TESTS COME FOR THE FOLLOWER OF JESUS! The LORD tests the righteous. —Psalm 11:5  The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. —Deuteronomy 13:3 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. —Job 23:10 For you, God, tested us. —Psalm 66:10 I tested you at the waters of Meribah. —Psalm 81:7 Testing will surely come. —Ezekiel 21:13 Do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness. —Hebrews 3:8 By faith Abraham, when God tested him. —Hebrews 11:5  The testing of your faith…

ENJOY LIFE WITH YOUR WIFE! Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 9:9             Enjoy life with your wife!  Yes, this is what we are to be doing who are married.  Life may be uncertain.  It is like smoke that can be seen, but cannot be held, cannot be controlled and fades quickly.  We do not know what tomorrow will bring— “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You…

BE A GIVER OF WHAT HE GAVE YOU! He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. —Ecclesiastes 5:11  There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt. — Ecclesiastes 5:13 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. — Ecclesiastes 5:19 Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into…

HE KNOWS ME! For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise dies just like the fool! —Ecclesiastes 2:16             One hundred years after our death nobody will remember us.  Wow, what a great thought!  But really, think about it.  You remember your parents, your grandparents, but how about your great grandparents or do you know anything about your great great grandparents?  See how quickly man is forgotten.             Only those who have invented something, those who are famous or infamous, are still remembered years after they are dead.  For…

WE ARE ALWAYS IN WAR! Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them. —Proverbs 28:4 If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked. —Proverbs 29:12 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law. —Proverbs 29:18 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked. —Proverbs 29:27             Listen… we are in spiritual warfare.  We who seek to follow the Lord and do His will need to be wise of Satan’s schemes (II Corinthians 2:11). …

BE SHARP AND A SHARPENER Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. —27:17             A knife or any sharp implement by itself will lose it sharpness.  It cannot regain its sharpness by itself.  It needs a sharpener.  Dull is the man who only depends on himself and does not rub shoulders with those who can sharpen him.  The one who thinks he does not need others may think he is sharp, but he is not.  So, who is helping you become spiritually “sharp” or remain spiritually “sharp?”              From time to time I run into someone who claims to be a follower of Jesus but they say they don’t…

LIVE OUT HIS PURPOSES! Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.  —Proverbs 19:21 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD. —Proverbs 21:30 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this…

GRANDCHILDREN! Grandchildren are the crown of the aged… —Proverbs 17:6             It is one thing to have the joy of children.  It is quite another to have the joy of grandchildren.  To see life come from your own flesh is truly a marvel in itself, but to see life come from your children is tremendously exciting.  I cannot imagine the joy there must be when one has great-grandchildren!             A crown of grandchildren is a visible surrounding of oneself by them.  When my seven grand-daughters surround me there is great joy in my heart as I consider how precious each one of them is— “May you live to see your…

THE WISE WALK WITH THE WISE TO BE WISE! The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother. —Proverbs 10:1 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. —Proverbs 12:15 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit…

KEEP HIS WORD My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you; keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye; bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. —Proverbs 7:1-3 “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.” —Proverbs 8:32-35             Life and…