Proverbs 11

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Proverbs 11:1-31
1The LORD hates cheating, but he delights in honesty.
2Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.
3Good people are guided by their honesty; treacherous people are destroyed by their dishonesty.
4Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living is a safeguard against death.
5The godly are directed by their honesty; the wicked fall beneath their load of sin.
6The godliness of good people rescues them; the ambition of treacherous people traps them.
7When the wicked die, their hopes all perish, for they rely on their own feeble strength.
8God rescues the godly from danger, but he lets the wicked fall into trouble.
9Evil words destroy one's friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.
10The whole city celebrates when the godly succeed; they shout for joy when the godless die.
11Upright citizens bless a city and make it prosper, but the talk of the wicked tears it apart.
12It is foolish to belittle a neighbor; a person with good sense remains silent.
13A gossip goes around revealing secrets, but those who are trustworthy can keep a confidence.
14Without wise leadership, a nation falls; with many counselors, there is safety.
15Guaranteeing a loan for a stranger is dangerous; it is better to refuse than to suffer later.
16Beautiful women obtain wealth, and violent men get rich.
17Your own soul is nourished when you are kind, but you destroy yourself when you are cruel.
18Evil people get rich for the moment, but the reward of the godly will last.
19Godly people find life; evil people find death.
20The LORD hates people with twisted hearts, but he delights in those who have integrity.
21You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the children of the godly will go free.
22A woman who is beautiful but lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout.
23The godly can look forward to happiness, while the wicked can expect only wrath.
24It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.
25The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
26People curse those who hold their grain for higher prices, but they bless the one who sells to them in their time of need.
27If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!
28Trust in your money and down you go! But the godly flourish like leaves in spring.
29Those who bring trouble on their families inherit only the wind. The fool will be a servant to the wise.
30The godly are like trees that bear life-giving fruit, and those who save lives are wise.
31If the righteous are rewarded here on earth, how much more true that the wicked and the sinner will get what they deserve!

Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~ Lena’s Journalin’
Ever think of cheating as doing something another way than God has said to? Whose being “cheated” God or you?
Did you realize pride is pretty much anything that prevents us from doing what God’s will is? We set ourselves up as final authority and obey ourselves above God. Pride exalts self. Even shyness can be pride in that God asks me to tell about Him and I obey self and am more comfortable not speaking for Him. The disgrace is people could be saved through my words and actions and led into His grace, but instead they die an eternal death unsaved because I was #1.
What is honesty really? I believe it is facing God, not running from the inevitable now, and later.
Riches and all earthly possessions will pass away, burn up, be taken, won’t last forever, mean not a thing eternally. Only standing face to face rightly through believing in the shed blood of Christ, will cause us to live forever.
If we stand honestly before God, opened up to Him, allowing Him to see all, because we refuse to hide from Him, as Adam did, we open ourselves up to expose our innermost person to the light of His word and will, we will be led by His spirit into leading others towards the same exposure. If we are unable or not brave enough to expose ourselves, our exposure will become shame to us, and we will carry guilt rather than the burden of God, which is the joyful salvation of souls.
What ambitions do we have in life? Are they Godly in nature, in that they take us closer to God Himself? Do they lead us to wholeheartedly do the will of God? Or are you ensnared and trapped by a deception that you can live for your own dreams? Did you rely on your own strength? It will run out, it will not take you into forever. It will not bring you into favor with God.
Godly people upholding people in prayer are a treasure to any community; they are the anchor of Hope. The grace of God resides and blankets areas, because of them. If they leave, can’t stay any longer, can’t stand anymore, due to whatever is happening, the community loses out.
The righteous blessing the communities is salvation to that place and those peoples.
We’ve been given righteous power from God to speak blessings over even ungodly situations in hope and in faith towards righteous change.
People who feel “they can do it by themselves”, are very immature in their thinking and it truly is a very urgent time for the mature inside of each of us to arise. We were not put here by God to “do it alone”. God set us in a family #1 and families of history were not small units. He set us in communities, He set us in schools, churches, at workplaces with other people, to interact, to bless, to listen and learn.
It is the time to open one’s ears to others and learn both what is Godly and what is ungodly. We can love what is right and hate what is wrong, not hating persons, but sin actions. When we live this way, we are able to receive, thus leading us towards truth. We are able to discern evil and good. Left alone, we are an Island unto ourselves and anything we think, even deceptive untruths become our gospel message. God has set the solitary in families for the purpose of council, of proving, of fine tuning, of my truth. In being in a gathering of people I’m able to have my wrong ideas seen and corrected to the saving of my soul.
When we have to interact, we are forced to exercise the commands of God, where left alone I’d not be required to. I have no one to please, and in being with others I learn to please others, which leads me to learn to please God.
This leads me towards life, left alone I die alone and am not made or formed as readily into the image of Christ. I need others members to help mold me, they are the hands of God on me, especially if I put my life on the wheel and allow the work to be done.
I exercise integrity when I’m with you. Left alone, how would one know I had integrity? I prove my faith, and become a witness, when I’m with you.
Giving and receiving is the principle of the godly, not buying selling or trading in. God Himself is the rewarder of the giver, the trader gets his right away.
Always looking for the good in everything and everybody? Or always have your eye out examining for any evil thing, as though you have to find it like a spy looking for clues? What we look for, what we expect, how we think about life, is what we are getting. May want to change that microscope lens.
Our trust, rather than relying on natural securities, should be rerouted towards eternal securities, both for ourselves and for others. This type of investment will pay off quite substantially. These are the only worthwhile investments we can make while here on earth.
Ever see someone make it big and then in moments of time, be devastated, and then, in who they’d become as a big person were truly devastated even to no mental or physical recovery? That is because they trusted in their own strength, their own power and their own riches. When all of that fails, a it is designed to, what will you be?
Te reason it must fail is to save us. The doom involved in trusting anyone or anything else except God is eternal. If you lose stuff, but your soul can be saved, so be it. It is tragic, when things fall apart and the person is eternally lost, because their hope was so entrenched in themselves and their stuff that they fall eternally with their stuff.
What in this earth time are we spending our time doing? Accomplishing? How much is spent for eternal treasure?
We reap what we sow. We want to be in eternity with God after we die, and have a mansion in heaven, but how much did we spend time with and on God while we were here? How much did we invest in the building of His kingdom on earth? Maybe those are the building program materials for our homes in heaven? What if that is the case, will you be surprised at your shack or mansion? It should not be too big a surprise a when we build a house here we know how much material we need and we go do what it takes to buy that material to invest in a house here. Then we know how much time it takes for how big of a place we want here, why not the eternal abode?
He that leads others to Christ is wise, That means he has applied the word as though it is true, he has done what he heard, because he believes it, he believes God is who God has said He is. He has believed in what he does not see, he is a believer and lives his faith out in the open for all to see.
Witnessing is much more than standing at street corners and shouting a message to passersby. It means “Hey come into my life, walk beside me and I’ll show you Christ. I’ll show you how a person grows in Christ, learns more about Christ and worships the Father God.” It is being open enough to say follow me as I follow Christ and even though you’ll see me as I am, you’ll know I’m in love with Christ enough to be changed and to change by the help of His spirit leading me. You too can be changed, into His image. You may even end up looking better than me, because it is up to each of us to display as much as Christ as we will, as much as we are wiling to take in of Him and receive of Him and embrace of Him, we can become.

Daily Repetitive Verses:

Isaiah 58:12 You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again. THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language