Guard Your Heart (Part 2)

Guard Your Heart (Part 2)

Yesterday I challenged you to join me in reading a chapter in Proverbs daily. It's really easy to remember -- read the chapter that corresponds to the day's date. In case you forget, I always include it at the bottom of each day's Freedom Fighter.

I want to share Chapter 7 with you from THE MESSAGE (Nav Press). As my "now-with-the-Lord-friend," Dr B used to say: "This is a text that preaches!"

Dear friend, do what I tell you;
treasure my careful instructions.
Do what I say and you will live well.
My teaching is a precious as your eyesight -- guard it!
Write it on the back of your hands;
etch it on the chambers of your heart.
Talk to Wisdom as a sister.
Treat Insight as your companion.
They'll be with you to fend off the Temptress--
That smooth-talking, honey Seductress.

As I stood at the window of my house
looking out through the shutters,
Watching the mindless crowd stroll by,
I spotted a young man without any sense
Arriving at the corner of the street where she lived,
then turning up the path to her house.
It was dusk, the evening coming on,
the darkness thickening into the night.
Just then, a woman met him --
she'd been lying in wait for him, dressed to seduce hm.
Brazen and brash she was,
restless and roaming, never at home.
Walking the street, loitering in the mall,
hanging out at every corner in town.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him,
boldly took his arms and said,
"I've got all the makings for a feast --
today I made my offerings. my vows are paid,
So now I've come to find you,
hoping to catch sight of your face -- and here you are!
I've spread fresh clean sheets on my bed,
colorful imported linens.
My bed is aromatic with spices
and exotic fragrances.
Come, let's make love all night,
spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking!
My husband's not home; he's away on business,
and he won't be back for a month.

Soon she has him eating out of her hand,
bewitched by her honeyed speech.
Before you know it, he's trotting behind her,
life a calf led to the butcher shop,
Like a stag lured into ambush,
and then shot with an arrow,
Like a bird flying into a net
not knowing that its flying life is over.

So, friends, listen to me,
take these words of mine most seriously.
Don't fool around with a woman like that;
don't even stroll through her neighborhood,
Countless victims come under her spell;
She's the death of many a poor man.
She runs a halfway house to hell,
fits you out with a shroud and a coffin.

I will make some comments tomorrow, but my guess is that this chapter doesn't need much commentary for us ... does it? The truth is pretty simple! As men, we need to guard our hearts. -- Bill Welte is President and CEO of America's KESWICK

God's WORD for US: Proverbs 9; Daniel 11-12; Jude

Great Quote: We have a God who delights in impossibilities. Andrew Murray