Hello dear child, today I will be speaking to you on the importance of the book of Proverbs. This book was written by the wisest man on earth. His name is King Solomon, the son of King David.
King Solomon was so wise, people came from far and near to his kingdom to observe and learn from what he had put in place.
Guess how he got so wise, where did he get all that wisdom from?
The bible records that King Solomon asked God for Wisdom and Knowledge and God gave it to him; all that wisdom came from God! No wonder he was so wise.
This is why the book of Proverbs is very important to us as believers; every wise saying recorded in it came as a result of God giving King Solomon the wisdom he prayed for.
Let’s see how this book begins!
These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king — Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn — Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women. –Proverbs 1:1-7 (MSG)
Let’s pick the points one after the other.
1. This book of Proverbs was written so we as God’s children can know how to live well and know the right things to do.
2. it’s also written so we can understand life and know where it’s going. Guess what? Every word is as useful in this age as it was when it was written.
3. it’s also a manual for us as God’s children, it’s for us to learn what is right different from what the world calls rights, for us to know what is just and, what is God’s definition of right.
To be continued…
PRAYER: Father in Jesus name, I pray for wisdom just like King Solomon in Jesus name. Amen.
ACTION PLAN: Start a Bible challenge of reading the book of Proverbs
DECLARATION: I am wise, I know what to do, and I live a life that pleases God, in Jesus name.
Is he or she insisting on pre-marital sex? That is a distraction! You are surely not going to the same place and there is no point holding on in that kind of relationship.
You see, you have to know that except the Lord build a house, they labour in vain that build. If you don’t do it God’s way, all your ‘investments’ of time, money and energy on that relationship will go down the drain. Without God, there would be agony and heartache. A home without God is a playground for the devil and his cohorts.
As singles, you need to know it does not only take money or business acumen to run a marriage. It takes money, yes, plus a lot of wisdom and tact founded on a solid relationship with God. It takes a lot of prayers and determination to love your spouse always!
I pray for you this morning that every distraction on the path of your destiny is destroyed in Jesus name. God will strengthen you and give you all-round victory in Jesus name. May the eyes of your understanding be enlightened to see what you need to know to take you to the next level in God!
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I receive grace to cut away from relationships that will distract and pull me back.
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Lord, help me today to choose to walk with people who are in agreement with my destiny.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. Mat 18:19 MSG
ACTION PLANFOR THE DAY Write the names of your 10 closest friends. Strikeout the names of those who are not going in the same direction as you are going.
An angry person is one to avoid. Two angry people are dangerous people! Simeon and Levi in the scriptures are brothers, but the Bible says their father placed a curse on them because of their unrestrained violent emotions.
Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. –Genesis 49:5-7 (KJV)
They were of like tempers, dispositions, and manners, bold, wrathful, cruel, revengeful, and deceitful, and joined together in their evil counsels and evil actions which resulted in the cruel and barbarous slaughter of the inhabitants of Shechem.
If only one brother was angry, the other could have calmed his brother. But both were angry at the same time, so their anger fuelled one another!
Message translation of verse 5 says:
Simeon and Levi are two of a kind, ready to fight at the drop of a hat. –Genesis 49:5 (MSG)
As an individual, you must learn to restrain your anger and learn not to react at every provocation so that eventually when you are married, your home will be a habitable place for your children. What happens when my spouse is angry and raises his/her voice at me?
The answer is here;
A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. –Proverbs 15:1 (KJV)
Learn to talk softly. You will be amazed! Don’t raise your voice back in anger! Just talking softly will make the anger will be defused. Learn this as singles and you will be saving yourself a lot of headaches.
That is the way Message translation puts it.
A gentle response defuses anger, but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire. –Proverbs 15:1(MSG)
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY My heart will guide my mouth, and my lips will promote instruction. Jesus has been made unto me wisdom, and I will keep myself under control.
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Give me the grace to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Make no friendships with a man given to anger, and with a wrathful man do not associate, -Proverb 22:24 (AMP)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Try and identify your anger triggers and to seek help
In the things of God, you are expected to grow. Just like physical food makes us grow, develop and have strong bones, the same way, your spirit man or the inner man ought to grow.
You see, when you start out in God, you may be twenty five years old, but you are actually a spiritual baby. That is why the Bible talks about the milk of the word and the meat of the word.
The more you search God’s word, attend Bible studies, learn to pray, the more you will grow and master your situations and circumstances.
Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. – Proverbs 23:12 (KJV)
Relationships or marriages do not work out because you are a Christian! It works out because you know what to do! Being born again ensures you make heaven, but what ensures victory on earth is to know what to do in specific situations and your ability to draw wisdom from God’s word.
If marriage is an institution, learning is inevitable! As a matter of fact, your success in that marriage is predicated on your ability to learn principles and apply them.
Knowledge of God’s word will set you free. What you know can push to the top of the ladder. What you don’t know can get you demoted. So, it is in the things of the spirit. No wonder the devil does all things possible to make sure you don’t study God’s word!
Ever wondered why your eyes are so bright when you are watching a film and you are so alert but you start to doze when it comes to God’s word? The one that studied God’s word through the night and the one that made calls talking sweet nonsense would not have same result at the end of the day. One is sowing to the flesh and the other to the spirit and there will be a distinguishing!
Learning from God’s word constantly is a must if you will have victory. There are three processes involved here.
1. Knowledge acquisition.
Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. Read wide. Search for answers. Don’t just assume. Assumption is the lowest form of knowledge. The difference between you and the person you admire is what that person knows.
2. Understanding.
Understanding is the arrangement of facts. Now, you have read, but you must process the facts and sort them. Meditate on them.
3. Wisdom.
It is the application of knowledge. When you apply what you have learnt, that becomes wisdom for you. That is why Pro 23:12 says ‘apply your heart unto instruction…’
To be continued…
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I keep at self-development. I search for knowledge daily
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY Lord, give me a heart that pants after your word daily.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured. – Proverbs 13:18 (KJV)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Decide to build a Marriage library. Get books and materials on marriage and learn as much as you can.
Betty is so frustrated in the relationships she had been involved with. She seems to have the knack for attracting the wrong people all the time. From deceivers to casanovas and then out-rightly wicked people, she kept having broken relationships. At a time, she began to think that there might be a curse lurking somewhere.
Andy had similar experiences in the hands of what he can only describe as strange women. They kept ripping him off, collecting his money, and eventually eloping just at the times commitments were about to be initiated. He didn’t know what to do again. He seems locked up in the pit of confusion with no flicker of light or hope?
Is there ever a way to know the right person as a child of God? Is there ever a way to avoid the wrong man or woman? Will God lead? If God leads, how? How can I be kept from ungodly people, deceivers, and liars?
Sometimes, you don’t even know which Pastor to talk to because there are so many charlatans who call themselves Pastors but will readily take advantage of naive ladies and end up abusing the abused! It’s pathetic and heart-rendering!
Let us get into the scripture to see some verses in answers to avoiding wrong people in relationships. The truth is that if you are able to avoid the wrong people, you will not waste time and resources on what will not eventually work. You will not be dissipating your energy on wasteful and useless relationships.
(10)When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; (11)Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: (12)To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; (13) Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; (14)Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; (15)Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: (16)To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; (17)Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.(18) For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.(19)None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life. (20)That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. – Pro 2:10-20 KJV
In verses 10 and 11, the Bible says that you will be protected and preserved from falling into the wrong hands.
Verse 12 says ‘it will deliver you from the evil man.’ This means wisdom and knowledge will help you not to say YES to the wrong man.
Message translation of verse 12 says,
‘They’ll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions.’
That is very profound. It will keep you from making emotional decisions.
Message translation of verse 14 says it will deliver you from ‘These losers who make a game of evil and throw parties to celebrate perversity’ That is, you will be kept away from men that are out to deceive you.
Message translation of verse 15 says it will deliver you from people that are ‘Traveling paths that go nowhere, wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.’ That is, you will be kept away from jobless, visionless, directionless men. This is how to avoid wrong men.
Further down in verse 16, the Bible says ‘To deliver thee from the strange woman!’ This is awesome. You don’t want to get involved with a strange woman. Solomon married strange women and they turned his heart away from God.
Whether you are a man or woman, you are protected. But notice it all boils down to the fact that wisdom must enter your heart and knowledge must be pleasant to your soul. Go after wisdom. Stay in church and learn. Buy books and study.
The key to all this seems to be in verse 10, …when wisdom enters your heart. If wisdom can only enter my heart, I can avoid evil men and strange women. I can be kept from time and resources-wasting relationships.
CONFESSION FOR THE DAY I will go after wisdom. I will locate the right person
PRAYERS FOR THE DAY O Lord, help me locate the right person
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY And here’s why: GOD gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. (Pro 2:6 MSG)
ACTION PLAN FOR THE DAY Start searching for knowledge of God’s word now.
