Proverbs 28:13

The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

Whoever confesses AND renounces their sin will find mercy.

We easily and conveniently forget the renouncing part, don’t we. Turning to Christ will always include a turning from sin. The closer we get to Him, the more clearly we see the darkness of sin and therefore, the more we will hate it.

Proverbs 28:26

The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.

There is only One who you can totally trust, for He knows you better than you know yourself. Only thru knowing Him can we know ourselves and be transformed.

We so need Jesus to show us our damaged parts that keep us from knowing Him fully. Those parts we can’t even see right now on our own because of our blindness. Because of our damage.

Only thru a bold openness and sincere desire to change will we be able to see what needs to be healed and liberated.

Listening.

Listening is key.

To the Holy Spirit’s whisper.

To others who know and care about us.

To Scripture. Coming to Scripture open and listening, not with preconceived notions.

Many people do not hear God speaking to them because they go in thinking they already know what He is going to say. So there is a shutoff that keeps them from hearing the beautiful voice of God. Go to Him in the reality that you do not yet know what He wants to say to you today. You can’t know. He is God. How often He has a kind, gentle, encouraging word for us, but we do not hear it because we make God in our own image.

John 19:1-16

Oh the dangerous temptation to regard secular acclaim above divine approval.

Who cares what people think when you are pleasing, from your heart, the only One who ultimately matters?

Say what you will.

Think what you will.

Tozer said the meek man understands the world will never see him as God sees him, and he has stopped caring.

In the fitting words of Run D.M.C. – “I’m down with the King!”

Proverbs 27:12

A sensible person sees danger and takes cover; the inexperienced keep going and are punished.

I’ve read that prudence is taking the time to weigh out a situation, looking at the possible courses of action and what is likely to come of them, and then making the wise choice.

It’s the old “Stop and think for two seconds” technique.

Just stop and consider what you are doing.

Unless severely brain damaged, we can ALL do this.

“God warns before He wounds.”

May we have eyes to see and ears to hear the warnings that are lovingly placed in front of us for our safety and well being, as well as the grace to make the wise choice.

Proverbs 27:21

A hot furnace tests silver and gold, and people are tested by the praise they receive.

Response to praise reveals who a person really is. Do you get the big ego and then go lazy? Or do you thank God and continue working even harder to serve others after receiving affirmation?

How do you respond to praise? In your heart?

Are people drawn more to us or to God?

Who do you want people to be drawn to?

John 18:28

Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

These dudes were trying to get the Son of God killed, yet were worried about being ceremonially unclean because they really wanted to eat the Passover meal.

Seriously?

Wait. Do we ever do this?

Do we deny someone in need because it may make us late to the Sunday gathering?

Do we avoid spending time with a brother or sister because we have meetings or we need our “Me time”?

And let’s be honest, “Me time” usually consists of watching TV or some equivalently no-treasure-in-heaven-non-joy-building-time-waster or NTIHNJBTW’s as I like to call them.

John 18:37

“The whole reason I was born and the whole reason I came into the world is this: to bear witness to the Truth. Every single individual who is rooted in the Truth is listening to my voice.” Jesus the Messiah

Don’t you just love it when we come across a rather unambiguous pericope such as this?

Straightforward.

What are you gonna do with this?

That Jesus believes (as he now says) that “my voice” is the vehicle of world Truth is wonderfully centering for believers who have made Jesus Lord. Truth-seeking disciples will listen to this singular voice as avidly as children listen to stories. In the voice of Jesus, disciples are convinced, they have the most truth-filled words ever given. Disciples who love science, which is the search for truth, will give themselves, therefore, to mining the meaning of Jesus’ Words.

-Frederick Dale Bruner

Proverbs 26:11

As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.

Here is some good and penetrating commentary by Warren Wiersbe on this:

Fools don’t learn from their mistakes, but go right back to the same old mess. Experience is a good teacher for the wise but not for fools. This verse is quoted in 2 Peter 2:22 as a description of counterfeit believers who follow false teachers. Like a sow that’s been washed, they look better on the outside; and like a dog that’s vomited, they feel better on the inside; but they still don’t have the divine new nature. Consequently, they go right back to the old life. Obedience and perseverance in the things of the Lord are proof of conversion. Foolish tendencies in each of us are part of our sin nature. Recognizing them and depending on God’s remedies for these flaws are the first steps toward wisdom, forgiveness, and eternal life.

John 17:3

“This is eternal life: that they may know You the one true God, and the One You have sent-Jesus Christ .”

This, for me, is one of the most important verses in all of Scripture.

Here our Master defines for us eternal life. It’s not merely living forever. It is deeper than that. It changes our old understanding of John 3:16, enriching it, rendering it more tangible.

I defer to the eloquent A.W. Tozer for some exposition on this verse:

In religion more than in any other field of human experience a sharp distinction must always be made between knowing about and knowing. The distinction is the same between knowing about food and actually eating it. A man can die of starvation knowing all about bread, and a man can remain spiritually dead while knowing all the historic facts of Christianity. We have but to introduce one extra word into this verse to see how vast the difference between knowing about and knowing. “This is life eternal, that they might know about thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” That one word makes all the difference between life and death, for it goes to the very root of the verse and changes its theology radically and vitally.

For all this we would not underestimate the importance of mere knowing about. Its value lies in its ability to rouse us to desire to know in actual experience. Thus knowledge by description may lead on to knowledge by acquaintance. May lead on, I say, but does not necessarily do so. Thus we dare not conclude that because we learn about the Spirit, we for that reason actually know Him. Knowing Him comes only by a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit Himself.

Proverbs 24:19-20

Don’t be agitated by evildoers, and don’t envy the wicked. For the evil have no future; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

People seem to thrive on worry.

I constantly overhear fretting over the president, mayor, governor, family, terrorists…

Is it really worth devoting so much fruitless negative energy?

And by negative energy, I mean whining.

Pray about it, get involved in the solution, or shut your mouth. Really. Let us not be the Christians bitching about everything out there. Rather, may we be love-filled joy starters, praying, acting, with few words and great love.

Focusing on our loving relationship with God will give us less time and energy left over to complain about everything. After our own transformation, our energy will start to flow in a direction where it matters and become a catalyst for genuine transformation of the world beginning with the healing of those around us.

Let us not forget that God’s plan for the healing of the nations is His followers. That is us. And we will only do this thru connecting to Him, our power Source. Our Everything.

John 15:5

“Apart from Me, you can do nothing.”

Jesus said He did nothing apart from the Father.

When will we learn that we can do nothing apart from Jesus?

How much do you rely on Jesus day to day?

A new world opens up when you do. When you become a co-laborer with Christ. I have seen such pure awesomeness when I choose to trust Christ to work with me and do the things I cannot do on my own. When, abiding in Him, I sincerely trust Him to do what I ask in His name. This must be experienced, and when it is, it is a paradigm-shifter. You not only cognitively realize, but you experientially feel, that this. Is. Real.

John 15:21

“..they don’t know the One who sent Me.”

After belief, I can think of nothing more important than knowing God. Knowing Jesus. Knowing the Holy Spirit.

“This is eternal life, to know You the one true God, and the One You sent, Jesus Christ.” -Jesus [John 17:3]

We judge from afar those whom we do not know.

But the people closest to us, whom we know inside and out and love dearly, we defend and stand by….no matter what.

Proverbs 23:17-18

Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of YHWH all the day. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

If you find yourself envying someone, turn it into fear of the Lord, who is able to destroy the soul if He so chooses. In His incomprehensible infinitude He created the soul, which means He could also destroy it. Yet in His incomprehensible, infinite love, He keeps us forever.

Just pondering this gives me a more proper perspective on things and enables me to recognize more clearly what life is all about. The chief end of humankind, the catechism tells us, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, not self and other people.

Anything in comparison to the presence of God is utter excrement.

John 14:2-3

“There is plenty of room to live in my Father’s house. If that wasn’t the case, I’d have told you, wouldn’t I? I’m going to get a place ready for you! And if I do go and get a place ready for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, so that you can be there, where I am.”

Meditating on this passage a while back I realized that the “place” Jesus was going to prepare was the actual presence of God, not necessarily a physical dwelling. He was going to the cross to make ready this presence that He lived in, available to us.

John 14:22-23

Judas spoke up. (This was the other Judas, not Iscariot.) “Master,” he said, “how will it be that you will show yourself to us and not to the world?” 

“If anyone loves me,” Jesus replied, “they will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”

What does it take for Jesus to reveal Himself to us?

Love Him.

Really love Him.

Do you actually LOVE Jesus?

If you do, He will show you life in the most vibrant and truthful and insightful of ways…a higher consciousness, if you will.

John 14:26

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, the One the father will send in my name, He will teach you everything. He will bring back to your mind everything I’ve said to you.”

I don’t NEED any human to teach me about God.

See also 1 John 2:26-27 –> I am writing to you about the people who are deceiving you. You have received the anointing from Him; it abides in you and you do not need to have anyone teach you. That anointing from Him teaches you about everything; it is true, it isn’t a lie. So, just as He taught you, abide in Him.

It’s nice to be taught by human teachers, but the Holy Spirit is the best Teacher.

It just takes more concentration to listen to the Holy Spirit. But it is well worth the effort.

John 14:30

“I haven’t got much more to say to you. The ruler of the world is coming. He has nothing to do with me.”

Literally, “He has nothing in me.”

I can only be tempted by what I permit to be in my mind.

Jesus kept His thought life so pure that the devil had nothing to use against Him. Jesus’ desire was so profoundly to be close to His Father, that there were no desires for satan to latch onto to effectively entice Him with.

The closer we get to Christ, the more other desires will fade away. Which is the truest freedom, isn’t it? We always say the Christian life is not abstaining from a buncha things you want but know you shouldn’t have. It is drawing so close to Jesus Christ that you sincerely see desire for anything but Him die away. There is no more appeal.

The worst and most tempting part of sin is that…you like it! You love it, in fact. If you didn’t, it would not be a temptation. Think of something you have no desire for. Does it tempt you to engage in? Of course not! For me, I have zero desire to attend a Nascar event (no offense to anyone).  So there is no fight whatsoever when I see a billboard for some race in Indy. Well that is what can happen with our temptations and sin if only we pursue God. If only we run hard after Him and make Him the focus of our life. It takes time, and we may not reach perfection in this life, but why not go after it?

Proverbs 22:17-18

Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

It will be pleasant IF you keep God’s word within you.

IF His word is always on the tip of your tongue.

Some things are conditional. We of course know that God’s love for us is not one of those things. But a life well lived here on earth is conditional upon our ingesting of God and His truth.

Ingesting.

Not striving.

Not rule keeping.

Not a checklist fake spirituality.

But truly assimilating God and His ways into our being, into our way of seeing and living. Then we start to live life as it was meant to be lived. The memorization of Scripture is necessary, powerful, and good not because of the mere accomplishment of it, but because of the fact that it is a sure way to get God’s truth into us. The more we chew on it, the more we will know it and live it. And living it is pleasant.

It’s hard for me to accept that Jesus came to earth, revealing YHWH, doing all He did, suffering all He suffered, so that we could now have the right belief system and know the seven things we should do everyday. It seems to me, and I sure as heaven hope, it is much, much deeper than that!

What is pure awesomeness is the experience of the presence of God in your daily life. Immanuel–>God-as-glad-as-glad-can-get-to-be-with-you, no matter what your circumstances. To be guided by ultimate love, ultimate wisdom, ultimate power, ultimate care. This is what Jesus brought to us. The enablement to live this life very well-in His kingdom, where what He desires done is done.

If reading our Bible or going to church [“going to church” what a silly, non-biblical phrase] does not affect how you live your life, or how you think, or result in peace, then what is the point? The end of it all is union with God thru Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Whatever you or I have experienced, there is so much more. And I believe YHWH wants us to experience more as we follow hard after Him as we are able to handle it.

John 13:35

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The newness of the new commandment can be understood only in light of the finished work of Jesus. God has always called His people to a life of neighbor love (Lev.19:18), reaffirmed by Jesus as the second great commandment (Matt.22:36-40). But the new commandment presupposes a new paradigm. The greatness of Jesus’ love for us in now the motivation for our loving others. If we love Jesus truly and deeply, we will love what and whom He loves–the unlovely, the oppressed, those very different from us, and those whose actions have damaged us.

This confirming sign of our discipleship is not a badge of our commitment to Jesus; it is rather the beauty of Jesus’ commitment to us. Discipleship is not a program for which we sign up; it is a whole new way of life for which we have been raised up.

-from the Gospel Transformation Bible

This new commandment is washing other people’s feet because you know who you are, where you come from, and where you are going.

Proverbs 20:9

Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?

Oh to have  a heart of nothing but pure thoughts…!

This is my prayer, to only have pure thoughts of others-no jealousy, no anger, no frustration, no judgement,,,only love and patience.

Unconditional love is the great power of the universe.

The patient, unconditional love of God.

John 11:20-27

Look how Martha is vindicated here in such a huge way.

In Luke 10 we tend to bash her a little bit for being too busy to just sit and listen to Jesus. Yet God is all about redemption. Here, we see she is one of the first people in recorded history to confess Jesus as the Messiah! [after Peter] Not bad for the ol’ ministry resume.

“Do you believe this?”

Such a poignant question from the Master.

Proverbs 19:2

Even zeal is not good without knowledge, and the one who acts hastily sins.

Making it a habit to slow down and think for two seconds is life changing and life giving. For this brings a heightened awareness of your surroundings, of people and their feelings [mindsight], of the beauty of nature, of your own life.

To slow down and actually take in your life, to stop and smell the roses is to live at a higher consciousness. To practice the presence of God, to live each moment in purposeful attention to His being with you, is to enjoy life at the level Jesus broke open for us.

God is in each moment communicating with you. It is up to you to “tune in” to His frequency and hear Him. It is the ignoring of this fact that plunges us into apathy, despair, and discontent. God is there in the midst of every single minute detail of your day and life. Acknowledge it. This is the comforting game-changer.

John 10:10

“I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.”

Jesus came to earth so that His followers would have abundant life. A life of abundance flowing into others’ lives.

It is good to ask ourselves from time to time, “Am I living a life of spiritual and emotional abundance?” If not, why the heck not? That is what Jesus brought for everybody to have access to. Whatever the reason we may not being living abundantly, we know it is not His fault. though there is much out of our control, we can always respond to life out of abundance.

Always.

Abundance-

1. An extremely plentiful or oversufficent quantity or supply

2. Overflowing fullness