Proverbs Devotional 10.17.20

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 17

Reflect:

For October, I’d like you to simply read slowly through the entire proverb each day. Think about the verses that have stood out to you over this year, the things God has spoken to you about, and the wisdom that was revealed to you. Use this time as a summary review of our time together over the last nine months.

As you read the Proverbs, you’ll notice that they are comprised of different translations. My hope is that doing this will help you to read Proverbs afresh. Following the reading is a short prayer that sums up the proverb. God Bless!

Proverbs 17 (The Passion Translation)
A sim­ple, hum­ble life with peace and quiet
is far bet­ter than an op­u­lent lifestyle with noth­ing
but quar­rels and strife at home.
² A wise, in­tel­li­gent ser­vant will be hon­ored above a shame­ful son.
He’ll even end up hav­ing a por­tion left to him in his mas­ter’s will.
³ In the same way that gold and sil­ver are re­fined by fire,
the Lord pu­ri­fies your heart by the tests and tri­als of life.
⁴ Those eager to em­brace evil lis­ten to slan­der,
for a liar loves to lis­ten to lies.
⁵ Mock the poor, will you?
You in­sult your Cre­ator every time you do!
If you make fun of oth­ers’ mis­for­tune,
you’d bet­ter watch out—your pun­ish­ment is on its way.
⁶ Grand­par­ents have the crown­ing glory of life: grand­chil­dren!
And it’s only proper for chil­dren to take pride in their par­ents.
⁷ It is not proper for a leader to lie and de­ceive,
and don’t ex­pect ex­cel­lent words to be spo­ken by a fool.
⁸ Wise in­struc­tion is like a costly gem.
It turns the im­pos­si­ble into suc­cess.
⁹ Love over­looks the mis­takes of oth­ers,
but dwelling on the fail­ures of oth­ers dev­as­tates friend­ships.
¹⁰ One word of cor­rec­tion breaks open a teach­able heart,
but a fool can be cor­rected a hun­dred times
and still not know what hit him.
¹¹ Re­bel­lion thrives in an evil man,
so a mes­sen­ger of vengeance will be sent to pun­ish him.
¹² It’s safer to meet a griz­zly bear robbed of her cubs
than to con­front a reck­less fool.
¹³ The one who re­turns evil for good
can ex­pect to be treated the same way for the rest of his life.
¹⁴ Don’t be one who is quick to quar­rel, for an ar­gu­ment is hard to stop,
and you never know how it will end, so don’t even start down that road!
¹⁵ There is noth­ing God hates more than con­demn­ing the one who is in­no­cent
and ac­quit­ting the one who is guilty.
¹⁶ Why pay tu­ition to ed­u­cate a fool?
For he has no in­ten­tion of ac­quir­ing true wis­dom.
¹⁷ A dear friend will love you no mat­ter what,
and a fam­ily sticks to­gether through all kinds of trou­ble.
¹⁸ It’s stu­pid to run up bills you’ll never be able to pay
or to cosign for the loan of your friend.
Save your­self the trou­ble and don’t do ei­ther one.
¹⁹ If you love to argue, then you must be in love with sin.
For the one who loves to boast is only ask­ing for trou­ble.
²⁰ The one with a per­verse heart never has any­thing good to say,
and the chronic liar tum­bles into con­stant trou­ble.
²¹ Par­ents of a numb­skull will have many sor­rows,
for there’s noth­ing about his lifestyle that will make them proud.
²² A joy­ful, cheer­ful heart brings heal­ing to both body and soul.
But the one whose heart is crushed strug­gles with sick­ness and de­pres­sion.
²³ When you take a se­cret bribe, your ac­tions re­veal your true char­ac­ter,
for you per­vert the ways of jus­tice.
²⁴ Even the face of a wise man shows his in­tel­li­gence.
But the wan­der­ing eyes of a fool will look for wis­dom every­ where
ex­cept right in front of his nose.
²⁵ A fa­ther grieves over the fool­ish­ness of his child,
and bit­ter sor­row fills his mother.
²⁶ It’s hor­ri­ble to per­se­cute a holy lover of God
or to strike an hon­or­able man for his in­tegrity!
²⁷ Can you bri­dle your tongue when your heart is under pres­sure?
That’s how you show that you are wise.
An un­der­stand­ing heart keeps you cool, calm, and col­lected,
no mat­ter what you’re fac­ing.
²⁸ When even a fool bites his tongue he’s con­sid­ered wise.
So shut your mouth when you are pro­voked—it will make you look smart.

Respond:

Father, thank You so much for the dear friends You’ve brought into my life. I’m grateful as I remember the comfort I’ve received from them during difficult times of my life. I pray for each one of them this morning. I pray that You would bless them and let them know today how much You love them. I’m grateful for their impact on my life. If there are others who need a genuine friend, I pray You would use me to be a good friend to them in their time of need. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 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 27:1