Proverbs 21 Devotions by Stephen Taylor

Proverbs 21:21

Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

Our God is not hiding or withholding life, prosperity, or honor from us, nor does He desire anything less for us in Him. The problem isn’t with Him or these things, but the problem is that we try to acquire these things by our own means and standards. It’s not that God doesn’t want me to have them but that He doesn’t want me to seek them out in my sin and flesh. He knows that they can’t be found there and that my life will be wasted chasing after these treasures while rooting in the trash.

He wants us to have life and life abundantly. But this life He has for us is not set to our standards but to His. It is life now and forever in Jesus Christ our King. Our God wants us to live a life of prosperity in Him. A life not necessarily filled with earthly treasures but, more importantly, Heavenly ones: love, peace, forgiveness, hope, joy, mercy, grace, and a personal relationship with the God of all Creation. He desires that we live a life of honor, not of ill repute. But this honor is not one of the flesh but of the Spirit.

A life lived in the Spirit and in closest relationship with our God is the greatest honor we can hope to achieve here on earth. Too often, we can pervert these things (life, prosperity, honor) and then deem them bad, but our God doesn’t say they are bad in and of themselves. But only when we worship them and stop worshipping Him do they become sinful. This verse tells us that all these things can be found by the one who chases after righteousness and love; in other words, the one who chases after Christ and walks with Him is the one who will live his life in the fullness of this promise! Thank You, Lord!

Isaiah 55:1-3- “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”

God bless! I love you all, but His love is faithful and everlasting! Praise, glory, and honor now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

Proverbs 21:30,31

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD.

We may say amen with our mouths, but does this truth rest in our hearts? Too often, I find myself trying to figure something out or worrying about something that the Lord has already taken care of. He is victory, and we must walk in Him and with Him to have this victory He offers.

Think about it for a moment; nothing, NOTHING has, can, or will ever overtake or overpower our God! He is above all, before all, and all in Him have victory and life. In a society where things change almost daily, and many different things are out to destroy us, we can rest in the fact that our God is still in control. His throne is still firmly in Heaven, and He will not be denied. This verse tells us that our enemies can’t out-think God, can’t outmaneuver God, can’t out-plan God, and they can’t succeed against Him! But do we know that this applies to us as well?

We can’t get over on Him either, but we can humbly get before Him each day. How foolish I have been in the past to think I could manipulate or manufacture a plan that would work outside of the Lord’s will. We must remember that He is in control and that He is for us, not against us. He gave Jesus that we may be saved; that alone should show us just how committed He is to saving us. His only Son was given for the sins of the world. Will we lay our lives down at His feet in reverent worship today? If God’s own Son gave it all, how much more do the adopted children need to follow suit?

Thank You, Lord, for Your surrender and sacrifice to save sinners like me! Forgive me, and forgive us when we forget who is on the throne and seek our victory anywhere else! You are worthy of all the devotion our new hearts can muster, and we owe our every breath to you!

John 3:16,17- For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

God bless! I love you all, but His love is victory! Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!

 

Proverbs 21:30

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.

We read verses like these, and we say amen, but do we really believe it? And if we believe it, then does our life reflect the belief we hold or does the fear, doubt, and worry of this world still have a hold on us? Guys, we face an uphill climb, a daily battle to walk in the ways of the Lord and not the ways of this world. It is so much easier to just go the way of the world and not fight the flesh, but in surrendering to the flesh, we are inviting God’s wrath and destruction.

God wants us to grasp this truth and to know that there is One who is greater than all, One who no man can overcome and no power of hell can defeat. That’s one of the reasons why He gives us such powerful and important truths as this one. We must hold fast to truths like these in the midst of the storm, because trust me, they are coming.

Each day is a new day of God’s beautiful mercy but it is also a day that we must be on guard, for our enemy prowls around looking for someone to devour. Yes though we are weaker than our enemy, we are not powerless against him. In Christ is our victory. It’s not a maybe or might but a definite and certain truth we can hold onto. We may face all kinds of hardships, trials, and hurts, but we do not have to face them alone or in our own power. Today, cry out to the God who willingly went to the cross that we may come humbly yet boldly back to Him! He is worthy of all praise!

1 Corinthians 15:54-57- When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

God bless! I love you all, but His love is offering victory to you today; will you take it? Glory, honor, and praise now and forever to Papa God, Jesus Christ our King, and the Holy Spirit!