Category Archives: Wise

All Powerful / King of All, Blessed, Eternal, Faith / Trusting God, Fear / Reverence for God, Guide, His Timing Not Ours, His Ways Are Not Our Ways, Humility, Learning To Pray Effectively, Loving / Kind, Obeying God, Praise / Worship / Glorify God, Unteachable / Foolish, Wise

God’s Eternity and Man’s Brief Life Span

It is good for us to focus on the Lord, His eternal nature. He is far above even our ability to fully understand Him. We are transitory… each of us with a brief life in which even that which we create will fade in short time. Only in the Lord is there eternity and I choose to spend eternity with Him.

This prayer does well to remind us that our time is brief and all that we think is important to “accomplish” is not going to last. Our relationship with the Lord, and any we can help lead to Him… those things are eternal.

With that in mind, is the focus of your life on the right things? Are you placing your value in career and business? hobbies? or serving the Lord and leading and supporting others to submit to and serve  Him as Lord?

Psalm 90

BOOK 4

God’s Eternity and Man’s Transitoriness.

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

     1Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

      2Before the mountains were born
Or You gave birth to the earth and the world,
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

      3You turn man back into dust
And say, “Return, O children of men.”

      4For a thousand years in Your sight
Are like yesterday when it passes by,
Or as a watch in the night.

      5You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep;
In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.

      6In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew;
Toward evening it fades and withers away.

      7For we have been consumed by Your anger
And by Your wrath we have been dismayed.

      8You have placed our iniquities before You,
Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

      9For all our days have declined in Your fury;
We have finished our years like a sigh.

      10As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.

      11Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?

      12So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

      13Do return, O LORD; how long will it be?
And be sorry for Your servants.

      14O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness,
That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

      15Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us,
And the years we have seen evil.

      16Let Your work appear to Your servants
And Your majesty to their children.

      17Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us;
And confirm for us the work of our hands;
Yes, confirm the work of our hands.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Adultery / Sex Outside Marriage, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Greed, Heaven and Hell, Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Joy / Happiness / Rejoicing, Loving / Kind, Righteousness / Serving God, Seeking God, Thankfulness, Wickedness / Evil, Wise, Worldliness

Imitate God Rather Than The World

Ephesians 5 speaks for itself. It is a timeless warning to avoid worldliness and a call to righteousness.

Ephesians 5

Be Imitators of God

     1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; 2and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

      3But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

      6Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9(for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

14For this reason it says,
“Awake, sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.”

      15Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Let us take a challenging look at ourselves and our lives and test to see if we are living as imitators of God, or of the world. In most cases, we struggle at some level in that we still are reflections of the sin culture of the world. Let us call upon God to help purify us further and help us to change our attitudes and actions to reflect better and better the righteousness of God rather than the values of the world.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Arrogance, Bitterness / Resentment, Grace / Patience, Hypocrisy, Kindness / Gentleness, Lying / Deceiving, Mercy, Peace / Rest, Selfishness, Strife, Wickedness / Evil, Wise, Worldliness, Worry/Anxiety

Worldliness vs. Godliness

Understanding from God is very different from understanding that is of the world. Let us judge carefully which we follow in our lives. Our actions will reveal our motivations.

James 3:14-16

     13Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Bitter jealousy and selfish ambition are of the world. Arrogance as well. It brings disorder and evil and never peace. Godly wisdom is pure, gentle, peaceable, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruit and without hypocrisy. It brings peace.

Which will you choose?

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

All Powerful / King of All, Discerning / Judging, Help / Serve Others, Humility, Pride, Protector / Deliverer, Provider, Teachable, Wise

Listen To Wise Advice And Work With Others

Moses was chosen by Jehovah to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. After many miracles and a deepening relationship with Jehovah, it would seem easy for Moses to be vulnerable to pride and not be open to the wise council and advice from someone else. However, Moses deserves credit for listening to and following the advice he received from Jethro.

Exodus 18:1

Jethro, Moses’ Father-in-law

      1Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away, 3and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” 4The other was named Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

      5Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. 6He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” 7Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the LORD had delivered them. 9Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. 10So Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11“Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” 12Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.

      13It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. 14Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” 15Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16“When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

Jethro Counsels Moses

      17Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. 18“You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. 19“Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, 20then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. 21“Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. 22“Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23“If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”

      24So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. 26They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. 27Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land.

When Jehovah gives us a responsibility to serve Him, we absolutely want to take it seriously and work hard at doing it right. However, we must be careful that we do not wear ourselves out by taking on too much of the burden on our own. We must learn to listen to wise advice and take it, whether from Jehovah or from man. We have greater and longer lasting impact when we can lean on others who can be trusted and let them help us do our Father’s work.

Are there any situations in your life that are putting a heavy burden on you? It can be work or family or even ministry… as in Moses’ case. Pray for Jehovah to send you help and wisdom on how to do His work most effectively and sustainably.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? If you die today, do you know for sure that you would be with God in heaven? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.