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Proverbs 22:15
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
The Bible tells us it is the fool that says in his heart there is no God (Psalm 53:1), and all children are born into this world with a Sin Nature holding them captive under Law (Romans 2:14-15). It is the rod of correction which God says will drive this spirit of foolishness far from him, and surely speaks of a physical rod to the back side, but without the rod of God’s authority, that being His Word in the context of the Living Word, Jesus Christ and His sacrificial work at Calvary, that foolish spirit will just learn how to deceivingly get around the physical rod. May we be found training our children up in THE WAY they should go, and His name is Jesus and His Way is the Way of the Cross. This is what the child will not depart from. Praise the Lamb of God forever!!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
God's Word exhorts us as believers to grow in both the attributes of grace and knowledge. Most of us understand how to go about growing in knowledge. For one, we have the Word of God available for our personal study. The believer should be spending some time each and every day learning its content. Each time we open the Bible we grow in the understanding and knowledge of our God and His magnificent wondrous redemption plan. Every time we go to a Bible preaching Church and the Pastor preaches truth, we grow in knowledge. But the question must be asked, "How then does a person grow in grace?" How do we increase in something we cannot work for, earn, labor for, or deserve? As we learn to rely exclusively upon Christ and His Cross we find grace (in the form of the Holy Spirit's help and power) that flows more frequently. As we become more dependent upon the Lord we mature into dependence. This approach to faith brings a steady increasing in the amount of grace we receive. So, to grow in grace means that I am to see my desperate need for the Lord. That need must be greater today than it was yesterday!
2 Peter 3:18 - But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Proverbs 22:16
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.
This sounds exactly like what takes place in what is known as the charismatic church today. The people of God are exploited while the ministers drain them dry of their finances all in the name of the Lord, and just to give to each other in their rich circles. Remember that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7), and here we see a picture and promise from the Lord concerning this. If we are oppressing the poor to increase our own riches and the riches of others, we WILL SURELY God says, come to a place of lack. I’ve never met a minister yet, nor any saint of God that has their faith in the sacrificial work of Christ that were found oppressing the poor to increase their own wealth and the wealth of of the rich. We know them by their fruits. How much money have you given to false ministers that promise everything to you because of your giving? We should be listening to the minister’s of Righteousness who preach and teach what God has promised to give through the giving of His Son for you, and it is ALL FREE (1 Corinthians 2:12). Yes, giving is scriptural, and God blesses it, but we give to serve, not to be served.
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1).
This fountain of which Zechariah speaks was historically opened at Calvary, but will be consciously opened to repentant Judah in the future day of her repentance; but the fact and function of that fountain only become conscious to the awakened sinner. A true sense of sin and guilt in relationship to God awakens the sense of the need of cleansing; so the shed and cleansing Blood of the Lamb of God becomes precious to the convicted conscience. The fear of punishment does not come in here to impair the character and depth of Judah’s sorrow and repentance.
The ever-living efficacy of Christ’s atoning Work and its power to cleanse the conscience and the life is justly comparable to a fountain. The sense of the Hebrew Text is that this fountain shall be opened and shall remain open.
Of all sinners, the Jerusalem sinner may be accounted the greatest. It was Jerusalem that stoned the Prophets and that crucified the Messiah. Great sinners, therefore, may hope for pardon and cleansing in this fountain open for the House of David.
The entrance of Christ judges sin, unmasks its true character, and arouses a moral consciousness which approves that judgment. Israel must accept Christ and what He did at the Cross in order for sin to be judged, the same as any other believing sinner.”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Those who have truly been born again by the Spirit of God have entered into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, there is an abiding love for Him that is a sensational feature of their existence. This love stems from a grateful heart. One who understands that their debt of sin has been paid for by Christ and that they have been forgiven by the same. The miracle of the new birth supplies many internal changes of heart and mind which produces a brand-new life. Before coming to Christ a person really has no idea of the great treasures that will be found. The joy, the contentment, the peace, the security, the assurance, the sense of well-being; all have been unknown entities. The individual may have previously heard these words, viewed these concepts from afar, maybe even defined their meanings, but they have never truly experienced them until coming to Christ. The fellowship with God, the constant transformation into the image of Christ, the ability to encounter and experience the best that life has to offer; all of these heighten our desire for Him. And wonder of all, an unfeigned love for the Lord Jesus Christ will dominate the believer’s total being at all times. What a treasure!
Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Proverbs 22:17
Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
Bowing down one’s ear is to humble oneself and to hear the words of wisdom is to hear God’s Word as Truth (Proverbs 8:7), and “In Righteousness” (Proverbs 8:8), which results in a doing of the Word (James 1:22). After we hear the instruction and direction of the Lord, it is up to us to apply our heart unto His knowledge. Many today have found a false humility, and are trapped in the Letter of the Law and are missing out on Living in the newness of the Spirit (Romans 7:6). The only place of humility was shown to us by Jesus Christ, and that place is faith in the Cross, and the message of the Cross is the gospel which exclusively reveals God’s Righteousness (Romans 1:16-17). Every Word that God has ever spoken is “In Righteousness” (Proverbs 8:8), and therefore must be heard and received (Revelation 3:3) through faith in the Cross of Jesus Christ, or we remain trapped in the Letter of the Law and forfeit the opportunity to walk in the newness of the Spirit. If this is not understood, there will only be a make believe spiritual walk and one might even have a name that they are alive, but Christ says they will be dead (Revelation 3:1). The Letter of the Law can only produce carnal Christians, and to be carnally minded is death (Romans 8:6). Look to the Cross and live!
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“for I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle (Zech. 14:2-3).
This signifies the Second Coming, which will be the most cataclysmic event in human history. It will take place during the Battle of Armageddon, when it looks like Jerusalem is lost and Israel is annihilated.
The Old Testament records many instances when the Lord fought for Israel. He will do the same at that coming time, in fact, in a greater way than ever.
The Thirty-eighth and Thirty-ninth Chapters of Ezekiel give an account of this battle. This particular day when the Lord does come back will be a day unlike any other. The Scripture says, “That the light shall not be clear, nor dark” (Zech. 14:6). After Israel accepts Him as Saviour and Lord, which they will do immediately, then the Lord Jesus Christ will be the One God of the whole Earth. There will be no religious Denominations at that time, consequently no divided Church.
The world, with Jesus Christ at its Head, will enter into the greatest time of peace and prosperity it has even known. The Prince of Peace will then be reigning. As a result, peace will envelop the world, which it has never seen before. The Prophet Isaiah predicted this day by saying:
“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isa. 2:4).
At that time, every Saint who has ever lived, beginning with Abel and coming through unto the time of the First Resurrection, will have Glorified Bodies and will help the Lord administer the affairs of the universe. That includes every Believer now alive, and, of course, all who have died.
This is the Kingdom that Israel rejected upon the First Advent of Christ, but will accept at the Second Advent of Christ.”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
Confidence in the love of God is fuel for the believer’s faith. If doubt, unbelief, or fear are gripping your heart today, look once again upon the price God paid to bring you into His kingdom. Someone has once correctly stated that the value of something can be established by the price paid for it. God bankrupted all of Heaven just so you might have the chance to call Him Father. That does not sound to me like someone who would easily give up on a relationship, especially one that cost Him so dearly. He does not close the door of relationship upon you when you fail, falter, or stumble. Neither does that door swing open wider on the days that you do everything right. Access to and support from your Heavenly father is available because of what Jesus did for you at Calvary and your simple faith in that. He spared no expense to save you. He certainly will spare no expense to keep you! When you are confused, hurting, dazed, bewildered, or befuddled, look long and hard at the established expression and evidence of His magnificent love already manifested towards you. Let your battered faith arise once again from the ashes of doubt and unbelief! God still loves you!
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
Proverbs 22:18
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
The Lord is speaking of His Words of wisdom and His knowledge as a pleasant thing if they are kept within our hearts, as from there they can be fitted, which is to be applied and spoken properly with the lips. The lips can say anything, but out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak (Matthew 12:34). Jesus told the religious leaders that they were honoring Him with their lying lips, but that their hearts were far from Him (Matthew 15:8).
Only through the wisdom of God which comes into the believing heart through the knowledge of Christ and His sacrificial work at Calvary can one find the Word of God properly applied and delivered properly. It is he who speaks Truth that shows forth Righteousness
(Proverbs 12:17), and Righteousness is the result of God’s wisdom and knowledge applied in the heart and spoken through the lips.
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My House, and prove Me now herewith, saith the LORD of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it (Mal. 3:10).
While this great Promise was given under the Law, still, tithing predates the Law by several hundreds of years. The first mention of tithing in the Bible is when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20). Some claim that while God blessed Israel economically, at least when they did somewhat right, He will not do such to the Church, our blessings only being spiritual! Nothing could be further from the truth.
In fact, whatever the Lord did for Israel of old, He will do for His People presently, and even greater. How could He do less now under a greater and better Covenant than He did for Israel with an inferior Covenant?
If any Believer will faithfully believe the Lord, will ask Him to meet our every need, irrespective if that need is financial, physical, domestic, or spiritual, to be sure, the Lord will answer that prayer. As stated, we now have a better Covenant, based on better Promises (Heb. 8:6).
“We have not, because we ask not.”
And then, all too often, our motives aren’t right. If that is the case, God cannot honor any request. “You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4: 2-3).
If, under the Old Covenant, the Lord said that He would “open the windows of Heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there would not be room enough to receive it,” He definitely will do the same identical thing now for those who will believe Him.”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
You are a human being not a human doing. Therefore it is more important to become something rather than to focus upon performing some religious task. As a Christian, we are to “be being changed” into the image of Christ. The Grace of God alone can provide us with the adjustments and corrections that are needed. This is the work the Holy Spirit does when He is free to labor in us. He gains the legal right to do so when He sees the believer placing his faith in Christ and Him Crucified. As we are being molded on the inside into what God desires us to become, we will be equipped to perform, prepared to work, we will labor for Christ. So let our attention be focused upon proper faith. Then as we are conformed into the image of Christ we will be equipped to perform the task that we were born to accomplish. Christ desires for each member of His body to not only exist but to also actively participate in the work of His kingdom. Christ wants to see people saved and believers edified. This requires Christian ministry towards both the lost and the saved. As we believe properly we are both changed and empowered to carry out these tasks. Believe on!
1 Corinthians 15:10 - But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
It is a very dangerous thing for us as believers to place our faith in something other than Christ and his finished work at the cross. Far too often we as Christians trust in things that are Godly, spiritual, and in fact biblical, but those things within and of themselves do not bring us into fellowship and relationship with the Lord, but instead will cause us many problems and hardships in our walks with the Lord. The cross of Christ is the culmination of all things, all scripture, all biblical doctrine, and all prophecy hinges upon what Christ did, and all God requires of us is that we place our faith in that finished work
Under Hezekiah's reign in Judah he would remove idol worship, remove the high places, and as well remove the brazen serpent that the people of God burned incense to. It was this same brazen serpent that God used under Moses to heal all those who were bitten by venomous snakes(Numbers 21:8-9). The problem lies with the fact that it was to only serve as a type, a type of the believer looking exclusively to the cross for everything, not the wood, but the work that was accomplished there by Christ. The serpent was worshiped instead of what it spoke of, hence, their faith was placed in something other than what God intended, albeit Godly, but not the right thing, which should be the finished work of Calvary! The Bible says that Hezekiah broke the serpent into pieces because the people burned incense to it and worshiped it and not what it represents. This is what all we as believers must do to any and all forms of idols that we have made in our lives, they must be broken down, and our faith and trust must be placed in the cross of Christ.
II Kings 18:4
"He removed the high places, and broke the images, and cut down the groves, and broke into pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made..."
Proverbs 22:19
That thy trust may be in the Lord , I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
Here we see that without faith in God’s Word in the context of Christ and His work of Redemption at Calvary, which is the wisdom and knowledge that verse 17 speaks of, one cannot know, nor can they trust in the Lord. Everything outside of faith in Christ AND His sacrificial work at Calvary is only a profession that they know God, while denying Him through their own works (Titus 1:16). The phrase, “I have made known to you this day, even to you”, is referring to His Wisdom and His knowledge, all of which is exclusively found “In Christ”, through faith in His redemption work at the Cross.
When Christ returns, He will be wearing a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called, “The Word of God.” Know this, that there is absolutely no separating God’s Word which is His wisdom and knowledge from Christ and His atoning work at Calvary. The question today is, “Do you know this, and are you hearing God’s Word ministered in this only proper context?”
Seeking God in His Word and experiencing Him through faith in the sacrifice of Christ!
“in those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. For this is He Who was spoken of by the Prophet Isaiah, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the Way of the LORD, make His paths straight (Mat. 3:1-3).
The preaching of John the Baptist wasn’t exactly according to diplomatic skills. It was personal, abrupt, powerful, forceful, and straight to the point. It minced no words. People sometimes speak of the spirit of the New Testament being different from that of the Old Testament, but Matthew 3:1-7 overthrows this belief, as do many other Passages, notably those of the Book of Revelation.
How could God’s attitude towards sin change?
The Baptist called these individuals children of Satan; he declared the Wrath of God was coming, that the ax of judgment was even then lying at the root of the tree of religious profession, and that if these moralists did not repent, they would be burned up as chaff in the unquenchable fire.
To strike off a branch of a tree is partial destruction, but to lay the ax at the root means total destruction. To be sure, John the Baptist used the tree as a symbol to picture the professors of religion.
The voice of John the Baptist was the first voice of a Prophet heard in Israel in some 400 years. Without the voice of the Prophet, Israel became bogged down in legalism. Without the voice of the Prophet, this is the direction the Church always takes.
It should be noticed that John’s preaching carried very little foretelling; almost all was in the class of “forthtelling.” In other words, John was a powerful Preacher of Righteousness, which is the major calling of the true Prophet.
John was the last of the Prophets under the Old Covenant; he would be the greatest of all, simply because he went immediately before the face of Jehovah-Messiah. In fact, he introduced Christ!
How much preaching presently measures up to that carried out by the Baptist?”
—Donnie Swaggart (taken from the “Word for Every Day”) Donnie Swaggart
When the individual Christian learns to place their faith in the finished work of Christ they open the door to every blessing that God desires to bestow. One of the first evidences that our faith is in the proper object comes as we experience the dominion of sin receding and victory over sin increasing. Through faith and grace we can experience a true life of holiness and righteousness as God's Spirit supernaturally invalidates and eradicates sin’s grip on our hearts and in our minds. Then, the same principle that we have applied to the sin issue is to be applied to all other areas of life. If we begin to trust God to work for us in our relationships, our finances, and our employment situations, we will find ourselves receiving what is needed in each particular instance. As we trust Him for our marriages, our children, and those we care about, we will begin to grasp that He is both capable and willing to work on our behalf, all because of faith in Christ’s finished work. He is a God that will give strength to His people through grace and He will bring peace to the soul who learns to rely on Him for all things that concerns us.
Psalm 29:11 - The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
