Following In Jesus Christ: 04/14/07

Saturday, April 14, 2007

The Wisdom Of Solomon

Proverbs 14:13-14(KJV): 13 Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness. 14 The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.


Thoughts for the Day The book of Proverbs makes many observations, and these scriptures speak of a laughter that contains sorrow. Verse 13 speaks of a heart that is sorrowful, even though that person may be laughing. Since laughter is an emotion, it proceeds from the soul of man. When a man's soul has not been redeemed, he may laugh temporarily at certain things that are funny to him, while deep in his heart he is most miserable. Until we are "born again" we cannot know real happiness and joy because these things only come from a relationship with Jesus Christ. The world has always been amazed at how true Christians could maintain a spirit of joy even in great trials and suffering. This is possible because the Lord gives His joy to His saints and it is not dependant on circumstances, but rather upon abiding in Christ. The power of the Holy Spirit can sustain us in our deepest trials. Verse 14 states that those who are backsliders (those who slide back from God) have no reserves to lean on as they are not filled with the Holy Spirit, but rather are filled with their own ways. They have no inner strength to bring them through their trials. Consequently, many of God's own people are destroyed for lack of faith, when under attack of the devil. This is why it is so important to use our time wisely. When things are going good in life we need to use that time to study God's Word and store up the truths of God in our hearts. We can be ashamed in our Christian walk if we do not know God's Word. 2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Many Christians are perplexed as to why one Christian is walking in the favor and victory of God, while others are suffering and cannot seem to obtain the victory. The devil tries to tell men that God loves the apparent favored one more, while He has failed the one who is deep tribulation. This is a lie of the devil. God loves all of His children equally. He is not a respecter of persons. However, God is a respecter of one thing, and that one thing is -- He honors His Word. Therefore, God honors and respects all of those who practice the Word of God. This means that the only advantage one Christian has over another is their knowledge of the Word of God, and their obedience to it. That is why we are told to study the Word of God, as a lack of knowledge can lead to our downfall. In the following verse, God declares that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. Hosea 4:6a: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." We can understand how a lack of knowledge can be detrimental in the things in this life, but when it comes to the things of God, many seem to think that it does not matter. Ignorance is a cause of much suffering in this world, in the natural, as well as the spirit. I can think of a perfect example of this truth. A number of years ago when Bud and I made a missionary journey to India, we visited a small church that had much sickness and dysentery in every family. When we ask the mothers who had children with fever to bring them forward for prayer, almost the whole church came forward. We stretched our hands out over the crowd and prayed and rebuked the fever in the name of Jesus and instantly the children who were hot with fever were restored to their normal temperature. The Holy Spirit healed them all. We were rejoicing in the goodness of God to these people, as we had remembered how Jesus in the New Testament had prayed and rebuked devils and people were healed. Matthew 8:14-17: 14 And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. 15 And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. 16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: 17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. The next day we were in the home of the pastor and one of his children had a fever again, after being healed the night before. When we began to pray about this, the Holy Spirit began to speak that we needed to deal with the root of the sickness. We were not aware that the water in that neighborhood was contaminated and that the fevers and dysentery was caused by impure drinking water. After quizzing the pastor and asking several questions, we found out that the water pipes to the houses and the sewer pipes were laid side by side and because the pipes were old and leaking and the joints were not sealed properly, the sewage water was contaminating the water in the water pipes. We told the pastor to begin at once to boil all their drinking water, and to tell the church families to do likewise. Through this word of knowledge the families were spared illness caused by water-borne bacteria. Lack of knowledge is causing disease in the whole church. Lack of spiritual knowledge can also cause spiritual sickness in one's life. We must study and obey the Word of God so that we can overcome the problems in this life and walk victoriously in the Lord.


Prayer for the Day Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for the joy that You have given me. I do not want to take the fruit of the Holy Spirit for granted. I am blessed to experience Your love, joy and peace, especially in the middle of my trials. Truly You give us peace that passes all understanding. Father, give me a continued love for Your Word and a desire to study it faithfully. I also need the grace to apply it in my daily life. Help all of Your people to esteem Your Word and honor You by keeping it. May we all declare as David did in Psalm 119:11, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." I ask in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thank You for allow in this site,group sites, web sites and other prayer sites as well in holding one another up for prayer's being totally united in everyone around this world, it's about Jesus Christ first and prayers,intecessory prayer's and at other times about this vast world we live in today which this old world as we all know it is slowly departing to be reaching our home in glory.

Abram and Lot Separate Scripture Psalms: Gen13:1-18

1 Abram left Egypt with his wife and everything he had and went to the Negev. Lot was with him.
2 Abram was very rich because he had livestock, silver, and gold.
3 He traveled from place to place. He went from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the area between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been originally,
4 where he had first made an altar. There Abram worshiped the Lord.
5 Lot, who had been traveling with Abram, also had his own sheep, cattle, and tents.
6 There wasn't enough pastureland for both of them. They had so many possessions that they were unable to remain together.
7 Quarrels broke out between Abram's herders and Lot's herders. (Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that area.)
8 Abram said to Lot, “Please, let's not have any more quarrels between us or between our herders. After all, we're relatives.
9 Isn't all this land yours also? Let's separate. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right, and if you go to the right, I'll go to the left.”
10 Then Lot looked in the direction of Zoar as far as he could see. He saw that the whole Jordan Plain was well-watered like the Lord's garden or like Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
11 Lot chose the whole Jordan Plain for himself. He moved toward the east. They each went their own way.
12 Abram lived in Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain, moving his tents as far as Sodom.
13 (The people who lived in Sodom were very wicked. They committed terrible sins against the Lord.)

The LORD'S Third Promise to Abram

14 After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look north, south, east, and west of where you are.
15 I will give all the land you see to you and to your descendants for an indefinite period of time.
16 I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants.
17 Go! Walk back and forth across the entire land because I will give it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oak trees belonging to Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar for the Lord.

ABRAM RETURNS OUT OF EGYPT WITH GREAT RICHES. 13:1-4

Abram was very rich: he was very heavy, so the Hebrew word is; for riches are a burden; and they that will be rich, do but load themselves with thick clay, Hab 2:6. There is a burden of care in getting riches, fear in keeping them, temptation in using them, guilt in abusing them, sorrow in losing them, and a burden of account at last to be given up about them. Yet God in his providence sometimes makes good men rich men, and thus God's blessing made Abram rich without sorrow, Prov 10:22. Though it is hard for a rich man to get to heaven, yet in some cases it may be, Mark 10:23, 24. Nay, outward prosperity, if well managed, is an ornament to piety, and an opportunity for doing more good. Abram removed to Beth-el. His altar was gone, so that he could not offer sacrifice; but he called on the name of the Lord. You may as soon find a living man without breath as one of God's people without prayer.

STRIFE BETWEEN THE HERDSMEN OF ABRAM AND LOT. ABRAM GIVES LOT HIS CHOICE OF THE COUNTRY. 13:5-9

Riches not only afford matter for strife, and are the things most commonly striven about; but they also stir up a spirit of contention, by making people proud and covetous. Mine and thine are the great make-bates of the world. Poverty and labour, wants and wanderings, could not separate Abram and Lot; but riches did so. Bad servants often make a great deal of mischief in families and among neighbours, by their pride and passion, lying, slandering, and talebearing. What made the quarrel worse was, that the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land. The quarrels of professors are the reproach of religion, and give occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. It is best to keep the peace, that it be not broken; but the next best is, if differences do happen, with all speed to quench the fire that is broken out. The attempt to stay this strife was made by Abram, although he was the elder and the greater man. Abram shows himself to be a man of cool spirit, that had the command of his passion, and knew how to turn away wrath by a soft answer. Those that would keep the peace, must never render railing for railing. And of a condescending spirit; he was willing to beseech even his inferior to be at peace. Whatever others are for, the people of God must be for peace. Abram's plea for peace was very powerful. Let the people of the land contend about trifles; but let not us fall out, who know better things, and look for a better country. Professors of religion should be most careful to avoid contention. Many profess to be for peace who will do nothing towards it: not so Abram. When God condescends to beseech us to be reconciled, we may well beseech one another. Though God had promised Abram to give this land to his seed, yet he offered an equal or better share to Lot, who had not an equal right; and he will not, under the protection of God's promise, act hardly to his kinsman. It is noble to be willing to yield for peace' sake.

LOT CHOOSES TO DWELL AT SODOM. 13:10-13

Abram having offered Lot the choice, he at once accepted it. Passion and selfishness make men rude. Lot looked to the goodness of the land; therefore he doubted not that in such a fruitful soil he should certainly thrive. But what came of it? Those who, in choosing relations, callings, dwellings, or settlements, are guided and governed by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or the pride of life, cannot expect God's presence or blessing. They are commonly disappointed even in that which they principally aim at. In all our choices this principle should rule, That is best for us, which is best for our souls. Lot little considered the badness of the inhabitants. The men of Sodom were impudent, daring sinners. This was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness, Ezek 16:49. God often gives great plenty to great sinners. It has often been the vexatious lot of good men to live among wicked neighbours; and it must be the more grievous, if, as Lot here, they have brought it upon themselves by a wrong choice.

GOD RENEWS HIS PROMISE TO ABRAM, WHO REMOVES TO HEBRON. 13:14-18

Those are best prepared for the visits of Divine grace, whose spirits are calm, and not ruffled with passion. God will abundantly make up in spiritual peace, what we lose for preserving neighbourly peace. When our relations are separated from us, yet God is not. Observe also the promises with which God now comforted and enriched Abram. Of two things he assures him; a good land, and a numerous issue to enjoy it. The prospects seen by faith are more rich and beautiful than those we see around us. God bade him walk through the land, not to think of fixing in it, but expect to be always unsettled, and walking through it to a better Canaan. He built an altar, in token of his thankfulness to God. When God meets us with gracious promises, he expects that we should attend him with humble praises. In outward difficulties, it is very profitable for the true believer to mediate on the glorious inheritance which the Lord has for him at the last.

Morning & Evening Devotionals

"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head." Psalm 22:7

Mockery was a great ingredient in our Lord's woe. Judas mocked Him in the garden; the chief priests and scribes laughed Him to scorn; Herod set Him at nought; the servants and the soldiers jeered at Him, and brutally insulted Him; Pilate and his guards ridiculed His royalty; and on the tree all sorts of horrid jests and hideous taunts were hurled at Him. Ridicule is always hard to bear, but when we are in intense pain it is so heartless, so cruel, that it cuts us to the quick. Imagine the Saviour crucified, racked with anguish far beyond all mortal guess, and then picture that motley multitude, all wagging their heads or thrusting out the lip in bitterest contempt of one poor suffering victim! Surely there must have been something more in the crucified One than they could see, or else such a great and mingled crowd would not unanimously have honoured Him with such contempt. Was it not evil confessing, in the very moment of its greatest apparent triumph, that after all it could do no more than mock at that victorious goodness which was then reigning on the cross? O Jesus, "despised and rejected of men," how couldst Thou die for men who treated Thee so ill? Herein is love amazing, love divine, yea, love beyond degree. We, too, have despised Thee in the days of our unregeneracy, and even since our new birth we have set the world on high in our hearts, and yet Thou bleedest to heal our wounds, and diest to give us life. O that we could set Thee on a glorious high throne in all men's hearts! We would ring out Thy praises over land and sea till men should as universally adore as once they did unanimously reject.

Thy creatures wrong Thee, O Thou sovereign Good!
Thou art not loved, because not understood:
This grieves me most, that vain pursuits beguile
Ungrateful men, regardless of Thy smile.

Evening Verse

"Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him." Isaiah 3:10

It is well with the righteous ALWAYS. If it had said, "Say ye to the righteous, that it is well with him in his prosperity," we must have been thankful for so great a boon, for prosperity is an hour of peril, and it is a gift from heaven to be secured from its snares: or if it had been written, "It is well with him when under persecution," we must have been thankful for so sustaining an assurance, for persecution is hard to bear; but when no time is mentioned, all time is included. God's "shalls" must be understood always in their largest sense. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the first gathering of evening shadows until the day-star shines, in all conditions and under all circumstances, it shall be well with the righteous. It is so well with him that we could not imagine it to be better, for he is well fed, he feeds upon the flesh and blood of Jesus; he is well clothed, he wears the imputed righteousness of Christ; he is well housed, he dwells in God; he is well married, his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to Christ; he is well provided for, for the Lord is his Shepherd; he is well endowed, for heaven is his inheritance. It is well with the righteous--well upon divine authority; the mouth of God speaks the comforting assurance. O beloved, if God declares that all is well, ten thousand devils may declare it to be ill, but we laugh them all to scorn. Blessed be God for a faith which enables us to believe God when the creatures contradict Him. It is, says the Word, at all times well with thee, thou righteous one; then, beloved, if thou canst not see it, let God's word stand thee in stead of sight; yea, believe it on divine authority more confidently than if thine eyes and thy feelings told it to thee. Whom God blesses is blest indeed, and what His lip declares is truth most sure and steadfast.

COMPLAINTS OF DISCOURAGEMENT. 22:1-10

The Spirit of Christ, which was in the prophets, testifies in this psalm, clearly and fully, the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. We have a sorrowful complaint of God's withdrawings. This may be applied to any child of God, pressed down, overwhelmed with grief and terror. Spiritual desertions are the saints' sorest afflictions; but even their complaint of these burdens is a sign of spiritual life, and spiritual senses exercised. To cry our, My God, why am I sick? why am I poor? savours of discontent and worldliness. But, "Why hast thou forsaken me?" is the language of a heart binding up its happiness in God's favour. This must be applied to Christ. In the first words of this complaint, he poured out his soul before God when he was upon the cross, Mat 27:46. Being truly man, Christ felt a natural unwillingness to pass through such great sorrows, yet his zeal and love prevailed. Christ declared the holiness of God, his heavenly Father, in his sharpest sufferings; nay, declared them to be a proof of it, for which he would be continually praised by his Israel, more than for all other deliverances they received. Never any that hoped in thee, were made ashamed of their hope; never any that sought thee, sought thee in vain. Here is a complaint of the contempt and reproach of men. The Saviour here spoke of the abject state to which he was reduced. The history of Christ's sufferings, and of his birth, explains this prophecy.

THE CALAMITIES ABOUT TO COME UPON THE LAND. 3:1-9

God was about to deprive Judah of every stay and support. The city and the land were to be made desolate, because their words and works had been rebellious against the Lord; even at his holy temple. If men do not stay themselves upon God, he will soon remove all other supports, and then they must sink. Christ is the Bread of life and the Water of life; if he be our Stay, we shall find that is a good part not to be taken away, John 6:27. Here note, 1. That the condition of sinners is exceedingly woful. 2. It is the soul that is damaged by sin. 3. Whatever evil befals sinners, be sure that they bring it on themselves.

THE WICKEDNESS OF THE PEOPLE. 3:10-15

The rule was certain; however there might be national prosperity or trouble, it would be well with the righteous and ill with the wicked. Blessed be God, there is abundant encouragement to the righteous to trust in him, and for sinners to repent and return to him. It was time for the Lord to show his might. He will call men to a strict account for all the wealth and power intrusted to and abused by them. If it is sinful to disregard the necessities of the poor, how odious and wicked a part do they act, who bring men into poverty, and then oppress them!

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The Wisdom Of Solomon

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