Proverbs 31:3 (KJV)Lessons for Men

Proverbs 31:3 (KJV)

Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.

It’s worth noting that the king’s mother is the one teaching him the truths found in this chapter of Proverbs. Among the lessons we find:

Don’t give your strength to women 
Vs 3
This implies the importance of not fixating on romantic relationships with the opposite sex before marriage, especially during career training and youth. Many young individuals, both boys and girls, end up with emotional scars that can last a lifetime due to unhealthy relationships during their youth.

Don’t waste your life on booze
Vs 4-7
It exists for medicinal uses, but it is abused in every other way. A mother’s heart breaks when it happens. 

Be thoughtful and compassionate 
Vs 8-9
It would be the mom who wishes her son to be known for fairness and compassion. 

Find a virtuous woman
Vs 10-31
Nothing burdens a mother more than the desire for her son to find and marry the right kind of woman. She, perhaps better than anyone, understands both the potential for goodness and the capacity for wrongdoing that can exist in women.

#Proverbs31 #YouthfulWisdom #MotherlyAdvice #anthropology #marriage
Lessons for Men in Proverbs 31: Strength, Compassion, and Virtue

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
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Proverbs 31:3 (KJV)Lessons for Men

Proverbs 25:15 (KJV) More Than Meets the Ear

Proverbs 25:15 (KJV)

By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me.” This cute and familiar little quip is yet another proof of how opposite and wrong the wisdom of man is from that of the Word of God.

The Word of God clearly teaches the power of the word – even the soft one to “break the bone.”

I am aware that the context indicates the soft tongue is a polite word, meant as an appeal to the prince. Humility, submission, a meek and quiet spirit, are much more likely to win the favor of the judge than a confrontational and rude manner.

Nevertheless, the passage holds true, and our experience support, that words – even soft ones – can break bones. My wife, a schoolteacher, uses a lowered voice, very soft words, to express her seriousness in the classroom. Students know when she speaks quietly, they had better listen. 

Negatively I know several people who never raise their voice but the words they speak can be as damaging as sharp pricks, causing extreme hurt and harm.

Never underestimate the power of the word.

Take care to insure yours are “seasoned with grace.”[1]

#powerofwords #wisdomofspeech #choosewordscarefully #wordscanhurt #gracefulspeech

More Than Meets the Ear: Words Matter

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[1] Colossians 4:6 (KJV)
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverbs 25:15 (KJV) More Than Meets the Ear

Proverb 22:8 (KJV) Parenting with Purpose

Proverbs 22:8 (KJV)
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

Way back in 1990 my family made a missions trip to Mexico. It was enlightening in a number of ways. The church I pastored was afraid I would come back to proclaim God had called me to be a missionary there. The people in the churches in Mexico kept asking me to come be a missionary there. But I was never so happy to leave a place as then. Mexico had several problems that have only gotten worse. One of the things we observed was the lack of discipline of children. Literally, we had to ask for toilet paper whenever we went to the restroom. They did not leave toilet paper in the restrooms because the children would waste it all. Traffic signs and speed limits were useless there because no one would obey them anyway. We were told if a car wreck happened everyone went to jail until someone paid for it. Examples of the lack of discipline were everywhere. 

Reflecting on this experience, it struck me that the nation could undergo a transformation within a single generation if parents learned how to discipline their children. 

Fast forward to the present, and it seems that America is grappling with some of the same issues that Mexico faced back then. My belief in the importance of disciplining our children has only grown stronger.

Proverbs 22:15 (KJV)
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

I did not say it. God did. The proper way to discipline a child is with a rod and not with a “time out.”  A good spanking leaves an impression on the child but it’s over when it’s over, the parent and the child can reconcile and lovingly move on. Time out just gives the kid, and the parent, time to stew on their disagreement.

Regardless of your personal beliefs, the Biblical guidance for discipline is to employ “the rod of correction.“

But notice, “the rod of his anger shall fail.”
The rod of correction is not a rod of anger. Discipline administered in anger is ineffective and wrong. It will fail in its purpose. A parent must discipline their children, but they must learn to do it purposefully and with great love and humility, not in anger. Preachers joking about the thrashings they got do not help. It sends the wrong message.

We must encourage young parents to consistently, lovingly, deliberately discipline their children, to use the rod of correction but to never use the rod of anger.

#Parenting #ChildDiscipline #Proverbs22:15 #LovingCorrection #FamilyValues

Parenting with Purpose: The Path to Effective Discipline

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverb 22:8 (KJV) Parenting with Purpose

Proverbs 21:8 (KJV) The Way of Man

Proverbs 21:8 (KJV)

The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.

The way of man
It does not appear there is a distinction between one man or the other,

• The Jewish man or the Gentleman
• The spiritual man or the pagan man
• The religious man or the heathen man
• The wealthy man or the poor man
• The educated man or the illiterate man
• The working man of the gentleman
• The blue-collar man or the white-collar man
• The moral man or the immoral man
• The good man or the bad man
• The famous man or the infamous man

This passage merely says, “the way of man.”

Man, in every position, is froward. He is willful and strange. He is opposed to God.

But as for the pure
On first thought we might apply this to perhaps the saved man. Admittedly salvation changes him positionally and relationally, but it does not change his fleshly nature until he reaches eternity. I’ve met plenty of Christians- I guesstimate all of them-who were “froward and strange.”

I conclude, as does John Gill, that “the pure” speaks of God Himself. “God is pure, purity itself, in comparison of whom nothing is pure; and his work in creation, providence, and grace, is right…”

God alone is pure
Whatever may be pure in a man is God in him.

#TheWayOfMan #HumanNature #PurevsFroward #ManAndGod #DivinePurity

The Way of Man: What It Reveals About Us

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverbs 21:8 (KJV) The Way of Man

Proverbs 20:6 (KJV) Why Faithful Men Are So Rare

Proverbs 20:6 (KJV)

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?

Most men
The following is true of most men. The lesson, at least in part, is to avoid the mistake of thinking we are not like most men.

Most men will proclaim…his own goodness
We’ll justify ourselves. We’ll see ourselves as above the rest. 

• It’s not our driving that’s reckless, it’s the other guy. 
• It’s not our actions that cause problems, it’s the other guy. 

Most men will excuse themselves. They will find cause for their actions, even if not the highest. There is some reason it is ok for them to be different than most men.

Most men think they are not like most men.

But a faithful man
In the context “faithful” almost certainly means “faithful to the truth that he is like most men.” A faithful man is the one who sees he must examine himself whether he be in the faith. Most men either assume they are (in the faith) or don’t care one way or the other. A faithful man cares and does not assume. 

• A faithful man acknowledges he is not good. 
• A faithful man hides in the only source of true goodness, Jesus Christ. 
• A faithful man humbly leaves it to others to proclaim any goodness he might have.

Who can find?
It is rare indeed to find a faithful man.

#SelfReflection #TrueGoodness #HumbleFaith #RareVirtues #BeingFaithful

Why Faithful Men Are So Rare: Are You One of Them?

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverbs 20:6 (KJV) Why Faithful Men Are So Rare?

Proverbs 15:11 (KJV) Straight Talk on Free Will

Proverbs 15:11 (KJV)

Hell and destruction are before the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?

I’m thinking right now of King Zedekiah, before whom the king of Babylon killed his sons and then put out his eyes. I can’t imagine the horror of having the last thing you see be the death of your children, and then having to live with that vision.

Consider our ever-living, all-knowing, and all-seeing God, before whom hell and destruction never depart. Far from hiding from the view of such suffering, God, who is everywhere at once, chooses to allow the terrible view of hell to remain eternally before Him. He does not rejoice in the suffering of the lost. Neither does He turn His back and ignore it.

So much more, He studies the hearts of the children of men and desires that they should come to repentance. Some complain that if God is all-powerful, why did He allow evil to exist, and why doesn’t He force people to comply with goodness? The very people who make those complaints would hate it the most if He did. They would then be slaves, robots, trapped in a situation where they did what was right because there was no other option. And they wouldn’t have chosen that option had it been possible.

God is not helpless. He is wise. He is patient. He is all love and all good. And He gives each of us the free will to choose whichever path we please. 

• He has given us directions for the strait path, 
• He has provided examples for the strait path, 
• He has unlocked the gate to the strait path and 
• He has shown us the consequences of choosing the broad path

But He will not herd us like cattle onto the strait path.

And so, hell and destruction remain forever before Him, as are the hearts of the children of men. He longs for those hearts to choose Him and everlasting life.

#GodsWisdom #FreeWillChoice #SeekRepentance #EternalVision #TheNarrowPath

Straight Talk on Free Will: Hell, Redemption, and the Road Less Traveled

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverbs 15:11 (KJV) Straight Talk on Free Will

Proverbs 10:7 (KJV) Echoes of History: Memory’s Tale

Proverbs 10:7 (KJV)

The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

Here’s an example.
George Washington
In Washington’s lifetime, he commanded such respect that the Continental Congress knew of no man they would trust the Continental Army to besides him. Washington wasn’t the only person who wanted the task. Some historians even say he did not want it. John Hancock lobbied for it. But everyone knew the risk. Should the colonies win, the commander-in-chief might declare himself king – and have an army to enforce it.

Washington was of such character that, upon victory, he resigned his office, and the King of England, upon hearing that, said he was as righteous as rumored. When Washington died, England and France were at war. A ceasefire was called by both sides to mourn the loss of such a man as Washington.

Benedict Arnold
In stark contrast, Arnold’s name has gone down in infamy. Neither the Americans he had betrayed nor the British, to whose side he had defected, had any respect for him. The British, naturally, exploited his defection, but he was never held as a hero in their nation.

Our world is inherently unjust. It is a place where good people are often unfairly maligned and mistreated, and where evil individuals can sometimes ascend to positions of power and wealth. However, the destinies of both the virtuous and the wicked ultimately lead to the same inevitable conclusion – death. In the grand scheme of eternity, the memory of the good will forever shine brighter than that of the wicked.

#GeorgeWashington #AmericanRevolution #BenedictArnold #CharacterMatters #EternalLegacy #Proverbs10

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6200 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Proverbs 10:7 (KJV) Echoes of History: Memory’s Tale