Love of Self

Scriptures on pride and arrogance, envy, self-pity and self-control:

Galatians 6:14 "But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Ephesians 4:17-19 "This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness."

Matthew 19:29-30 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters of father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first."

Job 31:24-28 "If I have put my confidence in gold, and called fine gold my trust, if I have gloated because my wealth was great, and because my hand had secured so much; if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon going in splendor, and my heart secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, that too would have been an iniquity calling for judgement, for I would have denied God above."

Romans 8:18 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

Romans 8:28 "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

II Corinthians 7:10 "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death."

I Peter 1:13 "Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Proverbs 12:15 "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel."

Proverbs 23:17 "Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the Lord always."

Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud."

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

Colossians 2:6-7 "As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude."

Phillipians 1:6 "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus."

I Samuel 16:7 "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Biblical Discipline

Seven years ago I was at MOPS meeting. The speaker was a Children's Minister and she spoke on how to use scripture as discipline and instruction for your kids. She had found and printed up for us thousands of verses and organized them all by category.

For example: If your child lied to you then you would simply pull out the blue folder labeled "Sins of the Tongue" and have him pick out one of the scriptures from the envelope labeled "lying"; such as "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight." Proverbs 12:22. You then have several options depending on the age of the child. He could be required to memorize the scripture by a certain deadline or he could write it x number of times in a notebook. He might also need to look up "abomination" in the dictionary and/or find one other verse in Proverbs that deals with lying.

Isn't that great! What a way to teach scripture, encourage obedience to the Lord and to parents, and reinforce good penmanship, memorization and dictionary skills. I tell you this woman was a genius. The best part is the whole thing is already typed up, organized, sorted and filed...because we did that at the meeting as she spoke.

Of course at the time I had an 18 month old that couldn't read, write or lie so I didn't have much use for the giant binder of torture. Now, however, I do. I could use it everyday, maybe 3 or 4 times a day, but I couldn't find it anywhere...until today. There it was on a shelf in the closet as plain as day. I guess the plain green binder hadn't caught my eye before. I'm so excited to have it back. I can't wait to try it out. (insert evil laugh here)

I have a feeling that many of you could benefit from the wisdom of the binder too. So I've decided to post all of the information in the binder for you little by little. I"m not sure how long it will take so as not to bore the socks off the other readers who aren't interested I'm going to back date all of those scripture posts and label them "The Wisdom of Discipline". You can click on the labels link over on the side any time and find every post. It's going to take a while but eventually you will all have a binder full of "educational" scriptures to use on your kids too.

Click on the graphic above for more great tips!

Lust of the Flesh 2

More scriptures on greed, materialism, idolatry, discontent, laziness and mediocrity.

Hebrews 10:39 "But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul."

Titus 2:11-14 "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and Godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus; who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purfify for Himself a people fo His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

I Peter 4:1-2 "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."

Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men; knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve."

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."

Hebrews 12:1-3 "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart."

I Corinthians 10:31 "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

I Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Disobedience

Here are a few scriptures on Envy and Jealousy.

1 Peter 2:1-3 "Therefore putting aside all malice and all guile and hyposcrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you my grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord."

Romans 12:10 & 17 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men."

1 Corinthians 3:3 "For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?"

Galatians 5:14-15 "For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another."

Phillipians 2:3-4 "Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others."

Phillipians 2:5-8 "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient ot the point of death, even death on a cross."

The Lust of the Flesh

Here are a few disciplinary scriptures on discontent, greed and laziness.

1 Timothy 6:6-11 "But Godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction."

Phillipians 3:8 "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ..."

Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jeses Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ..."

Proverbs 14:30 "A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones."

1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world, not the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world...is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever."

Proverbs 19:15 "Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle man will suffer hunger."

Proverbs 6:6-11 " How long will you lie down, o sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? 'A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest'--and your poverty will come in like a vagabond, and your need like an armed man."

Hebrews 13:5-6 "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,' so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?"

Sins of the Tongue

Well, there is no time like the present. Here is the first round of disciplinary scriptures. (see "Eureka!" post).

Lying

Colossians 3:9-10 "Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created Him..."

II Corinthians 7:1 "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Proverbs 6:16-19 "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him; haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers."

Proverbs 14:25 "A truthful witness saves lives, but he who speaks lies is treacherous."

Psalm 24:3-4 "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully."

Proverbs 12:22 "Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal faithfully are His delight."