Daily Devotions

Posts tagged “Proverbs 17

Influence Extended Into the Future

MARTY GABLER–Through our children, our influence is extended into the future even after we have passed this life. Our children are a message that we send into the future. It is so very important for us, therefore, to be cognizantly, purposefully working on the legacy that we will leave; not just monetarily but theologically and philosophically (Prov 17:6). Our children will carry into the future the volume or lack (compare 2K 17:41) of our value and belief system into the culture that they will function and have influence in. The degree of influence they have and the type of influence they have will be largely dependent upon our deposit in them.
“So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.” (2K.17:41)

No Chain too Great for God to Break

There are certain things we can expect if we have been “eating” things like the gruel of bitterness or disappointment. Such a diet renders one unable to give birth. There is no birthing of the promise of God in an embittered spirit. That which God ChainsBreakingdesires to perform in and through us has no “fertile womb” in which it can be conceived when infected by bitterness. A wounded spirit is more difficult to heal than a broken body. It is more subtle, yet more devastating.  Cf.”A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Prov.17:22).”  Fraud, adultery and divisions in organized religion have not together taken a toll on the church to the extent that embittered spirits have. But no matter how devastated you may be, God has prepared deliverance. Before Israel could even come up with a plan of escape, God had a plan in a deliverer called Moses. No prison or chain is too great or too old for God to break (cf.Jer.30:8).
(Excerpt from Marty Gabler’s book “Sheep Have Short Legs”)
CLICK HERE to view Marty and Kathy’s books.