Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 896 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Creating a Biblical worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical worldview, it is required that you also have a proper understanding of God’s Word.

Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the Scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors. In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God’s word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. He has compiled these essays into a book titled I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. God is omniscient, which means He knows everything before it takes place. There are several passages in the Bible, though, that describe God consulting with His heavenly court, referred to as His armies in today’s passage, and allowing their input in the means to a predetermined outcome. Today’s essay explores one such incident as we will focus on…

To set the picture for today’s essay, I will read from 1 Kings 22:1-28.

For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel. Then during the third year, King Jehoshaphat of Judah went to visit King Ahab of Israel. During the visit, the king of Israel said to his officials, “Do you realize that the town of Ramoth-Gilead belongs to us? And yet we’ve done nothing to recapture it from the king of Aram!”

 Then he turned to Jehoshaphat and asked, “Will you join me in battle to recover Ramoth-Gilead?”

Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “Why, of course! You and I are as one. My troops are your troops, and my horses are your horses.” Then Jehoshaphat added, “But first let’s find out what the Lord says.”

So the king of Israel summoned the prophets, about 400 of them, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-Gilead, or should I hold back?”

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 895 of our trek, and it is time for a 3-minute mini-trek called Wisdom Unplugged. This short nugget of wisdom includes an inspirational quote with a little bit of additional content for today’s trek. Consider this your vitamin supplement of wisdom for today. So let’s jump right in with today’s nugget:

Today’s quote is from Joyce Brothers, and it is,“A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success.”

To be successful, you must prepare for success.  You must see yourself as successful in your mind before success will ever be achieved in any area of life.  An appropriate and balanced positive self-image, which includes loving yourself, is a requirement before any success can be achieved.  When you realize that you are made to be the bearer of God’s image, then you will realize that God desires you to be successful in all that you do.

One admonition that must be considered is that what the world considers as successful, which is usually an abundance of wealth, is not what God considers as successful. Success in God’s eyes is our obedience to His precepts, which are found in His Word, the Bible.

God shows us His pattern for success when He encourages in servant Joshua prior to entering The Promised Land in Joshua 1:7, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.”

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 894 of our trek, and it is time for Meditation Monday. Taking time to relax, refocus, and reprioritize our lives is crucial in order to create a living legacy. For some, it may just be time alone for quiet reflection. Some may utilize structured meditation practices.

In my life, meditation includes reading and reflecting on God’s Word and praying. It is a time to renew my mind, refocus on what is most important, and make sure that I am nurturing my soul, mind, and body. As you come along with me on our trek each Meditation Monday, it is my hope and prayer that you too will experience a time for reflection and renewing of your mind. 

We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. There are many people that are ready to give up because of trials and hardships. You may be one of them. Instead of giving up, let us put our energies into encouraging others. It is then we will have purpose and meaning in our own lives and will have the strength to “Keep Moving Forward.” In our Meditation Monday today, we will learn…

The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 4:7-9, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.”

There are times when all of us feel overwhelmed by problems and feel like quitting. I’ve been there, but couldn’t find anything better than my Christian faith to quit to. Today I thank God for the courage to keep going, knowing that God was allowing trials to strengthen my faith and to help me grow.

If you feel like giving up and quitting, perhaps the following poem will encourage you to hang in, hang on, but never hang up when the going gets tough.

Don’t Quit