Tag: Turn away

Being Ready

“And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Psalms 90:12  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

Psalms 39:4     “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!

Deuteronomy 32:29     If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!

Ecclesiastes 9:10    Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Luke 12:35     “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,  and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.  Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them.  If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants!  But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.  You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

John 9:4     We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Ephesians 5:16     making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Proverbs 2:2     making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;  yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,  if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,  then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.  For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Proverbs 4:5     Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 7:1     My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;  keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;  bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.  Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,

Proverbs 8:32     “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD,  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”

Proverbs 16:16     How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Proverbs 22:17     Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

Proverbs 23:12     Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.

Proverbs 18:1     Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.  A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.

Jude 1:19     It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.

Being ready at all times is much different than thinking about being ready.  Being ready and living ready is putting the Word of God into action in our lives.  Thinking about being ready is just that, stuff moving through our head and no action to follow it up.  God’s will must be a desired and sought after presence in our lives. This desire and seeking keep us actionable for His purpose and plans.  Reread these verses and as is says in Proverbs 22:17     Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge,

Humble Service

“They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.”

 

Psalms 18:22
For all his rules were before me, and his statutes I did not put away from me. I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from my guilt. So the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.  With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;  with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.  For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down.  For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.

Psalms 119:13
With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

Psalms 119:128
Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way.

John 5:14
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”

Psalms 119:112
I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.

Psalms 119:117
Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!

Psalms 11:7
For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.

Psalms 17:3
You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night, you have tested me, and you will find nothing; I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress

Psalms 37:27
Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever.

1 Samuel 26:23
The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness,

1 Chronicles 29:17
I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness.

God saves the humble.  When I read this I think of the time I was humbled  through His word.  I had people speaking Christ into my life and sharing His word with me for over a year.  Through these acts of discipleship God’s word became alive.  I became aware of what God required to be right with Him.  I learned that I could not be good enough to gain His forgiveness.  Then one night God opened my heart and mind to His forgiveness through believing in the redemptive work of His son.  I was humbled and knew there was nothing I could do to be right with God and had to trust His word that by believing in His son I was saved from my sin.  I was made new.  All my past sin was forgiven.  All the guilt and shame was taken away in that single moment.  I dug into His word, learning, training, wanting to know more and more of Him.  I would like to say that I grew and grew and never lost sight of honoring and glorifying Him in my daily life.  However, after some years I became  a very luke warm follower of Him.  Playing the role without much of His word being active in my life.  I was very good at pretending but the fact of the matter was I was not growing at all.  I had stopped reading His word on a regular basis.  I became complacent.  I was not listening for His voice leading me.  I was going through life with no thought of humbly honoring and glorifying God everyday.  It was more about me and what I wanted.  Things of this world seemed to have grabbed my attention and I lost sight but God did not leave me there.  Through His great plans and purpose He humbled me and then used my wife to place scripture back in front of me.  She would place His word on my computer screen.  He used her because she was listening and obeying when she could have easily followed my lead.  I tell you all of this so you know that following God is not a one day a week.  If you find yourself where God does not seem to be very near it is not because He is not there.  It is because His word is not active in your life.  Go back to that first desire.  Read His word.  Commit to being His humble servant ready to listen and obey His leading. Don’t waste a single day apart from Him.

Examine, Consider, Remember

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves”

“if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard”

 

Psalms 4:4
Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.

Psalms 63:6
when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

Psalms 77:6
I said, “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” Then my spirit made a diligent search:

2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

Lamentations 3:40
Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD!

Ezekiel 18:28
Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Revelation 3:2-3
Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Revelation 2:5
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Haggai 1:7
“Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

Col ossians 1:21
And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

Consider your ways, ponder in your heart, meditate in your heart, examine your ways, remember, and WAKE UP, are all reminders in God’s word given to us.  Why are these reminders for us recorded?  It is so easy to get busy with life and things of family and work that soon our heart and mind are full, exhausted, and occupied.  How easy we forget Jesus Christ sacrifice freely given and the call on our lives to humbly serve, honor and glorify God.  Our lives are blessed when we walk with Him. Our lives are fuller when we not only meditate and consider our ways but when we do this in light of His word. We need His word in our lives daily.  Without it we have nothing but what the culture we live in and accepts as what is right and we do what seems “right in our own eyes”.  Purpose in your heart to read it, meditate on it, and consider your ways in light of it.