Proverbs 4: 20-27
My child, pay attention to what I say. Listen carefully to My words. Don't lose sight of them. Let them penetrate deep into your heart, for they bring life to those who find them, and healing to their whole being. Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech. Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil.
Jesus explained to us in John 6 about real life. Real life is not physical, it is spiritual (v. 63). When a person's spiritual parts (soul and spirit) leave his body, he is dead. He told us that His Words are Spirit and they are life. So we are to nourish our spirits with His Word: not just reading it, but devouring it, chewing it by thinking on it and meditating on it and studying it. Then when we are ready to apply its Truth to our own life and attitudes, that's when we swallow it and it becomes our life.
O my Father, please help me, lead and guide me to mark out a straight path for my feet, and keep me from being sidetracked. Show me the goals You have for me, that I may strive to achieve Your will in the few days You have allotted to me. Keep me on Your safe path, safe because You walk with me, protecting me from all the dangers on the right-hand and on the left. Let others see only You in me, that You will get all the credit for what You are accomplishing in and through me, and I may be a trophy of Your grace.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
