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Proverbs 16:20 (16:18 LXX)

A man wise in his deeds is a discoverer of good things,
But he who trusts in God is the most blessed.

Encouraging Words

The scriptures do not discount or discredit the good deeds that people do. It even praises people for the good that we do, even if the person doing the good deeds is not a follower of God. However, the blessings of God are reserved for those who put their trust in Him. We need God more than we need anything else in on lives for He is the source of life for all. Glory be to God!

 

John 6:68-69

But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Encouraging Words

“To whom shall we go?” Once the grace of God has firmly taken hold of our hearts, there is no one else that we want to be with. There is nowhere else that we want to be but in His presence. There is nothing else that we want in life, but to be with Him. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner so that I may see You!

Psalms 121:1-4 (120:1-4 LXX)

I lifted my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Let not your foot be moved;
Neither let Him who keeps you slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Encouraging Words

My help comes from the Lord. It is so comforting to know that I do not have to count on myself, or any other human being for that matter, to make it through each and every day or situation. My Lord never sleeps and is always there to lift me up, to walk beside me as He did with Adam in the garden. He is my help! He is my hope! He is my all!

Proverbs 16:18 (16:16 LXX)

Arrogance goes before destruction
And folly before a fall.

Personal Challenge

Arrogance, or pride, comes in all kinds of forms. The challenge is to recognize it for what it is, sin, and flee from it. Am I dealing with feelings that drive me to believe that I deserve something just because I want it.? This is pride. Am I bullying those around me to do things the way that I want them to because it makes me look good? This is pride. Do I expect God to give me my every wish because I want it? That is pride. Pride only does one thing. It builds me up at the expense of others so that my fall will be even greater. The enemy cherishes that fall so that he can drive me even further into sin. What is the answer to pride? Humility! Putting others before ourselves. Loving our neighbors. Loving those who hate us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

John 6:35

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Encouraging Words

Jesus is our source for everything that we need in our lives. Most importantly He is our source of life, both physical and eternal. He does not dangle some kind of carrot in front of us, expecting us to behave a certain way in order to receive His gift of life. He gives us this gift of life and then shows us how to live our lives so that we can fully reap that which He has for us. So, what should be my response to this gift? Take it! Cherish it! Let it permeate my life, my actions, my thoughts, and my desires so that it changes me into His image. Jesus made it clear that if we are to be recipients of His bread of life and never feel hunger or thirst again, then we must act and come to Him. He is the Gift. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Psalms 120:1-4 (119:1-4 LXX)

To the Lord in my affliction
I cried out, and He heard me.
O Lord, deliver my soul from unjust lips
And from a deceitful tongue.
What should be given You, and what added to You,
Against a deceitful tongue?
The arrows of the Mighty One are sharpened
With hot coals from the desert.

Encouraging Words

My God, our God, is always there for us, especially in our times of need or affliction. It falls upon us to cry out to Him to fulfill our needs and to submit to His judgment of what is best for us. Glory be to God!

Proverbs 16:7 (16:4 LXX)

He who seeks the Lord will find knowledge with righteousness,
And those who seek Him rightly will find peace.

Encouraging Words

Don’t we all desire to have knowledge, especially godly, righteous knowledge? Don’t we all desire to have peace in our lives, especially in these chaotic times? The writer of the Proverbs tells us how to get these in our lives. We get these by rightly seek the Lord. Fast forward about 4,000 years from this writing and we find Jesus walking the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming that He is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one can find the Father except through Him. Jesus is the personification of what this Proverb is telling us to do. We can find righteous knowledge by seeking Jesus. We can find peace by seeking Him. Glory be to God!

John 6:14

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Personal Challenge

Here in John, Jesus had just finished feeding 5,000 people. It was this sign that caused the people to proclaim Him to be the Prophet of God. He Had already performed many other miracles, This one made such an impression because so many individuals were impacted and collectively they started to proclaim who they thought He was. The problem with this way of thinking is that it only looks for Jesus in the grandiose miracles that He performs when He is just as much in the mundane one-on-one miracles of everyday life. Even today, we continue to look for God only in the big, grandiose, and spectacular things of life. We look for the big miracles, the big shows of His blessings, and forget to look for Him in the little things that He is ever so present in, This is one of the reasons we are told to be still and know that He is God. We need those quiet times with God to see Him, hear Him, and know Him, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, the mercy on me, the sinner!