verseoftheday

The wise in heart will be called understanding, And sweet speech increases persuasiveness and learning [in both speaker and listener]. Proverbs 16:21AMP The wise in heart. What a beautiful phrase, and a wonderful descriptor... good to have people in your life who are Wise in Heart, but also to be the Wise in Heart. It's not about age, but it is about experience. It's not knowledge, but it is about wisdom. It's not that flaky, here today, gone tomorrow love, but the stand by you walk with you in thick and thin love. We can all become this person if we choose to. Choose to learn and grow in who God is, to apply his Word in our lives, and to live it out in our world. Love God Love people Become the Wise in Heart... #wiseinheart #speaklife #choose #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

Friday! Proverbs! The wise in heart will be called understanding, And sweet speech increases persuasiveness and learning [in both speaker and listener]. Proverbs 16:21AMP The word here for sweet means...sweet! When we choose to speak with kindness, gentleness, when we choose sweet speech it not only helps the hearer, but the speaker. How good is that! Persuasiveness and learning. When we choose sweet speech our communication is more effective, and we might just learn something. Two for one. That's grace at work right there. Grace for everyone... #speaklife #choose #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

... Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs... Philippians 2:25-26 NIV How does Paul describe Epaf? My brother My co-worker My fellow soldier Maybe Epaf even carried this letter back to the Philippians. And when they opened it and read it, they would've said "hey Epaf, listen to these cool things that Paul has said about you. Gr8 work out there." Our lesson? My lesson? Am I building people up to others? (Or pulling them down?) Am I happy to give someone else the credit? (Or claim it & make sure others know?) Choose to be an encourager, to build one another up :) #encourageoneanother #belikepaul #genuine #lovepeople

But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Philippians 2:25-26 NIV Feeling homesick? That's OK 'cos it's here in the Bible :) It's Paul tho that I want to focus on. While his mind was on saving the world, he was in tune enough with his team to know that this guy needed to go home - he knew, cared, and was going to take action even if it meant a cost to Paul. Epaphroditus was important to him. It's easy even in church, to take people for granted. How would Paul have known E was homesick? He would've checked in. Asked. Care enough to check in on your people, your pastor, your family, the people in your house...and care enough to take some action... #belikepaul #genuine #loveinaction #lovepeople

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. Philippians 2:19-20 NIV Not only did Paul send Tim back, but he sent his best person, someone who really cares. How would Paul describe me? Would he even send me anywhere? What was Tim's #1 quality? That he cared. Really cared. That's what we need to be kingdom agents, to be in the service of the King, is to have that quality... To care about people. To really care. Lord may you make that my #1 thing, to love people like Paul, to care like Timothy. Amen. #lovepeople #belikeTim

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. Philippians 2:19-20 NIV Paul's just like us, keen to hear how people who are important to him are getting on. He's old and in prison but still wants to remain connected. The old, the shut in, stuck at home, in a retirement home, isolated...who are those people in your life? Keep connected. For all of us the lesson here is that Paul reached out to his community. He sent this letter, and he's following up by sending Tim. Keep connected. Sending messages is so easy today, yet most of them seem to be of low value... Paul wants to really know. He's genuine. Keep connected. #belikepaul #genuine #connecting #loveinaction #lovepeople

But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. Philippians 2:17 NIV Paul looks back to the sacrificial system & compares the people's service with the main part of the sacrifice - the bull or the lamb - & his life as the drink offering poured out - see Numbers 15. He's saying to his people I'm just this small part of what your doing, the part that gets absorbed into the main part, or runs out on the ground... or is part of the aroma to God of the offering of your life. The work of your life. Grateful for the small part he played. Humble. Poured out. Poured out but connected. Connected to the service of his community, their service that springs from faith. Today I'm grateful for those whose life has been poured out that I have absorbed and been blessed by. Pastors, mentors, Bible teachers, authors, those walking with me... And grateful to the One, Jesus...

Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord . Proverbs 16:20 ESV Oh and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord...is that just a little throw away line, a little filler to round off the proverb? Or maybe, as we give thought to the word, as we look into it, think on it...it may just be that it challenges us, challenges our culture, our lifestyle, our choices...maybe even some of our beliefs... And what do we need then? Then we need our trust to be in the Lord. When our decisions, actions, choices and even beliefs are being challenged (by God's Word) we need to be clear about who our trust is in. Yahweh. Trust that he is who He says He is. That He is Good. That He Loves. #proverbs #wisdom #trust #faith

Friday! Already! Whoever gives thought to the word will discover good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord . Proverbs 16:20 ESV Whoever - seems pretty inclusive - don't leave it to your pastor, your fave author or online preacher, & def don't just leave it to verseoftheday writer :) No. Whoever, all, each of us, give thought to the Word, let it rumble around in your head, mull it over, research it, and, according to Solomon who was a wise guy, you will discover good. And who doesn't want that!? Discover some good! Want somewhere to start? John 1 Philippians 1 Colossians 1 There's nothing better than discovering some good for ourselves... #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #longestnightdone

And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. Philippians 2:16 NIV When? When his church community is living without grumbling or complaining or whining...(OK I added the whining), blameless and pure, shining like stars, and holding firm to Jesus...then our old Pastor Paul, when his life is spent he'll be with Jesus and say it was worth it. All the shipwrecks, the beatings, the disappointments, the pain, the struggle...he'll say "look at those people! They're awesome! I love them and I'd do it all again for them. Stars." I wonder if my Pastor will be able to say that about me, that the struggle and the sacrifice was worth it... #stars #somethingtochewon

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation".Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. Philippians 2:14-16 NIV I wonder what Paul would make of our world? Or would "warped and crooked generation" pretty much cover it? The shining like stars has another component to it...holding firmly to the word of Life. The logos. The word. The word of Life is more than words, more than concepts, more than ideas...the word of Life is a person. It's to Jesus we need to hold firmly to. When we're faced with a crooked and warped generation, hang on to Jesus. To shine like stars, hang on to Jesus. Wonder Delight Beauty Light Hope #jesusatthecentre #stars

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation". Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky... Philippians 2:14-15 NIV When we look up on a clear night at the night... esp if we're away from the man made lights... we see the stars... Wonder Delight Beauty Light Hope Somehow all this and more is what we see when we look at the stars... Somehow that is what Paul calls us to be in the world around us - when people see us there should be Wonder Delight Beauty Light Hope We can be those stars in our world, in our neighborhood, in our family. And it seems to start simply with ending the grumbling and complaining! #juststopit #life2.0 #stars

Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud. Proverbs 16:19 NLT Money, the prospect of money, it does funny things to us...here the warning is about the source of money and the people connected to it. Plunder, the spoils of war. I'm not going to war with anyone, but stealing, fraud, dodgy deals, looking to exploit someone else's lack of knowledge for our gain...that is all plunder. And who are we working with, in partnership with, hanging with? The proud, the "lofty"? This is an infectious attitude that says "I'm better than you" & "I don't care about you". It's all about me. About the win. The plunder. The "spoils" is our measure of success. Proverbs says avoid that. Walk away, choose less, choose Better. Recently I've wondered if I suddenly got wealthy would God's call on my life "suddenly" change? Not sure I could be trusted to choose Better... #upsidedownkingdom ...

Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud. Proverbs 16:19 NLT Who do we choose to live with? The poor, the afflicted, the lowly, the humble, or, the lofty, the arrogant, the proud. Who did Jesus hang out with? The proud? Those on a self salvation project? Or the poor, the prostitutes, the sick...those in need of a saviour... I wonder if Jesus came to my town if he'd stay at my house? Which group would he see me in? Proud of how good I am, busy with my self salvation project? Or poor, afflicted, but saved by grace? Jesus chose Better. Better for us. He chose to join us, to live with the poor, the afflicted, and to make a way...to be the way (And he came for the proud too...) Jesus chose Better Better for us, but at what cost to Him? #dearlyloved #sunday #worship #thisisourGod

Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud. Proverbs 16:19 NLT So now we've settled the Vegemite > Marmite issue, what else does this Proverb have to tell us about "better"? Better to live humbly. Sometimes we live humbly because we have no choice. How often have I chosen to live humbly when I had options? How often have I given so much it affected my lifestyle? How often have I chosen less? Our world tells us to always choose the best, biggest, newest, most...whenever we possibly can... and that is where happiness and satisfaction is found. God suggests here that choosing to live humbly is Better. Beautiful. This isn't a command, a must, a should...just a gentle nudge to choose. Choose Better. Choose to live humbly. #better #livehumbly #choose #choosevegemite #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

Friday! Proverbs! Better to live humbly with the poor than to share plunder with the proud. Proverbs 16:19 NLT Better! Back in April we looked at this Hebrew word "towb" which means beautiful, good, and is used hundreds of times in the Bible, starting in Genesis 1, when God looked on what He had created and said it was "towb", good... beautiful. Here the writer uses this word to describe our life. It's a good life. A beautiful life. Choose "better". We get to make choices all the time. Sometimes they're  just preferences...Vegemite v Marmite And sometimes they're choices that change the trajectory of our lives...choices that fly in the face of our culture, choices that say "I trust God", and if He says that this is Better, then that's what I'm going to choose. Will I trust God and choose what He says is Better? #better #choose #choosevegemite #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon

Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, "children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation." Philippians 2:14-15 NIV So that. So that. So that we can become blameless So that we may become pure So that we may be the children of God He longs for us to be So that we might be different to the culture around us. So that. That's why we start with doing everything without complaint. Without grumbling, whining,  murmuring... So that. #Life2.0 #sothat

...for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing... Philippians 2:13-14 NIV As a parent v14 was an all time favourite... but... Paul is not talking to his kids, but to the church - to us. I like grumbling. I'm good at complaining. And I've got lots of targets...politicians, media, family, people in general, popular culture...the weather... there's always something if I look hard enough... But my old pastor Paul, who's in jail for his faith says this isn't God's purpose for me, and if I'd only let God's Spirit go to work in me, there's a better way, a way that excludes grumbling and complaining. So...if you hear me grumbling & complaining you can call me on it - quote this verse - and pray that God will work in each of us to work out His purposes... #speaklife #Life2.0 #better

Therefore , my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13 NIV My dear friends - the ESV translates this "my beloved" - so not only does Paul love them, but they're  dearly loved by God. How good is that? Knowing that you are the object of God's love, but dearly loved by people here and now...how nice to hear that...and from that comes the courage and strength to live as Paul is calling these people to live. So...how will the people in your life, in my life, know that they're beloved, unless we tell them. Give them courage. Strength. Who needs to hear that from you today? Lord, reveal to me today who you want me to encourage, strengthen and love today. Thanks. Amen. #dearlyloved #speaklife #inthistogether #walkingeachotherhome

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 NIV #upsidedownkingdom #onedayallwillbemadenew #thisisourGod #jesusatthecentre #nothingmoretosay

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV So that Christ's power may rest on me... When Jesus operated in his weakness, submitted himself to death, it was then that God's power really went to work, as he allowed himself to be destroyed for our sake, God's power, God's ressurection power, his heart for restoration went to work to restore not only Jesus, but us too. Weakness Insults Hardship Persecution Difficulties It's in that list of things we'd rather as avoid that Paul delighted in, because it's there that Jesus was at work in his life... Even if you can't get to church today, come to Him in our weakness and need... #sunday #worship #thisisourGod #upsidedownkingdom

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses... 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV I'll boast about my weaknesses? I delight in weaknesses! What? Why? Maybe it's when we recognise our areas of weakness we start to see God's provision... Maybe when the thing(s) we believed would save us, would redeem us, get us into heaven...when that is lost...we realise the enormity of God's Grace? Paul's strength was the law, the rules, persecution. Now he's preaching grace, forgiveness...love. He went from positions of power...to prison. From wealth & success to tentmaking and shipwrecks. God used him in areas he thought were weaknesses... Maybe God wants us, you & I, to be open to that too... #upsidedownkingdom

Friday! Proverbs! Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 NIV This must've been my Mum's favourite proverb... or maybe I just needed to hear it often! This is NOT saying we shouldn't reflect with satisfaction on good work, be pleased about completing, acheiving, passing, getting stuff done. Even winning. If we have a good competition, and we've enjoyed the battle then win or lose is OK. This haughty spirit though literally means "up on a platform". When I elevate me above you, when my winning is about you losing,  when my acheivement is all about me, me elevated, and nothing about the Creator who gave me the skills and gifts, nothing about the other people who have shaped & taught & encoruraged & given me opportunities...or the cost to others, the environment, or just the goodness of where I was born, and the times in which we live... So YES do good work, write great books, make great music, food, art, ...

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross! Philippians 2:8 NIV Humility Level 3 Death on a cross. Not only was this a painful and slow way to die, it was humiliating and public - a form of terrorism - a close modern equivalent is the murder of people by drug cartels in Mexico - with bodies left outside schools and public places...sending a message of who's in control here. The Author of Life submitted to the worst of deaths...the Creator submitting to his creation. Humility Level 3. Go back to verse 5, just to make this worse (if that seems possible) and WE are called to have the same mindset in OUR relationships with others! Love others to Level 3. I think that's called a stretch goal as I scratch away at Level 1. It's easy to say "love like Jesus", but this is what it means. Level 3. #thisislove #dearlyloved

"Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed. God sent into the world a unique person - neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive..." OK so it's not a Bible verse, but since it's her birthday (her actual birthday is 21 April FYI), it's a quote from the Queen... a person who despite her power and wealth, knows the need for a Saviour, knows the need for forgiveness, and knows that is found in Jesus :) Sometimes we need saving from ourselves. Jesus has forgiven us, but sometimes we just won't or can't seem to let things go...He came to give freedom and peace that is found in forgiveness. It's at the Cross where this is found. Where we find a Saviour who absorbs all our stuff, takes it on, takes it in, and gives back Love. #thisisourGod #dearlyloved

The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. Proverbs 16:17 NIV Jesus came face to face with evil, he was tempted, he faced up to the malignant, the corrupt, the negative, the religious, yet he refused to be swayed, did not budge from his path... his highway ran through evil, yet he refused to take it on board, refused to let it change him... He did guard his ways, but not to preserve his own life, but to preserve ours! To save us. As Tim Keller says "Jesus lived the life we should have lived, and died the death in our place we should have died. On the cross Jesus was treated as we deserved, so that when we believe in him, we're treated as he deserves... Our life is preserved because of the only truly upright one... #thisisourGod #sunday #worship #inthistogether #forgiven #accepted #belong #dearlyloved

The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. Proverbs 16:17 NIV A highway does not shift (easily anyway!). Sometimes when we're on the highway we just can't avoid going past the negative, the bad, the malignant... The conversation has started, the movie has begun, the business is in motion, the deal is being done...maybe just one drink... When we lived in PNG occasionally there would be attempts made to stop your vehicle when traveling on the highway...and sometimes the locals in the vehicle would say "don't stop, drive on, don't stop" Sometimes we just have to recognise the danger & drive on, drive through the roadblock...leave the conversation, turn the movie off, halt the deal, exit, leave, walk away... we might lose face, status, maybe even friends... but we'll preserve our life! #proverbs #wisdom #somethingtochewon #inthistogether #walkingeachotherhome

Friday! Proverbs! The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. Proverbs 16:17 NIV This word "evil" here carries a range of meanings...bad, malignant, giving pain, displeasing... And the "highway" is a course or a path or a highway... Sometimes there are lots of ways for us to choose. Lots of words we could use, responses to situations, and we get a choice, to  avoid evil, the negative, the bad, the malignant... Solomon tells us here to take the path that avoids that stuff, don't dwell on it, don't repeat it, don't pass it on, go around, keep away. Guard your life. We all have different things that drag us down, hold us back, tempt, are negative... malignant. Guard your life from them. Like any journey on the highway if life we can go alone or with someone - sometimes we need to ask for help to Guard our life, to steer away, to choose the good and avoid the "evil" #proverbs #wisdom #someth...