Wisdom to Live By

God wants his people to be wise, so rise and shine! Two kinds of people portray two contrasting paths of life. The fool is the wicked, stubborn person, who hates or ignores God while the wise person seeks to know and love God. The book of Proverbs gives us advice for developing our personal relationship with friends, family, members and coworkers. Wisdom says in every relationship we must show love, dedication and high moral standards. What we say shows our real attitude toward others. How we talk reveals what we really are like. Our speech is a test of how wise we have become. It is not easy to be angry and sin not, but God instructs us to do that very thing. We are accountable to carry out our work with diligence, discipline and not be the fool.

Although some people work very hard for money and fame, God views success as having a good reputation, moral character, and the spiritual devotion to obey his commands. When we choose God’s way, he grants us wisdom. His word, the Bible, leads us to live rightly, have right relationships and make right decisions. To relate to people, we need consistency, tact and discipline. To use the wisdom God gives us; to be wise in our speech, there must be self-control. Our words should be honest but well spoken. For example: If you tell a lady she is so ugly her face would stop a clock, you have made an enemy. However, if you tell her when I look in your face time stands still~you have a friend for life. (That’s a fact).

Because God evaluates how we live, we should work purposefully. We must never be lax or self-satisfied in using our skills. Here is the wisdom and importance of a successful relationship with God. It counts for eternity. Every thing else is perishable. All our resources, time and talents come from God. We must use them wisely. In this age of information, knowledge is powerful, but wisdom is scarce. Wisdom means far more than simply knowing a lot, it is a basic attitude that affects every aspect of life. We cannot go along with others, follow the crowd, and refuse to follow truth. If we do, our appetite becomes our masters.

We must learn to make choices. Sometimes this means steering clear of people who want to entice us with activities we know are wrong. We cannot even be friendly with sin and expect our lives to remain unaffected. So wisdom says, “Be Meek—But Not Weak” When I respond to the love of Jesus in faith and obedience, His purpose for me becomes my Mission. I have committed my self to fulfilling God’s purpose. My role is, building the living church of Jesus Christ in the End Time and to be God’s Servant of Faith. “When God Ordains, He Sustains!”

Godliness in the Last Days
Leon Smith

These are the last days, and they are difficult days for christian service. In fact these are terrible times. This earth, in the new Millennium, is literally polluted with evil. In order for us to reach the port of Heaven we will sail sometimes with the wind, but most of the time against the wind. However,we know that God is Omniscient (all knowing); there is a reason for everything that happens. There is no such thing as progressing in God in a comfort zone. So at times we must be willing and able to sail against the wind.

There is a special relationship between thought and action and one never becomes spiritual by sitting down and wishing to become so. There must be action. You must undertake something so great that you cannot accomplish it unaided. To become Christ-like is the greatest ideal or purpose available to man. To have the mind of Jesus is the only thing worth caring about. Jesus said, “You can do nothing without me”. Jesus is our help that aids to any accomplishment. With him all things are possible. Without Him nothing of eternal significance is. The mind of Christ is the only thing before which every ambition of man is folly. All lower achievements are vain.

The message of the Bible is addressed primarily to the mind (to the understanding). We are now in the 21st Century, a new millennium. The coming of Jesus and the catching away of the church is ever at the door. Paul writes this, "know that in the last days perilous times will come". I want you to hear what those perilous times are and see if Paul is not talking about the atmosphere of our world today. Paul said in the last days: Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, (Have you ever heard before of so much abuse to children) truce breakers, false accusers, fierce (be careful not to irritate some one on the freeway, he might shoot you), despisers of those that are good (there are people out there that just flat hate you because you are trying to be good), traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (You can tell how much Houston loves sports-we have 2 or 3 domed stadiums). However, in the midst of sin and degradation, Jesus is out to establish that close relationship with “who so ever will”.

Last, we know that Adam and Eve sinned, but we are the chosen generation that Jesus is using to re-establish the way of holiness as "the norm”. What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. The God anointed weapons of our warfare are faith, prayers, fasting and self-control. With these fruits of the spirit, we can put our physical bodies on a glorified course, knowing that the complete transformation can take place at anytime.