Transcription
Good morning to each and every one of you. Welcome back to our 365 Bible verses everyone should know. So, this morning, we will continue our discussion on our theme: Christian living is making wise decisions daily.
So, our decisions are like, well, they are like saving. You are saving the right decisions every day. Sometimes we make big decisions, sometimes small ones, very important and not so important decisions. Now, when we save up those right decisions every day, whether big or small, important or not, you can expect that after a while, after a year, or maybe after months or maybe years, you will reap the fruits of those right decisions. It's the same with wrong decisions. If you make a wrong decision, you will reap its consequences.
So, whatever we are doing now, in the present, expect that in the future, you will reap it. That will be your future, that will be your destiny. That's why you will notice, in the past, our wrong decisions, maybe a few years ago, until now, we are reaping some of the decisions we made in the past. So, it's like, just a few hours ago, we passed by the Skyway. So, you should have entered the Skyway. Just one wrong decision, and you missed the entrance to the Skyway. Instead of going straight, we turned left and right and went everywhere. Ah, that's the result when you make a wrong decision. Sometimes you get lost, you go left, you go right, you don't know where you're going. Ah, that decision, sometimes it's a domino effect. If you make one mistake, sometimes the mistakes are sequential, sequential are the bad things that happen. So, it's very important that we guard the decisions we make every day because they will affect us in the future.
Now, this is our first teaching. But before that, I just want to greet all Filipinos in the Middle East, especially in Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and also those from Lorimi who are following our channel. Now, the verse we will study this morning is found in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 23. It says here, "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Your heart, guard it with all diligence. What a beautiful word used in English, "vigilance." You are like a vigilante, truly wide awake, guarding your heart very carefully. Not like you're just relaxed, whatever you feel, whatever is in your heart is okay. It shouldn't be like that. You should be a vigilante, truly on guard, guarding our hearts very carefully, because from it flow the springs of life.
Now, our first teaching this morning is: the heart is a tank of decisions. Our heart is like a tank of water, a big tank full of decisions. Because, as a psychologist said, most of our decisions are based on what we feel, what we are feeling. What is in our heart, that's often where our decisions come from. So, it's very important that we guard this tank of decisions, our heart, very carefully. Because whatever is inside, that's what will come out. If water is in a tank, of course, water will come out. Now, if dirty water is inside a tank, don't expect clean water to come out. If mineral purified water is in the tank, expect clean water to come out.
So, our second teaching is: what we fill our tanks with affects our decisions. Whatever content, whatever is in the tank of our heart, that will affect our decisions. So, if our heart is full of anger, expect all the decisions you make to be based on your anger. When your heart is full of love, all your decisions will be based on love. So, when you are angry at your spouse, your child, your parents, angry at the world, angry at everything, you will get angry, your temper will flare up, and your decisions will also be based on anger. And those decisions you make every day, based on anger, based on lack of forgiveness, based on being short-tempered, that will also be your destination.
If you want your relationship to be good, the decisions you make there should not be based on anger, not based on annoyance, not based on resentment. Because if your decisions are based on bad feelings, pure anger and annoyance, expect your relationship's destination to also be ugly, an ugly destination full of anger and turmoil. But if your decisions are based on love, expect the relationship you are making decisions for to also have a good destination. So, what we fill our tanks with affects our decisions, and our decisions determine our destination. Whatever decisions you make, that will also be your destination in the future. That's why we should be very careful about the decisions we make in life.
On what basis do you make your decisions? What is your standard when you make decisions? And that brings us to our point number three: Our hearts must be filled with God's wisdom through His Word by the Spirit. This means our hearts should not be filled with anger, annoyance, lack of forgiveness, but our hearts should be filled with God's wisdom, God's intelligence, God's wisdom, which we can find in God's Word. So that the decisions we make are always right. What standard will we use? What is our basis? Our basis is God's Word. When we read God's Word, we get the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God. So, when we read God's Word, let's think about it, let's meditate on what we are reading, the mind of God.
That's how profound it is. When you read the Bible, you are reading the mind of God, the wisdom of God, the wisdom of God. So, it's very important that when we read the Bible, we depend on the power of the Holy Spirit who speaks to us through His Word. So, you can't just read the Bible without being conscious that there is a Holy Spirit who speaks to us through His Word. They are always together. The wisdom of God through His Word, the Bible, by the Holy Spirit. So, before we proceed, we must read the Bible. Second, we must depend on the Holy Spirit to get God's wisdom. When we get God's wisdom, our hearts will be full of the right teachings of the Bible, full of God's principles. Expect that the decisions you will make, whether small or big, will be right. And it's like saving. Whatever you save now, later on, that's what you will reap. All your right decisions now, that's what will be your right destination in the future.
Now, what is our application to these truths? Number one: Be mindful of what we fill our hearts with. Be vigilant. Be mindful. Not when you're already angry, your heart is full of anger, and you're still entertaining your anger. Someone did something wrong to you, and you can't forgive them. You're still entertaining what they did wrong to you. You're sleeping soundly, but you're still awake because of annoyance, because of anger. So, be mindful. Don't let people who are sleeping peacefully disturb you. Be vigilant. Be mindful of what we fill our hearts with. Make sure our hearts are not filled with evil, not filled with resentment, not filled with unforgiveness, not filled with things that are not pleasing to God. Our hearts should be filled with God's wisdom.
Our second point is: Regularly read the Bible. How will you have God's wisdom? How will you have the mind of God if you don't read God's Word? Now, some of us, you read God's Word, but you don't understand it. Why don't we understand it? Because maybe our dependence on the Holy Spirit is lacking. Remember, this is God's Word, and it is being communicated to us by God Himself through the Holy Spirit. So, regularly read the Bible and meditate on God's wisdom. Meditate means to ponder, to understand, to chew on it. That is God's wisdom. How do we get that? By the enablement of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is what drives us to understand what is written in the Holy Scriptures. So, we cannot separate the Holy Scriptures from the Holy Spirit. Okay, they are always together: Holy Scriptures, Holy Spirit. If you want to understand the Bible, you need the Holy Spirit.
Now, it's not possible to rely only on the Holy Spirit, like depending and depending on the Holy Spirit without reading God's Word. Often, it's just our emotion. You feel the Holy Spirit strongly, but it's just your emotion. If you don't read the Bible, it's just emotion. So, third, practice self-control. If we cannot control ourselves, brothers and sisters, let's truly pray that we can control ourselves, manage ourselves. There is anger. It's admirable to see people who are gentle. That is the fruit of the Holy Spirit: gentleness, self-control. So, practice self-control, forgiveness. If someone did something wrong to you and hasn't asked for forgiveness, you have already forgiven them. They haven't asked for forgiveness, but you've already forgiven them. Practice forgiveness and let go of bitterness. Are you bitter about many things in your situation in life, in your family, at work? Let go of bitterness.
Let go of bitterness and anger. Remove all that is harmful to your heart. It's like clean water, and then you mix it with soil, mud, and dirt. So, our heart is a tank, a tank of water. If we put dirty things in it, dirty things will come out. So, if we have a pure heart, pure decisions, godly decisions will come out. And our decisions will determine our destination. So, let's practice self-control, forgiveness, and let go of bitterness and anger. Let's approach the Lord with a pure heart. Let's ask the Lord for a clean heart.
Now, for our discussion: What dominates our hearts recently? What is dominating our hearts these days? How can we change the content of our hearts? Of course, how do we change ourselves to God? How do we change the content of our hearts? Remember, the heart is a tank of decisions. Whatever our decisions are today, that will be our destination. Wrong decisions today, wrong destination in the future. The decision you made today, if it is God's will, you will also go to God's will. So, we have to be very careful when it comes to decision-making.
So, let's answer this. Let's deepen our understanding of Proverbs 4:23. What dominates our hearts recently, and how can we change the content of our hearts? Let's apply these verses to our discussions. Now, for our prayer right after this, let's approach the Lord and say to Him, "Lord, show me the true content of my heart. Lord, I don't know. Sometimes I'm confused because the Bible truly says, 'The heart is deceitful above all things.' The heart is deceitful above all things." Sometimes we really don't know the true content of our hearts. So, let's pray, "Lord, show me the true content of my heart. Change my heart and change my destiny. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Guide me to Your plan. Do not let me follow my evil thoughts, but instead, Your thoughts and Your wisdom found in Your Holy Word. This I pray in Jesus' name."
This is a very beautiful prayer. We are thankful for this devotion, sponsored by our close friend, Brother Alvin. Thank you so much, brother. If you learned something from this devotion, let us know in the comment section below, and please share this devotion with your family and friends. God bless you. May our Lord bless you. See you tomorrow at 5 AM here on our daily devotion.