Evil speech. Spreading a brother's moral failing behind his back.

People will trash their brother behind their back. They seem to justify their unloving speech because it is not a lie. "Its okay I'm only spreading the truth." When people do this they are not walking in love. There is no good will towards their brother. There is no desire to help turn a brother away from ways that are hurting him and restoring him to God's ways which are good for him.

When a person walks in love they want to restore a brother not trash him publicly. There goal is to restore their walk with God not to disgrace them in the community. Notice in the passage below that every effort is made to first privately speak to the brother with the attitude of restoration. Then if that doesn't work then its okay to slightly enlarge the private conversation by adding another one or two in the hope of restoration his walk. Then only if the all else fails then it is to be told to the church. But even in telling it to the church the goal is to have a community motivator, although unpleasant, drive the person back into right relationship with God. Loves goal is to restore and not to speak evil of others. What if God aired all our dirty laundry from our lifetime just because it was true. Thankfully God is willing to cover our sins and doesn't maliciously spread our moral failings.

Matthew 18:15-18

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

( please note there are exception is the Bible where it was in the best interest of the church to handle a situation immediately and publicly)

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" ( www.lockman.org )

#slander #speech #backbiting #tongue #gossip


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God's great faithfulness to a stubborn people

Here is a portion of Nehemiah 9. If you have time open your Bible and read it in context. 

Nehemiah 9:16-22

16 “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly;
They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.
17 “They refused to listen,
And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them;
So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.
But You are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness;
And You did not forsake them.
18 “Even when they made for themselves
A calf of molten metal
And said, ‘This is your God
Who brought you up from Egypt,’
And committed great blasphemies,
19 You, in Your great compassion,
Did not forsake them in the wilderness;
The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day,
To guide them on their way,
Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go.
20 “You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them,
Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth,
And You gave them water for their thirst.
21 “Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want;
Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
22 “You also gave them kingdoms and peoples,
And allotted them to them as a boundary.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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A key to being Spiritually wise and Spiritually stable

<sup>Do you want to be spiritually wise and spiritually stable? The following passage from the book of Matthew shows us a couple of ways to achieve these good goals. Lets look at the passage first then we will talk about it. 

Matthew 7:24-27

24</sup> “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.²⁶ Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

Although there are other things that help us to be wise and stable, in this devotion we will focus on just three. The first point is that our salvation must be founded on nothing other than the finished work of Jesus Christ. Points 2 and 3 go hand in hand. To be wise and stable we must both hear and act on God's words (verse 24). In this passage both persons heard God's words. But the second person heard but did not act on His words. So just listening alone did not make him wise and stable. In fact the one who heard but did not act was both foolish and unstable (verse 26). But when we choose to act on what we hear, we will grow more wise and more stable.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Speak the truth in love

Ephesians 4:15 tells us that truth must be spoken in love. When the truth is not spoken is love it can be the difference between spreading softened butter on bread or using butter right from the refrigerator. Cold butter tears the bread and does damage. Likewise applying truth in a cold manner does damage to people and it misrepresents God too.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Obedience is a choice - We must choose to obey God

Read Psalm 101 below and notice how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will" in this short passage. He made a conscious choice as to how he would live. We must have a balance between dependence on God's help and exercising our will and choosing to obey. Obedience is a choice. We must choose to obey.

Suggestion 1 - count how many times the Psalmist used the words "I will"  and give your answer in a comment.
Suggestion 2 - see if you can find other phrases / wordings that show the Psalmist making a choice. Share which ones you discovered.

Psalm 101
101 I will sing of lovingkindness and justice,
To You, O Lord, I will sing praises.
2 I will give heed to the blameless way.
When will You come to me?
I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart.
3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not fasten its grip on me.
4 A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will know no evil.
5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
7 He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to cut off from the city of the Lord all those who do iniquity.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)


Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Rebellion then trouble - Call for repentance with promised blessing

In the Book of Joel God's people had sinned. As a result of their sin they were experiencing trouble. One trouble from God's hand was various kinds of locust ravaging the land. They were also warned that a great and mighty people is coming and they should tremble. These things were happening due to their rebellion.

Then in Joel chapter 2  verses 12-17 God calls them to a  wholeheartedly repentance. To save space we'll just look at verses 12 and 13.

^12 12 12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
    “Return to Me with all your heart,
    And with fasting, weeping and mourning;
¹³ 13 And rend your heart and not your garments.”
    Now return to the Lord your God,
    For He is gracious and compassionate,
    Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness
    And relenting of evil.

Then if the people repent and the spiritual leaders seek God then blessing can return.

Joel 2:25
25"Then I will make up to you for the years
That the swarming locust has eaten,
The creeping locust, the stripping locust and the gnawing locust,
My great army which I sent among you.


In fact what I find amazing is God willingness to respond to repentance and make up for the bad years they experienced. And those bad years were from their own rebellion. They deserved God's disciplining hand for those years. But with repentance God was willing to make up to them those bad years they deserved. God is good.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
If you believe the commentary on these Bible verses are helpful then please direct your friends to this Bible devotional blog.God bless you
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Psalm 34 - God's ability to help us in all problems

I have more than one devotion that I'd like to share from Psalm 34. This devotion concerns God's ability to help us in any and every circumstance. ( It is always good to read verses in context so please read the whole Psalm along with this devotion.)

When anyone accepts Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour it does not guarantee that their life will be problem free. But the person that truly puts God first can be confident of one thing. That person will no longer have to go through their troubles alone. The God who created the universe will be with them to help them in all situations. And this word "All" is one word that we should pay attention to in this Psalm.

In addition to paying attention to the word "All" we also need to notice that problems in Psalm 34 are stated in the plural. It is not just one problem that is being referred to, but rather several problems. The following words are plural: fears, troubles, afflictions.

But God is able to help us in "All" of these problems.  In verse 4 how many fears did God deliver him from? He was delivered from all. In verse 6 how many of the poor mans troubles was he saved from? He was saved from all. In verse 17 the righteous were delivered from how many of their troubles? They were delivered from all. In verse 19 how many afflictions of the righteous did the Lord deliver them from? They were delivered from all. I hope this encourages someone who is having troubles today. God bless

Psalm 34

 4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me, 

And delivered me from all my fears. 

6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him

And saved him out of all his troubles.

17 The righteous cry, and the LORD hears

And delivers them out of all their troubles

19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,

But the LORD delivers him out of them all. 

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Are we doing our part?

A man prayed and asked God for help. The request was for a remote control for the television. A moment later there was a knock at the door. The neighbor had just bought a new remote and wanted to know if he wanted his old one. He took the remote, thanked the neighbor and went inside and thanked God. The man then asked God for one more favor, "Would you also be willing to push the buttons for me?" 

This story is silly, but when it comes to changing our sinful habits sometimes we ask God to do it all. We need to have a balanced approach. We need to ask God to help us change and then we also need to diligently resist sin.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Jesus, through whom grace and truth were realized, preached repentance

Matthew 4:17

17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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When we refuse to obey - then change our minds

One thing we see in the passage below is willful disobedience of a son followed by repentance. This passage is an encouragement to me because when I refuse to obey, and then repent, I can know that God will regard me as one who does His will.

Matthew 21:28-32

28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org )

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God teaches us ways to avoid self inflicted poverty

The purpose of this devotion is to avoid some sources of self-inflicted poverty. But this teaching does not suggest that everyone that is poor has brought it upon themselves. There are many factors that can lead to poverty that could be out of and individual's control. Here are just a few examples: layoffs, injuries, and living in a country that has an oppressive government. 


Lets start our devotion in Proverbs chapter 6. In verses 1-5 God is trying to protect His children from self-inflicted poverty. He steers them away from the dangers of  becoming surety for a stranger / neighbor. We are instructed that we should not guarantee another persons debt. One example would be to co-sign for a stranger / neighbors car loan. If that person can no longer make their payments then the bank will come after you and demand payment. We, and our families with us, can be brought to financial ruin through such practices. But because God loves us He steers us away from this form of self-inflicted poverty. 


Continuing in chapter 6 we will find another source of poverty. Verses 6-11 show that being lazy and loving sleep will cause poverty to overtake you. 


Proverbs 6:9-11

⁹ How long will you lie down, O sluggard?
When will you arise from your sleep?
¹⁰ “A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest”—
¹¹ Your poverty will come in like a vagabond
And your need like an armed man.

The sluggard is lazy and does not want to work. But even if circumstances force him to work he proves to be a thorn in his employer's side and runs the risk of being fired. He can be late or even miss work due to his unwillingness to get out of bed. And even once he arrives at work he does his work half-heartedly. And because he lacks the self-motivation, which is one characteristic of the diligent, he ends up requiring extra supervision. The lazy one is a grief to his employer and inevitably he will lose his job . So through either unwillingness to get a job, or being fired due to poor work performance, the sluggard lacks earning power and poverty overtakes him. 


Proverbs 10:4

⁴ Poor is he who works with a negligent hand,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.

Proverbs 20:13

¹³ Do not love sleep, or you will become poor;
Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.

In Proverbs 6:6-8 the sluggard is asked to observe the work habits of the ant. The ant is diligent and needs no supervision. The ant thinks past the need of the moment. It continues to work because it anticipates needs in the future and stores up for that future lack.

Proverbs 6:6-8

⁶ Go to the ant, O sluggard,
Observe her ways and be wise,
⁷ Which, having no chief,
Officer or ruler,
⁸ Prepares her food in the summer
And gathers her provision in the harvest.

Another source of poverty is being pleasure centered. 

Proverbs 21:17
¹⁷ He who loves pleasure will become a poor man; 
He who loves wine and oil will not become rich.


In the first half of verse 17 we see someone who begins with wealth and then loses it by being pleasure centered. This person could have received wealth through an inheritance and then squandered it through the pursuit of pleasure. A perfect example of a person who is pleasure centered and dwindles from a wealthy state to a poor state  is the Prodigal Son. That passage is found in Luke 15:11-32. Also, in the second half of Proverbs 21:17 (above)  we see the effect of being pleasure centered from a different perspective. The person who lacks riches is prevented from rising to a wealthy status due to a focus on pleasure.


A few other verses to consider. 

Proverbs 23:21

21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,
And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

Proverbs 28:19

19 He who tills his land will have plenty of food,But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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How quickly do we respond to God's instructions?

Pay attention to the word "immediately" used more than once in the passage below. They showed no hesitation. They responded to the Lord immediately.

Matthew 4:18-22

18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 And He *said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.


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Pleasing God or grieving God

Proverbs 10:1 talks about a son either acting wisely or foolishly. If he acts wisely he can bring joy to his parents. If he acts foolishly he can bring them grief.

10 The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son makes a father glad,

But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.

It is necessary for the son to have the knowledge of how his conduct affects his parents. They provide both a positive and a negative motivator for obedience. Likewise these same two motivators produce obedience in us towards our heavenly Father. On one hand we are encouraged to walk in love because we know it will please God 

Hebrews 13:16

16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

And on the other hand we don't want to walk in sinful conduct since we know it can grieve Him. 

Ephesians 4:30

30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

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Two keys to a successful marriage

I don't want to oversimplify relationships which can be complex but nevertheless there are two core principals that are needed for a successful marriage. One principal applies to the man and one to the woman.

God who knows us and fashioned us understands how our needs differ and has given us good counsel on how each spouse can meet the need of their partner. As you read this you may think of other things that keep a marriage strong but for sake of this devotion we will only focus on just two core issues.

God identifies these two core needs as love and respect.

Ephesians 5:33
Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

Notice in this verse the core need of a woman that is addressed is different from the core need of the man that is revealed. A core need of the woman is her need to be loved by her husband. And a core need that a man has is to be respected by his wife. When a woman feels loved it makes it easier for her to respond with respect to her husband. When a man feels respected it makes it easier for him to respond by expressing love to his wife.

But a vicious circle can develop when we only meet the other persons need when our need is first met. Mindsets like " Respect is earned and I'll only show respect to him when he shows love to me" Or "I'll only express love towards her when she starts showing me respect" In this example each spouse is withholding a core need of the other until their own need is met. Having these type of mindsets leads to further deterioration of the relationship.

In the above example of conditionally meeting the other persons need the couple can be driven further apart.  The woman sensing that love is being withheld from her digs her heals in and withholds respect from her husband. The man feeling that he is not respected by his wife responds by withholding love from her.

One solution for this example is to show unconditional love and unconditional respect.
This can keep a vicious cycle from forming. Instead with an unconditional display of love and respect a positive cycle can be produced. The woman feels loved and she is encouraged to respect her husband. And that respect sits well with him. The husband feeling respected is encouraged to respond by showing his wife love and this meets a great need in her. This can feed upon itself in a positive way and fuel a cycle of increasing love and increasing respect. This cycle is key to a successful marriage.

God bless you.


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Wise business investing - The benefits outweigh the disadvantages

Proverbs 14:4

4 Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,
But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

Make wise business investments is one point that can be drawn from this verse. Here the farmer will incur initial financial loss in the purchase of an ox. He will have added ongoing cost to feed and keep that animal healthy. He will have added inconvenience in keeping the stall clean. 

But one thing this scripture is saying is don't let the cost and inconveniences hinder you from investing wisely in your business. In this example the benefits of a greatly increased  harvest will far outweigh the financial outlay and the inconveniences associated with adding one or more oxen to your barn. 

God cares about every single area of our lives. As a result He even gives counsel concerning running a business. The outlay of money and extra work may not be God's leading for your situation so take it to prayer before making any decisions. 


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Creating our own problems

There are times when God brings discipline into our lives. There are times when God allows trouble to enter our lives for a purpose. And although there may be other reasons why difficulties come there are times when people have trouble because  they brought it upon themselves. Their own conduct created an unnecessary problem in their own lives. Lets look at one example in Proverbs.

Proverbs 14:3

3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back,
But the lips of the wise will protect them.

Here the sinful use of the tongue ended up being a rod for the foolish person's back. Unnecessary trouble came back to this person as a direct result of sinful speech. Words that hurt others could be one example. When someone is wounded by unloving speech they can respond back to the speaker with anger, quarreling or even violence.

This trouble would come to the speaker by their own doing. God's hands did not engineer this conflict. They created their own conflict by the way they treated their fellow man.

We will never be trouble free in this life. But we can reduce unnecessary trouble by building godly character in thoughts, words and deeds.


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Tempted to use your mouth in the wrong way?

Psalm 39:1

I said, “I will guard my ways
That I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”

David had more than one approach to keeping his tongue under control. In Psalm 39 we see two of his methods. One of the things he focused on was the tongue itself. He made a conscious effort to keep his tongue under control. He guarded his mouth.

But notice he did not just guard his mouth but he also guarded his ways. He said, “I will guard my ways That I may not sin with my tongue;"  The way we are on the inside will eventually work its way out to our tongue. So addressing our ways is also very important if we are going to keep our tongue under control. That principal is clearly stated in Luke.

Luke 6:45

45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

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Having a balance between work and rest

Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

4 I have seen that every labor and every skill which is done is the result of rivalry between a man and his neighbor. This too is vanity and striving after wind. 5 The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh. 6 One hand full of rest is better than two fists full of labor and striving after wind.

In this passage we see three different mixtures of work and rest. One person chooses to avoid work, one has a healthy balance between work and rest and one works too much. 

In verse 5 the foolish person takes a lazy extreme. He chooses to fold his hands and to avoid work. He did not get a lay off which caused him to be out of work through no fault of his own. He was unwilling to work and provide for himself. In his case his poverty is his own fault. 

In verse 6 the next person balances work and rest. One handful of rest suggests that he has one handful of rest and one handful of work. He has a balance between a time of work and a time of rest.

The third person which is also in verse 6 has two handfuls of work. He works too much and does not rest from his work when he should do so. Whatever is motivating him to be a workaholic is robbing him of needed rest. Sin can be a hard task master that drives us and deprives us of needed rest. But God doesn't drive us like a task master. God leads us to work and He also leads us to times of needed rest too. 

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Little with peace is better than wealth with fighting

Proverbs 17:1

17 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it

Than a house full of feasting with strife.

Strife can diminish the rich person ability to enjoy their wealth . And the lives of those who have little can actually be better if their godly character provides peace in the home.

Lets take a look at the poor person first. His portions are poor both in quantity and in quality. It is poor in quantity since the word "morsel" is used. It is poor in quality since the word "dry" is used.

In contrast the rich person has both quality and quantity. Quantity is clear by the word "full" and quality seems to be implied the word "feasting". One would think of moist, not dry, food that is flavorful when feasting.

It seems to be implied that the poor person is godly while the rich person is disobedient. The poor person in this verse has developed relationship skills that keeps the home at peace. While the rich person's selfish character puts him at odds with those around him

But the main point that I get out of this verse is that wealth can't be fully enjoyed without the development of godly character. And developing a godly character will yield me a better life whether I have little or much. 

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org )

Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
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Some stern warnings about hardening our hearts and falling away from God

Hebrews 3:7-11

7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
10 “Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11 As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

Here is a passage found in Proverbs that speaks of a consequence of persistent disobedience. 

Proverbs 29:1

A man who hardens his neck after much reproof
Will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.


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