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Proverbs Devotional 5.20.20

By May 20, 2020July 10th, 2020Daily Devotional

I. Prayer to enter the Lord’s presence:

Be still for a moment. “Lord, I give the day that is now past to you.  It is yours.  I give the day that is to come to you; help me to see where you are working and to join you there.  Speak to me during these moments.  I commit them and myself to you.”

 II. Prayer of Confession:

“Lord, you are faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of my sin when I confess it to you.  I confess my sin(s) of ______________.  Thank you for forgiveness.” (1 John 1:9)

III. Prayer of Thanksgiving:

Choose to be thankful, speak out loud of what God has done.
“Thank you, Father, for _________________.  Fill my heart and my mouth with gratitude throughout this day.”

IV. Scripture Reflection

Read: Proverbs Chapter 20

Reflect:

Proverbs 20:12

12Ears to hear and eyes to see—
both are gifts from the Lord.

Insight and prudence—oh my, both are gifts from the Lord! We were created by Him, in fact, we belong to Him, and everything we do should be done for His glory.

“Ears to hear and eyes to see” reminds me of the R/A Leadership Model. The “R” stands for someone who can read a situation correctly. The “A” stands for someone who, after reading the situation correctly, takes the appropriate actions. We call it the Read/Act Model. This all works well as long as people read and act appropriately. But sadly, there are three other combinations of the Read/Act Model that aren’t quite so helpful: the “r/a,” “R/a” and the “r/A.”

The “r/a” person is like a simpleton; they don’t read or act—they are just kind of there. They don’t contribute to anything–good or bad. The “R/a” person reads the situation right, but they never take any action. You can think of them as the grumbler. They may evaluate the situation correctly, but they’ll never do anything to make it right. Honestly, they’re pretty dangerous to have around because all their grumbling without any action becomes toxic. Then there’s the “r/A.” They’re the hotheads; they just act without thinking!

If you spend any time thinking about the different combinations of the model, you quickly see that we all kind of float back and forth between the different combinations. Yet, there is only one that genuinely works well—it’s the R/A!

The person who reads the situation right and then acts appropriately is the one with “ears to hear and eyes to see.” And this ability truly is a gift from God!

Respond:

Determine to be a person who reads and acts! If you find yourself coasting aimlessly, grumbling, or flying off the handle, just stop! Determine to become a person with ears to hear and eyes to see!

V. Prayer for others:

Pray specifically for the concerns of your life and the lives of others. 

VI. Prayer of commitment:

Lord God, I commit to love you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind and to love my neighbor as myself.  Empower me today to love you and others with everything that I am.”  (Luke 10:27)

This Week’s Scripture Memory:
Proverbs 17:22
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

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