Daily Devotional
               Betty Miller shares her daily devotionals which are based on the book of Proverbs in the Bible.   

  The Wisdom of God

Verses for the Day:

Proverbs 15:28-29(KJV):
28 The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.
29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

Thoughts for the Day:

The book of Proverbs continues to compare the righteous and the wicked. We notice in verse 28 that the righteous are wise, in that they are not quick to speak, but rather, they ponder and think about how they should answer a person.  The wicked just allow all the evil that is in their heart to pour out of their mouth.  The evil things that they say have been stored in their hearts. We can store up good things in our hearts or we can allow the devil to put his evil ideas in our hearts. It is not a sin to have an evil thought. An evil thought that comes to our mind is simply the devil tempting us to act upon that thought that stems from our sinful nature.

A thought only becomes sin if we meditate on it, and continue to think on it, until we actually act on it in our heart, and then it manifests in our actions. The evil thought is like a seed that is planted in the ground. If we water it with our thoughts and attention, it will eventually sprout and come up and go on to bear fruit. That is why it is so important that we renounce all evil thoughts as soon as we are aware of them in our mind.  We must not dwell on it, as that is how the devil gets us to sin. We must submit our minds to the Lord and resist the devil, and the Bible says that he will flee.

James 4:7-8: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded."

The way that we can become victorious over evil tormenting thoughts is to first submit to God.  We must give our mind to the Lord and ask Him to cleanse our heart from all evil.  Then, we must rebuke the devil by using the Word of God against him.  Then, as we draw close to God, He will draw close to us.   However, we must cleanse our hands of all evil deeds.  This speaks of putting evil away from us. We must cut off Satan's supply line to us.  For example, if we want to be free of evil, lustful thoughts, then we cannot feed our minds with pornography, x-rated movies, lustful novels, etc. We must get rid of the things that feed the evil thoughts and replace those things with the Word of God.

We cannot be double minded about our decision, that is, we cannot turn away from temptation one day, and then the next day yield to it again.   We must make up our minds that we want to be free from something and then be single minded about it. When we choose to do what is right, then the Holy Spirit will empower us to keep that commitment, if we sincerely want to be free. God will give us the power to break the bondage of sin, if we ask, with a submitted heart before Him.

The mind is the battle ground, and to win our victory over sin, we must yield to God.  If we allow evil thoughts to drop into our heart, then we will be guilty of sin, even if we do not actually commit the deed.   Jesus spoke of this in the New Testament.

Matthew 5:27-28: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart."

If we resist the devil the moment we have an evil thought, then we are not guilty of sin. This is only temptation. Verse 29 in our study verses tells us that the Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the righteous. If we call on Him when we are tempted, He will surely be close to us, to help us overcome the enemy of our souls. The Lord is compassionate, and even when we have been weak and have fallen back into sin, He will come and save us if we call on Him. We must not allow the devil to talk us out of coming back to the Lord when we have fallen down.  We should immediately repent, get up, receive our forgiveness, and go on with the Lord.  The devil will seek to keep us down and out of fellowship with the Father. The devil is cruel; he first tempts us and gets us to sin, and then after we have fallen, he whispers that God is mad at us, so we should not try to communicate with Him. We must realize that even when we fail, God is still on our side. We should run to Him, not away from Him, when we fall into sin. He loves us and his mercy endures forever.

Psalm 32:5:  "I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah."

1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Prayer for the Day:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Your abundant love and mercy that You have shown to all of us. I have needed Your mercy on many occasions. When I have called out to You, You have never failed to reach down and restore me when I have failed You, and sinned. I am grateful for Your unchanging love. Help me to be like You and show mercy and love to those around me, even when they have failed me.   Cleanse me from all unrighteousness in my heart. May Your love manifest in the body of Christ, so that we truly love one another and serve one another.  I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.