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God's Wisdom for Your Life

Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Abiding

Abiding in God means we trust in Him and live with our entire lives centered on our Lord. This is more than lip-service "faith"; it means putting our money where our mouths are when we face everyday difficulties. But we can't do this under our own power. God fills us with His Spirit so we can abide in Him. When life doesn't seem to be going in the right direction, abiding can be a real challenge. But we abide either in Christ or in something else. How we're living tells us and others where our lives are focused. Where is our trust today?

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."

John 15:4–5 NKJV

The branch of the vine does not worry and toil and rush here to seek for sunshine and there to find rain. No; it rests in union and communion with the vine; and at the right time, and in the right way, is the right fruit found on it. Let us so abide in the Lord Jesus.

Hudson Taylor

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1 NASB

They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.

Psalm 125:1 KJV

You may trust in the Lord too little, but you can never trust Him too much.

Anonymous

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.

John 14:16 KJV

Abiding in God changes our relationship with our fellow humans. We cannot keep our heads in the clouds as we walk with Jesus on earth. We must deal day by day with others and through our actions show them the love we have received.

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

1 John 2:10 KJV

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

1 John 3:6 KJV

As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

John 15:9–10 NKJV

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.

John 12:46 NKJV

Abiding is an active service of trust in God that demandsmuch of us but also provides us with untold blessings.

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:7–8 NKJV

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1 John 2:6 KJV

To abide with Christ—to stay with Him and to learn from Him—is to continually receive eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to obey.

Angela McGuffey

Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

1 John 3:24 NKJV

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 3:15 KJV

Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

2 John 1:9 NKJV

Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.

Oswald Chambers

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

1 John 2:28 KJV

Abortion

As Christians, we go against the flow of today's culture when we take a firm stand against abortion. But objecting to abortion is no mere quirk on the part of believers. Christians are called to live in a way that glorifies God, who made humanity in His own image and places a great value on each person. So highly did our heavenly Father value us that He sent His Son to die for us. Though some people may consider life cheap, God doesn't.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:27 KJV

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.

Ronald Reagan

In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:10 NIV

The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Job 33:4 NIV

You shall not murder.

Exodus 20:13 NIV

The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left but for me to kill you and you to kill me?

There is nothing between.

Mother Teresa

If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Exodus 21:22–24 NIV

The offspring of the woman, Jesus Christ, came into the world to save women who have dethroned God, taken His place, defined personhood as tissue, and willed the death of their own child. It can't be reversed, but it can be forgiven. That is why Christ died.

John Piper

Anyone who takes the life of a human being is to be put to death.

Leviticus 24:17 NIV

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:15–16 NIV

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5 NASB

Every man's life is a plan of God.

Horace Bushnell

For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

Luke 1:15 NASB

Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3–5 KJV

Addiction

Scripture does not mention many specific addictions, like gambling or drugs, but it clearly warns against overdrinking and sets forth principles that make it clear that believers should not engage in an addictive lifestyle.

Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.

Proverbs 23:20–21 NIV

If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Deuteronomy 21:18–21 NIV

But be on your guard. Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping. Otherwise, that Day is going to take you by complete surprise, spring on you suddenly like a trap, for it's going to come on everyone, everywhere, at once.

Luke 21:34–35 MSG

When any small adversity be falleth us, we are too quickly dejected and turn ourselves to human comforts. If we would endeavor, like men of courage, to stand in the battle, surely we should feel the favorable assistance of God from heaven.

Thomas À Kempis

Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy.

Romans 13:13 NIV

Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin."

John 8:34 NASB

Sin is a sovereign till sovereign grace dethrones it.

C. H. Spurgeon

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

Romans 8:12–14 NLT

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19–21 NLT

Drinking makes such fools of people and people are such fools to begin with that it's compounding a felony.

Robert Benchley

Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

Proverbs 20:1 NIV

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.

Romans 6:12 NLT

The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

1 Timothy 6:10 CEV

Gambling: the sure way of getting nothing for something.

Wilson Mizner

Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 5:18 NLT

Of all vices, drinking is the most incompatible with greatness.

Walter Scott

I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don't even eat with such people.

1 Corinthians 5:11 NLT

Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?

1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV

If the Son gives you freedom, you are free!

John 8:36 CEV

We yearn for a free life.

David Hawkins

Angels

Angels are God's messengers, and they appear in numerous places in scripture. Often they carried a message from the Lord to either Israel or an individual. Mary and Joseph were visited by an angel as God prepared them for the birth of His Son. The angel of the Lord appeared at critical times in Israel's history and was sometimes a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. Not only do angels appear in the Old and New Testaments, scripture describes their being with Jesus at the Last Judgment. Not all angels are heavenly though. Satan and his minions fell from heaven when Satan thought to make himself greater than God. Scripture clearly describes the awful eternal destiny of these fallen angels.

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

Exodus 14:19–20 NKJV

The angels are the dispensers and administrators of the Divine beneficence toward us; they regard our safety, undertake our defense, direct our ways, and exercise a constant solicitude that no evil befall us.

John Calvin

The angel of the Lord found Hagar beside a spring of water in the wilderness, along the road to Shur. The angel said to her, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress, Sarai," she replied. The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her authority." Then he added, "I will give you more descendants than you can count."

Genesis 16:7–10 NLT

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. Moses stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn't burn up.

Exodus 3:1–2 NLT

God's restoring servants, His heavenly messengers, have encouraged, sustained, and lifted the spirits of many flagging saints; and they have changed many hopeless circumstances into bright prospects.

Billy Graham

That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!

2 Kings 19:35 NIV

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

George Gordon, Lord Byron

Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Luke 1:11–17 NIV

The angels glorify; men scrutinize: angels raise their voices in praise; men in disputation: they conceal their faces with their wings; but man with a presumptuous gaze would look into Thine unspeakable Glory.

John Chrysostom

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus."

Luke 1:26–31 NKJV

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Matthew 1:20–21 NIV

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Luke 2:8–12 NIV

Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

Matthew 25:41 NIV

God did not have pity on the angels that sinned. He had them tied up and thrown into the dark pits of hell until the time of judgment.

2 Peter 2:4 CEV

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God's love.

Romans 8:38 NLT

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Excerpted from God's Wisdom for Your Life by Pamela L. McQuade. Copyright © 2011 Barbour Publishing, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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