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BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 25 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter reads like an instruction manual on how to interact with others, both in public and private situations. The key to benefiting from Proverbs is to put these verses into practice. Wisdom without application keeps people stuck, but when wisdom is applied to daily living, that’s when we see positive changes.

Are you beginning to crave more Bible study? If so, here’s a suggested system to add to your daily Proverb. Read five chapters of Psalms, 30 verses apart, with your Proverb of the day. For instance, if you’re reading Proverbs 25, you’ll add Psalm 25, 55, 85. 115, and wrap it up with Psalm 145. That’s five chapters from Psalms, 30 verses apart. Of course, you could simplify this and just put your book mark in Psalms and read five chapters in a row instead of using the 30-verse system, but either way, you will have finished both Psalms and Proverbs by the end of 31 days. You will notice a difference in your habits, thought processes, and relationships. Building a Bible habit enriches our lives.

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we replay the most popular episodes from the previous season. Proverbs 27:4 makes a statement and then asks a question: "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?"

Who is able to stand before envy? No one. Compared to wrath and anger, envy comes up as the hardest of the list. It’s like a self-inflicted gunshot wound, causing pain that could have been avoided. There is nothing good about this consuming emotion. It’s such a spirit crusher.

One of the easiest ways to keep your life stuck in a dark place is to allow envy to creep in and color your world. Regardless of what caused the envy, exposing it to the light helps us to call it by name and face this foe. This episode shares three ways envy warps our world, and what we can do to escape the envy trap.

In Christ Unconditionally: Heart Conditions Bible Application Study

Mirror Talk: A Journey from Hurt to Healing Through God's Redemptive Love

Encouragement for Women: 30-Day Devotional

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BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 24 on Build Your Bible Habit. The overall theme of Proverbs is wisdom, but this chapter in particular focuses on the how vital wisdom is to our lives. When we try to manage our lives in our own wisdom, we often create expensive messes that we wish we didn’t have to clean up; but when we choose biblical wisdom, we’re choosing strength.

We do need more than the book of Proverbs to fully understand the Bible. When you’re ready, add a chapter of reading from either the Old or New Testament to go with your audio Proverb. Before long, you will have read your entire Bible. Take your time, but flex your reading muscles beyond the pages of Proverbs. As it says in Proverbs 24:5, "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength..."

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In Christ Unconditionally: Heart Conditions Bible Study

In Christ Unconditionally: New Testament Bible Study

In Christ Unconditionally: Old Testament Bible Study

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It’s no accident that the book of Proverbs is right in the middle of the Bible, and it reads like a flawless roadmap and a recipe book combined for our benefit. Verse by verse, Proverbs addresses the issues of life and what to do about them. You’ll find that these verses speak to many areas, making it possible for us to read, study, and then apply what we’re learning right away.

God is able to give us direction in ways that we could never come up with on our own. This episode takes several verses from Proverbs chapter 16, demonstrating how to put Bible application into practice.

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Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

Ponder the Path: A 31-Day Devotional

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BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 23 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter has a focus on temperance woven throughout the verses. Learning to control appetites and passions is a lifelong course. The key to mastery is practice through application. We aren’t merely building a Bible habit to store up information. We’re learning so that we can live it.

The more we develop excellence in our Christian lives, the more we wonder why we didn’t do it sooner. Many things that are healthy for us are not our favorites at first, but we wouldn’t trade the benefits. That’s how it is with Bible habits, too. When we apply biblical principles to daily living, we reap the benefits of wise choices and decisions. As it says in Proverbs 23:12, "Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.”

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Ponder the Path: A 31-Day Devotional

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Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we replay the most popular episodes from the previous season. Have you ever criticized yourself? Many of us have done this at some point. It’s a common part of what I call the NHS: "Noisy Head Syndrome.” The problem with habitually speaking to ourselves negatively is that we run the risk of making our lives worse, not better. The episode, “Stop Talking to Yourself Like That” helps us to examine a habit that needs changing. Would you speak to a dear friend the same way you talk to yourself? Let’s hit the replay button and catch this lesson again.

“When we make our lives performances rather than acts of service, it’s not surprising that we’ll suffer from stage fright.”—Francie Taylor, Teachback Tuesday: Stop Talking to Yourself Like That

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Ponder the Path: A 31-Day Devotional

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BONUS MINI-EPISODE FOR WIVES: Let’s blame this bonus episode on the blueberries. They were in season and I was about to sit down with a bowl of these fresh beauties when I had a flashback to how much my husband loved blueberries. I didn’t even try to like them back then, but now I wish I had tried. We could have shared the joy of a fresh harvest together.

This is not an episode for couples with deep marital problems. It's a bonus mini-episode for those who may have accidentally drifted into taking a good marriage for granted.

Are there areas in your marriage where you’re treating your husband and his interests and desires as if they are second to yours? Do you adore your husband, or are you treating him like a college roommate? God has trusted you with your husband. What are you doing with that sacred trust?

If you do whatever you want with your marriage, then you’ll get whatever you get in your later years. What will that look like, and does it match your relationship goals? This brief episode is just a simple heart-to-heart from a sister who was married for 35 years and now widowed for barely five. Ask yourself this question: Is your husband's existence better because you're in his life? 

Book mentioned in episode: Teachers of Good Things

NEW FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

ICU Heart Conditions Bible Application Study--Leader Guide

ICU Heart Conditions Participant Guide

Calm in Christ: Benefits of Daily Bible Study ebook

Beautiful Seaside Treasures Mini Shell Bags

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 22 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter begins with an emphasis on the importance of having a good reputation, and ends with a focus on the benefits of being diligent in business. These are related in the sense that both refer to a person who is responsible and reliable. Sandwiched in between verses one through 29 are a host of instructions for daily living. As usual, there is something for everyone in Proverbs. 

Chapter 22 really helps us to focus on character development in areas that we may tend to ignore, such as the area of humility. We undervalue this great character quality, but it makes a difference in our lives and helps us to maintain a proper perspective of who we are in Christ. Proverbs 22:4 reminds us of the benefits of humility coupled with fear of the Lord: "By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life."

Devotional Book: Vitamins for the Soul by Kathy Ashley

30-Day Devotional Book: Encouragement for Women

Great for Book Clubs: Sister Friends by Francie Taylor

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“Why did this happen to me?”

Have you ever wondered the same thing? Why did God bring you into such a hard place? Why didn’t He keep the event from happening? If God is all-powerful, why does He allow us to suffer when He could easily stop it? Is God being unfair to us? Why is this happening?

While we can’t answer anything that God hasn’t answered in His Word, we can address and apply what He has given us. The truth is this: there is no simple answer to the “Why-would-God” questions. Instead of asking “Why would God,” we can look at this from another angle:

"What can God do with my suffering?"

It is a reality that life deals some hard blows, and our first reactions are often emotionally driven by the shock and stress of our circumstances. God knows us, and understands that our human nature often reacts as a first response. He also promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us, meaning we are not abandoned. (Heb. 13:5). This Teachback Tuesday episode describes four things that God can do in and through our suffering. Share this with family and friends, but take care with the timing. Everything is better in the right season.

NEW FOR COUPLES: Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

ICU Heart Conditions Bible Application Study--Leader Guide

ICU Heart Conditions Participant Guide

Calm in Christ: Benefits of Daily Bible Study ebook

Beautiful Seaside Treasures Mini Shell Bags

BONUS BIBLE SERIES: Welcome to Proverbs chapter 21 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter discusses undesirable character traits, giving us something to consider carefully in our behavior with others. Would you want to live with a person who is always ready to argue, looking for things to fuss about? The Bible calls that contentious, and it's mentioned in this chapter.  As usual, these topics and others are covered in ways to make us think.

God uses Proverbs to repeatedly fill our hearts and minds with the wisdom needed for this life. When we read these verses and apply them, we experience the good outcomes of following God’s Word, but when we hear the verses and disregard them, it’s easy to mishandle situations and find ourselves in hard places. Everything we do has a motive behind it, and God wants those motives to be biblical and pure. As it says in Proverbs 21:2, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts."

Rough Patches: Temporary Marital Tensions

Pink & Brown Compact KJV Bible

Rose Gold Personal Size KJV Bible

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Leader Guide

ICU--In Christ Unconditionally New Testament Participant Guide

Ponder the Path: A 31-Day Devotional

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