Author Archives: Jason Sneed

About Jason Sneed

Husband, father, worship leader but most of all a God follower! I have the privilege to lead people to worship our Lord and Savior every week!

June 13, 2012

Light the Lamp

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 6:23-24

“For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.”

The Pledge

Growing up in a christian home, I went to a christian school all my life. One of the things we did every morning was to say our pledges to the American Flag, the Christian Flag and to the Bible.

The Pledge to the Bible goes like this:

I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word, I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.

This pledge was written directly from the verse in Psalm 119:105 which says,

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Being in God’s Word is the only way we are going to be able to see things clearly around us as we live this life! Without the true “light” we would be forever in darkness. (John 1:1-10)

In The Word

As it has been noted the last several days –Proverbs 6:20 | Proverbs 6:21-22 – we MUST be in God’s Word! When we read God’s Word it gets into our minds and into our hearts and it guides us along a safe path and protects us from the “fiery darts of the wicked”. (Ephesians 6:16 KJV)

The Warning

Solomon is trying to warn his son (and us) against the “evil woman”. She is on the prowl and knows what to say so that men will be drawn to her. The words that are formed on her tongue are as smooth as silk and as the old saying goes – “she knows how to use them”. She is as cunning as they come!

Even though Solomon was the wisest man to have ever lived on the earth (besides Jesus), he was also a man, and he knew the mesmerizing affect that women can have on men. That is why Solomon starts out this chapter by telling his son to make sure that he stays in God’s Word, so that when the temptation of the “evil woman” comes his way, he will be able to stand.

There is temptation all around us in this world and the only way for us to stand is to be in “The Light”! Let’s get back to the words of the pledge to the Bible and hide it in our hearts so that it will be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path!

Lord, please help me to stay in your Word. To keep my eyes fixed on You and to continue to live my life in the Light and not in the darkness. Help us to commit ourselves to your Word and the power that it holds over sin and the devil.

3 Comments | tags: Book of Proverbs, Evil Woman, God's Word, Lamp, Light, Path, Pledge, Warnings | posted in Temptation, The Wicked, Warnings, Wisdom

June 1, 2012

Don’t Be Lazy!

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 6:9-11

“How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.”

Lazy Quotes:

Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired. ~Jules Renard

Benjamin Franklin put is this way:

“Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes him.”

Eleanor Roosevelt said this about being lazy:

“So much attention is paid to the aggressive sins, such as violence and cruelty and greed with all their tragic effects, that too little attention is paid to the passive sins, such as apathy and laziness, which in the long run can have a more devastating effect.”

Enemies that Destroy:

Eleanor Roosevelt must have read the words of Solomon in chapter 6 of Proverbs when she wrote those words. In this chapter, Solomon is addressing three enemies that can have a devastating effect on a person financially, physically, morally, or spiritually:

Unwise Financial Commitments (Proverbial Thought – Proverbs 6: 1-5)
Laziness – Proverbs 6-11 (Proverbial Thought – Proverbs 6:6-8)
Lust – Proverbs 20-35

When You Least Expect It

Verses 9 and 10 describe exactly who the lazy person is (a sluggard), while verse 11 explains what is going to happen to that person. While the sluggard is busy doing nothing – they become poor (thy poverty) and do not even realize it. I like the way verse 11 reads in the ESV – “and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”

A robber is not going to call you up and tell you that he is about ready to invade your home and take everything from you. No, he is going to sneak into your house at a time that you least expect. Solomon is basically warning those people who are lazy and love their sleep that before you know it, you are going to lose everything.

A Cause of Poverty

There are a lot of people that are poor simply because they won’t work. There is work available, but they prefer or choose not to know about it. This is what the Bible says about those people:

“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth” (Proverbs 10:4 NIV).
“Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty” (Proverbs 20:13 NKJV)

One Final Thought – They’re Looking

Regarding being lazy – if you are a Christ follower – don’t ever forget that the world is watching! They are watching to see how we act. They are watching to see how we play. They are watching to see how we live our lives and THEY ARE WATCHING TO SEE HOW WE WORK – DON’T BE LAZY!

Lord, please help your people not to be lazy. Help us to be worth our hire – to our employers and to You. Help us to strive to fulfill Ecclesiastes 9:10 – “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might…”

2 Comments | tags: Book of Proverbs, Lazy, Poverty, Robbers, sleep, Sluggard, Solomon, Warnings | posted in Warnings, Wisdom

May 29, 2012

Stay On the Path

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 5:21-23

“For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.”

Stay On the Good Path

There is a line in Disney’s “It’s A Bug’s Life” that to me describes these verses. It starts with two fire flies that are buzzing around a bug zapper. One of the bugs is headed straight into the bug zapper while the other is warning him to look away. The conversation continues with one bug saying “No, Harry, No – Don’t look at the light”. Harry responds, “I can’t help it, it’s so beautiful!” As soon as the word beautiful comes out of Harry’s mouth, you hear and see Harry being zapped by the bug zapper. (VIDEO)

God is yelling to us and warning us to stay on the good path and not be lead astray by our own folly!

God’s Eyes

There was a little chorus that I was taught when I was little. It says “O be careful little eyes what you see; O be careful little eyes what you see; for the Father up above is looking down with love; O be careful little eyes what you see!”

We need to always remember that God is watching our every step. Nothing takes him by surprise. Even those times when we think that no one is watching us or that no one will ever find out – GOD KNOWS! Our ways are before the eyes of the Lord.

Our Choice

Something that has always fascinated me is that we (man) have the freedom of choice. We have the freedom to chose to follow God or not to follow God. One of the things that I find intriguing about verse 22 is that when we make the decision not to follow God and His laws – we find ourselves in bondage.

Warren Wiersbe says this about the power of sin:

The cords of sin get stronger the more we sin, yet sin deceives us into thinking we’re free and can quit sinning whenever we please. As the invisible chains of habit are forged, we discover to our horror that we don’t have the strength to breath them.

God again is yelling at us “No, no, don’t go down that road! Don’t let sin entrap you and keep you in bondage!

John 8:36 says “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”. Only Jesus Christ can set us free from our bondage of sin!

Within thy circling power I stand;
On every side I find Thy hand;
Awake, asleep, at home, abroad,
I am surrounded still with God.

– Isaac Watts

Let’s surround ourselves with God each and every day and stay focused on Him!

Lord, we thank you for your instructions to help us keep our path straight. Help us each and every day to die to self and completely give our lives to you.

Leave a comment | tags: Book of Proverbs, Choices, Eyes of God, Path of Life, Wicked | posted in Fools, Paths of Life, Temptation, The Wicked, Uncategorized, Warnings

May 4, 2012

Blessed Houses

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 3:33

“The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.”

A few months ago I came across a TV show entitled “Million Dollar Rooms” – yes, you read that correctly – Million Dollar ROOMS! Not million dollar homes – but rooms! It is a show that takes you on a magical ride into people’s homes who have spent at least one million dollars on one (1) room in their house. We are talking unreal rooms.

For instance, one show took us into a home where millions of dollars were spent on a 40 foot water fall in the foyer accompanied by a mist machine and a full light and laser show. Another was a bathroom, where the owner was obsessed with gold. Everything in his bathroom was made of gold. The walls of his very large, walk-in shower was made out of gold bars. Unbelievable!

In the fall of 2011, I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Panama City, Panama, and help to take the gospel to four different Indian tribes. What I saw there was also unbelievable!

What I saw there were structures that were patched together with anything and everything. I saw huts that had not walls and homes where you would had to climb up a ladder into the house so the snakes would not be able to crawl into your home. Unbelievable!

When I read Proverbs 3:33, I could not help but think of these two drastic pictures. When we think of being blessed, most of the time we think of being blessed with money – however, I saw this verse in action when I was in Panama. It does not matter what our physical house looks like – whether million dollar homes or small little huts – God has promised to “bless the dwelling of the righteous”.

This verse comes down to what is inside, not our homes, but in our hearts. Are we wicked people who refused to follow God’s law and are cursed or are we a righteous people who seek to please God in everything we do and who are blessed?

The buildings we live in have nothing to do with if we are truly blessed or not. It is a decision that we must make every day to follow hard after a God who has done so much for us. It is a decision to keep our eyes fixed on HIM and HIM alone and to follow Him every step of the way.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” – Joshua 24:15 (ESV)

Lord, give me the dedication of Daniel (Daniel 1:8) to make my home a place where we will serve You. Help me to choose you today and every day that you give me breath to tell others of your glory and your love.

2 Comments | tags: blessings, Book of Proverbs, dwellings, Home, righteous, Solomon | posted in contentment, Money and Finances, Value and Worth

April 27, 2012

Focus!

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 3:21-23

“My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.”

If we trust and obey, God will direct our path (Proverbs 3:6) into the blessings He has planned for us. We have seen over the past several days the different ways that God will bless us if we search and find wisdom and understanding. Today is no exception.

Stay Focused

Have you ever met one of those people who right in the middle of doing something, they remember that they have to do something else? They drop the first to attend to the second. They then are working on the second when a third items comes to mind and then the second is dropped so the work can begin on item number three. Ever met someone like that? Well, if you have not – let me introduce myself to you! This is so me! I have to purposefully make myself stay focused or I will get side-tracked by other things.

As people born with a sinful nature, we have this same tendency. This is what Solomon is telling us, don’t take your eyes off wisdom and discretion. Stay focused and don’t wander off on things that don’t matter and won’t bring you blessings.

Prone to Wander

In keeping our eyes on wisdom, God has promised us that not only will HE gives us His providential care (walk in thy way safely) but that He will also not cause our feet to stumble.

In 1757, Robert Robinson wrote the song “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and one of the last stanzas in the song says the following:

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

A prayer for my life is that I would constantly – and purposefully – keep my eyes focused on God. That I would not wander and take my eyes off of Him. When I do, that is when I will stumble and fall.

9 Comments | tags: Book of Proverbs, discretion, eyes, focus, Solomon, Wisdom | posted in advice, Paths of Life

April 24, 2012

Paths of Peace

By Jason Sneed

Proverbs 3:17

“Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”

Today’s Proverbial Thought continues to show the value of wisdom. We have seen over the past few days that Solomon has said that if we want happiness then we need to find wisdom (Proverbs 3:13-14). He then went on to say that obtaining wisdom is “more precious than rubies” (Proverbs 3:15), and if we obtain wisdom we can have both long life and honor (Proverbs 3:16).

How in the world could it get any better than that?

Well it does! Solomon continues to tell us in verse 17 that if we obtain wisdom then we will find pleasantness & true peace.

Verse 14-17 all deal with money in some form but we all know that having money does not give us peace. Money does not satisfy – only Jesus can satisfy and give us true peace! Warren Wiersbe writes of this verse,

“Happiness, pleasantness, and peace aren’t the guaranteed by-products of financial success but they are guaranteed to the person who lives by God’s wisdom.”

Proverbs is a book that was written by one of the wisest men who has ever walked the earth – Solomon. One word can describe the entire book of Proverbs – wisdom. In the book of Proverbs, the word wise or wisdom is used at least 125 times. This book was written to help us gather and apply God’s wisdom to the decisions and activities of our every day lives.

God has promised happiness, long life and honor, and peace to those who search and find wisdom, but it is a choice that each of us must make. We have the option of deciding if we want to pursue wisdom and understanding or not. Do you want to know God more deeply? Then find wisdom and understanding!