Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. That's
in the middle of your Bible, close to the middle
of your Bible. If you just plop it open, you're
probably going to hit the Psalms. Just keep on
turning a little further. Proverbs chapter 3.
A lot of good wisdom and instruction in Proverbs.
We looked. A couple of weeks ago, Proverbs chapter
3, verses 5 and 6, I would guess that those are
probably the most popular verses in Proverbs
chapter 3, but there's a lot of really good instruction
here that I thought it was worth us going back
and looking at a couple of more verses. We're
going to just look at two verses today. Proverbs
chapter 3, verses 7 and 8. You'll notice if you
read the first 12 verses there of Proverbs chapter
3, there's kind of a common theme. Each little
two -verse section there in the 12 verses kind
of could stand alone by itself. Each of these
little two -verse sections, verses 1 and 2, 3
and 4, 5 and 6, 7 and 8, and so on, they offer
a command. We'll see a command at first, and
then we'll see... a consequence after that. And
this is good instruction for us to listen to.
That should not come as a surprise to us that
God's Word is good instruction, but sometimes
we need to be reminded of that. So we will look
at these couple of verses today. We'll read them,
then we'll pray and get started. Proverbs chapter
3, verses 7 and 8. Don't consider yourself to
be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
This will be healing for your body and strengthening
for your bones. Let's pray. God, we thank you
for these two simple verses. We thank you for
these commands that you give us. And I pray,
God, that we would be men and women that follow
these commands. But maybe, dear Lord, we are
not. Maybe if we look at these words today and
think about these words. And pray over them today.
Maybe we do not follow this command. So dear
Lord, I pray that you would help us to examine
ourselves today. Maybe we came into this room
wise in our own eyes. And that's not a good place
for us to be, dear Lord. But sometimes we get
there. And I pray that you help us to be made
aware of that, God. So God, I pray that in these
next few minutes that your Holy Spirit would
be among us. I pray that you would take away
any fear or pride that's within me today, that
I may faithfully preach and teach your word.
Let your Holy Spirit speak to us through these
words, dear Lord, and let your word have an impact
in our hearts today. In Jesus' name I pray it.
Amen. Now, the Bible is certainly full of verses.
that if people would follow them, they would
change the world. There are many verses in there
that are life -changing, that are world -changing.
And this is one of those verses that I would
put on a list. If I were making a list of verses
that would change our world, I would put this
verse on the list. Now, I don't know about the
rest of you guys, but I believe our world needs
to be changed because I don't think our world
is too good. I don't think killing in the streets
and killing in other countries and wars and fighting
and feuding and people hating each other and
lying and cheating and stealing and being greedy
and cheating on your spouse and all these things
that we see running rampant in our world today.
I don't think these things are good. I think
our world would be much better off if it was...
if it was different, if we did the opposites
of those things, if we told the truth, and if
we were men and women of honor and integrity,
if we weren't greedy but we were giving, if we
loved our neighbor as ourselves, if we cherished
our husbands and wives, if we changed from the
way that we so often see in our world, our world
would be a much better place. And I think that
this verse... It's a good verse for us to consider
today because maybe, just maybe, there are some
things in our life that need to change. Now,
it's easy for us to sit here and say, boy, the
world needs to change. Well, we may not can change
the world, but you can start working on yourself.
Now, it's going to take the help of God for any
true change to come in your heart. That's going
to come from the Lord, but you do have some say
in your life and whether you're going to seek
the Lord and whether you're going to allow him
to make that change. And maybe there are not
just some problems in the world around you. Maybe
you are the problem in some way. Maybe some of
your problems stem from your own heart and your
own attitude and your own sinfulness. What does
the scripture say? Do not consider yourself to
be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
Now, I think that verse right there is a good
verse. Do not consider yourself to be wise. Do
we ever do that? Do we ever consider ourselves
to be wise? What does that mean? It means that
you think you know it all, that you've got it
figured out. That you're doing everything right,
that you're good, that you're fine, that your
way is the right way and that everybody else's
way is wrong. And you don't need to listen to
what anybody else says because you are wise in
your own eyes. You have determined that you know
everything. And we really begin to see this type
of wisdom flourish in a person when they turn
about 13. That's when that type of wisdom really
begins to flourish. And some of, well, all of
you in here just about have experienced that
time. Some of you are in the midst of your greatest
wisdom ever, or so you think. Now, I remember
when I was first getting into the ministry, Brother
Ernie was so good and he was so humble and he
was so wise, but I was still young enough that
I failed to realize that. And there were a lot
of things that I thought, man, he's just, he's
old -fashioned. I just, there's a... there's
some better way I'd have done that different.
Because I was 30, so I pretty much at that point
from 13 to 30, I'd learned everything there was
to learn, right? But now that I've been in ministry
for a bunch of years, now I think, you know what?
He wasn't as old -fashioned as I thought he was.
You know what I call him now? Wise. Because there
were some things that I thought, boy, this would
be a better way to do it. And now I do some things
the way he did it. Because I said, you know what,
I guess he did know what he was talking about.
Now you guys probably never had any occasion
like that where you were wise in your own eyes.
I remember about three years ago, another example,
I needed to buy a lawnmower. And I had a wise
man who was real wise about lawnmowers and stuff.
And he told me, he said, you need to go. He told
me what lawnmower to get. And I, being wise in
my own eyes, I said, I ain't getting that lawnmower
because that's too expensive, and a cheaper one
will do just as good, and I'm going to get the
cheap one. And he said, you're going to regret
it if you get that cheap one. And I said, well,
it'll be fine. It'll be fine. And so I went and
got the cheap one, and I cut grass with it twice,
and both times I cut grass with it, it tore up.
And I took it back, and I got the one that he
said I should have get to start with. Turns out
there was a little wisdom there, but I was too
wise in my own eyes to listen to anybody else.
When we're too wise in our own eyes, we're also
too wise to listen to the Lord. And that's a
big problem, I think, with a lot of people in
our world today. Because if you know everything,
and as humanity, as humans, if we're able to
do everything, then there's no need for a God.
Why do we need a God? And so there are a lot
of people that have become wise in their own
eyes. And as a result, they do not fear the Lord
as the scripture says. So there's good command
here. Don't consider yourself to be wise. Well,
we see that throughout the scriptures. We see
the same thing in Romans. In Romans chapter 1
verse 22. Paul talking here says, claiming to
be wise, they became fools. Now in the context
of what he was saying, he said, look, God should
have been evident to all that if we just look
around that it should be obvious to us just through
creation and the world and all that we see that
there's got to be a creator. And everybody is
without excuse. But there were some who rejected
God. And they thought that they were wise. They
had become wise in their own eyes. But the scripture
says, claiming to be wise, they became fools.
And as you read on a little further, man, that
leads to some bad stuff happening. He begins
to point out that homosexuality is running rampant
among them and all of these sexual perversions
and all of this horrible sinfulness came. Because
they didn't have a need for God, because they
rejected God, because they were wise in their
own eyes, when in reality they were fools and
their foolishness was leading to their destruction.
Now he wrote that in Romans chapter 1. That was
a long time ago. But guess what? Humanity ain't
got no better. As long as there are human beings,
there will be people who reject God's word. there
will be people who reject the wisdom of God,
that is Jesus Christ. And as a result of that,
they're living in foolishness that leads to their
destruction. Paul talks about even people that
are professing to be Christian teachers in 2
Corinthians chapter 10. He says that there are
some who are judging themselves by themselves.
They're comparing themselves to themselves, and
therefore they conclude that they are all right.
Now, we can't judge ourselves by ourselves. You
can't just sit there and make a list of the things
and you say, okay, I think this is good and this
is bad and this is good and this is bad, and
as long as I do these things, I'm going to be
okay. We're not the one who gets to make the
list. We're not the one who gets to set the standards.
And that's what was going on in Paul's situation.
He said, look, there were some who had set a
human standard and they were living by that standard.
And therefore, he says, they were commending
themselves as saying, hey, we've made it. We're
as good as we need to be. Because they had become
wise in their own eyes. So what about us? Are
there ever situations in our life that we become
wise in our own eyes? Maybe some of them are
not as significant like buying a lawnmower. Maybe
there are other times in our life where we consider
ourselves to be wise and we end up living in
foolishness. We consider ourselves to be wise
and we reject the wisdom of someone else that
may be for our benefit. We reject the wisdom
of God's Word. I suspect we all do it at some
point. I expect if anybody in here has ever been
to the doctor, you've done it because you go
to the doctor and the doctor says what's going
on and you say, oh, you don't know what he's
talking about because obviously you know more
than the doctor, right? I mean, he only went
to school for 10 years and practiced for 50 years
and so when he tells you what's wrong, well,
you looked on your phone so obviously you're
an expert now. And so we become wise in our own
eyes in a lot of areas. And that's part of the
problem with our world today, and that's part
of our struggles maybe, is that we become proud
because we know it all. But what does the proverb
say? Don't become wise in your own eyes. Don't
consider yourself wise. Fear the Lord and turn
away from evil. Now, it's sad to say that...
I don't know that there are a lot of people in
our world today that fear the Lord. It's pretty
obvious that there are a lot of people that do
not fear the Lord. Because people would not do
half the things that they do if they feared the
Lord. And maybe, sadly, that's even true for
Christians. Maybe we say we fear the Lord. Maybe
there's some level of fear we have of the Lord.
Maybe even among Christians. We don't really
fear the Lord as we should. In our considering
ourselves to be wise, we've determined, well,
I know God's Word says this, but that was way
back in the day. That's old -fashioned, those
commands. God really didn't mean that. He's really
okay if I do this. Because if I do that other
thing and live according to His commands, that's
going to make me unhappy. And one thing God does
not want is for me to be unhappy. I just know
God does not want that. So therefore, I'm just
going to live in this sin because we don't fear
the Lord and keep His commands. It's easy for
us to test how much we fear the Lord. You can
test how much you fear the Lord by seeing how
long it takes you to repent of the sin you're
living in. If you keep sinning and keep sinning
and don't repent, then guess what? You don't
fear the Lord very much. When we fear the Lord
and we read his words and it really convicts
us and the Holy Spirit convicts us, there needs
to be something in us that says, okay, God, I
have done wrong and I know I've done wrong. And
God, I struggle with this and I want to struggle
with this, so God, would you forgive me? If we
really fear the Lord, there's got to be some
point where that dictates our actions. If we
really fear the Lord and we know the Lord doesn't
want us to do something and that temptation comes,
there has to be some times in our life that we
just say, golly, I can't do this thing I want
to do. I can't say this thing I want to say.
I can't respond in this way. There's times when
it'd be so easy to snap back at somebody. Those
times where the money's on the table that you
could just slide it in your pocket and nobody
would see. Those temptations that are ever before
us, we all have them. And if we really fear the
Lord, then, man, we think twice about those things.
It's not that we don't sin. Sadly, we do. It'd
be great if we had that kind of fear of the Lord,
and we should strive for that. We should have
a fear of the Lord that should dictate our actions
and cause us to want to follow the commands of
God. But we don't see a lot of fear of God in
our world today. And maybe it needs to start
with those who are God's people. Maybe God's
people are living in a way that we've become
lazy and that we've become okay with sin and
we begin to justify it in our own minds and we
begin to turn a blind eye to others who are living
in sin. expecting them to do the same for us.
I won't call out what you're doing if you don't
call out what I'm doing. Besides, what we're
doing is not really the bad stuff, but what that
shows in our life and in our heart is that maybe
we don't fear God. Man, if we were a nation,
if we were a people, if we were a world of people
that feared God, things would be so much different.
People wouldn't lie and cheat and steal and kill.
But people do those things because they've rejected
God and they don't fear God. Don't consider yourself
to be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away from
evil. There's the command. Don't consider yourself
to be wise. Fear the Lord and turn away from
evil. That is good instruction. That is pretty
simple instruction. It's not like most scripture.
It's easy to read something. It's hard to carry
it out. But that's our command in this passage.
Okay, so we have to check ourselves. Have I considered
myself to be wise in some way? Maybe it's in
the ways of God's word and his commands. Maybe
it's just some normal task in my life. Maybe
there's some pride there that's really hindering
me. Maybe I need to humble myself a little bit.
Maybe there's some things going on that God's
revealed to you today, or maybe you need to pray
over these verses and say, okay, God, help me
to see the areas maybe where I have become wise
in my own eyes. Do you fear the Lord? Maybe you
do. Praise God. Do you keep his commands? If
you do, okay, there's a pretty good chance you
fear him. If you don't, maybe you don't really
fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. And turn away from
evil. That's the hard part. Because there are
so many things that feel so good to us. Oh, they
are good. They are tempting. But they are evil.
They are evil. And they are hard for us to turn
away from. Now, everybody in here, your temptations
are all different. And I've said this before.
I'll say it again. It's so easy to look at somebody
else's temptation and say, I don't know why they
just don't stop that. Well, stop for a second
and think about your temptation and say, well,
why don't you just stop that? I don't know why
they don't just stop drinking. They just don't
drink anymore. Well, I don't know why you don't
stop drinking coffee or why you don't stop eating
donuts or why you don't stop smoking cigarettes
or why you don't quit doing the things that you
do. We all have these temptations. We all have
these things that may not always be good for
us. Why don't we just quit them? Because our
vices are not that easy to quit. I mean, I know
because my natural practitioner has told me how
bad sugars are. I know how bad they are. I know
the effects of those things. But guess what I
still do? You know what I did last night right
before I got into bed? I opened me a brand new
pack of fudge -dipped Oreos. And a coffee with
two spoonfuls of sugar and ate it right before
I went to bed. Now, I know that that's not good
for me, so y 'all are saying, well, why don't
you just stop? Because it tastes good. It tastes
good. I like it. And so every day, I say, well,
I'm not going to eat any more sweets. And guess
what I do the next day? I go to the store and
I buy some fudge -dipped Oreos, a pack of Kit
Kats, whatever it is. Scripture says we need
to flee from evil. But oftentimes the evil, the
things that aren't good for us, that aren't healthy
for us, are not that easy to flee from. We are
like a bug being drawn to one of those lights.
Man, it's just sucking us in like a tractor beam.
And so it really takes us seeking God and saying,
okay, God, deliver me from evil. Lead me not
into temptation, but deliver me from the evil
one, dear Lord. I don't want to give in to it,
but I got news for you. Or I think, I'm young,
I don't know. But I think that as long as we
live, that temptations will ever be before us.
I don't think we'll ever get to a point that
we will outgrow that. That we'll just, like,
okay, I'm 75, no more temptations. Nope, I don't
think it works that way. And so there's always
that temptation before us. But man, there's good
instruction here to flee from evil. So we need
to pray, God, help me to flee from evil. Dear
Lord, I know these things are bad, but God, these
temptations are strong. I don't want to do these
things, and sometimes our flesh is stronger than
our spirit. Paul talks about that in Romans.
It's reality. Sometimes there are things that
we know that we shouldn't do, that we don't want
to do. It's like a war waging within us, and
sometimes our flesh wins. Well, praise the Lord
that there is forgiveness. We don't want to just
continue to live in sin willy -nilly, but...
But God knows that we're going to fail, and even
when we do fail, there is forgiveness in that.
So maybe this is good instruction for us today.
Maybe you have been fleeing from evil, but maybe
you've just been running right into it. Sometimes
we just get so caught up in our sin and our stress
and our whatever it is, our addictions, and we
just run into that evil and we just come... running
back into it and running back into it and running
back into it. And maybe we just need to pause
today and say, okay, God, I'm tired of running
into evil. I want to flee from it. Well, if we
would just do these things, these three commands
that we see here, don't consider yourself to
be wise, fear the Lord, turn away from evil.
How much better would our life be? How much better
would our world be? Those are the commands that
we see in this particular couple of verses. Listen
to what the next verse says. Listen to what the
consequence is. This will be healing for your
body and strengthening for your bones. Now, I
don't think, I think it's a symbolic language.
I don't think he's necessarily speaking just
physically here. Not to say that there's not
some physical benefit that occurs when we change
our lifestyle. I mean, if we're fleeing the evil
and we're proud and we're living for ourself
and we're living on the edge and we're doing
all these evil things, then it does have an effect
on us physically. It will affect us. And so certainly
following the commands of God and trying to live
right is going to affect you positively physically
in some ways, but I think that this is symbolic
of something much deeper. I think the healing
that's being spoken of here is not just, okay,
you're going to just feel better in your body.
I think he's saying your whole inner being, everything
within you, your soul, your whole, who you are,
there's going to be a sense of healing and a
sense of peace that's going to come when you
live for the Lord. My translation says this will
be healing for your body. Some of your translations
say this will be healing for your navel, which
is kind of a weird thing to say. Like, what is
he talking about there? That's what makes me
think he's not specifically saying, okay, there's
a problem with your navel, and if you do these
things, that's going to be healed. I think it's
symbolic language. It's the center of you. It's
the center of life. You're in your mother's womb.
You're right there at the navel. It's who you
are. It's your life. There's going to be healing
for your life if you would follow the commands
of God. Now, the opposite is also true. It doesn't
say it, but the opposite is true. That if we
do consider ourselves to be wise, if we don't
fear the Lord and we do run to evil, then it's
going to bring just all kind of troubles in our
life. It's going to bring all kind of anguish
in our life. It's going to destroy us inwardly.
I mean, we're not going to get any rest. We're
just not going to get any peace. And that's why
he gives this command. And maybe some of us,
if we're honest, we look at this and we say,
yeah, I have been wise in my own eyes. And I
have not feared the Lord the way I should. And
I have run to evil way quicker and way more often
than I should have. And I don't want to do that
anymore. Well, praise the Lord. If we see words
like this, God's word, and they convict us, then
let's do what they say. And ask God to help us
to do what they say. Because that's what we really
need is healing for our bodies, is healing for
our souls. The scripture says of Jesus, the coming
Messiah in Isaiah, that by his wounds we are
healed. Not just in a physical sense. Yeah, God
heals us sometimes physically. We pray for people,
and man, God has done miracles. We've seen people
that the doctor said there's no chance, and you
pray for them, and they're healed. And there's
people the doctor says, oh, they're not going
to make it another week. And 40 years later,
they're still going strong. We've seen God work,
and we've seen physical healing. That certainly
is something that God does, but he heals us in
so much deeper of a way. That when Jesus Christ
came, he didn't just come so we could say, okay,
God, you know, heal my toe. It hurts. I stumped
it. He came so that he could heal our sinfulness.
So that we could be washed as white as snow.
If we would just seek him, if we would call out
to him, that he'd bring healing to us. Maybe
there's some of you today that are sitting in
this room or some of you that are watching online.
And man, you just, you feel sick, spiritually
sick. Same way you do if you eat too much sugar
and the things that your natural practitioner
tells you not to eat. You feel it in your body
and we feel it in our spirit. When we don't follow
the commands of God's word, we feel it in our
spirit. We feel unhealthy. And what we do in
the real world is we don't actually want to do
anything about it. So we just go to the doctor
and say, could you just give me a pill? I don't
actually want to change my lifestyle. I just
want to do the same horrible things I've been
doing. Could you just give me a pill so that
I can just keep doing this junk? And they do,
and then that pill makes us feel bad. And then
we say, well, could you just give me another
pill? But that's not healing us. And the only
way that we can be healed is through Jesus Christ.
That's the only way spiritually we can be healed.
There's no easy way out. It's not like, oh, I'm
going to keep doing all these evil things, and
I'm going to keep going to church, and I'll put
a little extra money in the plate, and I'll sing
in the choir, and these things are just going
to make me feel good enough that I can keep doing
the evil, and I'll just keep getting by. But
there's no healing in that. We feel it in our
soul. We feel that burden and that pain, and
we just feel spiritually sick. But the cure to
that is Jesus Christ. That's God's wisdom. Don't
consider yourself to be wise. What does Scripture
say that wisdom is? Jesus Christ and the cross
crucified and resurrected. That's wisdom. That's
healing. That's healing for our bones, it says.
That's healing to our core. That's the kind of
healing some of you need today. You're just tired
of being sick. You're tired of being worn down.
You're tired of being burdened. You're tired
of giving in to the sin. You're tired. And you
just want to be restored. You want to be made
new. You want to be made whole. You need to be
healed. And you can be made healed if you follow
the commands of God. The command, don't consider
yourself to be wise. Fear the Lord and flee from
evil. We follow that command. The consequence,
God's going to bring healing. to you. We see
God talk about this throughout scripture that
he wants to bring healing to his people. Sometimes
we see it in a very physical sense. Sometimes
we physically see it. We see it a lot. Old Testament,
New Testament, God healing people. But the kind
of healing that God really desires to do in your
life is so much deeper than that. If you would
only seek out and call on him today. If we as
Christians would seek God and call on him today,
if people in our world would seek him and call
out to him today, there'd be healing in our land.
We see in 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 7, verse
14, God says here, if my people who are called
by my name, will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive
their sin and I will heal their land. Man, do
we got some lands in our world that need to be
healed today? We got some lands that need to
be healed today. But notice who this verse is
to. He doesn't just say if all the people of
the planet would call out to me, which, man,
maybe they will. That'd be great. God certainly
would be glad to see that happen. But where does
it start? He says, if my people who are called
by my name. It starts with you and I that are
Christians. Those of us who have trusted in Jesus
Christ. It starts with us. It starts with us
recognizing if we become wise in our own eyes
and we've stopped fearing the Lord because Lord
knows that God's people Israel did that a lot
of times. Man, they considered their self to
be wise a lot. God delivered them out of Egypt.
Man, it was all good. They were slaves for a
long time. He delivered them out. And how wise
were they? They were so wise that as soon as
they got out, they said, hey, let's make a God.
The God that got us out of Egypt, let's make
it with all the gold that we got. That's how
wise they were. They didn't have any fear for
God. And man, they suffered a lot of bad consequences
because they did consider themselves to be wise
and they didn't fear the Lord. Man, God was still
patient with them and God was still commanding
them. Even in 2 Chronicles, he was still saying,
boy, if my people who are called by my name would
seek me, I'd forgive their sins and I'd heal
their land. I thank God. It's still the same
God today. I know this verse was to Israel back
in the day. I get that. But I think people today,
who are God's people, if they would call out
to him, he still heals our prayers. He still
forgives our sins. And he still brings healing
to our bodies, to our souls. One more scripture.
Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 14. Listen to this
prayer. Of Jeremiah. Heal me Lord. And I will
be healed. Save me and I will be saved. For you.
Are my praise. What a simple. Simple prayer.
Maybe that needs to be our prayer today. Jeremiah
boy. He was right up in the middle of it. God's
people were. Pretty bad. He's telling them God's
word. But in the midst of that, Jeremiah takes
this moment not to say, God, all these people
around me are bad. Our world is bad. It's falling
apart because of all these evil people. In the
midst of all that he's saying, he takes a moment
in this verse and he says, heal me, Lord, and
I will be healed. Save me, Lord. Maybe that needs
to be our prayer today. Maybe there's some repentance
that needs to take place today. Maybe today God
has humbled us through his word. We say, oh man,
I've considered myself to be wise for far too
long. And God, I haven't feared you. But God,
I repent. I humble myself before you, dear Lord.
I stand in fear in your presence, God. And God,
I don't want to flee from you anymore and run
to evil. God, I want to flee from evil and run
to you. And the scripture says that if we would
do that, God will bring healing to us. Let's
pray. God, we thank you for these words. We thank
you for this command today. We thank you for
the beautiful promise that accompanies it, dear
Lord. That if we would seek you and humble ourselves
before you, dear Lord, and run to you, God, that
we would experience healing in our lives. Dear
Lord, maybe there's some today and... And they
have rejected you. They have heard about you.
And they have just totally rejected your word,
the truth of your word. And they have rejected
Jesus Christ. They have considered themselves
to be wise in their own eyes, dear Lord. They
have never seen a need for you or even acknowledged
your existence. But God, maybe there was something
in your word today. Maybe in some way your Holy
Spirit has pricked them. And God, maybe you're
working in their heart right now. I pray, dear
Lord, that they would repent, that they would
turn from their sin, that they would ask you
to forgive them now, dear Lord. That they would
know that the only wisdom that there is in this
world is Jesus Christ. That's the only wisdom
that's going to give them peace and deliverance,
dear Lord. So I pray, God, that you would help
that person to humble themselves before you today.
Follow Jesus Christ. God, maybe there are some
in this room today and they're yours and they
have trusted you. But maybe they're just in a
bad spot in their life. And maybe they have become
a little proud, dear Lord. And they have really
taught themselves to be wise. And man, they have
stumbled because of it. Maybe, dear Lord, there
are some of us in here and we just have not really
feared you. We just... have made you into something
that Scripture says you're not, dear Lord. We've
kind of tried to make and mold you into the God
we want you to be. But God, we have to read your
word and what it says is what it means and what
it says is what is true, dear Lord. And what
it says of you is true, God. So forgive us if
we have not feared you and humbled ourselves
before you. God, maybe there are some that have
really been struggling with with evil, with temptation,
with that sinful desire in their life. God, maybe
they've just been running to it too many times.
I pray, God, today that you would help them just
to stop running, to just turn around and run
the other direction, dear Lord, that they would
run toward you. God, I pray for healing today.
There are some, dear Lord, And in their spirit,
they are just sick and they are tired and they
are worn out. I pray, God, today that they would
just humble themselves before you, that they
would seek you, that they would call out to you.
That they would find healing in their souls today.
That they would find healing in their hearts
today. And I ask these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.