Wisdom – Day One
by Deb Weakly
“Take your time. Think it through. Find the will of God.”
-Life motto of Henry Parsons Crowell, founder of Quaker Oats
1. Call your prayer partner for your 10 minute prayer call. If you are having trouble connecting, keep trying!
Done:______
2. It’s time to meet with your Jesus! Take a moment to make a cup of something hot and delicious, light a candle, and go to where you meet with God. Pause and consider who God is. He is “the maker of the heavens and the earth”, the mighty one, for whom “the mountains melt like wax at His presence”, and the God who has chosen to make His home in your heart. What an amazing mystery! Praise be to the God who is unsearchable and yet personal all at the same time. He is always near to you and wants to have a relationship with you, and loves you more than you could ever imagine. Ask this personal God to speak to you as you read His word.
3. Read James 1:2-7 and write verse 5 in your journal. For rich, deep study, read the whole chapter.
The older I get, the more I see that there is a shortage of Christians who keep the faith and finish well. Some Christians become bitter and sour as they age. They seem to have lost their faith and joy in the Lord. I want to grow old loving God and trusting Him until my very last breath.
My husband’s great-uncle, John Bass, is a wonderful man of God who was the former CEO of the Christian Booksellers Association. After stepping down from this position, he spent a very large chunk of his later years with The Crowell Trust, a foundation started by the Quaker Oats Company that supports missionary work.
A little while ago, Uncle John fell and broke his hip. My husband and I went to see him in the hospital, and I noticed how frail and weak his 89-year-old body looked. Even though he was in pain, he was still his usual self, in cheerful spirits. He was singing the Lord’s praises, how great God is to him, and how well He has taken care of him.
I absolutely love John’s sweet faith in God and constant trust in His care.
Several years ago, a little while after John lost his precious bride of many years, Betty, to pancreatic cancer, I was concerned for him and said, “Oh John, I am so very sorry. I am so sad and my heart hurts for you.” Uncle John’s response to me showed his beautiful, sweet trust in his Jesus: “But Deb, I have the Lord!” What a beautiful, faith-filled statement.
Yes, John has the Lord, and I admire his beautiful heart and amazing faith.
His faith-filled life truly has been incredible and impacting to many, many leaders in the Christian arena. John spent most of his life travelling around the world meeting and encouraging people to stay in faith and to lead their people well. Even in his old age, many of them still seek to meet with John regularly even at his retirement home. They fly and drive in from all over the world just to see John and listen to his wisdom and advice for their ministries.
Once, I asked him what has been the biggest contributor to his amazing life in the Lord.
He said, “For the last 30 years, I have prayed and asked God for 3 things daily, wisdom, knowledge, and compassion.”
I started praying and asking God for these 3 things about 10 years ago and it has made a huge difference in my life! I know my life and family have benefited from me asking God daily for His wisdom, knowledge and compassion. There have been many situations in my life where the wisdom that I possessed could only have come from God. God has been so faithful to answer this prayer, and my life is a testimony to His generosity in how He has answered!
How about you? Are you ready to be blessed and walk in wisdom? Start today and pray this prayer, “Most gracious Heavenly Father, I ask you today for your wisdom, knowledge and compassion. Help me to live wisely and to obey your Word. I love you God! In Jesus name, Amen.”
4. Questions to ponder:
- Who are the people you consider wise in your life?
- How is their wisdom lived out in words? -In actions? -In attitudes?
5. Faith Filled Idea # 1-Today, write these 3 words wisdom, knowledge and compassion on 3 sticky notes and place one at your kitchen sink, one on your bathroom mirror and one in your car.
Let them serve as reminders for you to pray and ask God for wisdom, knowledge and compassion every day. Done:______
Wisdom – Day Two
by Deb Weakly
“We all live under grace and do the best we can.”- Billy Graham
1.Take time and start your day with a special quiet time of prayer, Scripture reading, and listening for the Lord to speak to your heart. Ask the Lord to speak to you specifically about wisdom this week. Watch and pray, expecting answers to your prayers!
2.Read Proverbs 14:1 and write it in your journal. For deeper study, read the whole chapter.
I absolutely love this passage of scripture, and I pray it often in my own prayer time and when I pray with my friends. I find myself asking God often to make me “the wise woman who builds her house and to keep me from being the foolish woman who tears hers down.” Building my house is what gets me out of bed every morning. As a wife and mother I am always prayerfully building, building, building. Even now, as my children are grown, I still ask God for ways to build my house and the lives of those closest to me, and to have our lives glorify God together.
Lets look at Proverbs 14:1 a little more closely:
What does this verse say the wise woman does?
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What does the foolish woman do?
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Do you feel like you have done anything recently to tear down your house? If so, what?
_____________________________________________________________________________
If you have, simply ask God for forgiveness and help to be the Wise Woman who builds her house. Leave it with God and move forward in grace and peace in the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that you are forgiven and free. The quote at the beginning of today’s study by Billy Graham says it all! We all have to rely on God’s infinite grace and keep trying, keep loving, keep believing and do the best we can!
In what ways have you built up your house lately?
______________________________________________________________________________
I have read this verse many times and have often pondered it’s simple, yet profound meaning. I wanted to be wise, but felt like I messed up all the time; I constantly blew it and felt like a failure. There were many nights that I would cry out to God for the help and grace to be wise in my home with my precious husband and children. I fell time and time again, but I wanted to keep getting up because I knew that if God had called me to be a mother, and raise up children who are eternal beings for Him, then I knew He would help me, and I just had to keep trying.
We all need to keep trying! There are many descendants coming behind us for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. (If Jesus doesn’t return before then. ) God has called us, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to live wisely and be women of purpose who live our lives for our Jesus and love those He has put in our lives well. We will never, ever be perfect, but here is where Jesus comes in- He is perfect, and so we get our wisdom and life from Him to do this wonderful calling He has placed on our lives, to be a Mom.
3.Questions to ponder:
1. Is there anything the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about today?
2. Ask God for specific ways that you can build your house this week.
4. Wisdom Faith-filled Idea #2- The wise woman is intentional with her love for her family! Pray and ask God to help you to understand your husband and children’s hearts. Ask Him to show you their hearts and how you can truly show them love in a way that they feel loved. God tells us in 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins.” If you are struggling with a particular child, you can pray and ask God to show you the deeper issues of their heart and how to handle it. Sometimes, your children aren’t being defiant, they would simply have an empty “love tank” as talked about in the following books:
“The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts” and also for children, “The 5 Love Languages of Children”
You can find both of the links to these books here:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Love-Languages-Secret-Lasts/dp/080241270X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_y
http://www.amazon.com/The-5-Love-Languages-Children/dp/0802403476
Wisdom – Day Three
by Mari Jo Mast
“Wisdom is a beautiful thing to desire.”
1. Grab your Bibles and read 1 Corinthians 1:18-32. If you so desire and have extra time, read chapter 2 as well! 
2. Write verse 30 in your journal.
Personally these are some of my all time favorite Scriptures! I simply love the clarity and insight they bring on the subject of wisdom. I’ve read them many times for the sake of strengthening my own faith in God’s kind of wisdom, as a reminder to my soul! I pray they refresh your mind as you meditate on them.
Let’s get to the heart of it.
Paul clearly explains to us that there are 2 kinds of wisdom; God’s kind, and the world’s. Although the world has it’s own kind, it is foolishness to God, and the opposite is also true. The wisdom of God actually doesn’t make sense and looks very foolish to the world. What a quandary, what an upside down world we live in! No wonder people question what wisdom really is. It means different things to different people.
As a believer, the quest for wisdom must begin in the Scriptures. It is where the foundation is laid for all Truth. According to the Bible, wisdom is really quite simple, yet profound!
In 1 Corinthians 1:30 (NLT), it says that Jesus IS Wisdom.
“For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself…”
If Jesus is wisdom itself, that means the life He lived here on earth was wise in every way. Here is where we can learn- wisdom is not this illusive concept that we can’t ever get a hold of, it is a tangible reality lived out by the Son of God, and we can observe His life to understand it.
To explain a little further, lets begin with the Gospels and mentally go back there. Most of us know the writings and teachings of Jesus, we have read many of them if not all. As we remember the stories and parables, they begin to unfold. We begin to realize Jesus is not your ordinary guy. I mean, He is kind to his enemies and doesn’t retaliate. He forgives the ones who spit in his face and He genuinely loves them! He lives what he teaches. He asks His Father to forgive the very ones who kill him, and tells him not to hold it to their account. He says not to judge. He speaks on being glad when persecution comes, and to give without expecting anything back in return. He heals the sick and speaks words of life to his disciples.
As we remember the stories of His life, we marvel: Who lives like this?
I wonder. Have we ever realized or thought about it that this is Wisdom lived out for us? What a beautiful picture. This is God’s kind of wisdom. Does it make sense to the world? No. It looks completely foolish. And how can we, mere humans live like that? Well…there is more.
The Bible also says in John 1:14 (NIV) that Jesus IS The Word!
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…”
Because Jesus is Wisdom AND He is The Word, He alone is everything we need to live wisely. Isn’t that good news? But wait, it gets even better! If we have believed in Jesus and have a relationship with him we are doubly blessed! We are already wise and full of the Word in the spiritual realm! Talk about being power packed!! The Bible says that he writes his laws on our hearts when we become born again. God has fully equipped us through Jesus who is The LIVING WORD and WISDOM itself, IN US! That is astounding!
Now to make it clear, our physical mind still needs to be renewed and reminded daily to surrender to the lordship of Jesus (this wisdom) in us. This is why we have the written word. Like I explained earlier, it reminds us what the eyes of Jesus’ heart sees and what his ears hear and what his voice sounds like until we begin to see and hear like him. It helps us remember, so we don’t forget and go our own foolish way. But the real blessing is in the truth that we have Wisdom and the Word already in us, and HE is the one who gives us the POWER to live right. God didn’t just give us the knowledge of how to live right, he actually equips us by giving us the Spirit of Jesus himself.
Being in the presence of Jesus, brings wisdom. It is not far away because he dwells in us. And, Jesus is also The Word, so let’s not forget to read and meditate on the teachings in the Bible that confirm his character. Let’s draw on and give Wisdom and The Word the freedom to reign in our everyday lives. We will become more and more wise as we do that!
This morning I awoke with these words on my heart: “Wisdom is a beautiful thing to desire.” And then it dawned on me. Because when we desire wisdom, we are desiring Jesus himself.
Below is a link to a beautiful song from Kari Jobe/Cody Carnes that invites the presence of the Holy Spirit to come and breath on us. As you listen, let Him wash over you, bringing fresh wisdom and perspective to your day. We are so loved and blessed by God.
Preview YouTube video Kari Jobe – Holy Spirit (Live) ft. Cody Carnes