Word In—Word Out

Do you ever feel stuck? Do you desire to live a life that over comes? More than likely most of us can say yes to these to questions.

I know a simple—but life changing way to get out of the stuck rut and live a life that not only over comes but thrives. I’m not saying I’m an expert at life nor that my life is bad—just saying in living and applying this concept—the days of feeling wedged-in by the cares of life are fleeting.

The concept is Word in—Word out.

It’s as uncomplicated as it sounds. Put the Word of God in and speak it out. What’s difficult about this is remembering to do it throughout our day.

Because we are human and live in a consuming and busy culture—doing this once a day is not as effective as doing it all day. All day?? Yes, all day! We do it all day every day because we need the Word’s truth to be our truth.

The Word of God is alive, active and creative, (Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 33:6 & 9). When ingested it cleanses, comforts, heals and creates. The Word brings life to every thought and situation it touches.

When we take the Word in, we are in essence taking in the presence of God—inhaling Jesus Himself. And when we speak it out, we are breathing the life of God to every situation with our very words. So not only does it change who we are, but it creates new life to all we speak it to.

Most importantly this concept increases our faith. As we speak it out of our own mouth, our ears hear it and begin to believe it.

The way it works (mechanically) is instead of letting our thoughts run wild or consume us, we instead use our idle thought time to take the Word in—and speak it out. A good way to remember is to write an applicable scripture on a note card or sticky note and post it where you’ll see it.

As you put the Word in and speak it out remember to believe it. Believe the truth—the truth that it cannot enter your heart and soul without creating change and imparting hope—hope that changes our perspective causing us to see the beauty of our life through the eyes of Jesus.

Please be encouraged to draw nearer to God by breathing Him in and speaking Him out!

Decisions, Decisions!

Short but sweet…

Do you ever find yourself in need of making a decision? Everyday right?  Basically no matter who we are or where we are in life, decisions constantly need to be made.

The good news is we have a guide that can assist us in any circumstance and through any decision.

Psalm 119:105 articulates,

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

The Word of God is lamp to our feet for daily guidance and a light to our path for long-term direction.

If you ever feel stuck and not sure which way to turn or what choice to make and need light shed on a subject, crack open the window of Gods perfect Word.

Psalm 119:130 says,

“The entrance of Your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.”

Be encouraged to let the light shine in!

I will be going through the archives of my blogs over the next few weeks and re-posting various ones that would be ideal to reread. My reasoning in this is—the next month will be crazy busy for me! After celebrating my 50th birthday with my amazing family and friends here, I am also blessed with the opportunity to spend precious time with my lifelong friends, (who actually hold sister status in my heart) in sunny California! I will hit the ground running when I return; for I have several big events coming up, one being my son Parker’s high school graduation!

HAPPY GRADUATION TO PARKER!!!

I will return to writing fresh material in mid May. Thank you so much for reading and following this blog! I appreciate you!

God Bless and overwhelm you with His infinite love!

Skillful Living 101—7 The Heart

The issues of life spring forth from the very heart of a person. In Proverbs 7, we are instructed to engrave God’s commands on the tablet of our heart, cherishing every Word; keeping them close so we might not sin against our God.

A comparable bit of history is the Ten Commandments. They were written by the finger of God on stone tablets, so the people might not sin against Him.

How privileged we are to live in such a day in age where God the Son, can have His being in us and personally inscribe His loving commands—His living words, on the tablet of our heart.

Proverbs 7 illustrates four positionsof the heart.

Verse 3 describes a prepared heart; our heart is prepared as God’s presence etches His commands on it. In verses 6-9, we read about a simple-minded person who neglected wisdom; whose heart was unprepared to meet the charms of Satan. Therefore became devoid of understanding. He followed a loud, rebellious, married, imprudent woman—to her home—to her bed—to his death.

Proverbs 7:10, says she was a woman with a crafty heart. She devised evil and pursued the unwise fool who would join her.

Next, Proverbs 7:14-19 speaks of a religious heart, one that makes offerings and vows to God, giving Him lip service from an empty heart that never intends to live righteously or obey His commands.

Proverbs 7 ends with a warned heart, verse 25 warns the young man; “Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray onto her paths.”

In this Proverb we are given a treasury of skillful living tools regarding our heart.

In diligence, let’s engrave God’s Word on our heart. Let us invite Him to carve His commands on hearts of stone, causing them to soften as we draw near—drawing so near—our heartbeat becomes one with His. His very presence—is His finger writing living words on our heart. This is the essence of a heart prepared for God.

In the drawn near position we are able to guard our heart from being crafty. Likewise, discernment will dwell in us and we will be vigilant to recognize the snares of those with a crafty heart.

As we are situated in God’s presence, religiousness has a very difficult time taking root in our heart and life.

Lastly, the heart that is filled with God listens intently, pays attention to warnings, heeds correction and is filled with wisdom.

Please be encouraged to read Proverbs 7 and to apply the skillful living tools to your life!

Skillful Living Tools: 

• Prepare your heart for God’s presence
• Prepare your heart to meet the charms of Satan
• Write God’s commands on the tablet of your heart
• Invite God to engrave His Word on your heart
• Be vigilant against a crafty heart
• Guard your heart from religion
• Offer God heart service, not lip service
• Pay attention to warnings, heed correction, be filled with wisdom

The  Skillful Living Tool Box at the top of this page, is updated weekly—check it out!

Thanks for reading and share with those you care about!

Skillful Living 101—1 The Manual for Living

Have you ever longed for a manual on how to do life? Craved insight on how to raise and nurture kids? Do you ever just ache for a method for relating to teens? Asked for techniques to communicate with your spouse? Wondered what to say and how to respond in various situations? Yearned for procedures on how to keep living when life stops or hurts? How to find a spouse? How to keep a spouse? How to get and maintain a job? How to live on less? How to avoid foolishness? The list is endless.

God has dropped an idea into my heart. The idea unfolds as a sequence of blogs on skillful living. I’ve heard it said that Proverbs is the manual for skillful living. This sequence will elaborate on Proverbs—“The Manual for living” as The Message version of the Bible has so appropriately named it.

The main thing I’ve learned about life, took 25 years to learn. Nonetheless I am very appreciative for the truth I now understand. The truth is: I, Regina Forest—in the flesh—know one thing or maybe its two things—that I do not know anything, but God, who lives in me, knows everything. He is the Living Word, wise, alive, active and discerning; therefore I as I abide Him—His attributes become mine.

To live skillfully, it’s essential to have relationship with God and by His grace to heed His Word.

I will try to make these blogs as small morsels of information to be savored. I hope to breakdown certain proverbs and plainly explain them (with the help of the Holy Spirit, of course!). Hopefully this will help ordinary people like you and I to understand and apply the instruction given to us in the book of Proverbs.

We should view the book of Proverbs as a chest full of treasure, where each nugget and gem are available to enhance our life—assisting us to live skillfully. Everyone needs a little help with the how to’s of life…I know I do!

Enough said, now let’s get started…

Proverbs 1:1-6 states: applying the principles in Proverbs causes us to gain:

• Wisdom and instruction for sensible behavior
• To know justice
• Gives knowledge and discretion to the young (much needed)
• Adds learning to the wise (also much needed)
• Gives us understanding about proverbs and parables

Skillful living tool: There is no wisdom apart from God.

Right off the bat Proverbs 1:7 describes the first rule in skillful living:

• We must fear the Lord
• Only fools despise wisdom

Proverbs 1:7 as articulated in The Message, “Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.” (Good advice!)

Skillful living tool: Fear the Lord.

Proverbs 1:8-19 truthfully says, kids honor your parents, it also expresses the importance of good parenting:

• Pay attention to your father’s words
• Remember your mother’s teachings
• Pick your friends wisely “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Corinthians 15:33

Parenting insight: To parent wisely, follow Proverbs 1:7.

Proverbs 1:20-33 expresses the truth:

• Wisdom is available to everyone
• Being unwise (stupid) is a choice
• The unwise make themselves miserable. Proverbs 1:22 asks, how long will you hate knowledge and understanding?
• Repent from foolishness, and wisdom will be poured out on you
• Pride will keep you living like a fool. Proverbs 1:29-31 “Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord. Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.”
• Whoever listens to wisdom will live skillfully and be in peace.

Practical insight: Wisdom comes by responding to instruction. Respond to God’s instruction and you will know how to respond in any situation.

Please prayerfully read Proverbs 1 for yourself, ask God to illuminate it to you. Also, ask for the grace to apply His Word— so you can skillfully live your life.

Thanks for reading, please share with those who need a “Manual for Living”. Comments welcomed!