by Pastor Ayo Sparks
So briefly, 3 lessons I learnt from Proverbs 3…
LESSON ONE: It is Wisdom to Trust…
Proverbs 3:5-6 KJVA | Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine OWN UNDERSTANDING. In all thy ways ACKNOWLEDGE him, and he shall direct thy paths.
The average person’s reflex action is to go with what the physical eyes can see and the mind can perceive, the thing about that is that it isn’t a problem until the individual leans on it. What does it mean to lean on? It is to derive support or to pin one’s faith… In other words, to trust…
So the problem begins when attach faith on your understanding. To attach faith on your understanding is to derive support from your capability and skills… You think the best thing to do is what you have skill for? You are leaning on your understanding. You think you can start a church because you can speak English? Definitely you are leaning on your understanding… You are Funke and want to marry Kunle because he is yoruba and he owns his house but reject Chinedu because he is Igbo and still upcoming? You are deriving support and trusting in your understanding and perceptions…
There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death. | Proverbs 16:25
I love the fact that Solomon told us how to trust in the Lord! Most Christians just say it “I trust you Lord”, are you, really? It’s in the next verse…
In all thy ways ACKNOWLEDGE him
I have been thinking all along that to acknowledge in this verse is the same with normal English which is to recognize or accept a truth until I studied the Hebrew word used here… The word takes us back to the Hebrew verb “Yada” which is TO KNOW… This isn’t the usual recognize his presence and the cliches that come with it… IT IS TO KNOW HOW HE LEADS…
Why? Is it possible to trust someone when you don’t know how he leads? Here’s the reason why God loved David dearly…
Psalm 23:2-4 | HE MAKETH me to lie down in green pastures: HE LEADETH ME beside the still waters. HE RESTORETH MY soul: HE LEADETH ME in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…
I am not sure you got this…Look at it again… He MAKETH me… He LEADETH me… He RESTORETH me… All this is what the Lord is doing… THE GOOD STUFF! …good pastures… …still waters… …refreshing… …paths of righteousness…
…but when it came to the valley of the shadow of death, David himself knew that it wasn’t God who led him that path… He said, THOUGH I WALK… of my own volition, when I trust in my own intellect, skill, ability and qualifications, it is the valley of the shadow of death… Well! God is still faithful, God is still there to rescue me…
We gotta know how the Lord leads, IT IS IN KNOWING THAT YOU ARE TRUSTING. You’d say… Father thank you because you are helping me make right choices… Thank you for guiding my heart to choose the partner and to love the right person… Thank you for making me pick up the right job offer… Thank you Father in Jesus name. …and everybody says… Amen
LESSON 2: It is Wisdom to Give…
Proverbs 3:9-10 KJVA | Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
In Hebrew, the word Honor here is kabbed which is used as a command, instruction, counsel or exhortation. Kabbed is to have a feeling of appreciation. Substitute this in the verse would be: Appreciate the Lord with your Substance
You know, when I started The LightHill City Christian Centre, I told some people who said the Lord was leading them to be part of the work that this work is a work of diligence to scripture and of faith in the Lord. Which implies that we are not a tithes and first fruits collecting church… God told them to join, but I haven’t seen them since… We are in our second year now and the Lord has been faithful especially with the multiple campuses in Lagos.
However, someone asked me a vital question… The scripture says Honor the Lord… How do you want people to be blessed if they can’t Honor him with their substance?
My answer: Well, the verse didn’t say Honor the Lord with your tithe… It said with your Substance… Secondly, if the word honor means to show appreciation them it means that the motive for your giving shouldn’t be returns. Many Christians give God on the basis of what he will give back not on the basis of Honor. We don’t give them Him because we want more; we give because he is good.
Now, this is what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart. Every giving births returns… But the giving that makes the barns full and new wine burst open to the overflow is giving on the basis of appreciation. That’s why Paul instructed, don’t give out of compulsion or coercion, the Lord loves a cheerful giver. [Listen to our Sermons on the AMOUNT here]. It is impossible for the Lord to love and not give… It is his nature… For the Lord loves the world so much that he gave his only begotten son… How much more will he not give us all things…
Have you been giving to the Gospel of Grace? If not, start today, because this is you giving to what the Lord Loves and as you give in appreciation of the Gospel, he will take care of your needs and still cause you to overflow abundantly…
2 Corinthians 9:8 NET | And God is able to make all grace overflow to you so that because you have enough of everything in every way at all times, you will overflow in every good work.
You see… When God raises your income, you Honor him with the first fruits of your increase not by raising your standard of living but by raising your standard of giving…
Father thank you for every financial blessing… Thank you for the increase in my income… Thank you because I have a generous spirit… I confess, I AM A CHEERFUL GIVER. AMEN!
I also want to quickly talk about the chastening of the Lord. Many people think that the chastening of the Lord means “Punishment”. But rather it means DISCIPLINE. In punishment, God is judge; but in discipline, God is father. In punishment, the object is the enemy; in discipline, the object is his child. In punishment, condemnation is the goal; in discipline, righteousness is the goal. So it is not an angry God judging His enemy with condemnation, it is a loving Father disciplining His children under righteousness… and so when we are disciplined, God has to rebuke us or chasten us, it is not that we are paying for our sins. It is that we are learning that we are not to do that again, because our sins have all been paid for.
There was a therefore now no condemnation (punishment)…
I hope that blessed you?
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