Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23 ESV Jesus echoed Solomon when he said that 'out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks'. From a good heart comes good speech; from a bad heart comes bad speech. Sadly, we're a bundle of contradictions, with good and bad coming out of our same mouths. If we're to keep our hearts, the implication is that God has performed a spiritual heart transplant. If he has done so, we're to keep our hearts healthy spiritually. We're not to feed ourselves with spiritual junk like false teachings or other inappropriate content online. It's all too easy to get complacent. Solomon commands vigilance. He seems hypocritical- he allowed pagan wives to lead his heart astray- but God brought him back.  Some intellectual a long time ago famously said 'I think, therefore I am'. Solomon seems to suggest there's an element of truth to that. What we think tends to dictate our ...

 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Romans 8:11 ESV If we trust in Christ, death isn't our destiny. Just as the Spirit raised Jesus from the dead, so he can give us life. We just need to believe in him. God is eternally omnipotent/all powerful. It's not like the Holy Spirit gets old and infirm. He's unfailingly faithful to save. Of course, we face physical death, unless Christ Jesus returns first. Yet for the believer, death isn't the end. We have a glorious eternity to look forward to. Our flawed, weak and sinful bodies are redeemable. Just as Christ was raised bodily, so we shall be. We just need to have faith in him. 'Our Father God, please raise us up from the destruction we deserve. Help us to trust in your Spirit's work in our lives, in Christ Jesus' name, amen'.

 “And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”” Mark 4:9 ESV Jesus calls for us to prepare our hearts to receive his word. Ultimately, for our hearts to be fertile ground for God to sow his word, we need him to do his work in us. We need to be receptive to what he would have to say to us.  As the Apostle Paul said, how can people hear the good news if no one tells them it? If we've received the Gospel, we are to pass it on. If we've heard and accepted it, we're to call others to do the same. The Lord calls us to be philosophical if people don't receive God's word well. Some seed falls on the path. Others fall on rocky or weedy ground. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The proof we have listened to God's word and received it is that we put it into practice in our lives. With God's help we can do this. 'Heavenly Father, please prepare our hearts to receive your word. For Christ's glory we ask this, amen'. 

 “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. ” Ephesians 6:11 ESV Traditionally, I've thought of the armour of God as an individualistic thing. Yet of course, the Roman soldier didn't fight in isolation. He was part of a band of brothers. A Roman 'tortoiseshell' of shields could withstand barbarian hordes. We don't win spiritual warfare in isolation, but in community. A solitary Roman soldier could easily be destroyed by an enemy army.  When we trust in Jesus, we become part of his spiritual army. He's gone before us, through death into resurrection and ascension. Nothing can stand in our way. God has equipped us with everything we need for spiritual warfare. We can stand strong in him. We are to trust in him, not in our own devices. 'Lord God Almighty, please help us to take up your armour and to use it. May we fight together, and not isolated. In Christ's name we ask this, amen'.

 “And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” ” Exodus 33:14 ESV Moses knew that if God's presence didn't go with his people, they may as well have packed up and returned to slavery in Egypt. Likewise, if God doesn't presence himself with us, we may as well give up and seeking to reach the promised new creation. Thankfully, God promises to go with us. We can't 'white knuckle' our way to glory. We can't 'pull ourselves up by our bootstraps'. We need the presence and leadership of God's Holy Spirit.  I love how Jesus echoed this verse in the new testament. 'Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden', he urged, 'and I will give you rest'. Christ Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and forever. As the writer to the Hebrews says, Jesus is himself our Sabbath rest. We don't need to stop on Saturdays, or on the Lord's Day of Sunday. We don't have to be legalistic about rest, turning it i...

 “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ” 2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV I don't think the Apostle Paul is only talking about money here. Nonetheless, he was calling the Corinthian church to be generous with their money. I'm reminded of James who says it's not enough to 'generously' wish a poor person well. If we see a brother or sister in need, we should do something about it. We can pontificate about giving fish and teaching fishing. Yet if someone is hungry we should do both/and, not just either or. If someone is hungry, we should give them a fish while teaching them to fish as it were. The saying is that if you feed a man a fish you feed him for a day. If you teach him to fish, you feed him for life. The Apostle Paul makes the point that if we want God to be generous to us, we should be generous to others. Our generosity doesn't earn God's generosity. Our generosity is a respon...

 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 ESV We often think of sin as things we do. Often, it is things we say or even things that we think. So this verse is a good prayer to pray. As Jesus said, 'out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks'. If he sets our hearts right, gracious words will flow out of us. It won't be an overnight transformation however. May we not just not say and think bad things. May we also say and think good things too. That's what the Lord is looking for too. The Lord is our rock and redeemer. He's solid and dependable. He's bought us out from the condemnation we deserve, and freed to to live lives that are acceptable to him. 'O Lord, our rock and our redeemer, we praise you for your salvation. Please help us to think, say and do what is right. For your glory we pray, amen'. 

 “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10 ESV The Apostle Paul pulled no punches with the wayward Galatian church. He said that those who led them astray should be accursed for their accursed false Gospel. Jesus is enough, not Jesus + circumcision or anything else. Judaism was tolerated in the Roman Empire. Christianity wasn't at the time. So false teachers saying we have to become Jewish to become Christian had an attractive message. Paul wasn't a flatterer. He wasn't trying to give the Galatian Christians an easy life. He was trying to give them the truth. Our concern should be God's approval, not that of mankind. This doesn't mean to say we should be cantankerous and difficult. It just means we should get our priorities right. 'Sovereign God, please help us to seek your approval above all, because that is what ultimately matters...

 “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ” Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV The Lord God of Israel is the God of the universe. He is a faithful God. He keeps his promises. Gods never going to stop loving us. He doesn't withdraw his love after our 491st sin. He who began a good work in us will carry it through to completion upon the Day of Christ Jesus. If God loved us enough to send his beloved Son to die for us, the least we can do is to love him in return. We demonstrate our love for him by keeping his commandments. In summary, these are to love him and to love one another. God's people are always one generation away from extinction. God doesn't have grandchildren. It is our duty to proclaim the Good News of salvation through faith in the Lord to subsequent generations, until he returns or calls us home. 'Lord our God, may we love you as we ou...