Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29 (NIV) Confession time. I work in a pretty unwholesome environment, just by the fact of me working with pagans. To be honest, although I don't let unwholesome talk come out of my mouth, it enters my mind. Paul gives the Ephesian church, and us, a positive alternative to unwholesome talk. Instead of knocking people down, we should seek to edify them. So often we put people down, even if it's in the name of 'banter'. Our concern shouldn't be selfish. Instead, we should be looking out for other people's needs instead of preoccupying ourselves with our own. Christ is our ultimate example, and substitute for times we fail. Our concern shouldn't be to raise laughs by outrageous speech. Instead, we ought to be trying to benefit those who listen to us. It's about being a blessing ra

If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD— and he will repay you! Proverbs 19:17 (NLT) We might assume that God is on the side of the rich. After all, they're only rich because of His say so. We might think the poor are not favoured by God. The Bible reveals that God is on the side of the poor. Jesus went so far as to bless the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. We need to realise our spiritual bankruptcy before we can be blessed by God. One of the main reasons we should work hard is not just for ourselves, but to be generous to those in need. Not everyone is able to work, maybe due to age or ill health. From each according to their ability, we ought to freely give to each according to their needs. Socialism attempts to compel greater equality by taxation. Biblical Christianity motivates greater equality by encouraging us that if we're generous to the poor, God will look out for us. We should help the poor for it's own sake, but it's nice to have

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalms 51:10 (NIV) David was guilty of murder and adultery. His heart was far from pure. He knew that His only hope of having a pure heart was if God was to create it to be so. 'Blessed are the pure in heart', said Jesus, 'for they shall see God'. None of us are naturally pure in heart. Yet God can make us pure, by washing us in the blood of Jesus. Another time, David is described as a man after God's own heart. He wanted that to be renewed within Him. He wanted to be faithful to the Lord once again. In a way, David was asking the impossible. He'd ruined his previously steadfast spirit. Thankfully, God is capable of doing the impossible. 'O God, please create a pure heart in us, and renew a steadfast spirit within us. In the name of Christ we pray, amen'

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 (NIV) Anxiety comes naturally to us. It's a pointless emotion however. Anxiety considers worst case scenarios which in all likelihood will never come to pass. Jesus commands us not to worry. After all, it can't extend our lives, it just wastes our time. Paul gives us some alternatives. The best thing to do with anxiety is to leave it with God. We can pray to Him and petition Him to help us with our worries. He's happy to hear and respond to us. Instead of being anxious about the future, it is good to be thankful for all God's blessings. As the old hymn goes, 'count your blessings, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done'. If we try and count our blessings honestly, we're bound to lose count! 'Dear Lord, please help us to leave our anxieties with You. May we be thankful for all Your goodness to us, as Y

“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. Luke 16:10 (ESV) So often we make excuses for our 'little' indiscretions. We might pilfer a pen and excuse it as 'just' a pen. Yet if we then had opportunity to do much more fraud, we would probably do so. This verse is a double edged sword. There's the negative aspect. Thankfully the flip side of the coin is positive. Maybe we don't have too many responsibilities right now. Yet if we're faithful in the little we have to do, we can be entrusted with much more responsibility. God expects us to be faithful with what we've got. If we are faithful in the small things, we needn't be surprised if God gives us greater responsibilities. If we're dishonest in very little, we can't expect to gain any more responsibilities. If this is true of employers, how much more true it is for God! 'Heavenly Father, please help us

The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. Nahum 1:7 (ESV) Many people question God's goodness. They point out all the badness in the world as evidence that God isn't good. Yet we are the cause of all the badness in the world, not God. Our troubles are the fruit of our own rebellion against God. Yet He's so good that He can provide a stronghold for bad people like us from the troubles that we face. Supremely He can save us from the condemnation we deserve. God knows those who take refuge in Him. He doesn't just know us intellectually. He knows us personally and relationally. We are to take refuge in the Lord from the condemnation that our sins demand. Thankfully, God delights to justify us. We can be accepted by Him through faith in Christ crucified. 'Lord, we praise You for Your goodness. Please provide us a stronghold for our days of trouble. May we take refuge in You. In the name of Christ we pray, amen'

The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalms 18:2 (NIV) The Lord is solid as a rock. He's the only one we can build our lives upon and survive all the storms of life. Jesus calls us to build our lives upon Him and His words. God is a fortress. He's our shield and our defender against all who would oppose us. Christ can help us be victorious over the evil one. Our refuge is the Lord our God. He keeps us safe from our enemies. He is our eternal safe place. In Biblical terms, a horn was a symbol of strength. God is our stronghold. Nothing can destroy us when we trust in Him. 'Lord our God, please help us to trust in You to look after us, whatever life throws at us. For Your honour and praise we pray, amen'

Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. Psalms 27:14 (NIV) Waiting isn't easy to do. Waiting for the bus is the classic example. You wait for one for ages and then two come at once. We might naturally be impatient, but it takes real strength to be patient. That's what the psalmist calls us to. But he's not telling us to be stoical. We don't have to grit our teeth whilst waiting. We can be encouraged, we can take heart that the Lord won't abandon us. God doesn't work to our timescale. He fulfils His promises, but in His time rather than ours. We need to wait upon Him to come through for us. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to be strong, encouraged, and patient in waiting for You to come through for us. In the name of Jesus, amen'

Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. James 5:13 (NIV) We all face troubles. Jesus said that in this world troubles are inevitable. Thankfully, He went on to say that He has overcome the world, so we can be encouraged. If we are troubled, which is practically inevitable, we should pray. God is able to help us in our troubles. He could take them away, or else He could give us the strength we need to persevere in the midst of our troubles. Happiness is thanks to God. He is the Source of all goodness. If we're pursuing happiness, it would make sense to pursue the Lord Himself. If we are happy, we should praise the Lord in song, for He is worthy of our praise. Singing is the overflow of a happy heart. The best form of singing is praising and worshipping the Lord. 'Heavenly Father, please help us know how to respond to whatever we're going through. If we're in trouble, may we pray. If we're happy, may we praise You

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4 (NIV) This is a counter-intuitive statement of Jesus's. Another way of saying it would be 'happy are the sad'! It doesn't seem to make sense. Of course, mourning is a sad state which surely all of us must face at some point in our lives. Yet it is possible to mourn well. We should mourn our own wrongdoing. If we're remorseful because of the evils we do, Jesus promises that we can be comforted. If we come to trust in Him, then we can have the comfort of knowing that our sins are forgiven. It seems strange to say that the mournful can be happy, and yet if we take our sorrows to God, He can comfort us. God doesn't want us miserable. He wants us to rejoice in Him. 'Blessed God, please bless us with joy, even though we don't deserve it. Please comfort us in our sorrows. In Jesus' name we pray, amen'

Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NLT) Traditionally, a temple is somewhere you go to worship your god. Like a sports arena. The Apostle Paul's pretty radical here. If we belong to Jesus, we ourselves are the temple of God. We house the Holy Spirit of God. Therefore, as God is holy, we ought to be holy. Being God's temple, we ought to be people who others can meet with God through. We are described elsewhere as a kingdom of priests. We are intermediaries between God and people. Jesus is the Light of the world. Yet He also described us His people as the light of the world. He's exalted in heaven, but His light is reflected through us. 'God Almighty, please help us to be holy as You are holy, and to be good ambassadors of You. For Your honour and praise we pray, amen'

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Ephesians 4:2 (NLT) We're to be Christlike. He is the ultimate example of humility, gentleness, patience and love. Not only so, but He empowers us by His Holy Spirit to become conformed to His likeness. Christ humbled Himself to death on a cross on our behalf. He was gentle with people who were cruel to Him. He was patient with those who murdered Him, and prayed, 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing'. Because of Christ's love, God can make allowances for our faults. We deserve His condemnation, but thankfully we can be forgiven because of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. Our sins can't just be brushed under the carpet, they have to be dealt with at the cross. We're not to be humble, gentle, patient and loving to earn God's favour. Because God favours us in Christ, we're to be humble, gentle, patient

Dear brothers and sisters, honour those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other. 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 (NLT) If we trust in Jesus, we have the blessing of belonging to God's family. We have brothers and sisters in the faith. We have leaders in the Lord's work who are worthy of honour for their hard work on our behalf. No man is an island. We're not to be isolated. It's not good for mankind to be alone, we need one another. It's great to have spiritual guidance because otherwise we're likely to get the wrong end of the stick. We might be tempted to think the Bible and the Holy Spirit suffice. Yet we need one another, we shouldn't isolate ourselves. It's easy to lose our tempers with one another. It's hard to live peacefully with one another. Yet that's how we're to be. 'Heaven

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. Proverbs 13:20 (NIV) This verse might seem like a no brainer, but many people don't heed its warning. If we want to become wise, we should learn from the wise. This requires spending time with them. I'm reminded of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, where one of the characters the main character Christian comes across is Mr Talkative, who has a lot to say. Sadly, he has nothing of any value to contribute. Christian realises he needs to pick his travelling companions well. Life is a pilgrimage. Who we travel with has a lot to do with where we end up. If we're on the wide road that leads to destruction, it's busy, but it's not going to end well for us. If we travel on the narrow highway of holiness, there might not be many companions along the way. Yet it's worth it, because the destination is eternal life with God. We would be wise to go God's way, which is personified by the Lo

The Emu My friend the emu is a jolly nice chap He would run so fast and I his friend would clap His neighbour the ostrich is a faster bird But he never raced him or so I had heard Until they crossed paths later on down the line. Ostrich tripped up on a camel’s black stool. Camel was slow now, for he was out of gas. Emu was just nipping across to the pool. I was just turning around the oasis. It was great: we were doing quite fine. But as the ostrich dashed across the dark track, Emu rushed by extra fast and saw him crack. The camel and ostrich were clearly quite pained. They crossed and they dashed and they started to lag. And when I turned up for to dine and to sup, they all scratched around and they all filled up.

Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity. 1 Timothy 5:1-2 ESV We're to encourage one another. No man is an island. We need one another. Sometimes rebukes are necessary, but Paul tells Timothy that we shouldn't rebuke people who are older than us. Instead we should seek to encourage them. Even if we need to rebuke some younger person, we should be seeking to encourage them. We're not just to try to put people down. Instead, we should seek to build people up. We're to be pure in our dealings with people. We're not to lose our tempers and to be impatient. We're not to be about self promotion to make ourselves look good but for the good of others. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to encourage one another, and even to rebuke where necessary, as we seek to become more like the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, amen'

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 (NIV) This is a revolutionary statement. John was a humble fisherman turned Apostle/Messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ. The significance of this verse will not have been lost on his readers. John was clearly echoing Moses, the writer of Genesis 1:1. The opening words of the Bible are that 'in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth'. John clearly equated the Lord Jesus Christ with His Father. Later in the passage, he declares that the Word became flesh, and made His dwelling amongst us. Clearly, John was claiming that Jesus wasn't just a carpenter turned teacher. He is the eternal Son of God in whom all things were made. To his strictly monotheistic Jewish readers, this will have seemed blasphemous. Even in Genesis, there's a hint of trinity. We're told that the Spirit of God hovered over the waters of the deep. Even the word for God, 'Elohim', has a grammat

For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1:37 (NIV) Of course, people regularly accuse God's word of failing. They assume that God owes them health, wealth and happiness for example. In reality, we deserve hell for our rebellion against Him. For those who trust God, this verse can be an encouragement. It assures us that when He promises to save those who trust in Jesus, He will do so. It doesn't depend on us, but upon His mercy. For those who don't trust in the Lord, this verse serves as a warning. God's word warns that those who refuse to turn to Him in repentance and faith will be condemned. In that case we need to turn our lives around. In this world of uncertainties and the unreliabilities of people, this verse is a rock on which we can build our lives. In fact, Jesus says that we should build our lives upon Him and upon the rock of His words. 'On Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground is sinking sand'. 'God Almighty, we're grateful that

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) God's word is powerful. It's not just some old, dead text, to be consigned to a museum. Even to this day it convicts us of our inadequacies, and of our need of God. Our souls are our eternal selves. When our bodies die, our souls live on, either in union with God, or estranged from Him for eternity. We are naturally dead spiritually: we need God to make us alive in Christ. We might be able to hide our heart thoughts and attitudes from those close to us, but God's word exposes us. It convicts us of our sins. Even if we've been deluding ourselves that we're okay, the Bible doesn't give us that luxury. Holy Scriptures are sharp. They're more like a surgeon's scalpel than a Viking's axe. They help us to cut away all that is amiss in our lives.

When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Psalms 94:19 (NIV) Anxiety comes naturally to us as people. That doesn't mean to say we should unquestioningly accept it. Anxiety isn't meant to define us. God doesn't want us anxious. Jesus doesn't tiptoe around anxious people. He commands us not to worry. Jesus doesn't just tell us not to worry. He gives us reasons not to worry. He assures us that as God provides for animals, how much more will He look after His people? The Lord delights to console His troubled people. In this world we will have trouble, inevitably. Yet we can be encouraged and even joyful that Jesus has overcome the world. 'Heavenly Father, thank You for Your consolation and the gift of joy. We're grateful that You don't want us to remain anxious, so please help us not to be. In Jesus' name, amen'

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24  I love this quote from Jesus, its so reassuring. All we need to do to enjoy eternal life with our Lord and Saviour is to hear His word and to believe in Father God. It's that simple! It's not even about attending church or keeping the ten commandments or anything like that. We can't earn our own salvation. Only the blood of Jesus can save us. Upon hearing this from Jesus, maybe we believe Him. If we do, we enjoy eternal life. The Father sent the Son to be Saviour of the world. He pours out His Spirit upon those who trust in Him. We get to enjoy fellowship with Father, Son and Spirit for eternity. Obedience and church attendance are still important, but they're not essential for salvation, they're simply the evidence we're saved. 'Lord God, we hear Your word and believe in Father God. Please gra

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. Philippians 1:9-10 (NLT) To be loving is good, but love isn't static. It is a dynamic virtue that is either growing or in decline in our lives. We need to grow in knowledge and understanding, not just intellectually, but relationally. Love is what really matters. If we were completely loving, we'd be pure and blameless. That's what we're made for. We love, because God first loved us. He motivates our love. Our love doesn't earn His love, His love comes first. The meaning of life is that we ought to love God wholeheartedly, and to love one another as we love ourselves. Humanly speaking, it's impossible. By the grace of God, we can do it. 'Heavenly Father, please help us to receive and to respond to Your love. May we

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. ' Matthew 4:4 NLT Most people assume, even if it's subconsciously, that the meaning of life is to eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. Not Jesus. When satan tempted him to turn stones to bread like some kind of magician, He refused. We're not just animals. Even animals owe their every breath to God. Even animals don't live by bread alone, but by the word of God. We're spiritual beings. We're not just bodies, we're souls and spirits too. We're eternal beings and we need to make sure we spend eternity with God, rather than estranged from Him. Jesus fasting wasn't just a test of endurance for Him. It was to show His utter reliance on His heavenly Father. If He gave in to the temptation to eat, He would be as bad as the devil, selfish rather than God glorifying. 'God, may we glorify You as You deserve. For the