In 2009 our church pastor began a ministry at Converting Hearts Ministry in Creedmoor, NC. This addiction counseling and person-repairing work brings many once addicted people into a relationship with their Lord Jesus Christ and I love and support Shawn Saunders for his insight and Christian worship program.
In the course of this weekly praise and Bible study ministry of my church and pastor Ernest Ferrell, I decided to help the men understand the value of reading one proverb per day and trying to live that ever after. I did a study of a verse that corresponded to each day. On the First day of each month, I did a verse in order from Proverb One and continued throughout the month on corresponding Proverbs. Before I could start, I wanted to do an outline of what was important in each of the Proverbs so I started with a study of each Proverbs for December of 2009.
I felt like Mr. Peterson did with his Presbyterian church and could not find a good way to get the message I had across to these needy saints. They had all accepted the Lord as their personal savior and studied the Word daily, but sometimes were lost in what they were trying to understand. For this reason, I used the Message translation to glean my lessons for this outline; I had to insure I did not leave out the Lordship of Jesus and could not accept a lot of the paraphrasing, but the meanings of the verses were clear to the guys and it was an excellent way to start our program.
As I have gotten into these daily devotions, I have found the online extensive verse study of Proverbs in LetGodBeTrue.com to be a perfect companion to these shorter lessons. Please review these studies also as time permits; there will be no lost time or effort in His Word.
I have waited for the Lord to direct me as to teaching the individual lessons, and with the many downloads of the free book, I have decided to release the daily lessons for the year 2013. I hope everyone enjoys, learns, and praises Jesus for what He made known in Proverbs. If you would, please review the part of the book you may read—especially the free 20% download. I look forward to your constructive criticism. In His service we live.
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Memory Verse: 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. . . “
Today’s proverb sets the tone for faithful growth in knowledge and service to the Lord. The first 6 verses define the goal of this manual for living, and then verses 7-19 dictates the first step is loving God and the rest of the chapter explains how wisdom will be the ruler of all.
1) Proverbs were written to teach what is right and fair
2) They will teach young people to hang on to reality
3) They give fresh wisdom for all to probe and penetrate the truth
4) First, we must bow down to God to be in a state to learn
5) We must pay attention to what you father said, and what your mother did
6) Hold on proudly to what they have taught
7) Don’t be tempted to go along with bad companions
8) Don’t pay attention to them, they ruin whatever they touch
9) The more stuff you get, the less person you are
10) Wisdom of God stands out above anything else
11) Don’t refuse to learn, change yourself through this wisdom of God
12) The wisdom of God always reaches out to us; don’t ignore it
13) Don’t laugh at wise counsel or make a joke of the advice
14) If/when your world falls in, it may be too late to seek wisdom
15) No matter how hard you look, it may be fruitless
16) If you distrust wisdom, hate knowledge, and ignore God, you asked for it, and you may just get what you deserve
17) Carelessness kills, but complacency murders (must stay concerned)
18) Pay attention to wisdom and you can rest. You are in good hands.
What a way to start off a new blog. God tells us he is waiting to help us; wants to give us wisdom, intends to take care of us---but, we must respect Him, pay attention to His warnings, and learn from our mistakes. We, the saved, are all forgiven and promised a place in the coming Kingdom; if we accept it. Hope you take this new study to heart.
