Biblical Truth for Practical Living 2

The Bible is the Word of God for you. It is there to bring you back into relationship with your Creator. But the Bible is also a practical book with not only eternal significance but with day to day practical advice and insight.

2 Kings 13
" Now Elisha was suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him. Elisha said, "Get a bow and some arrows," and he did so. 16 "Take the bow in your hands," he said to the king of Israel. When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. "Open the east window," he said, and he opened it. "Shoot!" Elisha said, and he shot. "The LORD's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram!" Elisha declared. "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek." Then he said, "Take the arrows," and the king took them. Elisha told him, "Strike the ground." He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, "You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times." OR You halfhearted little wimp! You weak-wristed little whiner! You don't have the passion to succeed. Without passion you will never make a life that is more than a dead end job.

"Elisha died and was buried" OR THIS is the most important thing I'm teaching you and you wimped out. Put intensity into your actions!

Psalm 119
"Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." OR I have enough light to see only one step, but I trust that when I have taken that step I will have light enough to see the next.
"I have sworn it and I will perform it" OR I have said it, my word is my bond, and I will make sure to do the thing I have said. NEVER say "I really didn't MEAN it when I said that." Choose your words carefully for the connection between what you say and what you do is the stuff character is built on. Your words are powerful!

Matthew 7
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock." OR look carefully at the thoughts and ideas that make up the foundation of your thinking. When people question you and your beliefs make sure you are able to defend them. If you can't then you have not spent enough time on your foundation. If you don't establish that foundation you will be blown around by every blow-hard and juicy-thought out there.

"But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and teh winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." OR NOT having the firm foundation of beliefs will cause a CRASH. You wonder why you crash and burn so often? It is because you don't have conviction in your foundational beliefs. A consistent atheist is stronger than an inconsistent Christian.