A Question of Fear
“Fear of the Lord leads to life, bringing security and protection from harm.” Proverbs 19:23 NLT Is fear good or bad? Like many things the answer is that it depends. Depending on the type of fear, it can either have our individual thoughts paralyzed or set us free to live. If the fear is man made […]
Law of Attraction
“Loyalty makes a person attractive. It is better to be poor than dishonest.” Proverbs 19:22 NLT Have you heard those words of advise, the ones that seem appealing at first, but have a darker side. “You gotta look out for number one”, “You have to do what you have to do to get ahead”, “Sometimes you have […]
Decision Pressure
“You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail.” Proverbs 19:21 NLT Sometimes it is easy to wear the weight of decisions to be made as if it depends upon us entirely. That is more pressure than any one of us can bear. There are an infinite combination of decisions and results to be […]
Are There Things God Cannot Do?
“Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.” Proverbs 19:20 NLT Are there things God cannot do? There is that age old riddle that someone will always bring up. “Can God create a rock so big that He Himself can’t lift it?” A question without an answer, […]
Beneficial Consequences
“Hot-tempered people must pay the penalty. If you rescue them once, you will have to do it again.” Proverbs 19:19 NLT Our dog had a nasty habit of licking the dishes and silverware that were in the dishwasher. She had that habit. The habit is now gone. In fact I don’t think we could even get […]
Helping the Poor
“If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!” Proverbs 19:17 NLT God could choose to meet the needs of people any way that He would like to. He could have birds bring food (1 Kings 17:3), he could bring quail to be food (Numbers 11:31-33), he could have […]
Disobedience and Disaster
“Keep the commandments and keep your life; despising them leads to death.” Proverbs 19:16 NLT “Keep the commandments and keep your life.” Disobedience can lead to disaster. We all know that disobedience has consequences, and it particularly obvious when we are young. I remember one such incident as a child. I was probably 6 or 7 years old. […]
The Comfort Illusion
“Lazy people sleep soundly, but idleness leaves them hungry.” Proverbs 19:15 NLT Comfort has consequences. That’s not a headline that you are likely to read anywhere else, and consequences certainly wouldn’t be a good marketing strategy for products. But comfort does seem to have a stronghold in product marketing. We have comfort shoes, comfort waistbands (of which […]
An Anger Management Tool
“Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs.” Proverbs 19:11 NLT I have heard it said that anger comes from unmet expectations. Therefore controlling our temper wouldn’t come from controlling our actions, but rather controlling our expectations. One of those expectations that needs to be managed is that of expecting people to either […]
Giving and Getting
“Many seek favors from a ruler; everyone is the friend of a person who gives gifts!” Proverbs 19:6 NLT Last week we talked about imitation and genuine treasures. Money may be able to gather people around you, but it may draw those who are looking to get “things” rather than a relationship. This week’s Proverb is related […]
