A FRIEND
Today’s Reading: Proverbs 18-19
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
David Citadel is part of the walls that surround Jerusalem. It is located near the Jaffa Gate entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem. Built to strengthen a strategically weak point in the Old City’s defences, the citadel that stands today has ancient foundations which were constructed during the 2nd century BC. It was subsequently destroyed and rebuilt by, in succession, the Roman, Byzantine, Muslim, Mamluk, and Ottoman occupiers of Jerusalem. It contains important archaeological finds dating back 2,700 years. The Proverbs we are reading predate these efforts in stone and are devoted to building wisdom, rather than buildings which can be destroyed.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verses: Proverbs 18:21a, 19:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
…There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel — that will stand.
Other verses in these chapters could and should be key to finding and exercising wisdom. For example, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). We can all think of a person or persons who are our true friends. Let’s call them today, and let’s call that greatest Friend of all in prayer! Speak life, not death! Bless others with our words! Never underestimate the power of the tongue for good or evil. James, the one known as the brother of Jesus, wrote on this. If he was writing today, he may have been a blogger! Read James 3:1-12 for healthy medicine, the main ingredient of which is wisdom.
For a commentary on our second key verse (19:21), let’s go to James again (James 4:13-15). Just imagine that James is your blogger today.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Thank You Lord Jesus for being my Friend that sticks closer than a brother. Help me, I pray, to be Your true friend! There is a hymn, Father God, that I’m reminded of. It’s called “Friendship With Jesus.” Yesterday, Lord, I meditated on the hymn, “What a Friend we have in Jesus!” Today, I ask myself the question, “Am I a genuine friend of Jesus?” I pray for Your grace to be Your true friend. For this request, Lord God, I do as the Proverb in today’s reading says, I run into the “strong tower” of Your Name! (Proverbs 18:10). Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I want to explain why I always use the New King James Version in my blog. It is because it’s one of several reliable modern translations from the original languages of the Bible, Hebrew and Greek. The NKJV in particular maintains the beauty of the 1611 translation in my opinion. The King James Version was first published at a time when the English language was at its best, as revealed in Shakespeare’s plays when thousands of ordinary, relatively uneducated people would stand for hours to watch and listen to magnificent words. Spoken languages are living organisms, and it is important to reflect the changing meanings of words. The Bible on which I was raised was an updated translation done in the mid-nineteenth century. For example, the word “prevent” meant “come before” back then. Now it means “to stop someone.” The new translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:15 translates the word as “precede” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Yours in honour of true friendships,
David
Thank You Lord for being the only One we have to hold onto. Your purpose prevails. We live in a world full of anger and hatred toward our political leaders during this difficult time of testing. Yet we are reminded God has put our leaders in place and we need to pray for them, just as we need to pray for one another. His blessings upon you fellow saints as we worship our Risen Lord and Saviour in unity, today. Amen. .
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! 1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV
GREAT HYMNS OF FAITH – Christian Gospel. Beautiful Playlist – Lyrics Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0cSrm7_NY
Amen!!
You are so right,Beverlee. Amen!
Going to church in a bit. The park has it in our clubhouse. We get students from Lakeland University. Students going into the ministry. They are very good. I always look forward to Sunday mornings. We jump in the golf cart and off we go.
All for now, God bless.
Dear Lord God, every word of true wisdom comes from You. Thank You for it. Please give all Your children all over the world the grace to listen and obey You, in Jesus’s great name, amen
“Get all the advice and instruction you can,
so you will be wise the rest of your life.”
-Proverbs
Amen to the prayers and comments yesterday & today Thankful that Paddy is doing well, praying he just keeps getting better each day. Thanks for your comments Rob and for sharing your letter, I appreciate your frustration. So happy for you Nan being in Florida, stay healthy.
May God bless each & every blogger.
I pray each day, as David prayed in a previous post “Please, Father, choose the right leaders for Canada, as You chose David long ago to lead Israel. Raise up these people after Your own heart, Lord, and give them favour with You and with people. We need Godly leadership in this country, Father, so we commit it to You, in Jesus’s name, amen.
There is a program on Miracle TV Return to Reason, some of you may already watch it.. Following is the link, if you copy and paste it to your browser it should work
https://miraclechannel.ca/returntoreason/
Sadly we are moving away from the direction of the daily Bible study into opinions about political, vaccination and pandemic decisions. Without the blog being monitored by administration or updated in anyway, I feel we are going in the wrong direction. It seems very dangerous. I am going to continue reading the daily bible study and former posts of the blog for the day but will no longer participate in posting new comments. I will continue to pray for everyone and wish you all the very very best. Thank you for your continued prayers for me. God’s blessings on you all. May Jesus’ Hand be upon you and may He graciously watch over you. Sincerely ~Beverlee~
Beverlee, I must be missing something here. I do not understand what you are saying and I hope you will reconsider your decision. We need your input and appreciate it. You opened my eyes to the reason for a question I had for sometime & even asked a minister about. He was not aware either. But you were right on when I researched the prior scripture. We need your input. Please pray about it. Thanks dear. May God strengthen you physically & bless you greatly. Amen
I put “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (in quotation marks) & it came up with a lovely rendition with the written words following. He really is the GREATEST FRIEND. Amen.
Paddy is doing very well. Thank you folks.
You already have all the answers within, Doreen. God bless your soul!
Here is a link to: What A Friend We Have In Jesus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTpUQO0aryw
Politics affects us all, whether we like it or not. Also, people have opinions and even callings on their lives, whether others understand or agree or not. The Old Testament is as much a part of the Bible as the New; it is given to us for our instruction. And it is full of politics: Abraham and the kings, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, Samuel, David, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus Himself; all had dealings with, and things to say about the political situations of their times. As did William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, and William Booth, more modern examples of Godly men who did something within the political realm. If a person chooses to stay out of politics – fine. But please don’t try to stop others from getting involved in areas where they feel God leading them. Remember, God is involved in every aspect of life.
P.S. for context, I only wrote the MP in question because they had sent me an email expressing their frustration with the PM. I wrote back, telling her I was frustrated with her party and their abdication of conservative principles.
I come from a very large family, we were and are all different, I learned early in life that we would not always agree or get along! In fact in our younger days as small brothers and sisters we would at times “come to blows”, mom would have to intervene…..LOL
For me as I slowly grew and matured it was humbling to learn to accept that not all people would agree with me or see my point of view…but that’s what the journey of life is all about!
I am grateful that God has made us all different, with different opinions, ideas, thoughts, callings….. to me that is what makes life so wonderful and interesting!