Proverbs for a Hungry Soul: God's Food for People on the Go!

By D. L. Zimmermann

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• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 5, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449747893

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Copyright © 2012 by D. L. Zimmermann.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scriptures From the:

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)

Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2007

The Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Jewish Bible (JBS1917)

The Jewish Publication Society of America

Copyright © 1917, By The Jewish Publication Society of America and is in Public Domain.

King James Version (KJV)

Copyright © 1987, The KJV is public domain in the United States.

New International Version (NIV)

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

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Front cover image, and interior images that are cited are courtesy of Jessica Mandia –

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-4790-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-4789-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012907856

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/30/2012

Contents

Dedication

Epigraph

Forward

Preface

PART ONE:       INTRODUCTION

This is a Manual for Living

Are YOU Ready to Start?

The Biblical Method of Salvation

Life on God’s Terms

Pray the Lord’s Prayer

Affirming Our Faith

The Apostle’s Creed

PART TWO:       THE WAY

Walking the Road to Wisdom

You Are No Longer Alone

Become Part of a Local Church

Make Insight Your Priority

PART THREE:       WISDOM

What the Bible Says about Wisdom

Two Kinds of Wisdom

Facts about the Book of Proverbs

History Timeline

King David

The Heart of God

King Solomon

Solomon Prays for Wisdom

God’s Wisdom, the City of David and the Birth Place of Jesus

Wisdom of Proverbs

Proverbs Key Verses

Theme of Proverbs

Answers are found in Proverbs

PART FOUR:       SUSCESSFUL LIVING

Practical Application

How-to-Succeed

Wisdom, Knowledge & Learning

Trust in God

God’s Blessing

Blessings in the Old Testament

Blessings in the New Testament

What is our Reward in Heaven?

Rewards of Heaven

PART FIVE:       GOOD AND BAD CHOICES

Proverbs on the Rewards of God

Proverbs on Good Works, Charity

Proverbs on Honesty

Proverbs on Justice

Proverbs on Life and Death

Proverbs on Sin

Proverbs on Immorality

PART SIX:       ETHICS: RIGHT AND WRONG

Proverbs on Words and Speech

Proverbs on Good Speech & the Tongue

Bible Scriptures Concerning the Tongue

Proverbs on How to Speak

Proverbs on What Not to Say

Proverbs on the Danger of Words

Blaspheming Against the Holy Spirit

Proverbs on Gossips and Talebearers

Proverbs on Being a Good Friend and Neighbor

PART SEVEN:       RELATIONSHIPS

Proverbs on Sex and Marriage

Sexual Sin

Put On Life In Christ

PART EIGHT:       SINS OF LUST

Bible Stories of Sexual Sins

The Story of Angels Taking Human Wives

Ham’s Voyeurism

Sodom and Gomorrah

The Story of Lot and His Two Daughters

The Story of Abraham, Sarai and Hagar

The Story of Judah and Tamar

Rueben and His Father’s Concubine

The Story of Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

The Story of the Israelites with Moabite and Midianite Women

The Story of Samson

The Levite, the Harlot Concubine and the Benjamite Mob

The Story of David and Bathsheba

The Story of Amnon and Tamar

The Story of Absalom and His Father’s Wives

The Story of Solomon and His Wives

The Story of the Seductress and Her Victim

The Story of Jerusalem’s Spiritual Harlotry

The Story of Oholah

The Story of the Romans

Sexual Scandal in the Church

The Woman Clothed in Purple and Scarlet

Proverbs on Sexual Sin

PART NINE:       FAMILY

Marriage

The Bible Contains Divine Principles for Family Relationships

Sex in Marriage

Instructions for Christian Households

Proverbs on Marriage

The Bible on Parent and Child Relationships

Proverbs on Parent & Child Relationships

Divorce

PART TEN:       FINANCES

Being a Good Steward of Money

Spiritual Debt

Financial Debt

Proverbs on Debt

Biblical Promises Concerning Debt

PART ELEVEN:       CHOICES WE MAKE

The Bible About Alcohol

Proverbs about Alcohol

The Bible on Being Lazy

Proverbs on Sluggards

Fool, Foolishness, Folly

Proverbs on Foolishness

New Testament Examples of a Fool

Proverbs on Being a Fool

PART TWELVE:       DANGEROUS ATTITUDES

Proverbs on Anger

Proverbs on Pride

Proverbs on Jealousy

Proverbs on Fear

Proverbs on Conceit

PART THIRTEEN:       GOVERNMENT AND KINGDOMS

The Bible on Government

Proverbs on Government

The Kingdom of God

Bible Scriptures on the Kingdom of God

We Are Called to Suffer for His Kingdom

War Against the Kingdom

War Breaks Out In Heaven

Final Judgment & Ultimate Separation

A Choice for Eternity

Eternity in Hell

Eternity in Heaven

The Kingdom Of God Is Near

Kingdom of the Lord

PART FOURTEEN:       TRUE WISDOM

Wisdom of True Salvation

God’s Plan of Salvation Based on Scripture

The Lost Sheep and the Good Shepherd

PART FIFTEEN:       Mishle Shelomoh

The Proverbs In the Jewish Bible Translation (1917)

References

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my God, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom through Him all things are possible.

I want to acknowledge my wonderful grandmother Gilda Boschetto, who took me church and encouraged me in my faith walk in Jesus. To my loving and devoted parents Joseph and Gloria Percoco who brought me up in the way I should go.

To my husband Rene Zimmermann and children Jonathan, Jeremy, Diana and Jessica Mandia whom are my blessings on this earth, and I thank God for them every day!

I want to thank my sister Gloria, brother Joseph his wife Prudance, and their sons Joseph and Jesse Percoco for their love and support whenever I needed them.

I also praise God for all of my brothers and sisters in Christ and the pastors at Goodwill Church and those in leadership whom have taken me under their wings and have prayed for me for wisdom, healing and going deeper in my relationship with Jesus.

Epigraph

MISHLEI

Proverbs 27:7

The full soul loatheth a honeycomb;

but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

(JBS1917)

Forward

With a Forward by John Torres, Senior Pastor of Goodwill Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Montgomery NY.

Diane Zimmermann is a great blessing to our congregation on many levels. I’m grateful that her books on Jamaica and Proverbs are soon to be published and made widely available. She has a passion for Christ and His people that elevates the spiritual temperature in any room she enters. Her heart for service to God and for wounded people to receive healing in Christ is unmatched. Let her enthusiasm for missions and Scripture inspire you.

Preface

First and foremost I have to acknowledge God. I was listening to the car radio New Years Day 2010 on a teaching on the Book of Daniel and I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me and tell me to write a book on Proverbs called Proverbs for a Hungry Soul. God gave me the title of the book and I jotted it down on a piece of paper in the car. When I arrived home I started to write. As I followed the voice within me the book came into order and the Holy Spirit guided me to completion.

I know God has always been there for me since I was a small child. As I grew peer pressures of the age, wrong thinking and choices and burdens of life distracted me and I wondered off the path of the Way of Truth, God and His teachings and into the City of Destruction.

It was so gradual at first that I never really thought I had wandered off, just like a small child until it was too late and became lost unable to find my way back. Yet my cries for help was always answered and I was led back to Him, just like a prodigal child. I found he always greeted me with opened arms, bestowing upon me this love, grace and mercy.

The sayings of these Proverbs always seemed to be tucked away in my heart and pulled out whenever I needed them. I never quite understood the power of having Wisdom, yet alone Godly wisdom working in my life until I started asking God for it, just like King Solomon because I became tired of living my life on my terms. It always led me back down to on the path of destruction and I no longer want to go that way.

Yes, I was foolish, filled with pride and ungodliness, but that never stopped the Holy One from loving me and providing opportunities beyond my wildest imaginations being blessed and to serve Him! As Mr. Brown my high school drama teacher said, If Diane can do it, so should everyone else! So I offer you this opportunity to seek wisdom and to be successful and just do it!

I hope you are blessed by reading these Words of Wisdom by King Solomon and the other scriptures in this book because they are tried, true and tested and will guide all of us into making the proper choices in this life, and have life eternal with God yet to come!

May God pour out to you a double measure of blessings, health, protection and prosperity for you and your family and loved ones today and in the coming years ahead as you walk with Him! For He will never leave you or forsake you! Trust in Him with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and He will direct your path.

Introduction.jpg

Diane Zimmermann

PART ONE:

INTRODUCTION

This is a Manual for Living

Are You Ready to Receive Wisdom?

These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king—Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women. Proverbs 1:1-6 (MSG)

Start with God

Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning. Proverbs 1: 7 (MSG)

Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. And here’s why: God gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well, a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere. He keeps his eye on all who live honestly, and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones. Proverbs 2: 5-8 (MSG)

Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people. Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to God! Run from evil! Your body will glow with health, your very bones will vibrate with life! Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best. Your barns will burst, your wine vats will brim over. But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline; don’t sulk under his loving correction. It’s the child he loves that God corrects; a father’s delight is behind all this. With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth; with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven. They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface, and dew to descend from the night skies. Proverbs 3: 3-12, 19-20 (MSG)

Are YOU Ready to Start?

Give Your Life Over To God!

God loves us even if we haven’t loved him.

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. 1 John 4:7-10 (MSG)

God wants us to know him.

The God who made the world and everything in it, this Master of sky and land, doesn’t live in custom-made shrines or need the human race to run errands for him, as if he couldn’t take care of himself. He makes the creatures; the creatures don’t make him. Starting from scratch, he made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable, with plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God, and not just grope around in the dark but actually find him. He doesn’t play hide-and-seek with us. He’s not remote; he’s near. We live and move in him, can’t get away from him! One of your poets said it well: ‘We’re the God-created.’ Well, if we are the God-created, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think we could hire a sculptor to chisel a god out of stone for us, does it? Acts 17:24-29 (MSG)

We have all made choices showing we are inclined to be:

We are passively indifferent to God

We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost. We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way. And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong, on him, on him. Isaiah 53:6 (MSG)

We are actively opposed to God

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. John 3:19-20

Mark well that God doesn’t miss a move you make; he’s aware of every step you take. The shadow of your sin will overtake you; you’ll find yourself stumbling all over yourself in the dark. Death is the reward of an undisciplined life; your foolish decisions trap you in a dead end. Proverbs 5: 21-23 (MSG)

God doesn’t miss a thing—he’s alert to good and evil alike. God can’t stand pious poses, but he delights in genuine prayers. A life frittered away disgusts God; he loves those who run straight for the finish line. It’s a school of hard knocks for those who leave God’s path, a dead-end street for those who hate God’s rules. Even hell holds no secrets from God—do you think he can’t read human hearts? Proverbs 15: 3, 8-11 (MSG)

God is in charge of human life, watching and examining us inside and out. Proverbs 20:27 (MSG)

God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him. Walk straight—live well and be saved; a devious life is a doomed life. Proverbs 28:9; 18 (MSG)

Take Your Burdens to the Lord . . . and leave them there, like this old Hymn says:

There is Power in the Blood

Would you be free from the burden of sin?

There’s power in the blood, power in the blood;

Would you o’er evil a victory win?

There’s wonderful power in the blood.

Do YOU want to be Free from the Burdens of Sin?

Do You Have a Secret that’s Tearing You Up Inside?

We all have secrets that we don’t want anyone to know about. That secret will rule your life ruthlessly and ruin it. I know my secrets did it to me. Confessing your deepest, darkest secrets will really set you free. God has already made a way for the worst of sinners. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1John 1:19 (NIV)

Christ makes us without blemish and free from accusation Colossians 1:21-22(NIV)

Salvation comes not because sinners feel sorrow, but because Christ reconciles us to himself. Confess to God your secret and let him lead you in the process of healing.

The Biblical Method of Salvation

is Faith in Jesus Christ!

John 3:16 tells us, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Salvation is gained by faith, for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

Salvation is receiving Jesus as Savior. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12(NIV)

Salvation is fully trusting Jesus alone. Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 (NIV)

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12(NIV)

That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NIV)

Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3 (NIV)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 (NIV)

Except for Jesus Christ, there is no one who has lived an entire life without sinning. There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Ecclesiastes 7:20(NIV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of our sin, we have earned judgment from God, and that judgment is physical death followed by spiritual death. Romans 6:23 (NIV)

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God Jesus died in our place. Jesus took the burden and judgment of sin on Himself. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)

Jesus was then resurrected, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, proving that His payment for sin was sufficient and that He had overcome sin and death. As a result of Jesus’ sacrifice, God offers us salvation as a gift. 1 Corinthians 15:20 (NIV)

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15: 50-58 NIV)

In Acts 17:30 we are told that in the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. God calls us all to change our minds about Jesus and to receive Him as the full payment of our sins because He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 (NIV)

Life on God’s Terms

With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2 (MSG)

There is Power in Jesus Christ

Salvation Is Gained by Receiving the Gift God Offers Us

Four Simple Steps to Salvation

1. In your heart acknowledge that Jesus is Lord.

2. With your mouth confess that Jesus is Lord.

3. Believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised from the dead.

4. Repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus.

Pray the Lord’s Prayer

After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. Matthew 6:9-14 (KJV)

Talk to God with a Simple Prayer

Dear God,

Thank You for loving me so much that You sent You’re only Son to take the punishment for