Proverbs 8:34-35 “If you wait at wisdom’s doorway, longing to hear a word for every day, joy will break forth within you as you listen for what I’ll say. For the fountain of life pours into you every time that you find me, and this is the secret of growing in the delight and the favor of the Lord.” Today's episode explains how God highlights things for us sometimes. It talks about the call God has for all of us to come closer to Him and to ask Him for wisdom before we go elsewhere. It explains that the secret of growing in the delight and the favor of the Lord is to seek His wisdom. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Waiting At Wisdom's Doorway
Proverbs 8:34-35 “If you wait at wisdom’s doorway, longing to hear a word for every day, joy will break forth within you as you listen for what I’ll say. For the fountain of life pours into you every time that you find me, and this is the secret of growing in the delight and the favor of the Lord.”
Man, I really love the Passion Translation of the Bible. It really speaks to me. If we are paying attention, God will highlight things for us. This is something I didn’t really know much about until I went through this Encounter Ministries class. I can look back on my life and see that He was doing it all throughout my life. I just didn’t realize it. I didn’t know it was Him drawing my attention to things. When the Holy Spirit highlights things for you, it just means that He brings them to your attention. For instance, we could both be watching the same movie, and yet different things might stick out to you and other things to me.
I was surprised last year when a few of my fellow Encounter students and I got together after the conference to compare notes and talk about what we had learned. Listening to the ladies explain what stood out the most to them was interesting. It was as if I hadn’t even been to the talks they were discussing. Some of the things they felt were most impactful weren’t even in my notes, and the most impactful to me weren’t in their notes. I love how God does that. He can have an auditorium full of thousands of people and speak to each of us individually. He can speak right into our current situation. It is so amazing.
The Lord has been highlighting wisdom for me lately and how I need to be asking and searching for it more. We had two speakers in Encounter, and they were both amazing, and they taught us so many good things. Yet, I remember most when they said to keep asking God for wisdom. God has also been highlighting the Saints to me. I feel as though I need to read so many books so I can gain more wisdom. The Lord tells me to come to Him, and He will give me wisdom. He points to our Saints like Thérèse of Lisieux and Saint Catherine of Sienna. Both of these saints were doctors of the church, and yet they did not have a lot of formal education.
What they did have, was an amazing relationship with the Lord. They had an intimate relationship where they spent a lot of time in solitude with Him. I think this is what the Lord is calling me to, more time in solitude with Him. Yet, I don’t think this is just a call for me. I think He may be highlighting this for me so that I can share it with you too! Even yesterday in Witness Wednesday, the thing that was highlighted for me was when she said she is trying to get her knowledge for the Bible and not the world, social media, or personal development books.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love personal development books. I have read most of them and probably almost all the parenting books ever invented. Personal Development and self-help books can be amazing and really helpful. I am not saying you shouldn’t read them. However, the Lord told me several years ago that I was relying on those books more than on Him. I would bring my problems to Him, ask Him for help, and then go try to solve the problem myself. What God was calling me to do was spend more time with Him. He wanted me and still wants me to come to Him with my problem and then actually sit and listen to what He thinks I should do.
I say He still wants me because I struggle with this, and maybe you do too. I struggle with listening to the Lord. I have been intentionally doing this for over 4 years now, so I am getting better at hearing Him, but I am not sure if I am better at listening to Him. I am grateful I can hear when God is talking to me. I am grateful I write down what He says so I can go back and look at it. Yet, I struggle with actually doing what He asks me to do, which is crazy to me because He has such good ideas, and they are solutions to problems I want solved. So, why don’t I do the things?
This is why I love the famous verse from St. Paul in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” This is so true. I am not sure a truer thing has ever been said. I ask God what I should do, and then He actually tells me, and then I don’t do it. It amazes me every time I look back at my prayer journal and highlight things that God told me to do that I still haven’t done. These are not difficult things to do either. For instance, spraying holy water in my kids’ room while they are in school and blessing their rooms. I went to the store and bought the spray bottle months ago. Then I went to the church and filled it with Holy water a month or two after that. It has been sitting on top of my filing cabinet in my office for over a month, and I still have yet to do it.
I say all of that to let you know that you are not alone if you are struggling to do what the Lord tells you to do. If you are one who doesn’t struggle to do what the Lord tells you to do, please call me, and you can tell me how to get my act together. I have found a few things helpful in listening more often, so let me pass those along. First, I have started to ask my guardian angel to help me remember to do things. I ask my angel to nudge me if I am about to forget. I ask my angel to push me out of bed in the morning and not let me go back to sleep. I also invite the Lord into my day and ask Him to keep me on track. I ask Him to keep me focused and to keep away any distractions. I ask Him to give me the strength to ignore any distractions and to put first things first. Both of these are relatively new practices that I forget to do some days, but when I remember them, they have been really helpful.
I can’t believe I said all that and haven’t addressed the verse above yet. Although since I invited the Holy Spirit to write these episodes, I think all of that needed to be said. The verse above says, “If you wait at wisdom’s doorway, longing to hear a word for every day, joy will break forth within you as you listen for what I’ll say.” Why I think the Holy Spirit highlighted this verse to me is because He wants me and you, too, to wait at wisdom’s doorway, longing to hear a word for every day. He wants us to come to Him first.
Yes, you can read your books too, but first go to His Word. What does He say about it? Sit with Him in solitude and see what He has to say about your situation. I am not sure why I have it stuck in my head that God is great to talk with but that He won’t give me practical direction or exact answers to my questions. When I look back at my journals, I can see He gives very practical answers to my questions and sometimes very precise answers. God is telling me over and over again, come to me. I have all the answers you need. I know that is a message for me and also for you! The verse says joy will break forth within us as we listen to what He says. Who doesn’t need more joy?
I love that the verse above says, “For the fountain of life pours into you every time that you find me, and this is the secret of growing in the delight and the favor of the Lord.” I love that image of finding God. I also would love to have the fountain of life poured into me. Who doesn’t need more life poured into them? It ends with this is the secret of growing in the delight and the favor of the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I definitely want to grow in the favor and delight in the Lord. I love any secrets that help me grow closer to the Lord! Let’s make a pact, you and I. How about we both start turning to the Lord first and ask Him what He thinks we should do? How about we wait at wisdom’s door, longing to hear a word for every day? Imagine how much more amazing our world would be if our every step and every decision were guided by our heavenly Father. Now, that is something to work towards!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening. Lord, we want your wisdom. We want to seek you more and spend more time in solitude. We want this, yet we don’t make time for it. Please forgive us and help us to change. Lord, help us to bring all of our problems to you for your wise solutions. Help us to rely on you more than we rely on others. Give us the courage, strength, and perseverance to do the things that you tell us to do. Help us listen, Lord. Help us block out the noise and all the shiny things of this world that distract us and help bring our focus back to you. We love you so much, and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If this podcast has blessed you in some way, would you consider making a donation or sharing it with others? Also, since the verse talked about seeking a word for each day, I want to remind you that I do have an email that goes out daily with a Word of Prophecy from the Lord. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard it was exactly what someone needed that day. There are links for that and a few more things at the end of the episode notes or you can find them at my website walkboldlywithjesus.com. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow! Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I! Have a blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in June 2023 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “I have ordained to work through you for the salvation of the world. Day by day, you empty yourself of your self-will, and I fill you with my will, my power and might. This is my way. I want to use you, and I will triumph.”