The Word To LIve By:2-24-26
Phil Waggoner
These are the Proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. Proverbs 1:1-3 New Living Testament
The Word to live by: Number 5 in the five keys to a happy life is Proverbs 3:9. This is one of the most abused, misunderstood and/or ignored doctrines of the Bible. It’s abused by preachers by beating their sheep with it in legal terms. (It’s not a condition for salvation or making you rich.) It’s misunderstood in its importance to Christians personally. Notice you are not giving because of a law or to increase. You tithe to honor God. There are many benefits of being a child of God and tithing opens the window of heaven for them. I hear a lot of people ignore tithing because people think the church uses it to either try to get their money or it doesn’t matter because it’s an Old Testament law and we’re under a new covenant. First of all, I’m not trying to get your money. My agreement with you is I would never use this platform to ask for money or share your address with someone who might. Second of all, not only is tithing in the New Testament but it predates the law in the Old Testament (Hebrews 7:4-10). I could go on concerning the promises of tithing in both the Old and New Testaments, but I’ll simply give you this personal testimony. I was tithing before I met my wife and we have continued to tithe for the last 48 years, and not once have we lacked food, shelter, clothing or the ability to earn money. As far as I’m concerned, when you don’t tithe, you are damming up a channel of blessing from God. But Proverbs 3:10 answers all the question of why God wants you to tithe, “So that your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.” The phrase “new wine” is the best blessing of God as far as I’m concerned. It stands for revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit. You can be a miser and save every penny you get and fill your barns, but a full barn will never give you all that God wants you to have – including, love, joy, and peace in Him.
Read through the Bible in a year: Matthew 5:21-48; Exodus 30-32; Proverbs 14;
Read through the New Testament and Proverbs: Proverbs 24, Matthew 28:1-10, 1 Corinthians 11
The sum of Thy Word is Truth Psalm 119:160