Proverbs 4:23 (4:22 LXX)

Keep your heart with all watchfulness,
For from these words are the issues of life.

Personal Challenge

In this age of abundant access to information, a preponderance of “social” media tools, and a mindset of self-centeredness and open expression, this proverb becomes extremely important to adhere to. It still amazes me how harsh people have become at expressing what they feel they have the right to express. The concept of being gracious to those around us is quickly becoming a relic of the past. The understanding that what proceeds from out of our mouths is what is in our hearts has all but disappeared from society. Even the church and her members have fallen prey to this trend. I am sure this grieves our Lord as He watches His creation devour one another with words, opinions, and sarcasm. It is my own personal responsibility to make sure that I do not go done this path even if I must go against the flow and be rejected for this choice. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Psalms 103:17-18 (102:17-18 LXX)

But the mercy of the Lord is from age to age upon those who fear Him,
And His righteousness upon children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant
And remember His commandments, to do them.

Encouraging Words

God’s memory is infinite. There is no beginning to it nor end to it. Since He is ever present, throughout all time, He is in the midst of every moment at every instance of time. How does this work? We do not, nor will we ever know, for it is a mystery. But what this means to those of us who choose to put our lives into His hands is that there will never be a moment in our finite lives that God is not lavishly pouring out His mercy upon us. He is also anointing us with His righteousness. He not only does this to us but to the generations that follow us as a reward for our commit­ment to Him. God loves us this much. God loves me this much. So, if I truly believe this and choose to put all of my faith and trust in Him, and Him alone, then why would I not fear and respect Him? Why would I not strive to keep His covenant with His bride, the church? Why would I not try to keep His commandments and live my life His way and not my way? Glory be to God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Proverbs 3:23-26 (3:26-29 LXX)

That you may walk confidently in peace in all your ways,
And your foot may not stumble.
For if you sit down, you will be without fear,
And if you lie down, your sleep will be pleasant.
And do not be afraid of intimidation when it comes upon you,
Nor of the attack of the ungodly when it comes at you;
For the Lord will be over all your ways,
And He will plant your feet firmly, that you may not be shaken.

Encouraging Words

Continuing with the teaching that the Lord will make our paths straight if we trust in Him, the writer of Proverbs eloquently reminds us of all that God will do in our lives if we keep our minds and hearts focused on Him. He will help us to walk confidently in peace, even if the world around us is in chaos, we will not stumble. We can sit down without fear and lie down in pleasant sleep. We do not need to be afraid of intimidation when the world pours it out upon us or of the attack of the ungodly. Why can we live our lives this way? Because the Lord will be over our ways and He will plant our feet firmly. It is only in Him that our ways will not be shaken. Glory be to God!

Luke 17:15-16

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.

Personal Challenge

This accounting of Jesus healing ten lepers is so telling of the state of so many of our hearts. Jesus encountered ten lepers and standing off in the distance they called out to Him for His Mercy and possibly healing. Jesus told them to go to the local priest and show him that their leprosy was gone. They were not healed immediately, but while on the way to the priest their leprosy was healed. Out of the ten of them, only one felt that it was appropriate, or necessary to run back to Jesus, fall at His feet in humility, and thank Him for His act of kindness and mercy. And on top of it all, he was a Samaritan, an outcast in the society in the day of Jesus. How often has my Lord performed a miraculous event in my life, and I just went on as if it was a given that He would be doing this for me? How often have I neglected to abandon what I am doing, that which is important to me, to run to Him, fall at His feet, and thank Him for His love, kindness, and mercy? Jesus loves me! He cares for me more than even I do. He is constantly performing miracles in my life. I cannot thank Him enough for all of this. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord have mercy!

Luke 16:10

He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Personal Challenge

God cares about what we do with what He gives us. Whether it be wealth or health or time or our talents, we are ultimately measured by what we do with them. The more that we do for Him, with what He has given us then the more that He gives us in order to use for Him. It all belongs to Him anyway. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me the sinner and please use my feeble attempts to serve you for your good.

Psalms 103:10-13 (102:10-13 LXX)

He did not deal with us according to our sins,
Nor reward us according to our transgressions;
For according to the height of heaven from earth,
So the Lord reigns in mercy over those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So He removes our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him,

Encouraging Words

I am so thankful and so blessed that my God does not deal with according to who I am and what I have done in my life. If He did, then I would be doomed for sure. As this passage tells us, our God is a God of mercy and love. He pours out that unlimited mercy and love on me every moment of every day. Glory be to God!

Proverbs 3:11-12

My son, do not despise the instruction of the Lord,
Neither grow weary under His reproof.
For whom the Lord loves He instructs,
And chastises every son He receives.

Personal Challenge

I remember that while I was a child my parents would discipline me when I got out of line and needed my course corrected. Many times they would say that this hurt them more than it hurt me. As a child, I always felt they said that to make themselves feel better. How could that switch to my bottom be hurting them more than me? Then, as I became an adult and had children of my own, it was my turn to start applying the rod of correction to my own children. That is when I learned what my parents meant. When you love someone as much as you do your child, then having to correct and discipline them at times can be very painful. We correct and discipline out of our love for that child knowing that in the long run, they will be better people because of it. As a child of God, I must expect Him to correct me when I stray from the path that He has me on. Sometimes it is gentle nudges but sometimes it is a serious reproof because I have chosen to go way off course. I do not despise His correction and instruction for I know it hurts Him more than me. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Luke 15:31-32

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”

Encouraging Words

One of the consistent things that all of us humans do is to look for the happy ending to the stories that unfold in our lives. I am sure that this is part of our being created in the image of God. God has such a deep love for His creation that He too always provides that opportunity for a happy ending. The twist is that He also gives us the ability to choose that ending by giving us free will. The parable of the prodigal son is no different. The younger son takes all of his inher­itance, squanders it, and ends up destitute, He then returns home and finds his father waiting there with open arms and thankful to have him home again. That is a happy ending. But the story does not end there. The older brother throws a fit because he has not been recognized as his brother was. He chooses to not let this story end happily. Isn’t this also the story of so many of us? God created us all in His image. Many times we have a friend or a loved one that rejects God and chooses to live a worldly life while we strive to live the life of the good son who stayed home. Then when they realize their errors and sins, they come home to God and we throw a fit because God lets them back into the family. Our resistance sometimes even takes us to the point of rejecting God’s wonderful gift of His Son. But God always has other plans and builds His  Church through love. Glory be to God!

Psalms 102:8

The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

Encouraging Words

In the early days of the modern church, what has become known as the Catholic and the Protestant branches of the tree of Christianity, there was a significant change in the direction of the theology of the original church. The teachings of Augustine were embraced and the concept of a judicial God became the core to the doctrine that so many people are familiar with today. This doctrine defines God as being an angry and judgmental God. Following this path of logic and the judicial way of thinking, then the only thing that God could do was substitute His Son for our sins, other­wise He could not save us. Someone had to pay the price to avoid His anger. Now, I am very far from being a theologian or an expert in any of this, but I have learnt enough from my studies of the early church and from the practices of Eastern Orthodoxy, which the Western church split away from, that our early church fathers believed and taught that our God is a loving God, a merciful God and that Jesus’ incarnation and subsequent death was to defeat the hold that death had on His creation. God is love. God does everything He does, in love. And no matter what I do, He never stops loving me. Thank you, God! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!