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NEEDING
GUIDANCE ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As you read the Scriptures, there are prayers inserted in
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Psalm 32 Dear God, I thank You for Your
promise to instruct and teach me in the way I should go. Enable me to
listen and walk in Your way. I thank you for You
will counsel me. Help me to obey.
Thank You for Your promise to watch over me. Proverbs 3 1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my
commands in your heart, 2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring
you prosperity. Dear Lord, help me to listen to
the counsel of my parents and elders and heed Your commandments they
have taught me, for my own blessing and long life. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them
around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight
of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not
on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make
your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and
shun evil. O Lord, help me to trust You with
all my heart and not trust in my own understanding, which the world
teaches me to do. Let me always acknowledge You
in all that I propose to do, and do. For You have promised to take care
of my ways and straighten them up for me. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment
to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the
firstfruits of all your crops; 10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and
your vats will brim over with new wine. 11 My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do
not resent his rebuke, 12 because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a
father the son he delights in. Dear Lord, when you rebuke me and
discipline me, let me not resent or keep grumbling. Though it may hurt,
let me realise that You chasten me as a father who loves his child. Only help me to go through the discipling even if it
hurts and learn the lesson You want to teach me. I
know I will be the better for it. 13 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who
gains understanding, 14 for she is more profitable than silver and yields
better returns than gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire
can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are
riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are
peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her;
those who lay hold of her will be blessed. Dear God, help me always to seek
wisdom and more of it from You. Without Your wisdom from above I will
be like a fool destroying myself. I thank
You for You have promised to give divine wisdom to all who ask of You,
without doubt or wavering. (Ja 1.5). Proverbs 4 1 Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay
attention and gain understanding. 2 I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my
teaching. 3 When I was a boy in my father's house, still tender,
and an only child of my mother, 4 he taught me and said, "Lay hold of my words with
all your heart; keep my commands and you will live. 5 Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my
words or swerve from them. 6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you. 7 Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it
cost all you have, get understanding. 8 Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and
she will honor you. 9 She will set a garland of grace on your head and
present you with a crown of splendor." 10 Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of
your life will be many. 11 I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along
straight paths. 12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when
you run, you will not stumble. 13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it
well, for it is your life. 14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in
the way of evil men. 20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely
to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within
your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health
to a man's whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the
wellspring of life. 24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt
talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze
directly before you. 26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways
that are firm. 27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your
foot from evil. Lord, let my eyes be straight and
let me look on You alone all the time. Let me
not take my eyes off You and look at evil and vanity. Proverbs 5 1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to
my words of insight, 2 that you may maintain discretion and your lips may
preserve knowledge. 3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her
speech is smoother than oil; 4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a
double-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight
to the grave. 6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths
are crooked, but she knows it not. 7 Now then, my sons, listen to me; do not turn aside
from what I say. 8 Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door
of her house, 9 lest you give your best strength to others and your
years to one who is cruel, 10 lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil
enrich another man's house. 11 At the end of your life you will groan, when your
flesh and body are spent. 12 You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart
spurned correction! 13 I would not obey my teachers or listen to my
instructors. 14 I have come to the brink of utter ruin in the midst
of the whole assembly." 15 Drink water from your own cistern, running water
from your own well. 16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your
streams of water in the public squares? 17 Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with
strangers. 18 May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in
the wife of your youth. 19 A loving doe, a graceful deer-- may her breasts
satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. 20 Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress? Why
embrace the bosom of another man's wife? 21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD, and
he examines all his paths. 22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him; the
cords of his sin hold him fast. 23 He will die for lack of discipline, led astray by
his own great folly. Dear Lord, You watch my ways and
see my path. Let me not stray from Your
commandments. Let me be faithful to the wife of
my youth and see the beauty in her. Let me not
be bewitched by the beauty or charm of other women, who may be young and attractive. Proverbs 6 1 My son,
if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands
in pledge for another, 2 if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared
by the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you
have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press
your plea with your neighbor! 4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your
eyelids. 5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the
hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Lord, You have taught me not to
stand surety for even my neighbours. Sometimes
it is hard. There are times when I myself need
surety! Teach me what to do in any given
situation and save me from distress. 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and
be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers
its food at harvest. 9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will
you get up from your sleep? 10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding
of the hands to rest-- 11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit and
scarcity like an armed man. Dear God, let me not be lazy and
wasting my time and life. Help me to heed Your Word, “Whatever
your hand finds to do, do with your might” (Eccl 9.10). 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are
detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed
innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are
quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who
stirs up dissension among brothers. Dear Lord, help me to hate
whatever You hate and please You in all things. 20 My son, keep your father's commands and do not
forsake your mother's teaching. 21 Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them
around your neck. 22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep,
they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. 23 For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a
light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, Dear God, You have taught me many
times to heed the discipline and counsel of my
father and mother. Help me to do it, especially when they are godly
parents with the wisdom of their age. It is
difficult to understand and accept their counsel for they are
old-fashioned and they do not even understand the ways of today! But
Your Word I must obey. 24 keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth
tongue of the wayward wife. 25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let
her captivate you with her eyes, 26 for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread,
and the adulteress preys upon your very life. 27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his
clothes being burned? 28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being
scorched? 29 So is he who sleeps with another man's wife; no one
who touches her will go unpunished. 30 Men do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy
his hunger when he is starving. 31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though
it costs him all the wealth of his house. 32 But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment;
whoever does so destroys himself. 33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will
never be wiped away; 34 for jealousy arouses a husband's fury, and he will
show no mercy when he takes revenge. 35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse
the bribe, however great it is. Dear Lord, keep my eyes from
straying and looking at other women and admiring their beauty and charm. Keep my eyes straight and my ways and actions pure
and holy. Help me to obey Your commandment not to commit adultery in
thought or action. Amen. |