Proverbs 8

Imagine Jesus, the eternal Word [John 1:1-3], saying this as you read it. He is wisdom. All of the OT speaks of Jesus [Luke 24:27], this is one of the passages where He is more clearly seen.

Mark 11:22-26

The prayer in accordance with God’s will [James 4:3], without any doubt, and with only forgiveness and love in the heart, is a very powerful prayer that does indeed invoke the change of things.

Our prayers are very hindered by our doubt of an answer, and any lack of forgiveness for anyone in our heart. This could very well be a reason for any unanswered prayer you’ve experienced.

I highly suggest R.A. Torrey’s How To Prayer for an excellent, concise treatment of prayer. In it, he includes the seven hindrances to prayer from the Scriptures that I found very helpful. In brief, they are:

1. Asking amiss to fulfill your own pleasures —James 4:3 “The true purpose in prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer.” -R.A. Torrey
2. Habitual sin —Isaiah 59:1-2
3. Idols in the heart-anything that takes the place of God, that is the supreme object of our affection–Ezekiel 14:3
4. Shutting your ears to the cry of the poor–Proverbs 21:13
5. An unforgiving spirit–Mark 11:25
6. Wrong relation between husband and wife–1 Peter 3:7
7. Doubt, lack of faith–James 1:5-7

Proverbs 7:1-5

Love wisdom like a sister; make insight a part of your beloved family.

A gym membership for your mind.

Cultivate an intimacy and familiarity with YHWH and His word. As we do this, our minds are renewed and God’s nature seeps into our nature more and more, until it begins to really take over and actually become our very nature. Our natural responses turn into His responses the closer we get to Him, the more we feed ourselves on Him and His word.

I’ve been reading so much lately about rewiring your brain, and how scientists did not think this was possible to do in adulthood–that is, until discoveries were made in the last ten to fifteen years or so that blew this away. This is huge in both the spiritual and so-called “secular” world right now. Some call it mindfulness. Brother Lawrence called it the practice of the presence of God back in the 1600s.

Of course this has really been known by those who have been regenerated by Christ for a couple thousand years now. Meditating on God and His word will rewire your brain for joy and happiness–toward godliness.

Anyone can do this.

Do you?

Is it worth your time?

 Mark 10:17-22

Jesus looked hard at him, and loved him. “One more thing,” He said. “Go away, and whatever you possess-sell it, and give it to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven! Then; come and follow me.”

The problem here is not the man’s possessions, but rather his priorities. Nowhere does the Bible tell us it is wrong to be wealthy. Let us not make the mistake and apply this specific story to all people. In fact, there are many godly, wealthy people mentioned- Job, Abraham, Nicodemus, Mary, Martha, Lazarus, Joseph of Arimathea, Barnabas, Philemon.

It’s been said that God rarely if ever works the exact same way twice. He works with each of us where we’re at in our unique situations. Tho, we never ignore universal truths. There is a danger, if you will, a temptation, that comes with having a lot.

It is our attitude toward wealth that matters to God, because our attitude will determine how we manage the possessions He entrusts to us.

Some have taken a vow of poverty. Awesome!

Some have great wealth and use it in furthering the Kingdom of God. Awesome!

May we ensure that we are ready to give up anything that hinders us from being in the kingdom of God, in the range of His effective will, inside that place where what He wants done is being done and we are a privileged part of it!

Proverbs 6:21

Bind them upon your heart always; tie them around your neck.

These are not just a bunch of rules to keep in order to ensure God is happy with us. God’s commands are a most loving gift [see Psalm 119]. Here the writer speaks of a mother and father’s instruction, what is true wisdom, what is good and right.

I do not think this is telling us to follow our parents’ instruction no matter what. Many have received ungodly instruction from parents or no instruction at all. One of the kids I worked with at Outreach told me of his parents supplying him with his first gun when he was barely a teenager and how they instructed him on how to profitably deal drugs on the street.

Our loving God tells us and shows us, in Jesus, how to live life really well. Any caring, loving parent does this for their children. Godly parents give God’s word, not their own. My dad did this, and I am ever grateful for it, for God’s word convicts and penetrates the heart like no mere mortal’s words can. I desire to intentionally instruct and model for my daughters a life worth living, a life in the kingdom of God’s loving rule of agape.

What do you model for those around you? Do they want to be in the kingdom because of you, and how you live? What do you intentionally instruct your children in day to day?

Mark 9:4

Elijah appeared to them, and Moses too, and they were talking with Jesus.

The Old Testament was originally divided into two parts, the Law and the Prophets. Moses represented the Law, Elijah the Prophets, and Jesus is the fulfillment of all of it. Everything in the OT led to Jesus. May we never forget that.

He’s kind of a big deal. Listen to Him.

Way back in the 200s, Origen of Alexandria said of this verse, “By means of the device of synecdoche he is holding conversation not with one prophet only, but symbolically with all the prophets.”

And yes, I just wanted to use the word synecdoche, which as we all know is a figure of speech by which the whole of a thing is put for a part or a part for a whole.

Bonus thoughts:

The more I read and start to grasp, the more I see that only Jesus could have interpreted the Old Testament rightly, and show how it speaks of and points to Him. I don’t see how the OT writers, or even Jesus’ disciples, could possibly have figured out the master mosaic of Scripture divinely given by YHWH, for it was hidden and a mystery, to be revealed only by Him in His time. As far fetched as it may sound, I believe this was done, at least in part, to keep the mystery veiled from the supernatural dark forces who oppose YHWH. For if they had known the plan, they would not have crucified Jesus.

The book of Hebrews, which we looked at last year, also contains brilliant interpretation of Scripture, putting together and highlighting key parts to form the picture ultimately intended by YHWH. This, to me, could not have been given merely by human minds. It is the wisdom and mystery of God.

Proverbs 5:22

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that most of what we call our problems are self-created. The cords around our neck, holding us back, are usually our own sins. Repentance and surrender are our only realistic options that result in peace, release, freedom, and victory.

Awareness must then lead us to acceptance, not blame. When has anyone succeeded in anything thru blame? You never hear the inspirational story:

“Once I finally blamed everyone else for all of my problems I really started to heal and get out of the hole I was in. It took so much pressure off, knowing nothing was my fault and that I owned no responsibility whatsoever. I’m so thankful I came to this wonderful, peace-filled realization that there’s just nothing I can do to improve myself.”

Always accept that YOU are the problem and then proceed. Tho it sounds counter intuitive, this is extremely freeing and empowering. There is now something you can do! There is much you can do! You have a choice. You are not enslaved to anything because Christ already defeated everything you can be enslaved to around 30 A.D. So get to work actively resting in that!!!

Mark 8:14-21

“–don’t you remember?”

“You still don’t get it?”

Oh how soon we forget the goodness and provision of God. This is why we remind each other constantly of His love for us.

In this passage, the disciples are mumbling among themselves that the Master must be concerned that they forgot to bring bread with them and only had one loaf in the boat. This, soon after they witnessed Him feed the 5,000 with a kid’s lunch and then take up a dozen baskets of leftovers.

Oh how soon we forget.

Modern neuroscience is showing the powerful positive effects on our brains that appreciation gives us. Appreciation memories are huge in our outlook on life, on our happiness. Remembering the good we can be thankful for–times when God obviously moved in our life, the fact that He is always glad to be with us–all bring us joy and rewire our brains for happiness. We must be intentional in this. Make it a point of regularly going to places of appreciation in your mind, as God has created our brains to work in this manner, toward peace.

May we all be contemplative activists.

Proverbs 4:23   Mark 7:1-23

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

“Listen to me, all of you, and get this straight. What goes into you from outside can’t make you unclean. What makes you unclean is what comes from inside.” -Jesus the Messiah

How you think from the inner depths of your hidden self determines who you really are. You are what you think about. Some would say that you are the sum of your thoughts. Thoughts turn into action, action turns into habits, habits turn into destiny. What’s in your mind will enter someone else’s mind when you are with them. This is a symbiotic principle of YHWH’s universe. Someone will sense whether you are glad to be with them, if you like them, if you are silently judging them…

Examining yourself against this principle can make you feel like a crappy person, but that is not the goal here. Rather the hope is that it drives us to love others sincerely from the inside and also to believe  how good, loving, forgiving, welcoming, merciful, and accepting our Daddy is.

God actually thinks our relationship with Him is bigger and more important than our shortcomings, rebellion, and deformities. He places a higher value on relationship, and restoring relationship with us, than He does on the problems we have. God knows that relationship with Him is the basis for overcoming our sins, transgressions and iniquities.

-from Joy Starts Here

Proverbs 3

There are laws that govern life just like there are physical laws that govern the universe. YHWH designed it this way. You can get on board, trust Him–and not yourself–and your life will be satisfying. You will have peace. Or you can try your own way, opposing what He instituted for right living and…well, you’ve heard story after story of where that leads.

Try getting an airplane into the air while ignoring the laws of physics.

Proverbs 3:24

Tho there are many variables and factors, our level of trust in YHWH, in a  general sense, can be measured by our quality of sleep.

Mark 6:4

Note, it is generous, and becoming of the followers of Christ to content themselves with the pleasure and satisfaction of doing good, tho they be unjustly denied the praise of it.

-Matthew Henry

Mark 6:5

And He could do no deed of power there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and cured them. And He was amazed at their unbelief.

Notice it states that Jesus COULD  not do many miracles there because of their unbelief, not that He WOULD not. That’s pretty heavy.

As if unbelief tied the hands of omnipotence itself.

-Matthew Henry

How much simply comes down to if we  actually believe this “foolishness to the Greeks” or not? Is it real to you? Are they just words on a page? Something to be studied? Or does it affect your life, transform your mind, and manifest in tangible ways? This is more than another philosophy, one of many ways of life to choose. This is God, our infinitely good Creator actually involved in the lives of people.

Believe and experience.

Proverbs 2:1-11

When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul,discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,

Your focus determines your reality.

Whatever you pursue becomes the lens thru which you see life. Your brain is built for, among other things, association. This is a lot of what mind mapping is about. Your brain is always making associations. So whatever you have filled it with, and are filling it with, will be referenced as you navigate thru the story that is your life.

For instance, I spent a huge amount of time on Star Wars as a child. So I still see much of life with that as my reference point. This is not all bad as George Lucas invoked a lot of universal and religious truth into his films. But much more so, I want to see life thru God’s perspective as much as it is possible for a human being that He created is able to. And He has given us paths to such a perspective. His word, His Son, His Holy Spirit, His people…

As long as you have desire, and therefore, the willingness to do the work of the pursuit of wisdom, you can and will find more and more the “mind of God” because He has made Himself available to all who seek Him. We have as much of God as we want to have. And as we do pursue Him and His wisdom, our nature actually changes, our brains rewire, and we start seeing the world and everyone in it thru God’s perspective. His perspective of love becomes ours. His desires and our desires begin to match up. [This is why seeking God above all else in life brings us everything we want, because we will no longer want what we don’t/can’t have.] We start seeing the precious jewel at the core of all people more than our frustrations with them. This is the renewing of our minds.

And this requires work to be done on our part. This is not difficult, but it is challenging because it does take time and effort and focus. But doesn’t anything that is worth anything call for these three? The number one reason for not pursuing wisdom is probably good ol’ plain  laziness. I have yet to meet someone whose life circumstances literally kept them from seeking God.

Think of wisdom as the skill to live life well. Who wants to live life well? Most everybody I would say. But how many are willing to do what it takes to live life well? Very few it seems from the evidence of a lack of purposeful action. We have plenty of knowledge, but a deficit of action.

Mark 5:35-43

And they laughed at Him.

He put them all out.

Those who believe see great and miraculous things. We see what we want to see, what we are ready to see. In this story, Jesus seemed to only let in the ones who believed, to see the miraculous raising of this young girl from the dead. Those who laughed at Him were made to go outside.

Our Father is at work and speaking everywhere. If only we would lift a finger to pull back that curtain, we would see another world, quite literally. But we are content, or so we think, to sit in a darkened room with the curtains closed making light of the idea that there is more. But there is much more. If only we have the eyes to see.

Not only can we pull back that curtain, we can enter that world we now see. God is in the mundane and the annoying, if only you choose to look! That thing that broke..is it really just merely an inconvenience? Or is it yet another chance to encounter the living communicating God? That person that gets on your every nerve..is that really all that is there? Or is YHWH presenting Himself in that form to grow you into the person He created you to be?

Life is way more than what we see. It is how we see. Wake up! Stop laughing, and look below the surface of every moment and interaction, for God is there, loving you, calling you to move closer to Him. But only if you are aware and accept, for He does not force His way into your heart.

Proverbs 1:3

These Proverbs are given to teach you a disciplined, and therefore, successful life [not just talking health and wealth here, tho that may come]. So to live undisciplined is to live unsuccessfully.

We all need to have a rhythmic form of daily renewal because our mind seems to atrophy everyday, and needs renewal by the end of it. Heck, by midday it needs renewal!

Our disciplines, consistently practiced over time, become rhythms of life. And rhythms are facts of determined existence. Like ocean waves. They are just what we do, no longer occurring out of a self-generated energy. We practice something, say, a musical interment,  so that we can play it without having to think about it. This is the result of mind renewal as given in the New Testament. After a while I don’t have to think, “OK be kind back to this person upsetting me right now.” Your natural response will become kindness in the face of any disapproval.

Mark 4:18-19

Your heart as thorny soil: You hear God’s word, but all too quickly you are distracted and caught up with the worries of this world, all the not-so-important stuff you have to do, the lure of money, and all the things other than God that you desire; and you are therefore rendered ineffective.

How awful to be held back from blessing others with the unique gifts the Holy Spirit desires to use, and affect the world with, through you. But noooo, you would rather sit around in worry, or run around in hurry, and stay in the “safety” that this stress provides you. While here, you stay focused on yourself and doing what [you think] you want to do.