Proverbs 10-20 - Outline

[Jim Watt]

“*TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt*

*Tel: 253-517-9195 - Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*Web: www.2rbetter.org*


 <http://www.2rbetter.org/>

*JUL 5 - PROVERBS 10-20 - CONTRASTING PROVERBS*


 *1. 10:22 (10, ESV) CONTRASTED PERSONS AND THINGS. “The blessing of the
LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.” *Father, You always desire
to bless: but Your blessing is that we might be conformed to the image of
Jesus - that You might bring many sons and daughters into glory and
maturity. Be King of our lives to shape us through trials and
discipline. *Hallowed
be your :name!*


 *2. 11:13 (11-12) PROVERBS ON RELATIONSHIPS. “Whoever goes about
slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit keeps a
thing covered.” *Set a watch before my mouth; Keep the door of my lips
(Psalm 141:3) Let us not be as Ham and Canaan with Noah; but as Shem and
Japheth. Write on our hearts, that love *covers a multitude of sins*. *Your
:kingdom come.*


 *3. 13:12 (13) PROVERBS CONTRASTING POVERTY AND PROSPERITY. “Hope deferred
makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” *This
ministers to our spirit, soul and body! You O Father, are more willing to
give than we are to receive. But answers to prayer before we grow
spiritually could hurt us. *Your :will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.*


 *4. 15:22 (14-15) PROVERBS CONCERNING VARIOUS CLASSES. “Without counsel
plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” *Let us not move
unilaterally, Father. Let us find wise confirmation with spouse, friends
and the wise. Yet let us have a true word from *You first*! Give us words
that lead us to a contrite heart and repentance. *Our :daily :bread Give us
this day.*


 *5. 16:32 (16-17) PROVERBS OF CONFIDENCE, CONTENTMENT AND PEACE. “Whoever
is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit
than he who takes a city.” *Father, only You are truly like this! But You
live in us (Galatians 2:20; 1:16; 4:19; Colossians

1:27). Father, we release You in us in all Your self-control, meekness and
longsuffering. You are our armor both within and without. We voluntarily
let You live out Your life through us. *And forgive us our :debts, As we
also have forgiven our :debtors.*


 *6. 18:10 (18:1-19:19) PROVERBS ON VIRTUE AND CHARACTER. “The name of the
LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” *Satan
cannot touch us as we walk in this truth. You Father, set a hedge about us
so that we are protected like Job. Therefore we rejoice and live in Your
Name, which is Your Nature. *And bring us not into temptation!*


 *7. 19:23 (19:20-20:30) INSTRUCTIONS AND ADMONITIONS TO SONS. “The fear of
the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be
visited by harm.” *Father, let this truth sink deep into our heart; write
it on the table of our heart. As a sapling is bent and takes up that
position permanently, so let Your fear tend to keep us perpetually in You
and Your blessing! *But deliver us from the evil one!*


 *NOTE**: *O Father, our heart rejoices in the truths in this passage.
Herewe find Your wisdom Personified. Here we find wisdom in building
good
relationships with our fellow-man!


 *Our Psalm for the day: 5:3 (5) LEAD ME IN YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. “O LORD, in
the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you
and watch.” *Father, You are a God Who hears and answers prayer. No good
thing will You withhold from him who walks uprightly. Before we ask, You
have already provided the answer! No wonder we spontaneously *Hallow your
:name!*


 To the devout mind there is here presented a precious view of the Lord
Jesus, of Whom it is said that in the day of His flesh, He offered up
prayers and supplication with strong crying and tears.


 5:1 *Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. *Words are not
the essence but the garments of prayer. C. H. S. Meditation is the best
beginning of prayer, and prayer is the best conclusion of meditation.
George Swinnock


 5:2 *The voice of my cry. *To a loving father, his children’s cries are
music, and they have a magic influence which his heart cannot resist. *My
King, and my God. *Observe carefully these little pronouns, *my* King, and *my
*God. They are the pith and marrow of the plea. Here is a grand argument
why God should answer prayer - because He is *our* King and *our* God. We
are not aliens to Him: He is the King of our country. Kings are expected to
hear the appeals of their own people. We are not strangers to Him; we are
His worshipers, and He is our God: ours by covenant, by promise, by oath,
by blood.


 5:3 *My voice shall You hear. *Observe, this is not so much a prayer as a
resolution. We can sooner die than live without prayer. *In the
morning. *An hour in the morning is
*worth two* in the evening. While the dew is on the grass, let grace drop
upon the soul. Let us give God the mornings of our days and the morning of
our lives. Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.


 *I will direct my prayer unto You, and will look up. * I will put my
prayer upon the bow, I will direct it toward heaven, and then when I have
shot up my arrow, I will look up to see where it has gone. But the Hebrew
has a still fuller meaning this this - “I will *direct *my prayer.” It is
the word that is used for the laying in order of the wood and the pieces of
the victim upon the altar, and it is used also for putting of the
shew-bread upon the table. It means just this: “I will arrange my prayer
before You”; I will lay it out upon the altar in the morning, just as the
priest lays out the morning sacrifice. I will arrange my prayer; or, as old
Master Trapp has it, “I will marshal up my prayers,” I will put them in
order, call up all my powers, and bid them stand in their proper places,
that I may pray with all my might, and pray acceptably.


 *And will look up*, or, as the Hebrew might better be translated, “’I will
look out,’ I will look out for the answer. After I have prayed, I will
expect that the blessing shall come.” It is the word that is used in
another place where we read of those who watched for the morning. So will I
watch for Your answer, O my Lord! I will spread out my prayer like the
victim on the altar, and I will look up and expect to receive the answer by
fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. Do we not miss very much of the
sweetness and efficacy of prayer by a want of *careful meditation* before
it and of hopeful expectation after it? Prayer without fervency is like
hunting with a dead dog, and prayer without preparation is hawking with a
blind falcon. God made man, but He used the dust of the earth as a
material: the Holy spirit is the Author of prayer, but He employs the
thoughts of a fervent soul as the gold with which to fashion the vessel.
Let not our prayers and praises be the flashes of a hot and hasty brain,
but the steady burning of a well-kindled fire.


 We are like the ostrich, which lays her eggs and looks not for her young.
We sow the seed and are too idle to seek a harvest. Let holy preparation
link hands with patient expectation, and we shall have far larger answers
to our prayers! C. H. Spurgeon - from “The Treasury of David”.


 Notice that Psalm 5 is attached as the reading for July 5. This is my
birthday since 1923. On January 5 and July 5, I read this as my birthday
Psalm. Each one of us has a Psalm for our birthday. I encourage you to find
your Psalm, and use it as I do mine, as a special time in the Lord! - Jim
Watt



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