Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #127

Correction

Wise Words 1

Proverbs 15

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 5) "A fool spurn's his father's discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence." (v. 10) "Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path; he who hates correction will die." (v. 32) "He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding."

My Thoughts

Hey everyone, so first I want to say that I am feeling better than before. If you saw my last post earlier today, then you will know what I am talking about. If you didn't, then you can read it here. I was honestly going to delete that post, but I thought that that might seem really horrible and possibly send the wrong message, you know? I'm not ashamed of it, and I still do feel somewhat the same, but I had a great night, which definitely came from God, so I feel better.

So, on to today's Bible reading, which is extremely late. Proverbs is hard to look at say "This is Proverbs 15 says to me." because each chapter of Proverbs has a bunch of different (mostly) things in it that don't necessarily go directly together, so I thought I'd take a few that were similar from one chapter and do a post on that.

Proverbs 15 has three verses that really stood out to me at this particular time. They all have to do with heeding correction. It is definitely important for us to do so. Remember when I talked about this with Moses' father in law? It was kinda similar at least. That was in Bible reading #115. That was more specifically on advice, but it is still very similar to this.

None of us are perfect and we all make mistakes. Everyone is really good at something and really weak at something, sometimes multiples either way. If someone sees you struggling with something or doing something wrong or inefficiently and they come up to help you, don't take offense to it. Again, obviously, your reaction is going to differ depending on the person's manner, and I talked about this quite a bit in #115.

If someone comes to you and says "Hey, I see you struggling with this. I think you could improve by doing this." then it's probably fine. As I said in the other post, we should always at least listen to what the person has to say before we disregard them. The same goes for when you go up to someone.

Tell the person that this is what you see, this is what you noticed, I would do this, see if that helps. It works better if you have experience with that particular thing so that you can give testimony of your own experiences. That's what I always do.

It is also important for us to seek out correction. None of us are perfect and we can always improve on something. So if you are really wanting to improve on something, seek out someone who has experience with it and ask them for advice, tips and to correct you. You may be considered a 'master' with something, in which case, that's fine, other people may come to you for advice! Just don't ever lie to yourself that you are perfect with it. Think back to how you got to that point. It didn't just magically happen, you had to work at it, even if it came quickly, you still made mistakes and worked to correct them.

It's important for us to admit that we are not perfect and that sometimes we need help or advice or correction.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #115

Advice

Exodus 18

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 17) "Moses' father-in-law replied, 'What you are doing is not good." (v. 19) "Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him." (v. 24) "Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said."

My Thoughts

It can be hard to accept advice from others sometimes. You don't think that you're doing anything wrong, or maybe you like how you're doing it already. Maybe it's the person giving you advice, and you see that they really aren't any better, so who are they to talk, right? No matter the reason, at least let the person say what they want to say before you write them or their advice off.

Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, gave him some advice on how he was running things, dealing with the people's disputes. He started out quite harsh too, saying "What you are doing is not good." Straight and to the point. He could've started a little nicer instead of being so harsh, but the main thing is that his attitude and intentions were not rude or harsh or arrogant. That is something that, unfortunately, is not so true for a lot of people today.

I'm sure that Moses knew Jethro was trying to help. Sometimes it's hard to know that though, so at the very least, listen to the advice someone gives you, maybe try it, and then if you really don't agree with it, you don't have to keep it. Also, if you're going to ask someone for advice, then you definitely should listen, unless you know or find that it was bad advice. I've had people ask me what my advice is on things, and then completely ignore it. Don't be that person, unless it was bad advice.

Moses listened and did everything that his father-in-law said because it was good advice, and definitely was better than what Moses was doing previously. We should have his attitude about receiving advice from others because we may think that what we're doing is good or best, but maybe it actually isn't. That's why we should listen to what someone says before we write them off.

Be more willing to accept advice from people this week, even if you don't like the person or the manner with which they give you advice, just be more willing to listen to them, then make a decision afterward. Maybe even ask someone for advice for something that you know you struggle a bit with.

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #93

Ask

1 Chronicles 14

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 9-10) "Now the Philistines had come and raided the valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of God: 'Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?' The Lord answered him, 'Go, I will hand them over to you.' " (v. 13-15) "Once more the Philistines raided the valley; so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, 'Do not go straight up, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you her the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.' "

My Thoughts

Sometimes we just want to do things on our own. Especially when we're younger. Older kids just want independence, younger kids don't want to be alone. When we're adults, we think we should be able to do things on our own without anyone's help. Sometimes we are wrong.

Everyone needs help sometimes, and there is absolutely no shame in that, no matter what it is for. In fact, it is a good thing to ask for help when you need it. It shows that you aren't arrogant and can make others like less intimidated by you.

David, the king of Israel, who had won so many battles and done so much, needed help. David knew that he was not perfect an that God knows best. When David wasn't sure of something, he asked God. In this case here, we see that David asks God if he should go and attack the Philistines or not. "Will you give them over to me?" He asks. We should all have the same mentality, not necessarily with the same situation.

There are some people that think they shouldn't make any decisions for themselves, but that for everything, they should be asking God. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but God doesn't want us to be mindless robots either. He gave us freewill of choice for a reason, and He will not overstep that either. Other people don't want God to have any say in their life. What we really need is a good balance between the two.

When you are really unsure of something, ask God. Give it to Him and ask for His advice and what He wants you to do. There are many times when we really need advice. If we are not in our right mind to make any choices because we are angry or depressed or even extremely happy, we can end up making choices that are not necessarily the best at the time. Other times, asking for that advice save us. It saves us time or money or other things. Think if you didn't know the directions to someplace (and you don't have a map or GPS) and you wanted to find it on your own. You'd probably waste a lot of time, not to mention gas. If you asked for advice, however, you wouldn't.

Hey, asking God for advice on something just gives us another thing to talk to God about! Talking with God is so awesome, so whenever I have anything that I want to talk to Him about, tell Him or ask Him, it's actually very good for me because I get to spend more time with Him. God loves that so much, and I hope you do as well! I know I do!

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!