Proverbs 18 - Day 18

"The name of the LORD is a strong fortress, the godly run to him and are safe."
                                                                     Proverbs 18:10


The strongest defense that we have against the evils of this world is to call upon the name of the Lord.  That is the only defense we need.  God is bigger than any problem that we will ever encounter.  He is our protector and comforter in times of trouble.  He is our provider in times of need.  

Call to Him first;  when you start your day, when you're faced with troubles, when you identify a need.  When you're preparing to sleep be sure to thank Him for being there for you throughout the day.  He is your strong fortress.


The Shepherd

Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord

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Proverbs 17 - Day 17

"Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but the LORD tests the heart."
                                                                     Proverbs 17:3


Have you ever had the opportunity to tour a foundry or watch as someone worked with molten metal?  Maybe you've watched a video of molten metal being poured into molds as the metal is formed into sheets to be stamped into panels for cars.  The process of extracting metal from minerals, gathering the liquid metal and purifying the liquid metal is called smelting.  The process of smelting gold or silver is fascinating!  As the liquid metal continues to heat up the impurities form a darker colored coating across the top of the liquid metal.  Occasionally, this coating will flame over and burn off but most times it is simply skimmed off the top and disposed of leaving the pure gold or silver behind.  The process is repeated until there are no impurities to be skimmed off the surface.  The liquid metal is now ready to be poured into bars or into other forms for production use.

That's how it is with the human heart.  Our heart is focused on the impurities of this world.  Sin is the impurity.  We are constantly bombarded with sin in our daily lives through our thoughts, our words and our actions.  But here's the rub, we don't recognize it as sin!!  We have become so accustomed to it, so desensitized to it, that we don't see sin the way God sees it.  We have a good grasp of the big obvious sins (murder, adultery, stealing) but we struggle to see our thoughts as sin or our words as sin.  We certainly don't see these sins as being equal to the major sins listed above.  We see them as minor sins or sins of lesser importance.  Over time we have applied a ranking to the severity of the sins and have determined that the smaller sins don't REALLY count.  God says that ALL sins are equal!  If you see a person that you find attractive and you have an impure thought about being with that person then you have already committed the act, the sin, in your heart!  AND that sin is equal to ALL other sin including murder!  Now think about how many times you have those thoughts...  still think you don't sin?

God is constantly testing our hearts to see if there are any impurities left in you.  As you spend more time in the Bible you will begin to see sin in the same way that God sees it.  It doesn't mean that it still won't happen.  You're human and humans are flawed beings!!  We cannot go one minute without committing sin.  Honestly!  We can't!  What it means is that you'll recognize the sin for what it really is.  Recognition of sin is the first step to not committing the sin.  By recognizing the sin, we begin to take steps to prevent the sin from occurring which is similar to skimming the impurities off of the molten metal during the smelting process.  As we begin to purify our hearts, God can begin to use us for His work.  We move closer to God.  As we move closer to God, the purification process continues.  It actually increases.  We begin to ask God to point out more of our impurities so we can correct them.  In the process, we move even closer.   We begin to hear His voice on our hearts.  It's amazing!!

Please, don't just take my word for it.  Try it!!  Ask God to come into your life.  Ask God to point out one area of your life that you need to clean up.  He will present an area of your life that needs to be addressed.  Address it!!  What ever it is.  Do what has been placed on you're heart - no matter how difficult it may seem.  Just do it.  You will be absolutely amazed at what happens next.  Accept Jesus Christ into heart as your LORD and Savior and ask Him to do a complete make over of your heart.  It will be the most rewarding adventure you have ever been on.  You just need to take the first step.  You just need to ignite the fire of faith.


The Shepherd

Refiner's Fire

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Proverbs 16 - Day 16

"Those who listen to instruction will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful."

                                                                      Proverbs 16:20

It's difficult for those people that don't know the Lord to understand why someone would trust the Lord so completely.  How does a person know that the voice they're hearing is actually the Lord's voice and not Satan's voice?  After all, Satan is the great deceiver.  Isn't it possible that Satan is telling me to do something?  There are a few ways to decipher whether this voice is from God or Satan.  Is the action rooted in love?  And I mean love for your fellow man and not selfish love or love of money.  Is it biblical?  It's hard to know this one if you don't spend time in the Bible.  Or another question is this, do you spend more time speaking to Satan than to God that you would hear Satan's voice over God's?  If you don't speak with God, then you're not going to recognize his voice.  The sheep know their shepherd's voice.

Building trust in a relationship takes time.  Think of the friendships you've developed over the years.  There may have been some friends that you trusted as soon as you met them but my guess is there aren't that many.  Most friendships develop by spending time together discussing work or life events over dinner or at gatherings.  In order to build relationships you must relate with one another, which means talking with one another and sharing your thoughts.  Good friends may talk many times throughout the day.  Through this constant communication you learn how the person thinks and acts.  You know what's going on in their life - what their concerns are and what they're worried about.  You would certainly come to know their voice through all of this communication and you would grow to trust them.

So if your best friend gave you some advice, you would most certainly consider what is being said since it came from a "trusted adviser."  If your best friend told you that you should really consider this new job offer because it's perfect for you:  it aligns with your talents and your strengths.  You would most definitely consider what is being said because you trust this person.  You trust this person because you spent so much time with them building a relationship.

The Bible says that we should give our "first fruits" to the church and trust the Lord to provide for us.  By "first fruits" the Bible means that we should give 10% of our income to the church before we pay any bills or spend it on other things.  The first check we write should go to the church and be at least 10% of the amount we received.  Many times, however, I hear from my friends and family members say, "If I give 10% of my income to the church then I won't have anything left to live off of."  I told my friend that he should take this major step - this leap of faith - and feel God swoop in and provide for him.  That by putting God to the test he would finally see God in action firsthand.  Think of it.  How many times have we said, "Well, yeah, I'd believe if I saw a miracle happen like the people in the Bible did."  Here's your chance.  Try it!  He turned to me and told me that (as if quoting from the Bible) "It is not right to put the Lord, our God, to the test!"  To which I responded with Malachi 3:10  -  "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple.  If you do," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you.  I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in!  Try it!!  Put me to the test!!"  He didn't believe me... we had to look it up.

He told me that he couldn't afford to take that kind of step.  It's too big - too much risk.  So I told him.  What if you take the leap of faith, what if you give the 10% to the church and then at the end of the month, if you come up short then I'll cover you.  "Would you do that?", he said.  "Of course, I would!", I said.  He said, "OK, I'll do it!"   To which I began laughing at him.  I said to him, "You mean you'll put your trust in me, a sinner, a mere mortal, that is flawed to the core.  But you won't trust God, the creator of the entire universe, the person who knows you completely, and loves you anyway?"  There's something seriously wrong with that picture.

When we first took the leap of faith to give 10% I had just changed jobs and my wife had quit her job to return to school.  We had nothing in the bank to carry us over and we had two small children, a house payment, and now tuition for college classes.  The very first month we started to run short.  We were going to be about a thousand dollars short, when we received a letter congratulating my wife for being selected for a scholarship.  She had sent an entry into a contest a month earlier and her project was selected as the winner.  There was a check in the amount of....  wait for it...  $1000.00!!  I fell out my chair and then we both praised God for providing for us in our time of need.  From that point on, we have continued to give at least 10% to the church.

There have been other times as well when we didn't know how things were going to work out but my wife and I always knew they WOULD work out.  God is the God who provides - Jehovah Jireh!

Trust in him and be joyful, always!!

The Shepherd


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Proverbs 15 - Day 15

“A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare.”
                                                                      Proverbs 15:1

Oh, the calming effect of a gentle answer.  Have you ever seen a situation where someone is clearly upset by another person’s actions? They may even be red in the face and up in their face while they're screaming at them.  The other person then calmly turns to them and with a very soft voice says “Clearly, there’s been a misunderstanding.  Please accept my apologies.” You can almost hear the air rushing out of the room as the entire situation is defused.  This is an excellent example of wisdom at work.

What would've happened if the individual returned fire with heated words of their own?  You can see this conflict escalating out of control very quickly.  Instead, cooler minds prevailed and the wiser person chose to defuse the situation by using a gentle answer.  The person realized there was no reason to escalate the situation further.  Some people are easily agitated, whether it's because of their personality or current stress levels within their daily life but it seems as though there is much more anger or rage around these days and it doesn't take much to bring that rage to the surface.

I believe this is because we, as a society, have moved through the tipping point where there are more generations of people that have been raised without ANY reference to the Bible.  My great grandparents were Bible readers and were very blessed.  They made many long distance voyages in the 1800's and settled in a community in 1823.  In the 1800's, the Bible was read by most people.  God's vision was sought by many people and the importance of reading the Bible was understood and embraced.  My grandparents were raised to be Bible readers as were most people in the late 1800's but the number was dwindling from the previous generation.  They taught their children to have respect and awe for the Lord but again the numbers were still going down.  Likewise my parents raised me to be a Bible reader, well actually they introduced me to the Bible, but they were not Bible readers as much as our ancestors were.  I believe this to be a common path for many family heritages.  

Over time, we as a society, have now raised several generations without any idea of the contents of the Bible, which means we don't have God's word with us as we make our way through life's drama.  When difficulties arise, and they always come at the worst possible time, people don't have the solid rock of the Lord's word to guide them through.  They feel alone, stressed and that's when the rage comes flaring up.  Being grounded in the word, helps you deal with the stress and allows the rage to be vented through different ways.  Just knowing that God has placed you in this situation for a reason gives a great deal of comfort.  Now I just need to know what I'm supposed to learn.  Instead of asking "Why me, Lord?" we should be asking "What am I to learn here, Lord?"

Maybe, I'm supposed to learn to be more patient or maybe I'm to learn that I should put the needs of others ahead of my needs.  Maybe I'm to learn these things while not getting upset. It's different for each person in the situation.  Maybe the gentle word is meant to be an encouraging word to build up another person rather than tearing them down.  I can tell you this, though.  The one thing we have complete control over is how we respond in a tough situation.  Make sure that you're using words of encouragement and a gentle voice.  



The Shepherd


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Bonus Video - Kyle Idleman - Not A Fan

This video slowly builds to a great message at the end.  Please watch it all the way and then determine which one you are.

Not A Fan - Kyle Idleman

Please let me know what you thought of the message or post any comments you may have.

Thanks!

The Shepherd

Proverbs 14 - Day 14

"There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end is death."
                                                                       Proverbs 14:12


If you've been following along in our journey through Proverbs these past 14 days then you've heard me quote this numerous times.  I use this little pearl of wisdom to help me through so many difficult discussions and decisions.  It reminds me of the slippery slope we walk on when we don't walk with God.  In the previous chapters of Proverbs (and I encourage all of you to reread them) we've discussed the importance of wisdom, seeking God's will and how asking God for help will help you draw nearer to God.  We learned about staying in God's word and how that will help you make better decisions.  We also discussed the impacts of a prideful heart - which really means a person feels they don't need any help or any guidance from any one including God.

Now, let's bring these ideas all together so we can apply them to real world situations.  God provided us with an instruction manual to our lives so we can know best how to respond to the life experiences that we all face.  But sometimes we have a prideful heart.  We say things like "No one is going to tell me how to live my life."  So we push aside the instruction manual and make decision without the wisdom of Solomon or the guidance from God - the creator.  We feel as though most of our choices are easy choices anyway, we don't want to bother God with them.  We think to ourselves, "How hard can it be to decide these things anyway.  I'll choose the way that has the most options, or has the least impact on the majority of people, or the way that doesn't put constraints on me.  I'll choose the way that's the easiest and doesn't require hard work or sacrifices."  

So what happens when we live our lives in this way?  At first, nothing really happens.  We actually convince ourselves that we are doing a good job at making decisions without God's guidance.  In order to get this point across in a psuedo-visual way, I'd like you to picture yourself with a task to complete.  I have a room with a painted wooden floor that needs to be repainted.  I've given you the task to repaint it.  You have a choice to make right up front.  Do you plan out the approach to take with a vision toward the future or do you just jump in and do it?  Do I ask God for guidance or do I rely on my own knowledge?  If we don't even recognize that there's a decision to be made then we really have already made it.  We just jump in and start.  And since I'm right here in the doorway of the only entrance/exit to the room, I might as well start here.  Everything appears to be going well until I get almost done.  Once I've painted the majority of the floor and I'm coming to the other end, I realize that I haven't left myself a way to get out of the room.  I've painted myself into the corner and I either have to make a messy choice of walking across the freshly painted floor or staying there until it dries.

So it is with life.  At first, my decisions seem to have little or no impact, but overtime my decisions are actually plotting a course for my life.  I didn't realize it at first but now that I've journeyed down the path some distance I realize that I don't see some of things that I used to see.  I look at things differently because of my choices and I don't necessarily see anything wrong with my choices but it's just different.  It feels different. 

For example,  why do I care if they pray in school or not?  I'm not a student anymore.  If it offends people then let's not do it anymore.  Why do I care if the city doesn't put up the nativity scene?  If it offends people then let's not do it anymore.  Why do I care if the Pledge of Allegiance contains the phrase "under God" or not?  If it offends people then let's not do it anymore.  Why do I care if our money says "In God We Trust" on it?  If it offends people then let's not do it anymore.  

The "way" that seems right to man will always be the path of least resistance.  It may require little or no changes to my lifestyle, or it may not impact me at all.  I don't even have to decide.  I can just keep doing what I've always done.  The world or society takes the easy path - the path that leads to death and destruction.  We need to remind people that God has a plan for ALL of us.  If we remove God from our schools, our cities, our government, and our society aren't we saying we don't need you God?  Sounds like a prideful heart to me and in this case a prideful nation.  This prideful nation is pushing God away at an alarming rate.  

If, as a nation, we murder God's children before they are born (54.3 million killed in the USA since 1973), how can we expect God to Bless America?  

If, as a nation, we say to God we're not going to follow your instruction manual for marriage. We know that you say it's best if marriage is between one man and one woman but as a nation we know better.  "Love is Love".  If we are not listening to God then why would we think He would listen to us?

There is a way that seems right to the uninformed, uneducated, prideful sinner (aka man) but in the end it leads to death.  

We need to remember this.  Man is flawed!  Without God's guidance, man cannot make choices that are godly.  It is important for ALL of us to get this squarely planted in our brains so the next time someone offers up a choice or a solution or a direction we don't just accept it without seeking God's will first.  Bring it to God in prayer first.  Get His guidance before making a decision.  Listen to what He places on your heart and do what He requests of you. You will not be disappointed for He knows the desires of your heart and how best to satisfy those desires.



The Shepherd


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Proverbs 13 - Day 13

"Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children.  Those who love their children care enough to discipline them"                         Proverbs 13:24


One of the hardest things a parent must do is discipline their children.  Just to be clear the phrase "the rod of discipline" means spanking the child when they've done something that requires disciplining.  From Proverbs 12 we learned the Bible is the instruction manual for our lives.  The creator gave us this manual so we can take the appropriate actions in order to live a fruitful and fulfilling life.  If we don't follow the manual, then we shouldn't be surprised when strange things start happening.  Disciplining a child is the only way to correct poor behavior.  There must be a negative response to a negative action in order for the brain to keep the body from acting that way again.  Without pain, the brain will forget what happened before.

For example, think back to your childhood when something happened where you experienced pain.  We all have plenty of these moments in our childhood.  Maybe you were cut by something or broke a bone.  Whatever it was, we tend to be able to remember all of the particular details that led up to the painful experience.  I can recount every time I was spanked with the rod of discipline and why.  It's as if the pain we felt chiseled every detail into our brain forever.  Now, tell me the details around the last time someone counted to 3 before putting you in timeout.  What?  You don't remember?  Which approach is more effective?  

Again, just to be clear, I am not referring to beating a child.  The rod of discipline doesn't mean beating a child.  Most of the time an immediate swat across the backside corrects a behavior problem.  When my son and I were playing in the front yard one day he decide to break free from my hand and ran toward the street.  I yelled for him to stop and yelled the word "No" as I was running after him.  I got to him before he entered the street but he needed to learn that when his father says to stop - he should stop.  One quick swat across his back side told him this behavior is unacceptable.   The next thing to do was explain to him what the right action should have been.  We never had another incident where he made a break for the street again.

Discipline is done out of love for the person.  It is probably the greatest responsibility that a parent has when raising their children.  It provides guidance and nurturing to the child.  A lack of discipline makes me question whether the parents love their children.  Without correction, a child does not have an accurate depiction of right and wrong.  They grow up without a strong moral compass.  They actually believe that there are no consequences for their actions.  They don't see a reason to follow rules, laws, or listen to any authority figures.  

Our Lord loves us dearly.  He disciplines us when we don't follow His advice or His plan for our lives.  However, we spend so much time on the wrong path, doing the wrong things and feeling the wrath of His discipline that we've come to know this as "life".  When we are on the right path, things just go very smoothly.  Things happen out of the blue to move you forward in an unexpected way.  Doors open for you that you've never dreamed of.  In looking back, you see the hand of God at work because that's the only way these experiences would ever have happened.

God loves us and He disciplines us.  We love our children and we should discipline them as well.  It will show them that you love them more than anything in the world and it will give them a great understanding of right and wrong.  You'll also be introducing them to consequences and to God's way.  Be strong and do what is right!


The Shepherd


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Proverbs 12 - Day 12

"To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction."
                                                                       Proverbs 12:1


If you're not interested in learning, then there's really not much I can say or do to get you to learn.  However, if you are interested in learning, if the topic is something you are interested in, there will be no stopping that person from learning.  They will buy books, magazines, DVD's, anything they can get their hands on in order to become more knowledgeable in the topic.  Have you ever seen this happen before?  A person may not be interested in history but give them a biography of a famous sports figure and they devour the book in short order.  When the topic is interesting to the person, their heart is into learning more about the subject.  You can actually tell how much their heart is into the subject by their actions.

We all probably had someone in school that appeared to only be there because their parents forced them to go.  They had no interest in learning at all and in many cases this was very apparent in the way the acted out in school.  I can recall a very rebellious individual that I grew up with that was always instigating problems, causing drama, rebelling, and therefore spent a great deal of their time in the principal's office.  Their heart was not interested in learning anything - or maybe their heart wasn't interested in hearing that they needed to learn something because that would imply that they didn't already know it all. (see Proverbs 1 for more info on the know-it-all)

Learning requires a persons heart to be open to hearing that they're not doing something the way that it should be done in order to get the best possible results.  When someone is learning, it usually means that they are trying new approaches and comparing the results to the expected outcome.  If the outcome doesn't match the expected results, then changes are made and they try again.  Those changes are considered to be "corrections" or sometimes referred to as "discipline".  We sometimes consider discipline to be more action related and correction to be more adjustment related but really this is how learning occurs!!  In order to be able to improve, a person must be open to hearing that their best attempts fell short of the goal and here's how you can do better.  Anyone that has a problem with constructive criticism, correction, or discipline has a problem with pride.

Sometimes this carries over into adulthood and can be an attitude issue that is passed from generation to generation.  Have you ever seen someone try to put together a recently purchased item?  Whenever there is "Some Assembly Required" there will always be an instruction manual included or available online.  Many times I've watched a person struggling to assemble the item and have asked "Where are the instructions?"  The instructions will be over in the pile of trash waiting to be discarded.  After reviewing the instructions, we'll typically find some assumptions were made early in the assembly process that were incorrect.  There may be a specific order in which things need to go together in order to get other pieces in place later on.  When the instructions aren't followed, there will be "extra" pieces left over.  This may or may not impact the overall life of the product but one thing is for certain; the maker meant for it to be done differently in order to receive the intended outcome.

So it is with life.  Our maker has provided us with a manual for our lives.  The Bible is our instruction manual.  The contents of the Bible guide us through our lives so we can have the wisdom to make godly decisions that keep us growing closer to God.  When we have a heart for learning how best to live our lives, we will consult the only true manual for our lives and follow its instructions so we don't have to tear our lives apart and start over or so we don't have extra pieces left over.  When we follow the instruction manual for our life, we are more likely to be able to identify problem areas early and avoid them completely.  But it takes a heart of learning in order to realize that we need direction:  that we need help.  

Not to worry, God helps us there as well.  When we become too prideful and arrogant, He provides us the opportunity to start over.  Because He loves us more than we can possibly imagine, He places learning opportunities (sometimes painful learning opportunities) in our lives so we can learn that we don't know it all.  He is testing us.  When we pick up the pieces - will we consult the manual?  When our life falls apart, will we consult the maker this time?  Or will we need another learning opportunity soon?  How many times do we need to tear our lives apart and start over before we realize, or accept, that we don't know it all?  Will we have enough lifetime left to get on the right path:  the one that leads to God?  Will we allow ourselves to be instructed by the almighty maker of the universe?  Or do we tell God "You're not the boss of me!" or "I don't need you to tell me how to live my life!"   How many other lives are going to be crushed or destroyed by your arrogance?

Remember, the way of the world is not the way of God.  God loves us so much that He sent His one and only son to earth to save us from our prideful or sinful nature so that we can learn His ways and live with Him for all eternity.  Satan has other plans for us.  He wants to keep us from God.  God has Satan on a leash at the moment.  He uses Satan to test us; to bring learning opportunities to us:  to see if we are willing to change our heart or our path.  Satan also is allowed to tempt us and provide us with options that will not be best for us.  God wants us to choose the right path because of our desire to be with God not because we're forced down a path.  Satan provides us many bad choices through peer pressure, through the media, through the common thinking of many lost souls.  Keep in mind, the path that leads to destruction is very smooth, very wide and traveled by many.  This means that the easy path is most often not the right path.  Society (or the world, or the majority) will tell us that Christians are very narrow minded and out of touch with reality but we know the path to heaven is very narrow, difficult and traveled by far fewer than expected.

There is a way that seems right to man that in the end leads to destruction.

If society is telling you that you're on the wrong path, you're most likely on the right path.  Consult your instruction manual to be sure.  Consult it often to remain sure.


The Shepherd

Proverbs 12:1 Video

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