Dave's Diary

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I praise You. Thank You for creating me in Your own image and giving me the ability to dream dreams and to perceive visions of a better tomorrow. Please speak to me through Your Word today. Amen.

Reading

Read Proverbs 13 slowly and prayerfully. Notice which verse particularly jumps out at you. Re-read that verse a few times, slowly. Write it down in your journal. Try to memorise it so that you can reflect on it without having to read from the page.

Prayerful Reflection

Now take that Proverb and think about your life at the moment. Is there a situation in your life to which that Proverb applies. Ask the Lord how this verse from His Word is telling you to live out His wisdom in that situation. Make notes in your journal.

A Devotional Thought

Proverbs 13: 
⁴ A sluggard’s appetite is never filled,
    but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.

God has given us healthy desires. Even more so, God has given us the ability to dream His dreams and to envisage His vision of a better future and a brighter tomorrow. But they will not just fall into our laps. They will not become a reality until we do something about them. We have the great privilege and the high calling of working in the power the Lord gives us, to accomplish the future the Lord has allowed us to envisage. But this takes hard work. In Colossians 1:29, Paul wonderfully expressed the balance between God’s empowering and our effort. He wrote, “… I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” And this is the balance.

Someone once wrote that the cemetery houses most human dreams and visions because most of us do nothing about accomplishing them. There, among the gravestones lie books never written, songs never composed, business ideas never realised, and healthy relationships never pursued.

Today Proverbs 13:4 calls us to pursue the desires, dreams and visions given to us by God, striving to bring them to life through diligent, hard work with the strength given to us by God. And it warns us that laziness will not take us even one step closer to their fulfillment.

Prayer

Almighty God, thank You for the dreams and vision You have planted in my heart. I lay down all my own selfish ambitions and desires and I dedicate myself to the pursuit of Your Kingdom visions for my life. Amen.