in our paths.  When we have wisdom, we are more able to recognize those obstacles for what they really are:  temptations positioned to trip us up, cause us to fall, and cause us to lose our bearings.

Discretion allows us to prepare to purposefully avoid certain obstacles.  Instead of walking straight towards them, we are able to make choices that lead us away from or around them.

Unfortunately, there are times when we still make missteps over certain obstacles.  We may hesitate to choose God’s will over the flesh, or we might actually fall.  However, God gives us the wisdom to keep us from staying down.  He gives us discretion to help us put plans in action to keep from tripping over the same obstacles over and over.

As long as we are on this earth there will be stumbling blocks in our path.  If we want to walk as safely as possible, we must keep wisdom and discretion close.  They will enlighten the path before us, and lead us to those streets of gold.

Watching my step,

jamie

 

Don’t reject wise counsel

Pr. 15:22:  “Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.”

King Solomon requested from the Lord an understanding heart to discern between good and evil and to judge the Lord’s people.  1 Kings 4:29 says, “And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.”

Fast forward to his death and burial, and the beginning of the reign of his son, Rehoboam.  Because Solomon had turned his heart to other gods, the Lord had told him that his kingdom would be torn out of the hand of his son, and we find that his son played a critical part in what the Lord had spoken.

At the beginning of his reign, King Rehoboam consulted the elders who previously stood before his father Solomon, asking “How do you advise me to answer these people?”  They advised Rehoboam that if he would be a servant to the people, answer them, and speak good words to them, then the people would be his servants forever.

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the wise, experienced elders who had helped make his father’s reign successful.  He went and found the young, inexperienced friends he had grown up and hung out with and asked for their advice.

The advice the young men gave was to oppress, chastise, and belittle the people.  While he did received counsel, he made a very unwise decision about which counsel he would accept and which he would reject.  As a result of his decision, 10 of the tribes of Israel rebelled against Rehoboam and chose another as their king.  Rehoboam’s plans certainly went awry.

We cannot be too proud to seek out or receive counsel of others.  We must be careful, however, which counsel we reject or accept.  I am semi-young myself, but I am wise enough to understand that those who are older and more experienced than I are going to be the ones who have the most wisdom, if for no other reason than the lessons they have learned and seen over their lives.

My 5-year-old still thinks that if there is no money in our “eating out” account that we can just use our check card to eat out.  I would never allow his whims or lack of understanding to control my check book.  After seeking the Lord’s will through His word and prayer, we should seek the counsel of those wiser than us when making plans.  If we want our plans to be established (fixed), then we need to ensure the foundation will be strong and secure.

Even in his unsurpassed wisdom, Solomon knew it was wise to seek counsel.  We need to do the same, but prayerfully, carefully, and with discretion.

Thanks for the lesson through Rehoboam’s mistakes, Lord.

jamie