A Scripture a Day...

Nehemiah 1:4-6​

"As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants..."

I take two things from this passage:
1) When Nehemiah heard the news that the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down and its gates had been burned by fire, he prayed, fasted, and mourned for 4 months! I am severely addicted to pornography and lustful actions; I use pornography and lustful action as an escape from stress and from my problems in life, rather than going to my father. One of the reasons we fast from something is to illustrate that it does not run our lives, but that our faith in God does, as was said by Jesus when he was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness (“It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"). Every time I overcome temptations from the evil one, I am fasting from my sin, and from the thing that so easily ran my life, and God is bringing me further from that sin and closer to Him.

2) That God gives good gifts to those who are good to Him. I think at the heart of overcoming sexual sin is accepting that God is good and satan is a liar, and the one thing that I have been asking myself in these moments of weakness is whether I trust that the pleasures satan offers are better than the gifts God offers.

 

We have escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap. The trap is broken, and we are free!
(Psalms 124:7)

Sometimes I think of that little bird, now free...
Free to fly anywhere... All manner of trees, rivers, mountains, different forests....

WE are that bird.

FREE!

How foolish for that little bird if he returned to the trap that ensnared him...
To gaze at the trap longingly...

Let's not even THINK about going anywhere NEAR that trap again.

 

Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His will.
That I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with Him forever in the next.

 

Proverbs 12:28

"In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death"​

 

I love this!!!

 

I love the wisdom books and their verses. Here are some encouraging verses from Sirach (New American Version) Ch. 2 v9-18

9 You who fear the LORD, hope for good things, for lasting joy and mercy.10 Study the generations long past and understand; has anyone hoped in the LORD and been disappointed? Has anyone persevered in his fear and been forsaken? has anyone called upon him and been rebuffed?11Compassionate and merciful is the LORD; he forgives sins, he saves in time of trouble.12 Woe to craven hearts and drooping hands, to the sinner who treads a double path!13Woe to the faint of heart who trust not, who therefore will have no shelter!14Woe to you who have lost hope! what will you do at the visitation of the LORD?15Those who fear the LORD disobey not his words; those who love him keep his ways.16Those who fear the LORD seek to please him, those who love him are filled with his law.17Those who fear the LORD prepare their hearts and humble themselves before him.18Let us fall into the hands of the LORD and not into the hands of men, For equal to his majesty is the mercy that he shows.

 

Proverbs 4:25-27
​

Let your eyes look directly forward,
and your gaze be straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.​

 

This is one of my favs!

 

This is the most impressive part of the verse in my opinion

 

1 Kings 19
​

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3 Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.

4 But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 5 And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat.” 6 And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.” 8 And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

 

Good to hear from you, my friend. I hope you are well.

 

Thank you for posting this! A very powerful and pertinent passage. Good work!

 

Peter is so great.