Talk of JESUS .com

Category: Good advice – Proverbs & wisdom

Proverbs 22:6 = saying to teach your children part of the books of wisdom of the Old Testament which also includes Ecclesiastes by Solomon written with the wisdom and experience of old age
Train up a child in the way he should go,
Even when he grows older he will not abandon it.

Wisdom from Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon / Song of Songs. Please SHARE a Proverb or other Biblical quote of advice for today. How does this talk of Jesus in the 21st century? What’s Jesus’ advise for you and me IF He were to use this proverb for our worldly friends and application to our Christian lives in witness to our Lord?

  • Got a minute? – 4

    Got a minute? – 4

    A minute for prayer… minutes for God’s word… minutes for fellowship…

    And now I get personal.  Who are your friends?

    The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.

    Proverbs 12:26

    •  Do you number these as ones who would stand in your stead defending you before all in the Lord?
    • Are they an army of love in Christ Jesus?
    • Or are they few, perhaps even one?
    • Do you even stand alone, one silent witness in the sea of a large congregation?
    • Who are your friends in Christ?

    I must confess that I would go alone to the prophet’s mountain, rather than pour forth Christ’s love upon another.  I fear the closeness of other men and other women, who have so often wounded my insecure confidence and challenged my faith in the Lord.

    A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.  A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment. – Proverbs 17:17;18:1

    Do we give a minute to a friend?

    And then another to another?

    What counsel will we accept in the Lord from our brother (or sister) in Christ?

    Are we a friend to many in Christ?

    Or are we selfish with the minutes God has graciously given to us?

  • Friends and Brothers: Adversity

    Friends and Brothers: Adversity

    1 Thessalonians 5:11  Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

    I was praying for a sister in the Lord this morning. I had already prayed for my wife and our own children. I had already prayed for others – brothers and sisters in the Lord — dear friends… and as I prayed for these, each became dearer to my heart.

    I had prayed through the sufferings of my own adversities and also the more severe impending adversity of family members. I asked God to get them through it all.  I remembered the encouragement my faithful mother had often given to me, my brothers and my sister as I thought of a mom so discouraged and concerned for the salvation of her own children.

    Yes, God is also concerned for these; yet God will give it all the time required, while we struggle with the adversity of our daily life and adversity in the lives of our loved ones.

    What peace God gives us though prayer. Peace in our own struggles and peace for our faithfulness in praying for loved ones.

    Proverbs 17:17

    A friend loves at all times,
    and a brother is born for adversity.

    Have you ever considered the comfort of Jesus, after having invested considerable, limited earthly time with twelve Apostles, calls them His friends? (John 15)

    What a Friend we have in Jesus

    all our sins and griefs to bear!

    What a privilege to carry
    everything to God in prayer!

    O what peace we often forfeit,
    O what needless pain we bear,
    all because we do not carry
    everything to God in prayer. 

    [all verses]

    Do you have a friend and brother who does not suffer adversity?  Do you have a friend and sister who does not grieve over her children and afflictions of her family?

    Pray for these.

    1 Thessalonians 5:16

    Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,

    18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you…

    25 Brothers, pray for us.

    26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

    You are my brothers, my sisters, and friends — my family — family of our friend, Brother and Lord, Jesus.

    Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.

  • Prophesy in a Proverb

    Prophesy in a Proverb

    Hear and understand what is not of your own tongue or written with words of your understanding:

    Proverbs 30:

     דִּבְרֵי אָגוּר בִּן־יָקֶה הַמַּשָּׂא נְאֻם הַגֶּבֶר לְאִֽיתִיאֵל לְאִיתִיאֵל וְאֻכָֽל׃

     כִּי בַעַר אָנֹכִי מֵאִישׁ וְלֹֽא־בִינַת אָדָם לִֽי׃

      וְלֹֽא־לָמַדְתִּי חָכְמָה וְדַעַת קְדֹשִׁים אֵדָֽע׃

     מִי עָלָֽה־שָׁמַיִם וַיֵּרַד מִי אָֽסַף־רוּחַ בְּחָפְנָיו מִי צָֽרַר־מַיִם בַּשִּׂמְלָה מִי הֵקִים כָּל־אַפְסֵי־אָרֶץ מַה־שְּׁמֹו וּמַֽה־שֶּׁם־בְּנֹו כִּי תֵדָֽע׃

    This is how you may have read it, but you still do not understand:

    The Words of Agur

    30 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.

    Do you ever feel this way about the wisdom of the Bible?

    The man declares, I am weary, O God;
    I am weary, O God, and worn out.
    2 Surely I am too stupid to be a man.
    I have not the understanding of a man.
    3 I have not learned wisdom,
    nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.

    “Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.”  Do you ever feel this way about the wisdom of the Bible?  I do.

    The King James uses the word ‘brutish’ for stupid.  I don’t like to think of myself as stupid or brutish, but often when I try to understand the written word of God, I realize: “I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.”

    Prior to going back to the opening Hebrew, let’s look at the King James Version for verse 1.

     Proverbs 30:1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal

    Behind each gem of scripture; beneath each verse of knowledge of the Holy One; dwells understanding to be studied and understood in God’s meaning for us.  Take just this verse, for example:

    Agur means: gathered. He is son of Jakeh: which means blameless.

    Ithiel means: God is with me. Ucal means: devoured and he is a student of the teacher: Agur

    Without this wisdom and understanding of who speaks to us the burden of prophesy in this Proverb, the weight of the following verse will most likely fall on deaf ears of a brutish man like you or me.

    You are not so brutish, or am I so wise as to understand what you cannot study in scripture.  I will leave the key verse of Proverbs 30:4 to your word study.  May the Lord and the Son give you knowledge.  yada yada

    4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
    Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
    Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
    Who has established all the ends of the earth?
    What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
    Surely you know!