More Faith in My Day

Emilie Barnes

Description

A woman's life can be driven by a list of things to give, do, accomplish, and share. Now bestselling author Emilie Barnes invites women to take a moment away from these demands to rejuvenate with wisdom from Proverbs. Emilie's friendly and inspirational writings present Scripture's insights to the hearts of women. Devotions inspired by Proverbs' teachings of goodness, love, work, family "Today's Wisdom" to enrich personal faith life Ideas to turn God's abundant knowledge into action Prayers for moments of meditation and connection This illumination for everyday living--from trials to triumphs--is a great gift for women facing milestones, new ventures, or personal celebrations, or who long to hold close God's truth for their journeys.

Informations

• Publié par: Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
• Date de parution: 01 mars 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780736936187
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org) ® Verses marked NIV .are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ® NIV . Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Verses marked TLB are taken fromThe Living Bible,Copyright © 1971. Used by permission by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved. Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright © by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Verses marked NLT are taken from theHoly Bible,New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved. Verses marked CEV are taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used with permission.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright ©1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation – Second Edition © 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission.

Verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Cover by Terry Dugan Design, Minneapolis, Minnesota

MORE FAITH IN MY DAY Emilie Barnes Copyright © 2005 by Bob and Emilie Barnes Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Barnes, Emilie. More faith in my day / Emilie Barnes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-7369-1556-7 (pbk.) 1. Bible. O.T. Proverbs—Devotional literature. 2. Christian women—Prayer-books and devotions—English. I. Title. BS1465.54.B37 2005 242'.643—dc22 2004022105

All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, pho- tocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

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This book is dedicated to my wonderful husband, “My Bob.” All through our married life of 49 years, he has exhib- ited the greatest example of a man with wisdom. He has been most wise when it comes to spiritual leadership in our family, our economic decisions, the wholesome raising of our children and grandchildren, and pulling together our marriage in a very special bonding between the two of us. I am continually going to him for good advice. Bob is able to separate the important from the unimportant. One of the highest compliments he has ever received came from his 20-year-old grandson, Chad. He told Papa Bob this year that he was the wisest man he knows. Bob just beamed with that compliment. Bob has always tried to be a doer of God’s Word. His decisions over these many years is evidence of him living out what the book of Proverbs teaches. Bob is truly a wise man of God’s principles for life. — Emilie

Introduction m he Old Testament book of Proverbs is a wonderful T collection of literary thoughts dating back to 950–700 B . C . Though the theme running throughout the book is wisdom for living, the specific teachings include instruction on folly, sin, goodness, wealth, poverty, the tongue, pride, humility, justice, strife, gluttony, love, lust, laziness, friends, the family, life, and death. The book of Proverbs covers it all. Almost every facet of human relationships is mentioned, and the teaching of the book is applicable to all men and women everywhere. Many proverbs are condensed parables. The sayings in Proverbs form a resource of instruction and teachings on how to live a godly life here on earth and how to be assured of reward in the life to come. Most of these proverbs were credited to the vast writ- ings of King Solomon. However, a few of them were written by other people—such as Agur, author of chapter 30, and Lemuel of chapter 31. Since most of these proverbs were written in the mas- culine voice, I have transferred these thoughts to be appli- cable to the female gender. A principle is a principle and can be applied to both genders. Each scripture used from Proverbs is selected because of its teaching on living life on a daily basis. Each proverb relates to the commonness of life as a believer. I have attempted to be very practical in the body of the medita- tion, writing each devotion as I have lived out God’s Word

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in my life. With each thought, I have given a model prayer that you can use if you are not used to praying. Hopefully, you will eventually be able to pray on your own. Then there is always an “Action” to reinforce what you have read. Putting your reading into practice helps you learn and apply it. If you cannot put it into action, then there has not been much learning. The final thought is “Today’s Wisdom.” This thought is to encourage additional pon- derance on the particular proverb and devotion. Altogether the package can be a real learning opportunity as you study God’s Word on a daily basis. Another unique feature of this book is that you do not have to start at the beginning and go straight through. You can skip around to find the devotion that speaks to you that day. At the top of each devotion there are three boxes. Put a check mark in one of the boxes each time you read that particular devotion. This way you can keep track of the readings you have previously done. These short devotions will encourage you to develop a habit of getting into God’s Word on a daily basis. Research has shown that if someone does an activity for 21 days in a row, a new habit will be formed. May God bless you as you seek to add more faith to your day.

Watch Out for ShallowWaters

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My [daughter], if you accept my words and store up my commands within you… then you will understand the fear of the L ORD and find the knowledge of God.

—P ROVERBS 2:1,5 NIV e live in Newport Beach, California, just one block W off the Pacific Ocean and Balboa Bay. Each day we have two high tides and two low tides. The thousands of boaters have to be careful that they pay attention to the tide charts. If not, they can have serious problems. One of the conditions for safe, enjoyable boating is to make sure that the water is deep enough. If the water is too shallow, you run the risk of running aground and breaking out the bottom of your boat. Similarly, spiritual shallowness is not a good condition for our personal lives. How do we develop a deep walk with the Lord—one that protects us from the shallowness of life? In Proverbs 2:1-9, I have found four provisions that might help you in this “walk with depth”:

nSaturate your life with the Word—We are to respond to the Word of God and know it inside and out. “My [daughter], if you accept my words and store up my commands within you… (verse 1 NIV ). In this regard, we are to have faith in God’s inspiration of Scripture (2 Timothy

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3:16). If we doubt this inspiration, we will doubt verse after verse, and the Bible will hold no con- stants for us.

nDesire God’s Word—We are to be open to what God is saying to us, and begin to desire what He has for us: “…turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding” (verse 2 NIV ). This is why a daily habit of being in God’s Word is such a valuable discipline. The more we know, the more we fall in love with God’s words.

nDevelop a prayer life—“If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding…” (verse 3 NIV ). Every mature Christian whom I have ever met has had a strong devotional life. Our prayer time is when we really get to know who God is, and when He can speak to our heart.

nBe consistent in your walk—“If you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure…” (verse 4 NIV ). In 1849 gold was dis- covered in California, and those early prospec- tors spent years searching for their treasure. They had to be persistent and consistent. That is how it is with our approach to God’s Word. There are no overnight miracles when it comes to overcoming the shallowness of life. The race of life is not a sprint, but a marathon.

What will be the result of abiding by these four prin- ciples? In verse 5 we read that we will learn “the fear and the knowledge of God.” That is a high-tide mark. Our boat will not run aground because of being in shallow water if we fear and know God.