Update on Life

    Hello all. It's been a while since I just posted what has been going on. So here is that post. We've been doing a lot of teaching and a few outreaches. We teach kids comprehensive reading and how to speak English. That happens Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays but, on Fridays we go to a school and teach only English to about 46 kids per classroom and there are 6 classrooms, you do the math. On Wednesdays however, we have the kid's club program where we play with the kids give them a meal and later do a lesson from the bible. We are currently going through the book of Genesis.
    The outreaches happened two days ago on Saturday the 22nd. They went very well and people did respond to them. They asked questions and some got saved! How great is that! God is awesome!
    Please pray for the ministry down here as my team and I are coming up on the end of our field time. It's easy to checkout early (in our hearts) and we don't want to do that. Please also pray for those who will be sent out to replace us. Thank you for your support and prayers.
    Samuel A. Miesner

Remember

     Proverbs 3:1-4  My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;  (2)  For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.  (3)  Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, (4) And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
     Now is the time to go back and recount what we have learned through these chapters. As the first thing that is said in this is to "Not Forget". The best way to not for get is to go back over things we shouldn't forget. To write them down somewhere. There is a lot to go over but, I believe something worth being said is worth saying again. Thus, Proverbs were written so that we could hear what was said back then and reflect upon them. Not to mention the bible as a whole.
     These Proverbs are from God, since He inspired the entire bible to be written. Also since He gave Solomon the wisdom to write them. They are given to us, by God, to know wisdom and instruction. As well as understand the fear of the Lord. Again, it is reverent fear that is being talked about. God continues even in the third chapter to tell us to remember His commands. He knows us and knows we need to be reminded of things that are important. I have a hard time remembering and am very grateful that God tells me time and time again of things I need to know.
     Don't consent to sinners and their ways. They won't live long by the way they live, so why should we join them?
     Wisdom is easy to find, she calls out to everyone and in places where there are lots of people. No one can say " no body told me that was wrong" because everyone has a sense of right and wrong. And those that listen to wisdom will live without fear of evil.
     Again, in chapter 2, we are told to receive what we are being told. I love that God is so patient with me that He will, without resentment, repeat things He wants me to know.
     God is the giver of wisdom, so go to Him when you have a question. Go to Him in times of need and times of plenty. He is always there and there is no reason to not go to Him.
     Living righteously and wanting the same will help you in times of trouble. Like with those who are immoral and corrupt. If you truly live by faith, "the just shall live by faith", then you won't go to those people for help or anything because you know who they are.
     There is a lot more to remember and I do ask that you go back and read again the last two verses. Also, if it may help, read my earlier posts if you want. However, reading it for yourself will be more fruitful I believe. Write them down, read them again, and do whatever it takes to remember them. That is how we will bind them around our necks. Memorize the ones that sick out to you. The ones that the Holy Spirit shows you. It is very easy to read something over and over then say "I'm good, I don't need to memorize it now". I do that too often myself. Please don't make the same mistake. Remember, this is God's word we are talking about. The Creator of the universe! He sent us His word! Why would we not study it or memorize it?
     In closing, we should seek to find favor and high esteem in God's sight. Like Job did. By finding favor in God's sight man will falling in line afterwards. Who doesn't love a man who loves others?
     God help us to remember your word and who you are. Please forgive our forgetfulness and remind us of your love. No other will love us like you do and for that, will love and praise you. Amen
     Praise be to God for the ability to pray to Him, His reminders, and to study His word.

Act

     Proverbs 2:12-22  To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things,  (13)  From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;  (14)  Who rejoice in doing evil, And delight in the perversity of the wicked;  (15)  Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious in their paths;  (16)  To deliver you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her words,  (17)  Who forsakes the companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God.  (18)  For her house leads down to death, And her paths to the dead;  (19)  None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life-- (20)  So you may walk in the way of goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness.  (21)  For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it;  (22)  But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.
     I know that there are a lot of verses today but, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. I want to connect three IBSs together, this being the last one. Identify, Acknowledge, and Act. Please go back and read the others if you need to. That is one of the reasons I call this one "Act".
     So, as we remember what was said in the first two IBSs, Identify and Acknowledge, we come to the reasons for them. Starting in verse 12 all the way up to verse 19 are some solid reasons why we should know who God is and acknowledge the fact of who He is. Verses 20, 21, and 22 are good reasons as well. These aren't the only reasons mind you. I can think of more reasons but, these will do for now.
     Ok, let us begin in verses 12 to 15. Read those verses again with me please. These are not nice people, nor are they "cool" as some might think they are. And those who think they are "cool" are those talked about in verse 14! People who speak perverse things are not easy for me to be around. Especially when they know what they are saying! The actual meaning of the word perverse is "to turn away, to distort, twist, to transform into something of an opposite character, and/or to turn inside out"! I tell you this because most of us hear the word perverse and think of people who speak about a woman's body parts or something like that. No, speaking perverse things can mean a whole lot more. Then we see that these people have left the paths of uprightness, purposefully, to walk in the paths of darkness! "How crazy is that!", we think, when we ourselves are capable of doing the exact same thing. All of are capable of turning away from what we know is right. Never think you are incapable of turning. That thought will sober you up and get you back to acknowledging the One who holds you in His arms. It is Him who keeps us from crooked paths and saves us from all manner of evil. Identify, Acknowledge, and Act.
      Now we come to the second reason this chapter gives us, the immoral woman as seen in verse 16-19. Now, immoral could mean more than just a seductress. Immoral means "wicked, unjust in practice, vicious, dishonest, and/or someone who habitually breaks the law". On a side note we are all immoral, for we all break God's laws but, through His Son we are not. However, back to the text. The thing that scares me about this woman is that her house leads to death and her paths to the dead! Then, if that's not enough, it says that "none" who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life. However, there is a small glimmer of hope for those who go to her. Not that we should ever ponder her paths, for the are unstable and we don't know them. As I said, the is hope but, it is small because once ensnared by this woman, it is extremely hard to get back on the right path. I've known people who fell to this kind of woman and have their lives back because they went to the only One who could give it back to them. However,  they have to live with the consequences of their actions. They don't live with the guilt so much but, they live with the pain they caused others. Some may have seen or heard they did this and say "he did it, why can't I?" or "I won't get caught like he did, I'm smarter than he is". No, no one gets away with this sin as well as all other sins! Identify, who is God? He can see everything that goes on! No one escapes His righteous judgment! Acknowledge, who He is and what He does for us and finally. Act upon what you know to be true!
     Which brings us to the last part of the chapter verses 20-22. These verses have another reason to Identify, Acknowledge, and Act upon what we have learned. They are also pretty easy to understand. Doing these three things helps you walk well, remain upright, and not get uprooted from the land. In following God, by faith, you save your soul. Notice the last verse, the wicked will be cut off and the unfaithful will be uprooted. These verses refer to the punishment of living this way. Being cut off or uprooted is like a capital offence punishment. Death sentence kind of stuff. Which also leads me to think of end times, when the entire world will be judged for how they have conducted their selves! Hell is the punishment for sin. All who have sinned will be sent there! That means all of are going to Hell! However, there is a great light that shines through our dark hour! Jesus came and paid the price for everyone! All we have to do is accept His sacrifice and, in faith, follow Him. Identify who Jesus is. Acknowledge what He has done. Then Act upon it! It is your choice to go to Him and ask for forgiveness and go with Him to heaven or go on living they way you have and pay for it later and forever, after you pay.
     I pray you choose Jesus, I pray you have taken the right path that goes to our saviour and leads to heaven. I don't want anyone to go to Hell.
     I will continue to go through the Proverbs and hope you are still with me as I go. We only just came to the end of chapter 2, 29 more chapters to go! I'm having fun, crying, and turning to God, how about you?
     Praise be to God for His love and His righteousness!

Acknowledge

      Proverbs 2:9-11  Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.  (10)  When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul,  (11)  Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you,
      First we looked at the one who gives wisdom and understanding. Now we are going to look at half of the benefit from acknowledging Him as such. It is just as important to know wisdom and understanding and to know where it comes from. Because we need to know and remember where to turn for more when we don't know what to do. Turning to God should be our first response to anything. And I mean anything, whether it is a small problem or not. Even if it isn't a problem, we need to inquire of the Lord like David did. I admit that I don't do this all the time, but I need to. I am His soldier, and should not do what I think is best but, should wait for His commands and act upon them to the very best my abilities. Which, by the way, He has given me those abilities as well. Nothing I have isn't from God in one way or another. There is no way that I can boast in myself and that is very important to understand. And something we all need to come to terms with.
      Now to the text, look at verse 9. After we identify who God is and what He does, in that He is the giver of wisdom and understanding. Then we understand why things are just, fair, and the paths we should take but, again we should ask the Lord which path unless He has already made it clear. We must understand that everything we do should begin and end with Him. We should begin the day with Him and end it with Him, as well as stay with Him throughout the day. However, beginning and ending with Him is very important. I have found this to be true in my own life, that everyday I began in His word and in prayer. Those days are some of the best days in my life, even if nothing went right. I had peace that all went according to God's perfect will and I did all I could for Him that day.
      Verse 10 is very interesting, is says "when". I can admit that I don't always like learning and can further say that it is an acquired taste for me. However, "when" I have acquired the taste for knowledge and wisdom, things become so much more clear to me. Like when I don't understand a word and search it out, I understand what is being said and can answer correctly. I just went with the guys here in Guatemala to watch the superbowl. I personally don't care for football but, it was nice to learn more about the crave of others and God can further even that and use the knowledge we learn for His glory! We could later be mentoring someone and because we learned something we didn't like, we can minister to that person. "Be all things to all men, so that we might win some". I love that God's word is so complicated and yet so simple.
      Now to verse 11. Planning ahead isn't a bad thing to do. However, God must, and I mean Must, be in the midst of that planning. Because, what soldier, or quarterback, doesn't bypasses his superiors? Does the quarterback make all the decisions? Does a private in the army make all the choices? No, all that they do comes from the one in charge of them. So, who is in charge of you? I know whom I serve and need to remember that daily, for if I don't everything falls to pieces. Know whom you serve. I mean know as in both meanings of the word. Know who, and come to know Him by reading His word. These are simple truths but, we need to be reminded of them constantly.
      I plan to continue in proverbs as to know more of my commander and His will on how I should live.
      Praise God for His words of wisdom and understanding, also that He gives it to us and we cannot boast in anything but, Him.

Identify

    Proverbs 2:6-8  For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;  (7)  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;  (8)  He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints.
    These verses are pretty straight forward. They all talk about the fact that God is the giver of wisdom. This may be something simple to us and we may say " I knew that" but, do we accept it? A lot of us want to say that we gained the wisdom ourselves. Do we in every moment of wise choices thank God for the wisdom and understanding? I know that I do not always do this. We make a good choice and then pat ourselves on the back when we should turn to God with praise and thanks. I don't care who you are, God is the one who deserves the praise and thanks for every good work. We here in Guatemala have just finished doing medical outreaches this week and have no reason to praise ourselves! God did all the work through us! He gave us the wisdom to handle everything that came our way. Also, when I say "our" God is included in that because He is always with us. And there is no situation where He is not with us, no matter the complexity of it. If it is a small matter, He is there. If it is a great matter, He is there! If it is a dire matter, He is there! In all these things we should call out to Him for wisdom and understanding to be able to handle it the right way. Then we should turn to Him with praise and thanks regardless how the matter turned out, because God knows all and we don't. Have faith that He works all things for good.
    I pray this has helped you all as it has helped me. I plan on turning to God for wisdom and understanding for all matters that come "our" way.
    Praise be to God for His instruction, wisdom, and understanding.

Teasure Hunt

    Proverbs 2:1-5  My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you,  (2)  So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;  (3)  Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding,  (4)  If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;  (5)  Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.
    God begins again by saying "my son". I know that king Solomon wrote most of the proverbs but, God is the one who lead him to do so. Just like any book of the bible, it is from God Himself.
 Now, in verse one of chapter 2, we see that God wants us to take to heart His words and treasure them within us. This is pretty simple to understand what He is saying. He wants us to read His word and memorize it. Not to the point where we just have head knowledge but, He wants it in our hearts as well. Memorizing His word is great but, ineffective if it doesn't reach to our inmost being. We can memorize the entire bible but, miss His message to us without applying it to ourselves. An example of this would be that of a Pharisee. They were seen as the most religous people on earth but, they didn't apply all that they had learned. They used it to rule over the people and fuel their own pride.
    The next verse is something that happens if you do the first. If you truly are seeking the Lord, you will incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. To incline your ear to wisdom is to listen to it when it is talking. Wisdom has many forms too. God uses His word to give us wisdom but, He can also use people in our lives to guide us in the way of wisdom. We have two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we talk. The next part of this verse is pretty simple as well. To put in simpler words would be, to apply to yourself what is being said or to keep and open ear and heart or mind.
    Verses three and four hold the same idea but, one is like poetry and the other isn't. If we are really serious about seeking after wisdom, who as we have learned is easy to find, we will ask for good judgment and understanding. We will be in the word more often and listen to what others have to say. Be a bookworm, not the best thing to motivate someone such as myself but, we need to be a bookworm! God's word is full of treasures to be found! Treasures that will give us a better way of living in this world. The physical sense is true of the spiritual sense. If you find diamonds and rubies we would become rich right? Well the same is true of God's word, which is still easy to find, if we search His word we will be spiritually rich. Which is acually better than being rich physically.
    Verse five finally completes this by saying what happens if we do these things. By doing these things we understand what it means to respect and honor God. Also, we will come to know God. How amazing is that!
    I am still excited to continue in proverbs and seeking out God's wisdom.
    Praise be to God for His word which, again, we do not deserve.

Shey crys out!

    Proverbs 1:20-33  Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her
voice in the open squares.  (21)  She cries out in the chief concourses, At
the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:  (22)  "How
long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their
scorning, And fools hate knowledge.  (23)  Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will
pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.  (24) 
Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and
no one regarded,  (25)  Because you disdained all my counsel, And would
have none of my rebuke,  (26)  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock
when your terror comes,  (27)  When your terror comes like a storm, And
your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come
upon you.  (28)  "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will
seek me diligently, but they will not find me.  (29)  Because they hated
knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,  (30)  They would have
none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.  (31)  Therefore they
shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own
fancies.  (32)  For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the
complacency of fools will destroy them;  (33)  But whoever listens to me will
dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil."
    Now I know that there are a lot of verses but, if you have read my
other posts. You can get through this one, so please stay with me as we
move forward. Ok, so in verse 20 we see that wisdom is calling out to
everyone in a typically busy place. Anybody who wants to be heard will go to
places where there are a lot of people. Wisdom wants to be heard by all
people! Not only is wisdom crying out in the open squares, but also at the
gates of the cities and in the concouses (a concourse is place were roads
and paths meet). And this means that wisdom isn't hard to find. In fact,
wisdom is seeking us out!
     Now, lets look at what she says in verse 22 . How long, she says,
will you love being ignorant of your folly? How long will you make fun of
wisdom and hate knowledge? These are good questions to ask ourselves.
Do we love being ignorant of our folly? Do we make fun of wisdom? Do we
hate knowledge? I have learned that when reading the bible, I should put
myself in the shoes of those being talked about and really examine myself. I
will admit that I like being ignorant sometimes, I make fun of wisdom
sometimes, and I don't always like studying for more knowledge. I need to
listen to wisdom as much as anyone on this planet. Praise God that she is
easy to find.
    Now in verse 23, moving right along. We see that wisdom wants
to earnestly tell us everything we need to know! She wants to save us from
our folly, Not to condemn us. She is for us and not against us. It's like we
are blind and walking towards a cliff and, like God, wisdom won't force her
ways on us. Then she tell us what will happen when if we keep going. She
will laugh at us and will mock us for not listening, now this kind of laughter is
not kind where it would be cruel, malicious, or indictive. It is more of the
ironic thing that happens when we laugh at wisdom and do not heed it, then
when our folly catches up to us. We find that the wisdom was right and it
doesn't sway or change what it was saying. Another way of looking at is not
that the Lord is laughing at us in a mean way but, at the attempt to go
against Him. It's like a father laughing at his child's attempt to bring him
down. It's funny when a little kid trys to bring down something big, even
when they are being very tanatious about it. So God doesn't laugh at us in a
malicious, cruel, or vindictive way.
    Verse 27, disasters are coming! Strong winds are coming! They
happen to everyone in life, no one can get away from them. And because
we did not heed wisdom she will not come if we call. That is our own fault
too! Why should we deserve better than the way we treated her? If we
refuse to heed wisdom when she calls, it kills us! Don't do drugs! If you now
go out and do drugs, you probably won't see tomorrow, or maybe even
heaven. I looked up the word complacency and it is ugly! After reading what
it meant, it gave me a list of synonyms that defined it even better for me.
Here's the list. Pride, pridefulness, big head, conceit, conceitedness, ego,
egotism, pomposity, pompousness, self-admiration, self-assumption, self-
conceit, self-congratulation, self-esteem, self-glory, self-love, self-
importance, self-opinion, self-satisfaction, smugness, swelled headedness,
vainglory, and vanity. The list is actually bigger but, I had to make it shorter
for you.
    In light of all of this, God always gives us hope. He ends this
chapter in a great way and I thank Him for that. Whoever listens will live
safely and without fear of evil. By listening to wisdom we escape the
consequences of being foolish. By not doing drugs, we escape the pain,
damage to our bodies, and possible death after them. Praise God? Yes!
    I still am excited to continue in Proverbs and hope that all of us
have gotten at least a little wiser.
    Praise be to God for being easy to find, and loving in His righteous
correction toward us.