God’s Way for Living
by Muriel Larson
Do you have trouble trusting God today? Let someone pray for you.
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The God-breathed Proverbs not only has wisdom for our spiritual development, but also for the good of our physical life here on earth. So God’s Word urges us to go the way of His wisdom. Solomon tells his son that if he will seek wisdom and follow the advice given in the Proverbs, then he will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
Consider it. Who knows better than God what is the best and most rewarding way for us to live on this earth? Who can argue the fact that when we go our own way, we often suffer the consequences of things we do that are contrary to God’s Word. Here are some basic principles for wise living that we find in Proverbs 2 and 3.
Hide God’s Word in Our Hearts—Proverbs 2:1-5 urges us to receive God’s Word, study it, and hide it in our hearts. As a child, I learned the 10 Commandments. They convicted me about stealing money from my mother to buy candy. As I was growing up, I memorized Scripture and earned a New Testament. These Scriptures opened my life to God’s hand. We recited John 3:16 every week and its great truth drew me to Jesus Christ. In my early twenties I dedicated my life to Jesus Christ and His service. Then I set myself to memorize two verses daily, thus hiding about 400 more verses on which to base my life. When we give our whole hearts to the Lord, He leads us into His wise paths.
Trust in the Lord —After I dedicated my life to Christ, Proverbs 3:5-6 became my guide to live by: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Since I learned first-hand how well that works, I often recommend this to the troubled people as I counsel by E-Mail. I know if this verse is followed it will help straightened out tangled lives.
Wisdom brings Happiness—According to Proverbs 3:13-18 If we follow God’s way, we can avoid the pitfalls in this world that could wreck our lives, such as adultery, addiction to alcohol and drugs, and embittering our lives with stored up hatred, anger, resentment, and bitterness (Ephesians 4:25-32).
Yes, the Bible says that we will suffer trials in this life, and I went through more than my share! But I found that by working with the Lord in His wisdom, I was able to rise above what I went through with His strength and help. His joy lifted me above my earthly tribulations. Oh, I wasn’t perfect! I made mistakes. The only sinless one is our Lord Jesus Christ. But as I looked to Him, He was always there for me. And His joy sustained me.
Wisdom Brings Peace-Proverbs 3:17 says, “Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.” I found that to be true. Soon after I dedicated my life to Christ, He gave me another Scripture for my life. I was worried sick about a big problem, and on Sunday our pastor gave a benediction: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Oh, I needed that! In my concordance I found that was Philippians 4:7. Looking it up, I found in verse 6 how to get that peace: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” I did it—and I got that incredible peace I needed. And this Scripture has worked for me ever since.
From all the precious experience I have had with God’s Word, which shares God’s wisdom with us,
I can testify that living by his advice is the wisest, happiest way to go.
“He who provides for this life, but takes no care for eternity, is wise for a moment, but a fool forever.”—John Tillotson
Question: Which one of these steps will you focus on today to draw near to God?
About the Author: http://thelife.com/experience/devotionalforwomen/authors/muriel-larson/
VERY GOOD DEVOTIONAL. I HAVE BEEN OFF LINE FOR A FEW DAYS AND HAVE A LOT TO CATCH UP ON. THANK YOU FOR THIS DEVOTIONAL
SHARONB
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I desire wisdom and have been praying for it. The Lord has been doing some miraculous things in my life and I am so humbled and thankful.
I desire understanding….and that He convict me of things in my life that keep me from these things.
Addictions…..oh yes, I suppose we all fight them daily. Greater is He that is in me…..and He is. He made me literally sick thru an addiction.
I will be praying for you, Rebecca and March….
Thank you, Dr. M….for a wonderful…self examining devotion.
I desire wisdom and have been praying for it. The Lord has been doing some miraculous things in my life and I am so humbled and thankful.
I desire understanding….and that He convict me of things in my life that keep me from these things.
Addictions…..oh yes, I suppose we all fight them daily. Greater is He that is in me…..and He is. He made me literally sick thru an addiction.
I will be praying for you, Rebecca and March….
Thank you, Dr. M….for a wonderful…self examining devotion.
Dear Connie
I started memorizing scripture twenty years ago using a Navigator’s memory plan. I started with two verses/passages a day and found even that challenging, but as I went on I established a system and it got easier. Memorizing a new passage now takes much less time.
If you are interested in beginning to memorize scripture I would be happy to mentor you a bit on that and send you two passages a week that you could print out and work on.
This applies, of course, to anyone else out there with the same desire.
My address is psooyp@mts.net
“trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding”. yes, i believe that when we apply this to our lives, then we will have that elusive sense of peace. as the earlier devotional have also impressed upon us, when “we draw near to God, he will draw near to us”. there may be many aggravations in life and vexations to the spirit, but God is supreme and he is mightier than the spirit of the devil.
Good day! this devotional really touches me today. thanks again! Im reading some verses in the bible and sometimes i do not apply it in my daily living, so im being in the wrong track like this famous verse “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Im thinking the wrong ways and i donot acknowledge Him in some of my decision making. I need some help how can i handle my ways of living and applying the bible verses, i really need a prayer to draw me close to God and i will keep holding to Him.. thanks to all and have a blessed day!
Hi Rebekah, my heart goes out to you. I too have had an addiction, to chocolate, and have to make the decision if I am going to eat it or turn away from it. My problem is- I can’t just eat one piece like a friend of mine can. It might be a lot.
I understand where you are coming from. You are defending yourself. Rebekah, even though we may have an addiction, God gives us a way out. He did not want to make robots of us, so he gave us choices.
My husband smoked for about 70 years and just decided to quit about 4 or so months ago. I am so proud of him. He said he still would just love to get ahold of a cigarette and light it up. The wanting it has not gone away yet, but I know the Holy Spirit will convict him of that too. We just keep praying.
Yes, you can be a Christian and have an addiction, but you still have that hard choice to make. To me that is what it boils down to- a choice.
I wish you happiness and please don’t take Dr. Muriel wrong. she knows what she is talking about. Read over all of the verses she has menioned in the devotinal today- many times and study them and claim them. when you are tempted, quickly put on a request on here and someone will pray for you, or call a friend and ask them to pray with you.
There have been many sermons I have heard and thought, oh boy, he is preaching to me this morning. But I feel that God had me there to hear it because it was something in that sermon I needed to hear so I could pray and change that habit or whatever it was I was doing wrong.
Father God,Please help Rebekah to be able to give her addiction to you. Hold her in your loving and merciful arms and let her feel your help ,and help her to accept it. In His precious name. Amen
I will keep praying for you to give up your addiction. and remember that Jesus had temptations while he was on this earth and had to make a chioce for those. God Bless your effort. Love, Hannah
Hi Connie, Dr. Muriel’s suggestions are good.
When I tried to memorize scripture as a teenager and was in the Bible Memory Asso. and won prizes when we reached a certain number, it was hard for me to remember where the verses came from. Later a friend said she always made the reference a part of the verse. She would say the reference first and then again after saying the verse. This has helped me remember where it came from. Hope this helps you too. I also keep a notebook on my favorite verses. This was a good devotional today. Blessings on you and your family, love, Hannah
I do believe in God but I also have an addiction and I dont think if you have an addiction you are not following God! We with addictions do not choose to have them but we do and thank God we have Him to lean on! I do not think it is fair to put that in there as a pit fall! You can follow Jesus and still have an addiction like me but I do love the LORD!
Hi Connie–
Years ago when I had to walk a mile to work, I would first spend ten minutes in prayer and reading a chapter in the epistles, which I went through book by book. (Later I took the Gospel of John, and then Psalms.)
As I read the chapter I would note the two verses that might be the most helpful or spiritual for my life and start saying them over and over as I walked out the door on my way to work. Since I worked at that place for two years, I sure got a lot of great Scriptures tucked in my memory!
I suggest you start reading in Ephesians, then Philippians. They are packed full of great Scriptures!
So are John chapters 14-17.
Best wishes and God bless you! In His love, Dr. Muriel
I have gone to church all my life. I have been a Christian all my adult life. I work full time, what technique do you use for memorizing 2 verses of scripture a day? How do you decide which ones to learn?