#212 - Prove It!

Good morning! It is one of those mornings where God just overwhelmed me with His Word. Proverbs 3 is so full of good nuggets & insight. Where do we even begin?! If I could... if I had no other responsibilities or schedule (aka: getting a child up and feeding him! ha!), I think I would just enjoy sitting here and reading over and over all the topics that are covered just in this ONE chapter! For the sake of time, your time & mine, we will stick with one or two main "take-aways" from the Word this morning. Let's get started!

Proverbs 3:1 - MY SON, forget not my law or teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments...

Proverbs 3:9-10 - Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income; So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.

Malachi 3:10 - Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Proverbs 31:18a - She tastes and sees that her gain from work [with and for God] is good...

I'm sure you NEVER do this... but, a shot in the dark.... have you ever questioned God's Word? Maybe in your heart, deep down you believe it, but in your mind you'd thinking, "Come on God! Where are the results?! This is what it says, why isn't it happening? When is it going to happen?" I'm sure you never think that, but I must say, at times I have.

I woke up this morning and began my normal "routine." Got my yummy coffee that Tyler made for me, grabbed my phone, the baby monitor & my Bible, turned on the lamp light on the end table (because who knows, lamp lighting is SO much better than the bright ceiling lights!), and sat comfortably on my couch, propping my Bible on my lap with a soft pillow. Tyler had a meeting with his boss... which by the way, according to Proverbs 3:4, TYLER shall find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight  of God and his boss, Kim! Since he had his meeting, he was gone early, so it was just me. Me, the silence & my Bible. Quite a good combination!


As I journaled, I was just putting God in remembrance of His Word! I was THANKING Him, according to certain scripture, for what I have believed for to come to pass. I was REMINDING God what His Word says. Ok, Ok...you are right, God did not forget what His Word says, and the Bible also says He is a Performer of His Word. He brings His Word to pass. As I thanked Him, I was just reminding Him that, I too, know what His Word says. I too, am standing on faith that His Word works! After doing all this, and taking some time to journal and write down what I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying to me, I cracked open my Bible to Proverbs 3. Wouldn't you know it, the very first verse says,  forget not my law or teaching.


I immediately thought of Joseph. I thought of Joseph's long journey from being thrown into a pit by his very own brothers, being sold into slavery to a passing caravan, being accused of making a pass at another man's husband (but being innocent), being thrown into jail unjustly and staying there for years, until finally he was lifted out of the place where he was and put into a position, 2nd in command over the WHOLE nation! He literally SAVED nations from starvation during a point of famine. I thought about Joseph because I can only imagine, being human, that at times maybe it was a bit discouraging. That, like me, maybe he too wondered, "Lord, where are the results? Where is the fruit from the dream that you showed me as a teenager? When is the time going to come where I see & live my dream?"


I would anticipate that those thoughts had to go through Joseph's mind at some point. My solution. Patience, obedience & putting God in CONTINUAL remembrance of His Word! One area where we can be faithful that is EXTREMELY important is the area of tithing. What is tithe? By definition, it is 10% of our increase. 10%. Not our "loose change" that we flippantly just throw into the offering plate as it flies by. The neat thing, is what the Word promises, in numerous places, but here you see it in Malachi & in Proverbs!

Proverbs 3:9-10 - Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of ALL your income; So shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine.

Malachi 3:10 - Bring ALL the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and PROVE ME NOW by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I take some things very literally.... and with this, I take it literally also. In Amy's translation of the dictionary, "all" means "ALL." "Everything... leaving nothing out. ALL."  Even if I get a gift, birthday money, Christmas money, any increase of income, I choose to give the 1st fruits of it, 10%.  The blessing that follows is that in the Bible, Malachi 3:10 is one of the only places where THE LORD says to PROVE ME! Or in another translation, TEST ME. He is telling us that HE WILL PROVE to US that if we are faithful, HE will bring to pass the blessings, the overflow. So much that our "storage places" (aka: in today's time, bank accounts.) will overflow & increase. We will not even have ROOM for all that He has in store for us. Now friend, THAT, is good news!

Our Proverbs 31 friend is able to "taste & see." She has tithed, she has operated in patience, faithfulness, diligence, and she gets to the wonderful place of TASTING & SEEING the fruit of her labor! She is enjoying the increase & blessings that come along with faithfulness. Praise the Lord.

God is NO respecter of persons. His Word will work for you too! Prove it Lord! Prove it! Let's put Him in remembrance of His Word. He IS faithful and He WILL preform it!

#176 - Accompanied by Favor

Good morning! It feels like a Monday. We got back from a conference around 3:30 a.m. yesterday.... so, it ended up being a day of catching up on some Zzzzzz's. :) Praise the Lord! It's great to associate with winners in life, people who are interested in more than just being average, but really aspiring to something great and doing something about it. Isn't it great to be around people who stretch you to want to be better?!

Well... let's get going today.

Proverbs 3:3 (AMP) - Let not mercy and kindness [shutting out all hatred and selfishness] and truth [shutting out all deliberate hypocrisy or falsehood] forsake you; bind them about your neck, write them upon the tablet of your heart.

Proverbs 3:4 (NKJV) - And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.  

Proverbs 31:26 (NKJV) - She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. 

The power of kindness. I confess Proverbs 3:4 over my life all the time. Tyler and I often shout it out to each other when one of us is leaving for a meeting, or just to go out to the grocery store. We'll say, "You have FAVOR in the sight of God & man!" We confess for, and believe for favor as we just live our lives. Favor in appointments, favor in the grocery store, favor with people that we meet.... heck.... even favor at Subway! Friday we ate at Subway and I asked the gentleman checking me out if it was "free-cookie" day. I just believed for favor. Guess what? I got 2 free cookies! It wasn't "free cookie" day for anyone else, but it was for me, because I expect favor.

One thing as I was reading Proverbs 3:4 that I noticed was this... it was not the beginning of the "thought," something came before it. There was a "prerequisite" to receiving what it mentioned, "favor & high esteem in the sight of God and man." I had never really noticed it before today. It noted in Proverbs 3:3, "Let not mercy, kindness & truth forsake you." Basically, don't leave home without them. Let them be a guide to your life. Those will lead to the "favor & high esteem" that we desire. I noticed also that our Proverbs 31 friend has the law of kindness on her tongue. She is operating in this "kindness," and from her many great accomplishments,  since she is abiding by this principle, I'm sure she received favor with God & man on her many exploits. Favor when she was buying land. Favor when she was selling her garments to the merchants. Favor as she assigned work to her maids. Favor as she sewed & created things. Favor as she woke up early & spent time in the Word. Because of operating in the "law of kindness" she experienced favor and so can we!

I remember a time last week... hopefully you weren't the person I was following. There was a mini-van in the median waiting to merge into the lane I was driving on.... Me, being the KIND, UNSELFISH person that I am... slowed WAY down, practically slamming on my breaks to let this vehicle merge. It was most definitely one of those times when I felt like I was going out of my way to be nice. What did I expect in return? Simple, just a friendly wave to acknowledge my kindness. You know the wave. The wave that says, "Hey! Thanks for letting me in! That was nice!" When I didn't get the wave I expected, the "nice gesture" since I slammed on my breaks to let this man in, what did I do? The "kind, unselfish" me, in all the sarcasm I could muster, went ahead and waved vigorously to this man. He may not have seen me, but, out-loud I also shouted in sarcasm, "YOU'RE WELCOME! NO PROBLEM! MY PLEASURE for letting you in!" I was basically ticked off at his lack of the "Thanks Wave." OK... not that I'm all proud of it or anything, and I'm sure you've never done that. But as I read Proverbs 3:3, this scenario went through my mind and replayed. I would anticipate the "mercy & kindness & truth" that Proverbs 3:3 is talking about is not associated with "what do I get in return?" Or "what's in it for me?" Sure, I was only looking for a "Thank You wave" as a gesture... but, if I were truly operating in pure, unselfish, kindness, even that wave would have been unnecessary for me. But instead, like when I was a child, I defiantly acted out like a kid! Probably looking & sounding totally stupid if you could have seen or heard me with my sarcasm. All over a wave?! How ridiculous!

The amplified version of Proverbs 3:3, talks about "shutting out selfishness." Living a selfLESS life instead of a selfISH life. Focusing on "I, me, mine." We are encouraged to shut out, to forsake, to put away the selfishness. To not consider the "what's in it for me" or "what will I gain if I do this unselfish act?" The prerequisite to gaining the favor in the sight of God & man that Proverbs 3:4 talks about is AFTER selfishness has been put aside. AFTER the selfish motives have been put away.

The cool thing with God... just because you may screw up once, doesn't mean you are written off all together. Sure, until this morning, I didn't even remember my obnoxious act from last week. But, Sunday night I received great favor in the sight of God & man. Basically received the opportunity to talk to a very influential person on the phone for an hour. Receive guidance & counsel, receive direction. It was nothing beyond an act of God to have this amazing opportunity. It was one of those moments in life that you write down. A moment that you mark up as a "life-changer".... a "game changer." Favor so great that it's unexpected. But what does the Word tell us? Ephesians 3:20 basically says this: "Now to Him Who, by the power that is at work within us, is able to carry out His purpose and do superabundantly, far over and far above all that we DARE ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams." OUR God can & will do MORE than we could even expect for. Even in our "positive expectation of favor," He can even exceed that! That is what he did for Tyler & I on Sunday night. Praise the Lord!


So friend, how about we team up on this together? How about we work towards acting out in kindness. Letting our kindness outweigh our sometimes selfish or childish acts? That even if we are just conscience of it, we can focus on the good, the positive, the kindness. Sure... those mini-van's of life experiences may pop in every once and awhile... but, maybe next time you will think about it before retaliating. I think I probably will. It was like that 5 year old just came out in me! 


Well, have a blessed day! And believe today that YOU will have favor in the sight of God and man! Whatever you are doing, wherever you are going, believe that the FAVOR of God will accompany you!