Proverbs 2 & 3

I found out last night that one of my former students is in trouble. My heart is broken because I prayed often for the students in my classroom, and I told this particular student more than once that he had great potential and that God had a plan for his life. It reminds me how critical prayer covering is in the lives of our children. So, my post today will be my version of praying God's Word for my children. Will you please take it and make it your own, praying these words for your children, or your husband, or any special person in your life?

Proverbs 2
1 Dear God, please help my son and my daughter accept your words and store up your commands in their hearts.
2 Help them listen to wisdom and apply their hearts to understanding,
3 May they call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding,
4 Make their hearts' desire to look for wisdom as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 I pray earnestly that my children will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 You hold victory in store for the upright, You are a shield to those whose walk is blameless, Help my children to live blameless lives.
8 I beg you to guard the course of my children. Make them just and protect their way encouraging them to be your faithful ones.
9 Then they will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.
10 May wisdom enter their hearts, and may knowledge be pleasant to their souls.
11 Grant them discretion to protect them, and understanding to guard them.
12 May Your wisdom save them from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,
13 May my children never leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways,
14 Never allow them to delight in doing wrong or to rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 Keep them away from those whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.
16 Please save my son also from the adulteress, may my daughter never become the wayward wife with seductive words,
17 Help my children to be faithful to their partners and help them uphold the covenants they make before God.
18 Help them realize that adultery leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.
20 Please, God, strengthen my children to walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 May they be counted among the upright who will live in the land, and the blameless who will remain in it;
22 Protect them from the wicked who will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful who will be torn from it.

Pray God's Word out loud for your family and friends. Pray it diligently. Pray it often.

Proverbs 3 is even better than this. I want you to pray it for your loved ones. Insert their names as you pray. Make it personal and talk directly to God about the people in your life who need His guidance. Praying for others is a special privilege, and we do not take it as seriously as we should, myself included.

Thank you, Jesus. Your timing is always perfect.

Proverbs 1

This chapter is broken into three sections: introduction, fear God, find wisdom. The introduction tells us why Solomon wrote Proverbs and what we can hope to gain by following its instruction. The list of benefits is great:

• wisdom,
• discipline,
• understanding,
• insight,
• a disciplined life,
• a prudent life,
• doing what is right, just, and fair,
• prudence,
• knowledge,
• discretion,
• learning,
• guidance,
• understanding the stories and riddles of life.

I think that is proof enough that we should study this book and learn all we can from it. Let’s make this our wish list, our prayer list, as we complete our study of Solomon’s life.

The second segment of the chapter tells us to fear God, to listen to our parents, and to stop wasting our time following people who lead us into trouble. If you want wisdom and knowledge, fear God. If you want to be a fool, disregard wisdom and discipline. We know what it looks like to be foolish. A fool lives a life of chaos, making the same stupid choices over and over again. I hope you are tired of living that kind of life. So, what does it look like to fear God? A God-follower keeps her eyes on what God tells her to do. A God-follower reads her Bible and prays over every decision, no matter how small it may seem. A God-follower makes the hard choices to deny selfish desires in order to live a disciplined life in the areas of relationships, finances, healthy living, etc. A God-follower seeks to glorify God rather than self at every turn. Easy? No. Worth it? Absolutely!

The things we learned from our parents should adorn our lives like jewelry. They are the accessories that complete our lives. They should make us beautiful people. Just like the feeling you have if you forgot to put on your wedding ring or your watch, we should feel naked when we disregard the wisdom passed down to us from generation to generation. LORD, help me teach my children to know Your wisdom. May they never leave home without Your Word of wisdom buried deeply in their souls.

O God, help my son and my daughter not to be enticed by people who will lead them into evil schemes. Keep their eyes wide open so they will not go along with the crowd. Keep their feet away from the path of sin; help them resist the desire to rush into decisions they will regret later in life. Help them to understand that greed steals our lives away. God, may we all come to learn that lesson.

The final portion of this proverb is devoted to Lady Wisdom. She is crying out at the top of her lungs, standing on the wall at the head of the multitudes, crying for us to listen to her voice. Why in the world do we turn a deaf ear to her? Why are we so hard-headed to think we can make our own way in life? If we wait too long, Wisdom will finally say, “Enough is enough. Tough cookies, child.” When we do not heed God’s call in our lives, He will let us die in our selfish choices. Girls, cry out to Jesus today, and He will provide you a place of safety and security, a home free from the fear of evil. Amen. Let it be so in our lives this day, dear Jesus.

My friend Julie sent me this, and I couldn't pass it up.