Fear God and Follow Him

 Scripture:

“Having heard everything, I have reached this conclusion: Fear God and keep his commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭12‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

After much talk about everything in life being meaningless, Solomon closes his quotes with these verses. He summarizes everything he has pondered and tells us to fear God because He will evaluate every secret thing, whether good or evil. he tells us to keep God’s commands. After telling us how nothing really makes sense in this world, he tells us to fear God, because He keeps good records.

Application:

When life is at its end, we will stand before God. We will give an account for every idle word and every action in our lives. He knows every detail and we must live our lives knowing we will stand before Him one day. Our goal should be to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” We should live for the approval of God and not the applause of man. 

Prayer:

Lord God, You are great and glorious. You are powerful and victorious. Help me to walk humbly before You and to fear You appropriately. Teach me Your ways and show me Your paths for my life. I need You and I ask You to help me navigate life in a way that is pleasing to You and that fears You.

Yours,

Jeff

Content or Craving More?

 Scripture:

“It is better to be content with what the eyes can see than for one’s heart always to crave more. This continual longing is futile – like chasing the wind.” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭6‬:‭9‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

Solomon declares here that contentment is better than having a heart that always craves more because following those cravings is like chasing the wind. Always craving more of something tells God and those around us that we are not happy with what God has provided for us. 

Application:

In America, we work super hard to get more and more stuff. We work hard to get positions, money, power, and prestige, but all of these are worthless in the scope of life. Paul said, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” We need to learn to be content where we are while being diligent at our work. There is a fine balance between working hard because we crave more, and working hard because we love God and want to represent Him well. Our hard work must come from a heart to please and honor God, not from a heart to increase ourselves.

Prayer:

Father, help me to be content with where I am while pursuing Your will and doing what You ask me to do with my life. Help me to be effective, yet without craving more and more. Teach me the balance of living a very disciplined life and being covetous of more things.

Your Son Forever,

Jeff

Wisdom, Knowledge, Joy, and Wealth

 Scripture:

“For to the one who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing wealth – only to give it to the one who pleases God. This task of the wicked is futile – like chasing the wind!” ‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭2‬:‭26‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

Solomon says here that God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to the one who pleases Him. He adds that the sinner has the task of amassing wealth, only to give it to the one who pleases God. I other words, God blesses His children with everything they need and the worldly work hard to get wealthy. 

Application:

In all of our getting, we must get wisdom and understanding. Following God has incredible benefits. We can expect unexpected blessings. We can expect to be the head and not the tail. We can expect to be the first and not the last, not on our merits, but because of the blood of Jesus Christ. We receive what we didn’t work for while the world works hard for everything they have, only to have it stripped away. As for me, I want to serve the Lord and walk in His blessings of wisdom, knowledge, joy, and wealth.

Prayer:

Father, let my life be fully surrendered to You at all times. Teach me to walk with You and to build Your kingdom. Give me wisdom, knowledge, joy, and wealth. Let me live in the place of Your blessing. I want to extend Your Kingdom more and more, but I need the resources to do it. 

Yours,

Jeff

Don’t Grow Weary in Doing Right

 Scripture:

 “But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right.” ‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

This simple verse is so powerful for our daily lives. We should not grow weary in doing what is right. In other words, we need to keep on doing right things, even when we don’t see the results we were looking for. 

Application:

When we live our lives the right way and do what is right, rather than doing what is easy or convenient, we can expect the blessing of God. We should not grow weary in doing right, rather, we should continue to work hard, follow the voice of the Spirit, and the good seed we are sowing will eventually overtake the bad seed and we will be blessed. 

Prayer:

Lord God, help me not to grow weary in doing the right things. Help me to walk in confident obedience to You at all times. I want to serve You well and I want You to be able to count on me in every situation. I am tired, help me not keep weary, but to be refreshed in my spirit. 

Your Son,

Jeff

When the Righteous Become Numerous

Scripture:

“When the righteous become numerous, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭29‬:‭2‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

I like this translation. Older translations tend to say “when the righteous rule”. This one says “when the righteous become numerous.” There is a big difference. In our political system, we have stood on electing righteous people based on this verse.

Application:

I have always addressed our politics by saying things like, “if we see revival in America and millions convert to Christ, the righteous will automatically get elected into office. Rather than focus on the position of one or two righteous people, our goal should be to see the righteous become more numerous than the unbeliever in our country. The way to see God’s blessing on our nation is through increasing the number of believers, not electing one person. We must see souls saved in increasing numbers, then we won’t need to worry about elections.

Prayer:

Father, let my life be used to bring in a harvest for You and Your kingdom. Help me to plunder hell and populate heaven. Teach me to reach more people. Help me to lead our church into being a disciple making church. Help me to lead well.

Yours,

Jeff

 

Patience and Words

 Scripture:

“Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a soft tongue can break a bone.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭25‬:‭15‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

The author here speaks of patience and a soft tongue as powerful weapons in our hands. Sometimes, we fight hard for things that are not necessary and we simply need to patiently wait. A soft word at the right time or and in the right way, can break bones.

Application:

I like things to happen quickly. Patience wins the day, so I need to learn patience better. Patience also deals with trust, when our trust level increases, our patience level increase because we trust that whatever we are waiting for is going to happen. I also want my tongue to speak right words, at the right time, and with the right heart.

Prayer:

Father, You are awesome and I ask You to help me to wait patiently on You. Help me to speak the right words. Let my life be used for Your glory. Teach me Your ways and reveal to me the path You want me to walk. I need You Lord. 

Yours Forever,

Jeff

God Rewards Humility

 Scripture:

“The reward for humility and fearing the LORD is riches and honor and life.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭22‬:‭4‬ ‭NET‬‬

Observation:

This Proverb is short and sweet, yet powerful. It says that God honors humility and fearing God with riches, honor, and life. Our job is to walk in humility and fear God. He will then bring His blessing into our lives. 

Application:

As believers, we don’t pursue riches, fame, honor, prestige, etc. We pursue God and fear Him. When He sees our humility and our fear of Him, He rewards us with those things. Our pursuit is God, His rewards are awesome. Jesus said to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these other things would be added to us.  We are to pursue the blesser and not the blessing.

Prayer:

Lord God Almighty, You are my everything and I appreciate You. Help me to walk in humility and to honor You with my life. Teach me the fear of the Lord. Show me the paths of righteousness and help me to walk in them. Let my pursuit be of You and not money, riches, or fame. You are my reward. You are the one I pursue.

Yours,

Jeff