by Sadie Robertson Huff | Apr 8, 2019 | Featured, Sisterhood, Testimonies |
We’ve had the most incredible responses from last week’s episode of the “WHOA That’s Good” podcast with Elisabeth Hasselbeck! The wisdom shared in this conversation is one that deserves pen to paper!
We are bringing ALL the gold for you on the blog today.
For those of you who don’t know Elisabeth, she is a former cohost on The View, a contestant on the TV show Survivor, and author of her brand, new book, Point of View.
Sadie referred to her as “Tinkerbell in human form.” She simply carries so much joy.
Elisabeth is asked the question Sadie asks all of her guests, “What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?”
Elisabeth shared about the relationship she had with her dad. At a young age, she was self-diagnosed with FOLPD, aka “Fear of Letting People Down.” Her father knew this about Elisabeth and often encouraged her with this truth: “I see you. I know you. Go show them.”
This gave her a baseline understanding of how God saw her. It also served as a reminder that she is to show God’s love reflecting off of her.
God tells us, “I see you. I know you. Go show them.”
WHOA That’s Good!
Another strong woman, Maria Goff, was mentioned in the episode. One of Elisabeth’s favorite pieces of advice came from her: “Sometimes when you’re looking for an answer to a prayer you’ve prayed, God sends a friend.”
There’s a beautiful connection.
Elisabeth looked back and saw God’s provision and protection over her through the people He has sent into her life. What a sweet picture of God’s love through community!
Elisabeth encouraged Sadie to be a mentor in her own life. She profoundly said, “Don’t always look up. You can look over and to the generations around you.”
WHOA That’s Good!
In her new book, Point of View, Elisabeth shares about her experience on the TV show, Survivor.
Elisabeth described it as being life changing, but goes on to say it was heart changing as well.
She knew she needed the word of God in her life, but something surprising on the TV show let her know how much she needed it. Roger Bingham, one of her fellow Survivor players, ended up being a good friend who taught Elisabeth how to fish and build a fire. But, the most important thing he taught her was it would be her faith that would see her though the tough days of Survivor.
While Elisabeth brought a headdress as her survival item, Roger brought his bible. She says, “His survival item, in a time where we had no shelter, gave him a shelter.”
In her book, Elisabeth says, “Our alliance with one another was built on our alliance on God.” Elisabeth knows God sent Rodger to show her the importance of getting into God’s word and using it to shelter her and protect her.
WHOA That’s Good!
The show was one of the first times that Elisabeth really depended on the words of God to get her through the day. This began a hunger for the Word in a new way.
This continued to carry her through her seasons on The View. It was a completely different scenario, but the survival guide was the same.
The Word is the best kind of survival guide. It always delivers the best point of view. Reading God’s word in the morning is a crucial survival step.
“Read the good news before the hard news,” said Elisabeth.
During another season on Fox and Friends, Elisabeth would wake up at 2:30 in the morning so she could read her bible before her day would begin. She knew she needed to be grounded in God’s truth before the news of the day flooded her mind.
In a world that is flooding us with really tough news, we need to be grounded in what God says about us and what He says about this world. Elisabeth did an amazing job pointing us to this truth.
WHOA That’s Good!
Sadie and Elisabeth talked about a “joyful busy” and how to keep an attitude of optimism in the Lord’s work knowing that His promises are true.
Isaiah 40:31 says, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Paul also says in Galatians 6:9, “Don’t grow weary in doing good.”
We can keep a joyfully busy spirit when we understand that “obedience sometimes looks like waiting.” God can always see what we cannot see and what we think is “waiting,” God is calling character building. When we trust that God follows through, we can persevere in the waiting.
Elisabeth went on to talk about relationships. She explained what it looked like to love her co-host, Whoopie Goldberg, while hosting The View. Elisabeth explains that, “We don’t think the same, but we love the same.”
What a challenging thought.
“How did you live that out and look past the differences?” Sadie asked.
Elisabeth said the answer is “looking at others through the lens of love.” When it comes to relationships, she says it this way in her book, “…we decided that being right with each other would require being a little more wrong. Wrong enough to give someone the right of way.”
God delights in the way we love, not in the way we are right. Trying to always be right is exhausting and never a good way to develop meaningful relationships.
We don’t want to be so “right” in our relationships, that we are “wrong” (in our behavior) with the people we love.
WHOA, That’s Good!
What we stand for as believers is important, but not more important than the God we stand under together. This is God’s “ask” of us. This is what we’re fighting for. To simply surrender to God’s will.
Truth is, we are never going to always get this right. Elisabeth relates surrender and forgiveness in this process of love in relationships.
For a long time, “Forgiveness math” for Elisabeth looked like this:
Forgiveness from me= you saying you’re sorry.
The problem with the “equation” is that this is a long way from the example we have in God. God did not, does not, wait for us to say “I’m sorry” before he forgave/forgives our sins. Instead, He poured/pours out grace on us while we were still in our sin.
He forgave first.
He loved first.
Therefore, to live like Christ, our forgiveness cannot wait on an apology. We have to offer forgiveness immediately and leave the rest up to Him.
God delights in unity, and His math is SO much better.
WHOA That’s Good!
One more thought from Elisabeth or you today: “Paint the Pineapple.”
Elisabeth tells the story of painting a pineapple. One day she was in her garage with her children when she challenged herself to do something she hadn’t done in a long time and that was painting and her subject would be a pineapple. Eight hours later, a very large pink pineapple was done. It served to remind her to not get stuck in one version of herself. There was more to her and for her to do.
We so often deny the version of ourselves that we were created to be. You might be confused about who you are, wondering which version of you is really you. Be like Elisabeth and challenge yourself. Branch out and try something new. Or perhaps go back and do something you did years ago, but you haven’t done it in a while.
Start again. Walk back in to who God made you to be. What is your pineapple moment?
And don’t worry if no one loves your pineapple. Do it for you! If it’s you doing what you love to do, God will delight in that.
God always delights in YOU.
I hope you hear that today, friends.
We have been so blessed by this podcast, and we hope you are too!
If you want to listen to Sadie and Elisabeth’s conversation from the podcast, click here to listen!
by Sadie Robertson Huff | Mar 25, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice |
Proverbs 3 is PACKED, so we are going to focus on just this one chapter this week in our Proverbs study. We can catch up later. If you are just joining the Proverbs study, click here to read Proverbs 1 and 2 from last month. The plan is to go through the book of Proverbs this year together, so make sure you leave comments and let us know what God is speaking into your heart while you are reading.
Let’s get started.
Proverbs 3:5 (TPT): Trust in the Lord completely, And do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, And he will lead you in every decision you make.
You may know this verse from another translation. Here’s how you may have heard this verse: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your path straight.
I can hardly read that verse without singing it in my head like we did in Sunday school.
In life, you are going to go through a lot. You may have already gone through a lot. Sadly, life is full of troubles. I depend on this verse in the hard times because it tells you and me this: If (I/you) fully put (my/your) trust in God and not rely on (my/your) own opinions, He will guide (me/you) throughout (my/your) life.
Think about it. Say it over again. You do not have to walk through life blindly. You do not have to walk through life hesitantly. You do not have to walk through life ignorantly. God’s Spirit will guide you to make every yes and every no be more than words. They can be confident answers to life issues. God silences confusion, stress, and anxiety if you just trust in Him. Trusting in God will certainly change the way you walk
Verse 7:Don’t think for a moment that you know it all…
HEYO! I know this verse is speaking to a lot of people. Humility matched with wisdom will take you far in life. I know so many of you do not want to hear this next statement, but it’s true. You will never know it all. Yep, that’s right.Even if you made a 36 on the ACT (which is super cool if you did), there is still more to know in life. Even if you have a master’s degree, if you own a business, if you pastor a church, if you have been in church your whole life and heard “every sermon there is to know,” there is still more to learn. God is the God who was and is and is to come. There is a whole lot of information to know about Him and this universe.
There are so many people who speak into my life: well-known pastors, local pastors, family members, uber drivers, little kids, and really anyone who has life to give can speak to me. I learn a ton from all of them, and hopefully they learn a little from me, too. For all of us, there must be a willingness to learn. I have to be willing to learn from the little kid or the pastor and they have to be willing to learn from me. Being humble and allowing others to teach you is a great character trait to strive for.
Verse 11: My child, when the Lord God speaks to you, Never take his words lightly, And never be upset when he corrects you.
This verse goes so deeply in my heart. I’m pretty sure I heard this a few times from my own parents. Ha! Many times, we choose what we want and don’t want to hear from God. If it is too scary, we close our ears. If it is too crazy, we close our ears. If it would take too much from us, we close our ears. If it convicts us too deeply, we close our ears. I want to encourage you to listen to God’s words and don’t take them lightly. God’s words are always said to make you a better person and your life an easier road. Look around. God is the God of all creation. He knows what’s best and His intentions are the best. Listen and obey. It will take you further than you thought you could go.
Verse 12: For the Father’s discipline comes on from his passionate love and pleasure for you. Even when it seems like his correction is harsh, it’s still better than any father on earth gives to his child.
Verse 11 and 12 tell us that we can be confident that God’s intentions toward us are good. I know you’ve heard your parents tell you they discipline you because they love you. Well, it’s true. Loving someone means wanting the best for them and sometimes that means discipline—not in a mean way, but a loving way in order to help train for a better way to live. Loving parents, like a loving God, discipline from a place of passionate love for their children.
Verse 17: The ways of wisdom are sweet, always drawing you into the place of wholeness.
Here is a good way to discern wisdom from other talk. Ask yourself if what is being said or taught is something that is drawing you into a place of wholeness or making you or someone else feel worthless? If what you are saying or hearing is making you or another person feel worthless, then you need to redirect your talk toward wholeness. As this verse says, wisdom is sweet. Think about that. Wisdom will not direct you to speak unkindly toward another person. It will lead you to wholeness through words that are kind and good.
Verse 21: My child, never drift off course from these two goals for your life: to walk in wisdom and to discover discernment. Don’t ever forget how they empower you.
There is so much talk today about empowerment. Everyone wants to feel empowered. Here is how it is accomplished—through wisdom and discernment. This verse tells us discernment, which is good judgement and decision-making, and wisdom, which leads to discernment, are powerful tools because they EMPOWER us to a better life. Looking at life with foolish eyes and foolish ears will always leave us confused and uncertain about life choices. But, if we use our God-given brain to make wise choices and discernment to make good decisions, we will be empowered to move forward in life.
Verse 22: For they strengthen you inside and out and inspire you to do what’s right; you will be energized and refreshed by the healing they bring.
Now doesn’t that sound nice? Energized and refreshed is always good. The “they” this verse is talking about is wisdom and discernment. Those two things not only empower you, but they strengthen you inside and out, inspire you to do what’s right, give you energy, and refresh you by their healing powers. WOW! That’s a lot of good stuff right there! Have you ever thought that wisdom and discernment can heal? Wisdom brings truth to the lies we are all told each day. Lies others tell us and lies we tell ourselves. When we see an ad with a gorgeous girl with big, beautiful hair, wisdom helps us know that someone has fluffed her hair, touched up her makeup, and then the photo was edited to perfection. Do you see how wisdom and discernment can heal? How that wisdom and discernment bring a freshness to stale thinking?
Verse 23: They give you living hope to guide you, and not one of life’s tests will cause you to stumble.
And the good stuff keeps going! Do you need a guide? Wisdom is your go-to guide. Do you worry about walking blindly through life? Call on wisdom and discernment. Do you think you may not pass one of life’s tests? Wisdom is your teacher.
But, there’s more! These next three verses are the greatest of all to me.
Verse 24-26: You will sleep like a baby, safe and sound—your rest will be sweet and secure. 25 You will not be subject to terror, for it will not terrify you. Nor will the disrespectful be able to push you aside, 26 because God is your confidence in times of crisis, keeping your heart at rest in every situation.
To every anxious heart out there, let this sink in deeply. You will sleep like a baby. We have a new baby in our family and we love watching him sleep. His entire body is relaxed. Good judgement and common sense will give you your rest back. God promises to be your confident trust partner.
Verse 31: Don’t act like those bullies or learn their ways.
In verse 27, the subject changes to wisdom in relationships and basically we’re challenged to do the right thing. Always. Don’t hold grudges, don’t quarrel, don’t act like a bully. Verse 32 tells us the godly walk under a stream of God’s blessings. That’s where I want to be! You probably do, too.
Verse 34: If you walk with the mockers you will learn to mock, but God’s grace and favor flow to the meek.
Let’s look at these two verses closer. They go hand in hand. How many times do we excuse our actions, because we want to fit into the environment around us? This verse exposes the “everyone’s doing it mom” excuse we love to give and puts it in its place, which is not a good place. Peer pressure is real and it is persuasive, so it is important to be cautious about who you let surround you. There are people out there who DO NOT want the best for you. There are people out there who you DO NOT want to be like. There are people out there you DO NOT want to learn from. You have been called to something greater and higher by the grace of God. Listen and look for everything that magnifies THAT calling.
Hopefully you are walking away today a little taller and a little wiser. Xo
Follow me on Instagram @legitsadierob!
by Sadie Robertson Huff | Mar 15, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice |
The other day I was asked a question that comes up often when I meet new friends.
I was asked, “Sadie, how can I be a light to those around me?”
The truth is there are so many answers to this question. As a child of God, there are endless routes we can take to bring light into the dark places in this life. He uses our gifts, our passions, and our circumstances to speak to us individually on how to be a light for Him.
What I shared with her though, and what I want to share with you today, is not a one track formula, but rather a posture or an attitude that we can take with us into any situation.
This posture is called gratitude.
Gratitude means, “The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”.
I love that idea of being ready to show appreciation. When we have an attitude that says we’re ready and willing to appreciate each thing that comes our way, we are able to see how God is working in our lives in a deeper way.
I told to her that if we want to live a grateful, light-bearing life, we need to bring this into the smallest of situations.
Like I said, I love this. And I love analogies.
So when I was explaining this idea to my friend, I reached my hand into the nearby bowl of pink and red M&M’s (who can resist an edible example?), and told her that my response to the candy will translate in how I approach and talk about anything else in life.
Here’s what I mean: If I reach in and get a handful and say to my friends, “Wow, I love M&M’s. They’re just the best and I’m thankful someone put them here so that I can enjoy them.” I am speaking in a tone that frees my heart up for more gratitude.
Call me crazy, but that tone and perspective I am choosing will transfer into my next conversation and stay with me throughout my day.
We never know when God is going to give us an opportunity to point someone to Jesus. In fact, many times we are influencing someone without us even knowing it! So, if that’s the case, why not practice our readiness for appreciation principle at all times?
Friend, trust me, it is very difficult to go throughout your day being negative and closed off and then turn around and have a conversation about Jesus. It doesn’t work.
Paul writes in Colossians 4:6 (ESV): “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
The simple gratitude toward a bowl of M&M’s has the ability to shift our eyes to see the good in all things. Not only does this bring influence and light to those around you, but it also prepares your heart for worship. It prepares you for connecting with the Father.
Gratitude is the sweetest worship to God.
Have you ever been in a place and out of nowhere, the group you’re with breaks out in worship?
It might have been at a summer camp or with a new church family at someone’s house or at a bonfire with friends sitting around a crackling fire.
A song starts. People stand awkwardly in waves because no one told them exactly when to rise. Peoples hands start gripping the chair in front of them or clasping them together (awkward hands are a real struggle, friends).
But then, something starts to shift.
You begin to think about all that God has done in your life. You start singing along; you catch the melody and you start pondering the words of the song. All of a sudden, you look down to find your hands slightly freer than they were before. You can’t explain it, but there’s a calmness and a joy that comes over the space in your heart and all over the room around you. And those sneaky, unexplained tears come to your eyes as you lean in to the worship.
Why does this happen?
Gratitude leads to worship.
Psalm 148: 7-13 (ESV) says, “Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountain and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.”
All of heaven and earth, all people, all aspects of what’s been created by our Good Father is made to worship Him. This includes you and me.
Are you ready for a grateful life that lights up all that God is doing in and around you? A life that causes people to look at you and say, “Wow, they have such an unexplained joy and freedom in their life. I want that.”
So to answer the original question of how to be a light to those around us, I would argue it is a constant posture of gratitude and worship.
Gratitude in worship. Gratitude in relationships. Gratitude in ALL THINGS.
Treat yourself to a pack of M&M’s today as a reminder for ALL that God has provided for you. Even better, buy an extra pack to pass on to a friend and share with them what God’s doing in your life.
Truly, His gifts are pretty sweet 🙂
XO,
Sadie
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by Sadie Robertson Huff | Mar 4, 2019 | Featured, Life Advice |
One day, I had made plans to visit my friend Mary Kate. I was running late. In fact, I became so upset on my way to her house that I threw up in the car. Not pretty, I know. But fear is ugly. It not only cripples and paralyzes us and keeps us from doing what our hearts want to do, it can also mess with our stomachs! I decided to go to Mary Kate’s house anyway because she is the kind of friend whose house you can go to when your nose is running, your face is swollen from crying, and you have throw-up on your shirt. (She’s now my sister-in-law, and I love that.)
Still, I thought it might be a good idea to try to calm down a little bit first. So I drove around a neighborhood not far from her house. Suddenly, my brother John Luke appeared. He had been at Mary Kate’s house because he was dating her at the time, but for some reason, he ended up just where I needed him at just the right moment. He could see I was falling apart, but he had no idea what was wrong. He tried to get me to roll down the car window and talk to him, but I refused. I was so caught up in fear and so upset that I wasn’t thinking clearly. So John Luke jumped on my car. And he would not get off. I drove around that neighborhood for forty minutes with my brother on my car. Talk about love! He was not going to let me be alone, and he was not going to let me go—no matter what.
Eventually, I just decided to pull into Mary Kate’s driveway and John Luke got off the car, and we went inside Mary Kate’s house. Together, he and Mary Kate helped me settle down and began to talk me through the situation. “You can do this, Sadie,” they said. “It’ll be great.” I wasn’t convinced, but they kept encouraging me. That encouragement was even more remarkable because John Luke really wanted to be on Dancing with the Stars himself. Had they called him instead of me, he would have been on the plane to LA that day without one bit of fear or hesitation. It would have been pure joy and excitement for him.
As much as he wanted to be on the show, when he saw me having such a hard time with it, he never said, “What’s wrong with you? This is the coolest thing ever, and you’re saying you don’t want to do it?” He never even mentioned his own dream of appearing on the show. He simply listened to me, spoke truth to me, loved me unconditionally, and showed the most beautiful display of selfless generosity I think I’ve ever seen.
By the time I left Mary Kate’s house, I felt much better. Their affirmation and support had taken me from being almost torn apart by fear to a place of decision. I ultimately decided to go for it and appear on Dancing with the Stars. Even after the show started, with every practice and every performance, I had to face my fear. Sometimes I felt like arrows of fear were flying at me from all different directions (just like in Ephesians 6:16)—fear of not getting my steps right, fear that something awkward might happen with my wardrobe, fear of letting my partner down, fear of so many new experiences in such a short time. Day after day, rehearsal after rehearsal, televised show after televised show, I gradually found myself no longer dodging arrows but surrounded by a shield of faith that knocked them to the ground. I was still aware of them, but much better able to hold up my shield of faith so they would ricochet off of it, powerless.
It’s not that things aren’t scary. They are, and they will continue to be. But each of us has to come to a deep, personal realization that God has already conquered fear—and by the power of His Spirit we can live completely free from fear. There’s so much more to this life, so much we can experience and give to others if we can break free from fear. If we can learn to let God lead us instead of letting fear control us.
HERE’S SOME ENCOURAGEMENT:
If you know fear is talking, go ahead and silence it. You be the one who does the talking!
HERE’S HOW YOU CAN PRAY:
Lord, give me to strength to say yes when You want me to do something. Give me guidance to know what to do next in my life. I surrender my no to You and agree with what You want for me. If You’re saying yes, I say yes, too.
This is an excerpt from Sadie’s book, Live Fearless! Get it here!
by Sadie Robertson Huff | Feb 15, 2019 | Life Advice |
Hello to everyone around the world! I am so excited for the new structure of the blog and how this is going. I love knowing we get to connect three times a week as a community, and I love getting to write two blogs a month this time around!
I wanted one of the blogs each month to be an interactive blog that all of you can be a part of. A lot of times my friends and I will send scriptures to each other that jumped out at us and what we took from them as we are reading a chapter in the bible, so I wanted to start the same thing with all of you. What I am hoping we can do is go through the book of Proverbs together!
We will go through two or three proverbs each month to finish it by the end of the year. I am going to ask that you read along with me, and hopefully the things I point out that I took from my reading will encourage you, and the things you point out from reading will encourage other people reading the comments. This is not to hate on or compare to anyone who took something different from you from a scripture, but it is to encourage and learn from everyone’s own revelation from reading. This is all about learning and growing together in reading and knowing God. This week we will just focus on Proverbs 1 and 2.
You can pick whatever translation or version you prefer to read from, but I will be reading from the passion version, because I love the way it expresses the word and relates to our everyday life. If I use any other version, I will make sure you know. The book of Proverbs is one of the poetry books in the bible and is full of metaphors and poetic imagery, so if some things are tough to understand, ask God for the understanding. The word is all spirit breathed, and I hope through prayer and by us doing this as a community you will gain so much wisdom and understanding.
The writer of Proverbs is Solomon, the man who asked God for wisdom. Also, note that Solomon refers to wisdom as “she”, so do not be confused when wisdom is referred to has “she”. I think you will be surprised at how many things in the book of Proverbs answer some of those tough life questions that you have been wrestling with.
With all of that being said, it is time to dive right in!
Proverbs One
Proverbs 1:7 “How then does a man gain the essence of wisdom? We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God.”
I think so many times we try to figure out a formula with God as if wisdom from the Lord will come the same way wisdom comes to us in a math class. With God there is no need to memorize a formula, but rather a need for faith to just obey what He says. When you are living and walking in that obedient faith that is where Godly wisdom will come.
Proverbs 1:17 “to be aware of the snare of the best way of escape.”
I have always loved this verse! I found it to be so true in my life. The times I am walking blindly and not taking notice of what I am allowing to be poured into my life and being aware of the places I am walking into are the times that I have gotten myself in a trap I never meant to step into. The times I am aware of what I am letting in and where I am walking are the times I have more easily stayed on the straight path.
Proverbs 1:20-21 “Wisdom’s praises are snug in the streets and celebrated far and wide. Yet wisdom’s song is not always heard in the halls of higher learning. But in the hustle and bustle of everyday life its lyrics can always be heard above the din of the crowd. You will hear wisdom’s warning as she preaches courageously to those who stop listening.”
I love how confident and loud wisdom is, but notice even with wisdoms voice being loud and even in her confident celebration, she is not heard. Just because you are filled with Godly wisdom does not mean everyone will choose to hear. However, do not stop singing it loudly and preaching it courageously, for the truth you know will set people free who do choose to listen.
Proverbs 1:33 “But the one who always listens to me will live undisturbed in a heavenly peace. Free from fear, confident and courageous, you will rest unafraid and sheltered from the storms of life.”
I know this verse is like music to our ears. Free from fear? Confident and courageous? Rest unafraid and sheltered from the storms of life? We all crave these things, and we ask God so many times HOW CAN WE BECOME THIS WAY GOD?, and He simply answers with, “Listen to me.” You may be saying, “But He does not speak to me like He does to others.” He has already spoken. Meditate on His word and take it to heart and all of the sudden you will begin to see why you do not have to fear, you do not have to be shaken when the storms come, and you (YES YOU) can be confident and courageous.
Proverbs Two
Proverbs 2: 1-2 “my child, will you treasure my wisdom? Then, and only then, will you acquire it. And only if you accept my advice and hide it within will you succeed. So train you heart to listen when I speak and open your spirit wide to expand your discernment.”
I know! We are already on chapter two, but do not forget about what I just said about listening to God. Now let’s take that a step further, when you do hear from God and learn from Him treasure every word. Accept every word you read as good advice and hide it deep in your heart. As you begin to become familiar with His tone, you can train your heart to listen when He speaks, and live open to hearing more of what He wants for your life. I love how it encourages us to train our heart to listen. We hear things all day long, and many of those things from the world are not going to sound like God, so the training takes intentional time of growing.
Proverbs 2:4-5 “For if you keep seeking it like a man who would seek for sterling silver, searching in hidden places for cherished treasure, then you will discover the fear of the Lord and the true knowledge of God.”
I always take note anytime the bible uses the words “if” and “then.” It is such direct instruction with direct promise. IF you keep seeking, THEN you will discover. Keep seeking. You will not get lost searching.
Proverbs 2:11-12 “If you choose to follow good counsel, divine design will watch over you and understanding will protect you from making poor choices. It will rescue you from evil in disguise and from those who speak duplicities.”
I have seen choosing to follow good counsel in my own life come in to play in a really positive way. Sometimes it is hard to discern if people who come into our life or decisions we need to make are good or not, but when we are following good counsel, we can know that their understanding can protect us from making a poor choice.
Proverbs 2:20-21 “Follow those who follow wisdom and stay on the right path. For all my godly lovers will enjoy life to the fullest and will inherit their destinies.”
Again, it is giving us advice on who we are choosing to follow. It is so important that we are following those who are seeking the same thing. Am I saying not to speak to those who are not? Absolutely not! Love and encourages those who are not seeking wisdom, but be careful not to follow them. Stay on the right path, and you will enjoy life to the fullest. You might have temporary happiness on the path of the world, but there is fullness for you on the path of wisdom from God.
Now let these words sink in, and let what God is teaching you right now while reading go straight to your heart as a treasure for the soul. This is the beginning of training your heart to hear.
