Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. 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. – Proverbs 4:23-27 ESV

Warrior;
God here is giving us instructions. From the study of Logotherapy, Dr. Viktor Frankl taught us that man has a will to meaning. Man is programmed to find meaning in everything. Why? Why does God allow evil to exist, why does God allow good people to go through bad things, why do bad people seem to prosper. Why is God allowing so much wickedness to be allowed in America, why am I struggling so much when I just want to honor you? Why, Why, Why? We have a will to meaning, we want to connect dots and figure things out. The reason we want to figure things out is because we want to find a pattern. Patterns make things easier.

Leader, in our brain we have something that is called the Basil Ganglia, it is the pattern center of the unconscious brain, and it’s job is to get us into a habit, as quick as possible. A habit is something we start doing consciously at the beginning and then we continue to do it unconsciously. A pastor once told me, “The best thing I did for my walk with God is I put my shoes under my bed. Every morning when I woke up, I would have to get on my knees to remove my shoes from under my bed. Every night before I went to bed, I had to get on my knees to put my shoes under my bed.” This pastor wanted to put a “program” in place that made sure he was on his knees 2 times a day so he could be with his Lord. God wants us to HUNGER and THIRST for Him. To be after HIS HEART! Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me… Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path… I have put my hope in Your word. (Psalm 119:97-98,105,114)

Conduit, the Bible is written to answer the WHY questions, but it also lists the HOW answers. However, because man is wicked-The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 1:21)- We really want to answer these questions so we can put God on AUTO PILOT, figure out God and do the pattern and put a big CHECK MARK on GOD! God does not want to be a CHECKED BOX! So God wants us to have FAITH! The book of Habakkuk is all about the WHY QUESTION, and God answers it: “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith”. This verse is so important, it is quoted 3 times in the Bible! “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) With all that said, the book of Proverbs answers some of the HOW questions and proverbs 4, here covers the HEART, BODY and SOUL. How are we to live for GOD…? With all you have; Eyes, ears, lips, thoughts, hands, feet…! He tells us what to look at, how to walk, what to think, what to say, and where to go, AND how to do it ALL- to the Glory of God! And after all that, HAVE FAITH, because GOD IS IN CONTROL and Jesus has the BILL, He has PAID IT ALL!