I Just Had to Share ... Proverbs 3:1-10

In the spirit of Titus 2:3-5, I offer these thoughts to ladies ...

As I was studying my Bible this morning, I came across this passage that I have, as you can see, marked up.  Typically, when I mark in my Bible and or make notes it's because I want the verses to stand out and or remind me of what they're saying.  If you are a child of God, I hope it is a sweet reminder ... if you are not, I hope it gives you just a small insight as to what you're missing!

Let's look at how I've marked these Scriptures up in Proverbs, chapter 3:1-10 ...

 At the bottom of the page, which I didn't include, I have written the following ...

 Verses 1-10:  Notice the life blessings that come to those who choose to put the Lord first in their lives and hearts.

 With this in mind, let's unpack a few things in these verses ...

 look at the word 'heart' in verses 1, 3 and 5.

 verse 1:  let your heart keep my commandments ... do we want, with all of our heart to obey God's Word ... it's the 'want' that motivates the heart.  Side note:  did you know that our 'wants' can be trained and influenced by God's Word? Indeed, they can, just as they can be trained and influenced by the world ... it's our choice.

 verse 3:  write them on the tablet of your heart (what does this passage say to write on the tablet of our hearts ... I'll let you dig that answer out!)

 verse 5:  trust in the Lord with all your heart ... we must be convinced that God is the Great I AM and that He is able.

 We can see already that our heart is a big player in our relationship with God, but let me insert a warning here, make sure your heart is guided by God's word.  The heart is deceitful and just because we want to believe a thing, doesn't make the thing acceptable to God.  (Jeremiah 17:9)

 Verses 5 - 10 tell us what our part is ...

 verse 5:  trust in the Lord ... hmmmm, does anyone besides me ever struggle with this?  That's why I constantly ask God to strengthen my weak faith and make it a priority to study God's word, I can't even do this without God's help!

 verse 6: in all your ways acknowledge Him .... that's pretty self-explanatory isn't it!

 verse 7:  do not be wise in your own eyes ... get off the pride train if you find yourself on it!

 verse 7 again:  fear the Lord and turn away from evil ... respect, honor, revere; stand in awe of the Lord, recognize evil and avoid it whenever possible.

 verse 9:  honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce ... there it is, put God first in your finances and in all that you have.  That simply means support the spreading of God's word, make it a priority from your finances and from all that you have.  I believe included in that umbrella of honoring the Lord with what we have is helping those who are truly in need as well.  I know that there have been times in our lives when God has used Christians to provide for a specific unexpected need.  We as Christians, not only need to intentionally plan how we're going to honor the Lord with what He's blessed us with, but we also need to be ready to be used by God to meet unexpected needs of others, especially those of faithful Christians as they become known to us.  (Galatians 6:10) Without going off onto another topic, let me say that I do believe that God wants us to use discretion and be good stewards of what we have.  We surely don't want to enable someone by our giving to continue in sin, do we!

 There's lots more to unpack in these 10 verses, but I'll leave you to do that on your own.

 I hope my thoughts in some way will make you want to seek God and study His word more; may you be blessed by what you've read.

 mrs. patsi @ From This Heart of Mine

(c) 2023 by Patsy Norwood ~ All Rights Reserved.