Proverbs - Cover Transgressions

Proverbs 17:9

                                                                     

He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

Sometimes when we are sinned against we want to pull others into our pain.  We are told that we are to cover a transgression if we are to seek love.   When someone sins against us we should commit it to the Lord and seek Him for His heart of grace and forgiveness.  We must be careful about who we repeat it to even after the offense has been forgiven.  Telling others about a sin can separate close friends.  We can often leave out some details or present the situation in a way that the hearer is shocked or appalled and leave them in a place where they have to work through it.  In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking.  When we begin to talk to a friend and recount some story involving sin, we should stop and not bring attention to the sin.  We can share a general account that an offense was made and the Lord healed the relationship without repeating the matter.  We don’t need to give a play by play account of what our adversary has done.  He doesn’t deserve the air time.  We should rather repeat, detail by detail all that the Lord has done and magnify Him with others.

 If we need godly counsel, seek to recount the matter to one who is in some sort of spiritual authority in your life or perhaps is a bit removed from the knowledge of the offender.  This would be still seeking love because you are attempting to cover the sin and only bring it to the light in the appropriate environment.  When we forgive we can choose to not bring things to remembrance.  This will make us like our God who remembers our sins no more.

Knowing God - He is the Head of ALL Power

Col 2:10

And ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power:

He is the Head of ALL Power

Jesus is the head of all principality and power.  He is over all that comes our way in demonic or angelic influences.  We must remember this so as not to cower in fright and intimidation.  Jesus Christ is the head and NOTHING takes place without His knowledge and allowance in His disciples’ lives.  He is BIGGER than we have yet to comprehend.  If we truly apprehended this truth we would be in quite a place of rest and security.  This truth should free us from taking the victim role.  This should cause us to maintain a close intimacy with Jesus, seeking His counsel and leading in dealing with spiritual warfare and spiritual onslaught.  Lord, thank You that I am complete in You.  You are the head of ALL principality and power and I am Your child.  You want to guide me in these things that are too high for me. 

Proverbs - Gifts That Prosper

Proverbs 17:8

A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it:

whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.

Whatever we have received from the Lord is to be valued and seen as given to us for His purposes. When we consider the fact that all we have has been given to us, we might consider more seriously the purposes for which He has entrusted us with these resources.

Your home, car, spiritual gifts, marriage, husband, money and time, these are a few of the things that are meant to prosper wherever they are yielded to Him and used for His glory.  Sometimes depression can set in when we are living and using what He has given us for our selves and not for Him.  We can feel empty and unsuccessful in the inner man.

Take a moment and commit all you have to Him.  Ask Him to use the gifts He has given you in the way He desires to.  Watch your days take on a successful and prosperous feel as you see each gift as a valuable jewel meant to be used for purposes far greater than the obvious.

Knowing God - The Lord Is Our Authority

Ps 118:9

It is better to trust in the LORD

than to put confidence in princes.

The Lord Has the Authority We Need

Our trust will always be placed in someone or something.  The Lord is much more powerful and influential than any sort of earthly authority.  We have a friend in high places.  He is God!  He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, beyond all that we ask or think.  He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.  The Lord is able to do more than we can even imagine.  Do you trust Him?   Are you looking to that boss?  Are you finding your hope in your husband?  Do you believe that doctor more than the One who made your body?  Are you trusting in that which someone in authority can do for you more than what the Lord God Almighty can do?  Truly it is BETTER to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in ANY authority.

Proverbs - Words

Proverbs 17:7

Excellent speech becometh not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

Our words are very much an evidence of who we are.  Here we see that just as much as hearing a foolish person speak words of wisdom would catch us off guard, so, too, lying lips don’t fit on a prince. 

A prince has authority and is esteemed as someone who is concerned for his father’s kingdom.  We are to be those princes wanting our heavenly Father’s kingdom to be furthered and to rule in people’s lives.  Lies are not becoming on us and we must be cautious when answering anything to represent things in the most accurate way we are able to.  This requires having the fear of the Lord and being slow to speak.  We can always answer “I am not sure”, when we are not sure.  We can answer “I don’t want to share that information with you”, when we don’t want to give some sort of information.  Truthful lips are controlled by the ‘Spirit of Truth’ and show forth a life that desires to walk in truth.

 Be careful about how you answer people today and be cautious in disciplining your children or communicating with your husband.  You must speak truth, not exaggerations or minimize what God says is important.  Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight” 

Knowing God - He Helps Us Through Others

Ps 118:7

The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.

The Lord is with Those Who Help Me

When people help us the Lord is actually working with them and through them.  Whenever someone comes alongside of us in our trials and troubles we can be confident that the Lord is in this action.  Receive their help and be sensitive to the Lord in it all.  It is the Lord who loves us and moves upon others to be vessels of His love, encouragement and support.  It is much nobler than just human concern.  To the child of God, help given by men is help given by God.  Thank the people, but thank the Lord that He is moving upon those around you to help you.

Proverbs - Crowns

Proverbs 17:6

                                                                     

Children's children are the crown of old men;

and the glory of children are their fathers.

A crown is something that shows influence and authority.  The crown signifies that a person has some sort of authority over all he or she oversees.  When we were raised by our fathers, the Lord intends many of those things to be passed down to our children.  Even if our earthly fathers were poor examples, we learned from their bad examples as well and they serve as a warning to our children.  Perhaps the heritage you have is not being valued enough in making decisions for your children.  Consider what sort of influence your father should have when making decisions for you children.

Secondly, we must stay in prayer for our husbands and draw attention to their strengths in the sight of our children.  When we praise our children’s fathers to them, we help them shine.  When we are driving along in the car with them we can start a conversation about what we admire about them and why we love them.  When our husbands do something for the children it would be good to point it out to them. Children can often be ignorant in their self absorbed ways of what their fathers are doing for them.  We are called to reverence our husbands and one way to do this is to bring attention to those things worthy of praise in our children’s fathers.

If we don’t have any children, we can certainly influence other children to see their fathers in the light of praise.  We can talk to children after church or send a card to a nephew or niece telling them what we admire about their fathers.  We can be a part of building up a Christian home so that when the enemy comes in we will be part of the standard that the Lord is raising up.