Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 5 Feb 2008

Word of Encouragement for Every New Day ~ 5 Feb 2008

Proverbs 1:5 Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. Always remain teachable. No matter how smart you think you are or how wise you are, we must continue to develop ourselves. The word of God says, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning and let the discerning get guidance. There are many things we can do to learn and develop ourselves, but today’s word of encouragement is specially focused on developing the gifts that God has given us. We will grow stagnant and kill the gifts that God has given us if we stop listening to the wise, learning from our mentors, leaders, and disciplers, and gaining guidance from them. Dead wood or a tree of life that is pruned. Dead wood is like a person that has been given gifts but foolishly throws them away because life is too hard, I failed so many times, distractions that lead us to a different path then where God wants us to be, I’m too young/old, I’m not married yet, I don’t have enough money, I hate my boss, I don’t know what God wants me to do in my life. A tree of life that is pruned, is like a person that knows that God has given him or her gifts but does not throw them away because, they are willing to humble themselves to learn from others, they are not easily distracted by what they lack, they are focused and driven to be used by God fully, they stand firmly on the promise that God has given them, they love the word of God because they know that it builds their relationship with God which is THE MOST ESSENTIAL THING IN LIFE, they look at trials, mistakes, failures, struggles as tests from God not as God punishing them. God has buried in each of us talents and gifts, some gifts we use often and we have mastered them. Other gifts are dormant; it takes effort, hard work, and humility to want to master them. Today we have a choice, are you going to be dead wood or a tree of life? © Feb 2008 Shaun Lee