A Word to the Wise (2009 Archive)
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12/23/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom is a social gift. It is not given to be exercised on one’s self. It is a gift for the whole community. If a person truly believes, then that faith will be illuminated by the things she does. In the same way if one is wise, wisdom will be shown by her good deeds and wise behavior.
12/22/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The best way to maintain wisdom is to guard diligently ones response to foolish statements. Silence is the second-most important quality of wisdom following the fear of the Lord. Silence alone may be mistaken for wisdom.
12/21/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Arguing, in contrast is like trying to stop a flood of water. “If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.”
12/20/2009 – A Word to the Wise: So, what does one listen for? A person’s character is the sum total of all that he thinks. What a person thinks is exhibited in what he says and in what he does. The wise person listens to what flows from the mouth.
12/17/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The purpose of silence is to listen. One cannot talk and listen at the same time. Silence is not withdrawal, nor is it inattentiveness. Silence with no intent to speak intensifies the hearing process. What a person says gives insight into what motivates that person to change. These jewels are useless if we do not hear them. There is a time to speak, but never before you have heard.
12/16/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Silence must reign if one hopes to acquire wisdom. “Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise,” a wise person must be silent. Why is silence so important? Because the tongue is the source of foolishness, to restrain one’s words, to limit them to the bare necessity, is prudent for it limits one’s opportunities to speak inappropriately.
12/15/2009 – A Word to the Wise: We tend to think of wisdom as a thought process rather than a heart process, yet scripture plainly states that wisdom resides in the heart. Wisdom is not related to intelligence, for even the intellectually slow may be wise.
12/14/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom is the chief testimony for God’s existence and His intervention in the affairs of men. Now, if all of this seems rather complex –then believe me, it is. The subject of wisdom and its acquisition is a complex subject. Solomon says however, obtaining wisdom surpasses any other goal one could hope to achieve. Ultimately, the wisdom received will glorify the Lord and not ourselves.
12/13/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The purpose of wisdom is to render justice. Wisdom’s purpose is seen in the nature of its creation.
12/10/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom flows from the heart but is regulated by the mind. Most women are born with it, few men seek it, and all of us need it.
12/09/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom is not religion but requires godly boundaries if it is to be utilized for good.
12/08/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom is power and is capable of transforming mankind. Wisdom benefits all of society.
12/07/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Wisdom is not knowledge; rather the use of knowledge.
12/5/2009 – A Word to the Wise: I would suggest if you make a statement and it is met with argument, denial, explanation, or quick response, I would suspicion a foolish statement. If however, the person is speechless, I suspect you have made a wise reply.
12/2/2009 – A Word to the Wise: How does one know if what they say is wise or foolish?
11/30/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Never underestimate how evil a good person can be.
11/25/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The Pearl of great price, to me, is friendship with the Lord. What is the pearl to you?
11/24/2009 – A Word to the Wise: It is wanting to give instead of receiving. It is not just to please. For to please implies getting something in return, perhaps approval. And of course you will get that but the unselfish desire to generously worship, adore and an infatuation with the Lord and His ways.
11/23/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Some thoughts come to me yet it is not like there are a list of things to do. Rather an attitude. It has to be like one desires to walk with Jesus through the miracles and parables, or the individual encounters of scripture. It is sitting with Him as He is in the garden yearning to bear His pain knowing that you cannot do that but wanting too.
11/20/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The Lord has affection for me! The idea stirs such deep feelings, it is difficult to grasp. How wondrous. He in fact looks, with great affection on my mother and her family. Friendship of the Lord is the Pearl of great price. So how does one become a member of this group?
11/19/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Are there not those whom the Lord has affection for? Not just love, but affection. He told me that He had affection for me. I was startled it completely surprised me. He thinks of me affectionately! What a wondrous thought. Then I wondered why and when that started. The incident is to private to speak of.
11/18/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Now I am sure there are many who say a child can not remember at that age. Yet since I do, and my mother confirmed that I was that age then the only conclusion I can draw is that He has kept that memory alive for all of these years.
11/17/2009 – A Word to the Wise: That Lord is why I love you most of all. At times I have wondered why or how you could love me at all then I remember that I am your precious possession and one does not discard precious possessions even if they are scratched and scarred.
11/16/2009 – A Word to the Wise: I remember still laying in her arms in that squeaky old rocking chair and her singing that beautiful hymn over and over. “I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear, calling my ear…. I am sure you remember it, “the Son of God discloses.” “And He walks with me and He talks with me, and most assuredly He has. I loved Him then and I love Him now.
11/13/2009 – A Word to the Wise: I was born two months early, a premature twin. When I was a year old, I lay close to death. In fact, I did not know it till much later, the doctors told my mother that I would not make it through the night.
11/12/2009 – A Word to the Wise: “Jedidiah ( that is His name for me), how is it that I won your heart? Why do you love Me? Why? Lord I will tell you why.
11/11/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Every once in awhile, a question and its answer can shake you to your very foundation. I experienced that this morning when the question came to mind that touched my soul and left me breathless.
11/10/2009 – A Word to the Wise: True, a person may consider many things priceless, yet for a few, friendship with the Lord is the pearl of great price.
11/09/2009 – A Word to the Wise: What feelings do you think were aroused in Job when he is writing his story down for posterity, as Job pens the words that reflect the heavenly conversation? “Have you considered my servant Job”?
11/06/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Many think of heaven or even the grace of the Lord as a great prize, and it is yet this matter of friendship, the Lord having affection for us. Not just love. But to think that when He hears our voice, or beholds our presence, it brings the Lord great satisfaction.
11/05/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Do you have any idea what it would be like to be considered a friend of the Lord. This is a position held by very few in scripture. Abraham, Enoch, Elijah, Job, Daniel, David, Peter, James, and John, and Paul. The list indeed is short. The price is tremendous. We can only guess at the tremendous stress these men of God endured.
11/04/2009 – A Word to the Wise: I have no doubt that the Pearl of Great Price that for which I would sell everything is friendship with the Lord.
11/03/2009 – A Word to the Wise: There are not many things in life worth selling all one owns to buy it, or are there? I know many a soul who sell all they own and much not owned to buy drugs, alcohol, sex, or a host of other things. Cheap things without any true value. When purchased they bring no satisfaction, nor peace or joy.
11/02/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Have you ever wondered what the pearl of great price is that Jesus refers to in Matthew 13:45? Jesus says that it is something for which a man will sell everything that he owns to purchase.
11/01/2009 – A Word to the Wise: It is not what we eat, rather what eats at us that is the problem.
10/28/2009 – A Word to the Wise: A critical environment, or rebellious life style weakens the immune system and makes us susceptible to all manner of disease which shortens our life and effects generations after us.
10/26/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Most current medical treatment seeks to treat the symptoms not the chief cause.
10/23/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Most medical problems find there cure in the resolution of rebellion.
10/21/2009 – A Word to the Wise: At least ninety percent of all medical problems can be traced to disobedience of rules, ordinances, or statutes whether actually, or generational.
10/14/2009 – A Word to the Wise: One cannot adequately teach the grace of God until the student has accepted the fear of God.
10/11/2009 – A Word to the Wise: It is easy to stumble at his direction, correction, and discipline , that is why prayer is so difficult.
10/08/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Prayer is not for everyone, but it is for those who desire the Lord’s comfort.
10/05/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The goal is to so attune our minds to the Lord, we no longer come and go from his presence for we discover the joy of praying without ceasing.
10/02/2009 – A Word to the Wise: By dwelling on the wisdom of him who fashioned us we surrender our will to his.
09/29/2009 – A Word to the Wise: By dwelling on the wisdom of him who fashioned us we surrender our will to his.
09/26/2009 – A Word to the Wise: As we linger in prayer, experiencing the brightness of his glory, we find our blessed refuge from self.
09/21/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Each time we enter the garden of prayer for one who is sick, we deepen our compassion; each time we offer our earnest petition for the needy, we are more benevolent; each time we seek his help in saving the lost, we are more united with his purposes.
09/19/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Greater than the words uttered in prayer are the experiences of prayer to the inner man.
09/17/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Prayer is more than asking-it is communing with God.
09/14/2009 – A Word to the Wise: If you want to be more forgiving then ask the Lord for more opportunities to forgive.
09/12/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Obedience to lawful authority under girds and proves a touchstone for all else. Disobedience is the source of every ill.
09/09/09 – A Word to the wise: The reason that gratitude is the counter to addiction is because addiction is covetousness.
09/07/2009 – A Word to the Wise: When you ask God to give wisdom to an evil person you are asking for the Lord to make them more crafty in their wickedness.
09/04/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Whatever the central task the Lord created for us will be opposed by enemies.
09/02/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Life is filled with sadness. One could make a victory of these experiences turning life into inner triumph or could ignore the challenge and simple vegetate. Any attempt to restore ones inner strength has to show some future goal.
08/30/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The man who slights his wife despises himself.
08/26/2009 – A Word to the Wise: What is the one thing in human endeavor that last forever? The written Word. Beginning with Adam and ending with time is the written Word.
08/24/2009 – A Word to the Wise. Behavior on the battlefield is different from the Sunday-morning pew. “As far as possible live in peace with all men” does not apply to the battlefield. Turning the other cheek and “do unto others as you wish them do to you” are principles not practiced at the gates of hell If one is to march into the depth of Hades to rescue the perishing then one best be armed with the finest fire protection. One must be ready to use every weapon in God’s armory; ready to trade blow for blow with a fierce enemy who shows no quarter.
08/19/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Only a fool demands a liar too tell the truth.
08/15/2009 – A Word to the Wise: To reverence authority is to reverence God because the Word of God says all authority is ordained of God. He is saying that truth and authority are synonymous. The Centurion comprehended authority this is why his faith was so great. It is difficult for us to comprehend the price we pay for resistance and rebellion.
08/13/2009 – A Word to the Wise: We are not a people that can easily comprehend authority. We do not live under a strict disciplinary government. On a whole, we are not accustomed to heavy discipline in our jobs and our homes. Thus, when we are confronted with the authority of God we have little in our background to help us comprehend its significance.
08/11/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The first attribute necessary to proper use of authority is humility. Authority is a power which is entrusted to the individual by either God or man. To fulfill this trust one must in some manner assume responsibility regarding others.
08/08/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Morale built any other way by praise and circumstance is nothing but a pumped up flat tire. There is no real strength of character within to hold it up. The world will not do it—and God will not let them. We must grow into it by living and being what God expects of us.
08/06/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Confidence goes down when we grow morbid and bathe in hostility and self-pity. It rises when we confront ourselves and accept our limitations and given potentials, despite these limitations.
08/02/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Confidence comes when we do battle and succeed. It comes when we accept the challenges of life instead of running away from them. It gains strength when we lick our wounds after a defeat and return to the fray.
07/29/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Man can analyze the evil of the heart because it is of his own devising. He cannot replace it with good, because this is God’s and He gives to whom he finds worthy.
07/27/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Sex is the cohesive material that holds a relationship together. It is not just an act or series of acts. Sex is an investment in the future, physically, emotionally, and mentally. Sex is an investment in each other’s heritage with an expectation of future return and increase compounded by the measure given.
07/22/2009 – A Word to the Wise: No one can have two sexual relationships without damaging one. Consider that in God’s Word you do not find one example of marriage that includes more than one woman in which peace reigned. The two do not coexist.
07/21/2009 – A Word to the Wise: When a man treats a woman as if she is useless unless she is earning wages, he destroys her ability and desire to fulfill her role as a companion. It is easier to earn a paycheck than to be a companion.
07/20/2009 – A Word to the Wise: One sin two motives. A man has promiscuous sex to own or possess. The woman does so in order to destroy the man.
07/19/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Courage in the face of the enemy wins intense spiritual battles. Courage rooted in the fear of the Lord ensures that one will not run and hide, nor cave in when the enemy comes in like a flood. When the dark night of the soul sets in, when others quake in fear, when surrounded with the night terrors or overwhelmed with intense pain, when calamity is at every turn, when the storms of life drown us in sorrow beyond measure, even then one cannot be induced to curse their God.
07/17/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Most of our physical diseases can to be traced to one of three causes; hatred of God, hatred of self, or hatred of others.
07/16/2009 – A Word to the Wise: How can Jesus be the firstborn from the grave? How can that be? Jesus, himself, raised the son of the widow of Nain from death and Lazarus from the grave. How can Jesus be the first? Note, Jesus raised men back to life to die again. He did not give eternal life at this time, only a return to a physical existence and redeath. When God raised Jesus from the grave, it was to eternal life. He was given a new body that would last forever. The kind of body one day given the faithful.
07/15/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Man attempts to acquire ownership by glamorizing the idea of “belonging” in marriage. The Lord never intended for men and women to belong to each other. God meant for a man and woman to function together in harmony as one just as the parts of our body function in harmony.
07/14/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The human being was meant to function in many relationships but if tied to only one then none of them will function properly. Possessiveness will cripple and eventually destroy all relationships.
07/13/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The deepest yearning in every human being is for a “sense of longing” but it must be fulfilled in God. If it is displaced to a person it spawns much unhappiness.
07/10/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Human possessiveness is a misplaced sense of ownership. No one in any relationship owns another person.
07/09/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Warfare must be fought in the Lord’s time, by the Lord’s means, and at the place chosen by Him. He is not a man that can be manipulated or charmed into doing man’s will.
07/08/2009 – A Word to the Wise: In our battles, it is acceptable to acknowledge our own inability to accomplish tasks set before us by the Lord for it is the Lord who accomplishes the task, and we are His tools.
07/07/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The ability to persevere in hardship without complaint is an important factor in training for service in the Lord’s army.
07/05/2009 – A Word to the Wise: How does God lead us and what does God expect of us? God is aware that His people have varying levels of faith some quite shallow others deep. The Lord does not expect more than He has given. He constantly pull us upward, but we are tested on what we have, not what another have.
06/29/2009 – A Word to the Wise: When a person hates discipline then they are unable to follow a logical course of action.
06/25/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Educate a fool and you nourish heartaches for the future.
06/22/2009 – A Word to the Wise: God judges us on our attitudes. If we do the right thing for the wrong reason then it is hardly better than doing the wrong thing for the right reason.
06/18/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Less we forget, the Lord uses evil and the evil person to accomplish His will.
06/15/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Buried in the midst of overwhelming difficulties complacency does not set in, rather the paths of justice are guarded with even greater zeal. This is the heritage of the God-trained warrior. One, who in the words of John, “does not cling to life even in the face of death.”
06/11/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Does the Lord love you, or does He feel affection for you?
06/08/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Most of us are weak the rest have an illusion of strength.
06/07/2009 – A Word to the Wise: A Christian woman should understand that sex with her husband fortifies him for battle against the enemy.
06/06/2009 – A Word to the Wise: One cannot adequately accept the grace of God until the student has accepted the fear of God.
06/04/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Faith without the consequences of faith is meaningless.
06/03/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The Lord intends for us to terrify our enemies, not appease, nor compromise, nor be merciful. One never, ever shows mercy to Satan.
06/01/09 – A Word to the Wise: Read the Gospels and make a list of people Jesus did not like.
05/30/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Fearlessness in the face of the enemy, combined with a companion who knows us well, can achieve success, even the impossible, with God’s help.
05/28/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Praising oneself to oneself is an arduous task. When done well it bears the fruit of gratitude for others.
05/23/09 – A Word to the Wise: Complete individualism and a sense of belonging are contrary in nature to one another, It is our likeness to one another, our commonness together that deepens ours sense of belonging. If we insist on total individualism we then may experience freedom but with freedom an increased sense of aloneness. Therefore individualism makes relatedness less attainable.
05/20/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Friendship with the Lord is the golden key to life unlocking the doors of His treasury to immeasurable riches
05/18/2009 – A Word to the Wise: A divided heart: I love my wife, my children, my work, my possessions. Or a United heart: I love my God. From love of the Lord flows appreciation for the other blessings.
05/14/2009 – A Word to the Wise – Assignment: Start a 90 day calendar on your husband. Each day discern either through observation or question their physical status for that day (Strong or fatigued for that particular day measured against the normal for them.
Discern the tendency intellectually (that is has there thinking that day as it been sharp and clear or confused and scattered)
Discern their emotional functioning (that is tended to feel, understand or have compassion for others). Discern their spiritual state (Have they prayed openly or silently, read the Bible, discussed spiritual things with others).
05/13/2009 – A Word to the Wise: I need to stop asking the meaning of life and to see myself as one being questioned by life, daily, hourly. I must answer, not with talk or meditation, but right action and right conduct. Life means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the task set before me.
05/12/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Sometimes we confuse being called by God to perform a task and being chosen. Service is predicated on obedience.
05/10/2009 – A Word to the Wise: What needs to be learned is not what I expect of life but what life expects of me.
05/07/2009 – A Word to the Wise: Adjust your clock to God Standard Time, running neither ahead nor behind in order to delight in His secret treasures.
05/05/2009 – A Word to the Wise: There is a difference between punishment and correction. Punishment is for fools, correction for the wise.
05/05/2009 – A Word to the Wise: My Mother use to say:”There are only two reasons for ever doing anything; One because God wants you too and two; because you want to please God.
05/03/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The Christian warrior must fear with all of his heart, mind, and spirit the Lord God Almighty. There must not be any room left to fear anyone or anything. “And he said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil understanding.’ “(Job 28:28).
05/02/2009 – A Word to the Wise: The measure of our lives will one day adorn our graves. Will it be as in King Hezekiah’s case “and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death.” Or, the requiem for the unfaithful as in the case of King Jehoram, and he departed with no one’s regret.
05/01/2009 – A Word to the Wise: There is nothing in all of creation more powerful for the human than obedience. Nothing affects man’s existence more than this quality. It governs intellect, emotions, and physical ability. The ultimate obedience is rooted in the fear of the Lord. The least obedience is discovered in passive compliance with society’s customs.
04/20/2009 – A Word to the Wise: A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance (Pro. 15)
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