Watchcare and Honor during Our Darkest Times.

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Spiritual affirmation

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble. Proverb 4:18-19

Preface

Today’s blog post taken from my review of Proverbs 4:1-27, with the central verse 23, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life!”

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Before Your holy presence, we come humbly, seeking peace and Your wisdom today. We desire more than anything else to remain faithful in our relationship with You regardless of our current trials, temptations, and testings.

We ask that You will empower Your servants to cleave closer to Your will, Word, and Your Love during these most trying times. Aid each of us to maintain a single-mindedness and whole- hearten faithfulness toward our union with Christ as our perfect guide through the valley and the shadow of death. Amen.

Authentic Worship

The impact of sin has numerous negative consequences on the lives of every human being. None is as important than developing and maintaining a healthy and life-giving worship experience while we live in the earth.

Throughout the entirety of the Holy Scriptures, the deepest desire that God has for His people is to worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

To say that we must worship God “in spirit” means, among other things, that it must originate from within, from the heart; it must be sincere, motivated by our love for God and gratitude for all he is and has done.

Our worship must be rooted in and tethered to the realities of biblical revelation. This is the central idea for the Proverbs 4 study on today, to seek Godly wisdom on gaining understanding and instruction on “Just how we are to Live doing these serious times.”

Is it any wonder why one of God’s first commandments to His people was that they are to have no other gods but Him. All of the redeemed of God’s calling was to the worship of the one true God. God’s election separated the people from unholiness and to Himself as His special possession.

The covenant provided legal parameters for this unique relationship, and the limitation of exclusive worship was a significant part of the covenant. God had chosen Israel and the nations of the world to worship and serve Him only.

The Hebrew word for idolatry is “Avodah Zarah” which means strange or foreign worship. Any alternative forms or expressions of worship other than the One True Living God is regarded as foreign. Listed below are just some of the modern-day foreign forms of worship:

Pleasure, love and preoccupation of money, fame/success, control/domination, comfort/security, self-love, vanity, and man-made religion.

Foreign in the sense that once a soul has been delivered, and cleansed by the Holy Spirit and separated only to practice idolatry will alienate one’s soul again from the reality of truth!

Kingdom of God Lifestyle

God’s initial design for every living soul was and still is to maintain an intimate relationship with Him. Any continuation of or preoccupation with the practice of idolatry will eventually cause an individual to lose sight of one’s blessed innate spiritual experience with the infinite, by replacing this special relationship with the elevation of earthly finite things.

The biblical wisdom that Proverbs 4 offers any seeker of truth is that the Kingdom living can never be substituted by finite earthly things for the sacred!

Our spirituality enables us to live on both plains [heaven/earth] while we may experience Godly blessing and spiritual intervention throughout our lives on earth because of our communion with God through the Lord.

The Master warned would-be and actual disciples that a living-soul cannot serve two masters. Anyone’s house that is divided will not stand.

Our portion and daily responsibility of the covenant agreement with God through Christ is to remain faithful while daily sanctifying our hearts to God. God’s portion is to spare us some of life’s pains, disappointments, and trauma when we are unfaithful during times that we become double-minded and are held captive by the trends and pull of the world.

The marks of spiritual maturity are the successful maintenance of one’s soul’s integration during one’s earthly travel regardless of circumstances. This is made possible only by having a healthy grasp of reality by remaining single-minded and wholehearted to God.

The Scripture reference that communicates this reality is Matthew 6:22:

The eye is the Lamp of the Body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of Light.

Closing sentiments

Flee all forms of idolatry if you are redeemed of the Lord. God has first place in all of our lives and any foreign stronghold within your life will pull you in the opposite direction. Such a pattern will only produce pain and trauma in one’s life while weakening one’s spirituality and decision-making abilities.

Be encouraged Beloved of God by daily keeping your heart from all possible danger or difficulties as commanded by Proverb 4:23, Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life.

As each of us is successful in proactively guarding our hearts, God offers us the blessed assurance of comfort and resolve throughout our journey. Our heart is extremely valuable, it is the very source of everything that we do, and it is the target of all sorts of evil attacks. Amen.