TO KEEP, PUT AWAY, AND WATCH

(Further reflections on “Inclination”—Sunday 23-Oct-2022)

I trust that all sincere believers want to be attentive to God’s word and incline their ear to His instructions. But for some reasons, some find it hard to implement and live it out. Perhaps, among many other reasons, lacking in some practical tips could be one of them. If this is you, here are some suggestions for living out Proverbs 4:20-27.

#1. TO INCLINE IS TO KEEP

a./ Keeping His word in your sight and heart Suggestions:

+ Using visual aids, from writing God’s word to yourself and sticking it on your fridge or bathroom mirror or putting them on the calendar on your phone or set reminders, treating God’s word as serious business meeting. + Using audio Bible, listen to worship songs, and sing to yourself. + Sharing God’s word to your friends, family members, church. It can be online or offline.

b./ Keeping the heart with all vigilance

Suggestions: + At the end of each day, spend 15 mins to ask yourself, how are you doing in the Lord? Check your spirit, soul (mind, will, and emotion), and body to see if they are aligned with God’s word (given you read and know His Word). + From time to time (can be monthly or quarterly), schedule a coffee fellowship with someone in church, who know you and whom you can trust, and ask them to give you an honest observation/assessment on how are you doing spiritually/emotionally/physically. + Read God’s word daily as you open your heart to the Spirit’s prompting/teaching moment. Try not to be defensive and do a ‘pep-talk’ and fool yourself by saying, “It’s okay. God knows my disobedience but I’m not ready to change or obey now.”

#2. TO INCLINE IS TO PUT AWAY

a./ Putting away crooked/devious speech/talk Suggestions: + Watch the words/phrases that come out of your mouth, especially when you are alone, especially when you are upset or sad or feeling lonely. + Observe and take note of your thinking and feeling patterns. Check whether they are worldly or godly. + Narrow down an area that you know your speech/talk is crooked/devious or ungodly and ask the Spirit to help you to take action by putting them away intentionally and repeatedly.

b./ Putting away “the lust of the eyes” (v. 24) Suggestions: + Guys, when you talk to young or not-so-young ladies regardless how their outfit, look at their face and not anywhere below their chin.

+ Girls, when you talk to guys (whether he has 6-packs or 1-pack), observe not his ‘physique’ but watch his “walk” to see if they match with his “talk.” + Children, don’t cry and ask your parents to buy what you really want in order to satisfy “the lust of the eyes” (e.g. envy—because your friends have it).

+ Do indulge yourself with movies online, especially when watching alone. If you’d like to watch a movie, ask some friends (should be more than two) to go to the cinema. This way, you can’t watch every day/week but rather occasionally when a good movie comes out. + When you surf the web or social media, do not be led astray by ‘enticing’ adverts or clips. Your brain, eyes, mind, emotion, will, and spirit will be ‘tainted or contaminated’ by the way of the world and not of Christ.

#.3 TO INCLINE IS TO WATCH

a./ Pondering your path

Suggestions:

+ Review how have you been doing or growing in the Lord in the last 3 or 6 months. Are there things in your life that need to be adjusted accordingly, so that you can be free from the bondage of sin or sins that easily entangle and be alive in God. + It might be good to review your web browsing history to see where you had been. If there were places that you know for sure that is not pleasing to the Lord, repent, pray, ask the Lord for forgiveness, and make necessary the adjustment and commitment. b./ Turning away from evil

Suggestions: + It might be good to keep a list of what is evil, according to the Bible in your mind or by printing out and sticking it somewhere in your house. You can start with these passages: Mark 7:20-23; Romans 1:29-32; Galatians 5:19-21.

+ Remind and commit yourself to turn away from those things.

+ Join our church’s prayer time, 8:00am (more up close and personal) and 8:45am (general and corporate)

#4. BENEFITS So what will I gain from doing the above? First and foremost, your relationship with the Lord and His Body—the church will be growing tremendously. You will experience a certain degree of healing and feel like living and not just existing. Anxiety/worry will be minimized as you begin to trust and obey God’s word and find security in Christ Jesus (and not in material things).

May we all learn and re-learn how to be attentive to God’s word and incline our ear to His instructions. May the Spirit help us. Amen.

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Pastor Lap