Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

  For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Saviour. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. Zephaniah 3:17 NLT It's amazing that the Lord God Almighty, holy as He is, can dwell amongst sinners like us. He can do this because He's a mighty Saviour. We know this because Christ died for our sins. God doesn't begrudgingly save us. He delights to bring joy and gladness to us. He doesn't want us to be miserable. It's because of God's love that we needn't be fearful. We can be confident in Him. He's the only One we need to fear, and He assuages our fears. Music is divine. Even God Himself rejoices over us with singing. We were made to make a joyful noise to the Lord, for His glory. 'O Lord, how amazing it is that You rejoice over sinners like us with singing. We praise You for our salvation and ask that You would help us to walk worthily of

  Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. James 3:13 ESV Biblical wisdom isn't necessarily having a PhD. It's about knowing and choosing to do what is right in any given situation. It's not about blowing our own trumpets. Jesus said we're not to let our left hands know what our right hands are doing. In other words we're not to broadcast our good deeds. They will go before us and we'll have treasures in heaven for voluntarily doing the right thing. We're not to show our works so that people can massage our egos with rounds of applause. Instead, we are to lead by example. We are to show people the best way to live, for the glory of God and the blessing of others. Knowledge puffs up but love builds up. Knowing the right thing to do isn't commendable. Actually doing it is what really matters, in meekness and humility. 'Father in heaven, please help us to be wise and understandi

  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Proverbs 9:10 ESV People tend to assume that fear is always a negative thing. It isn't necessarily so. Fear of fire for example is a good thing, otherwise we might get burned. The fear Solomon is talking about isn't a blind fear that causes us to run away from God in terror. He's referring to the kind of fear a child has not to upset their dad. They don't just fear His discipline, but his displeasure. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then knowing God relationally (not just intellectually) is insight and the heart of wisdom. God is love, and to truly know Him we need to trust that Christ loved us and gave Himself for us. When we know the perfect love of God, the fear that initially made us realise we needed to make our peace with Him melts away. There is no fear in love. Fear should bring us to Christ for reconciliation. Love will keep us in His care.

  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV We’re to trust God wholeheartedly. It’s no good disbelieving Him. We need to entrust our lives to Him in whom we live and move and have our being. Elsewhere in Proverbs it talks about how we naturally try and justify ourselves and our actions. Here we’re warned against such self-confidence. We’re not to lean on our own very limited and often wrong understanding. By default, we don’t want to submit to God. We want to be gods ourselves, dictating how we live our lives. Yet God is our Creator, Lord and Saviour, we need to humble ourselves before His majesty. There’s a wonderful promise here (conditional upon us submitting to God). If we submit to God, He will make our paths straight. If we trust in Jesus, He is the way, the truth and the life- the One in whom we get to know God as our Father for eternity. ‘Faithful G

  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 NLT The context of this verse is important. How do we know God's peace? There's two main ways- a negative and a positive. The first way to know God's peace is to not worry. Worry is pointless. It doesn't steal away tomorrow's problems, but it does steal away today's joy. Instead of worrying, God would have us to pray. If we need food or clothes or anything, we can just ask our loving Heavenly Father. If we seek first His kingdom, He will look after His needs. If we know the peace of God, it will guard us. No matter what life throws at us, we can nonetheless have divine peace. The blood of Jesus is the means by which we enjoy God's peace. 'Father in heaven, thank You for the peace we enjoy in You. H elp us not to worry, for Your glory, amen'

  Mark 9:23 NIV “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”   In context, Jesus was talking to a man who tentatively asked Jesus to deliver his son from his affliction. Jesus encouraged the man to have confidence in Him. He’s not saying we can get a private jet if we ask Him for it!   If we’re centred on Jesus, we won’t be centred on ourselves and selfish requests. It was fair enough for this man though to want his son to be delivered from his affliction. Jesus was happy to deliver the boy and restore him whole to his father.   The man responded that he did believe, but he was honest enough to ask God to help him with his unbelief. At best, all of us are a bundle of faith and doubt. We need God to help us overcome our doubt and to trust in Him.   How do we know if we have saving faith? Ultimately, it’s not dependent on us, it depends on God’s power to save. So even if we have a ‘mustard seed’ of faith, that is a gift of God, it is enough

  Colossians 3:2 NLT Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.   There’s an uncharitable saying about people being too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use. The Bible, as you can imagine, has a different perspective. As far as Scripture is concerned, earthly things are only temporary, whereas heavenly things are eternal.   There is a sense in which this life is simply a dress rehearsal for eternity. If we only live for the here and now, we’ll be woefully unprepared for the life to come. We need to make our peace with God through Jesus’s blood and to live for Him forever.   If we set our minds on heaven, we’ve most likely made our peace with God by Christ’s blood. If we’re focused on heaven, we’ll want to prepare for it by becoming like Jesus in His holiness. We can do this by His Spirit.   If we set our minds on the things of earth, we’re blinkered and shortsighted about spiritual realities. Likely, our philosophy is to eat, drink and be merry, be

  Acts 4:12 New Living Translation (NLT) There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.”   Manmade religion is about us trying to justify ourselves before God. Basically, we’re trying to save ourselves, whether by five pillars, ten commandments, or whatever else. This verse blows that idea out of the water.   All roads lead to God, where He will judge us. Only one road leads to salvation. That’s the Lord Jesus Christ.   God has made a way for us to be saved, but only one. It’s all we need, to trust in Jesus for our salvation. It’s imperative that we bow our knees to Him as our Lord and Saviour.   We need to surrender our lives to God. We need to give up our attempts to earn God’s acceptance by our own efforts. Only He can save.   ‘Father God, please help us to acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves and that we need You to justify us in Christ, in whose name we pray, amen’

  1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. How can we give thanks if we're suffering from cancer, scarred by war, or wounded by divorce for example? We don't have to give thanks for all circumstances. Yet we can be thankful that all circumstances can work for our good in God's sovereignty. For those who love God and are called according to His purposes, all things work for good. Even the crucifixion of Christ, humanly the worst thing to have ever happened, was turned around by God to the greatest good. We can and should be thankful in all circumstances. God wants us to be thankful. He doesn’t want us like spoilt brats who are ungrateful and entitled. With the perspective of eternity we can be thankful for God's good providence. The deathbed conversion of my grandad lead to my conversion to Christ. Even in the face of bereavement, God could and did bring good about. We must let bad circumstances drive

  1 Thessalonians 5:17 ESV pray without ceasing Never mind praying five times a day, the Apostle Paul would have us to pray continually. We're to be like children with their dad, constantly talking to our Father in heaven. Nothing is to trivial to share with our heavenly Father. If we're in an attitude of constant prayer, it's a whole lot harder to give in to temptation. If we're connected to the Vine of Christ, we will bear much fruit. Apart from Him, we can't do anything. The world is such a needy place. It's not like there's ever a time we don't need to pray. Prayer to God should be our first thought in the morning, and our last thought at night. The day we stop praying is the day we die. Either we get the hell we deserve, or else we get ushered into the presence of God for eternity. Faith will give way to sight. 'Dear Lord, we look forward to the day we get united with You. In the meantime, help us to ceaselessly pray, for the honour of You

  Acts of the Apostles 20:35 NLT And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 'What's in it for me?' is very commonly thought, if not articulated, in the world today. The Apostle Paul, sent by Jesus to tell His good news of salvation for all who will believe, had a different attitude. 'What's in it for Him?' was Paul's kind of question. Paul wasn't living for his own glory. He wasn't out to fleece the flock so he could get himself a private jet. He worked hard as a tentmaker so he didn't have to charge people for the privilege of hearing the good news of free salvation for all who believe in Jesus. We're not just to be selfish, out for ourselves. We're to look out for people in need. 'Charity starts at home', people often say, but it shouldn't end at home, but extend to others too. Jesus

  1 Thessalonians 5:16 ESV Rejoice always At first glance, this is a nice little phrase. It sounds like the kind of thing that could be on a mug, or on a twee cross-stitch decoration. Yet the more we think about it, the more surprising it seems. How can we rejoice when the world seems to be on the brink of WWIII? How could we rejoice if recently bereaved? How could we rejoice if we lost our job? Thankfully, there is cause for rejoicing that isn't just circumstantial. Happiness is more circumstantial, more of a feeling. Joy is more of a virtue that God can give us through faith in Him, whatever the circumstances. We can rejoice no matter what the circumstances if we know that nothing can separate us from God's love. If we know that Christ died so we can be forgiven for all our wrongness, we can rejoice. If we have an eternity with Him to look forward to, we can rejoice. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to rejoice in You, the Source of all joy, happiness and blessing. P

  Proverbs 18:22 NLT The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favour from the LORD.   I can testify to the truth of this verse. I found a wife, and I did indeed find a treasure. Apart from Christ, she is the most precious person in my life, and I do well to remind myself of that fact!   The Bible describes wives as ‘helpmates’- people who help us and who are close to us. God made the first woman out of the first man’s rib to be close to his heart. She wasn’t made from his head to be superior; or his foot to be inferior. Men and women are equally made in the image and likeness of God.   God has favoured me with my wife. She is Joy by name and a joy to me by nature. She has made me a far better person than I was before I met her.   My wife has made me more like Jesus. She spurs me on along my spiritual journey as we walk together with the Holy Spirit. I commend marriage to my readers!   ‘Heavenly Father, I want to thank You for my wife, and for the

  Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. LUKE 6:36 (NIV)   If we want God to be merciful to us, we need to be merciful to others. We’re not to be merciful to earn God’s mercy. Because of God’s mercy to us, we should be merciful to others.   We shouldn’t just be merciful so that God is merciful to us. We should be merciful simply because God is, and we ought to want to be like Him. We are to be holy, as He is holy.   Mercy is not treating people as they deserve. Our gut reaction when someone wrongs us is to give them what we think they deserve. We should be merciful to them, however.   We’re to leave vengeance to the Lord. He’s perfectly just and righteous. We can entrust our vindication to Him.   ‘Merciful Father God, please help us to be merciful, even as You are merciful to us. We thank You, in the name of Jesus, amen’

The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23 (NLT)   These verses are a ray of light in an overwhelmingly dark book. Lamentations was written because God’s people were torn from their homeland and exiled in Babylon. Even today, if something is lamentable, it is something very mournful.   These verses are like an obstinate insistence. Despite how desperate God’s people’s situation was, they could cling to their Lord and know His unfailing love for them.   Romans 8 powerfully echoes these words. It states that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Not even exile from the promised land can separate God’s people from His love.   Every day there is new hope. Maybe today, Christ will return and cause all suffering to cease for His people. We need to make our peace with Him before it’s too late!   ‘Faithful Lord, we praise You for Your unfailing love for u

  James 1:19 NLT Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.   In Christ, we’re all one big spiritual family. We’re all siblings, adopted by our Father God through faith in Jesus. We need to understand how we ought to function as God’s family.   Firstly, we must be quick to listen. A famous quote says that we’ve got twice as many ears as mouths, so we should listen twice as much as we speak! Most of us find it hard to listen, and if we do, we listen to respond, rather than listen to understand and appreciate where the other person’s coming from.   Secondly, we should be slow to speak. Lots of us are opinionated and like to be heard. Yet James is urging us to think twice before opening our mouths: is it necessary?   Finally, we’re to be slow to get angry. Lots of things can irritate and annoy us. We should pause before venting, maybe we just need to be philosophical about whatever’s bugging us.

  Leviticus 20:26 NLT You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. This verse was originally addressed to the Israelite people. Sadly, they generally weren't holy and didn't live as God's people. So they were exiled from their promised land. The new testament echoes this verse, but applies it to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Just because we trust Jesus to save us doesn't mean to say we can do what we like. We must be holy as He is holy. First things first, we need to be set apart by God as His people. Having come to faith in Him however, we are to be distinctive from the rest of the world. If we're the same as everyone else, we betray the fact God hasnt really changed us. We don't become holy by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We become holy by being filled with God's Spirit. Then He bears His good fruit in our lives. 'Holy God, please help us to be holy as

  1 John 4:4 NLT But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Even the first sentence is amazing. That sinful rebels like us can belong to God is astounding. The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Through faith in Jesus we become adopted children of the living God. Having believed in Him we receive the Holy Spirit of God. We have the victory over all that would assail us. The Spirit in us is the One in whom we all live and move, and have our being. He is the all powerful God. If God is for us, who can be against us? The spirit in the world is the devil, the accuser of the brethren. Thankfully, God accepts us in Christ. Satan has nothing on us that Jesus hasn't already dealt with. 'Father God, we praise You for adopting us into Your family. Please fill us with Your Spirit, in the name of Jesus we pray, amen'

  1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.   ‘You are what you eat’ is a popular quote in the world. Physically, there’s a lot of truth to that. Spiritually however, there’s more to us than just flesh and bone.   Some people are religious about vegetarianism, or how meat is killed, or teetotal. What Paul is basically saying is that there are more important things than food and drink. The most important thing is that whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God.   If we’re not sure whether to do something, a good practice would be to question whether a particular course of action is glorifying to God. If God would be glorified by us taking caffeinated drinks, then we can happily do so. If we have question marks as to whether we’re over-reliant on caffeine, maybe we should wean ourselves off.   Paul would rather we didn’t hurt our consciences than to do something that troubles us. So, caffeine might be oka

  Ephesians 6:18 NLT Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. At the end of a passage on spiritual warfare, Paul gives the secret to success in the battles of life. Alone, or even together, we're no match for satan and his forces. When we harness the power of God by prayer, we can have the victory. Note that we need to pray in the Spirit. It's no use praying selfishly. We need to ask according to the will of God. It's like a child asking their parent for a present, they need to manage their expectations. A child shouldn't just relate to their parent when they want something, but on every occasion. So we should be with God. 5 minutes on a morning is better than nothing, but elsewhere Paul tells us to always be praying. God's people are in a war and we need to support one another in it. We're to get into good habits of regular prayer for one another. 'Father in heave

  Titus 2:11-12 NLT For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God.   The grace of God is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings salvation to all people. Sadly, not all people take Him up on the offer of eternal life.   Having received Christ’s salvation, we must turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We’re not simply to ‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’. It’s not enough to have a form of godliness but to deny its power because we’re functional atheists.   This world is evil. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to establish that, we only need to look at the secular news. We need to walk wisely, not just intellectually, but especially in thinking about how best to live to the glory of God.   Righteousness is about us putting our wisdom into practice. Our lives are t

  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝟮 . 𝟴 ( 𝗘𝗦𝗩 )   It’s amazing enough that God became a man. It’s even more amazing that He humbled Himself to death. That He would allow Himself to be crucified as a common criminal is astounding.   The cross is a familiar symbol to most of us. Yet it has been sanitised. We don’t think the same of an electric chair, or the gallows, but it’s a similar thing.   That God is great doesn’t require a religion to tell us. Creation shows us that. That God is humble is something the Bible reveals.   It sounds blasphemous that God should be humble. Yet humility is not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. It’s impossible for God to think more highly of Himself than He ought.   ‘Heavenly Father, we praise You for sending Your Son to humble Himself for sinners like us. Please help us respond to His mercy. In His name, a

 We look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. 𝟭 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭.𝟰 (𝗚𝗡𝗕) God’s blessings for His people aren’t primarily temporal. We can pray for our daily bread. Yet God has so much more in store for His people than our needs. We have an eternity in heaven to look forward to. Moths cannot destroy what God has for us. Thieves can’t steal God’s blessings from us. The greatest blessing God gives us is eternal life. We could die physically, be murdered even, but we’ll still get to enjoy eternity with our Lord and Saviour. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. His love is the greatest blessing we can receive. We’re more than conquerors through Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. ‘Dear Lord, we look forward to the receipt of all Your blessings that You have in store for us in glory, for the honour of Your name, amen’

  Ezekiel 36:26 NIV I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.   I love this promise from God. It doesn’t flatter us. It tells us we naturally have hearts of stone.   Thankfully God is in the business of spiritual heart transplants. He can rip out our hearts of stone and give us hearts that beat to His rhythm instead. He can cause us to come alive spiritually.   By nature, we’re spiritual zombies. Thankfully, God can give us fullness of life. He wants to give us His Holy Spirit to bear fruit in us.   The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. We can bear such fruit in our lives with God’s help. We can be born again by the Holy Spirit of God.   ‘Our heavenly Father, we pray that You would make and keep us spiritually alive. Please help us to live for You wholeheartedly, and not to get stony-hearted again

  Hebrews 4:16 NLT So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.   We don’t have to come cowering to God, even though He is perfect in His holiness, and we’re sinful rebels against Him. Because Jesus died and rose again, we can come to God confidently. There’s a loving Lamb who was slain for us on the throne of heaven.   God is gracious, He treats us undeservedly well. Grace is an undeserved gift, that God is able and willing to give us in our time of need. We’re needy creatures, we always need God’s grace.   We need God to be merciful to us. We deserve His condemnation, but thankfully He’s willing to wipe the slate clean. Mercy is not treating us as we deserve, something God gladly and thankfully is.   The world pays lip service to good things like mercy and grace. Jesus however puts flesh on such concepts and demonstrates that they’re not just nice, but abstract conce

  Romans 6:5 NLT Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was.   Jesus’s death wasn’t simply an unfortunate miscarriage of justice, although humanly speaking that’s how it seemed. It was God’s means of reconciling us to Himself. Just as Jesus died, so we can die to sin and death and hell.   The death of Jesus was to set sinners like us free. We’re free from slavery to sin. Having been set free, we are also made alive in Him.   Jesus didn’t stay dead but rose again on the third day. Because He lives, we can come alive spiritually. Though we may still die physically, we have an eternity in glory to look forward to.   Unless Christ returns before we die, we will physically expire. That will only be the start of a glorious eternity in the new creation though. We will be made perfect.   ‘Father in heaven, we glorify You for uniting us with Christ in His death and resurrection on our behalf. In His name we pray, amen’