Bill Moore Ministries

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12

God offers instruction, but then it’s our move. We must accept His instruction and apply it to our lives. Then, and only then, can we expect to cash in on the benefits of His instruction. So you see, application is the essential link between instruction and change.

God has send us His instruction. He has preserved every word of it in a book, the Bible, it’s all there, just as he communicated it to us. When He returns for His own, He isn’t going to ask us how much we memorized or how often we met for study. No, He will want to know, “What did you do about my instructions?”

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

A good name is to be more desired than great wealth, favor is better than silver and gold. Proverbs 22:1

Unfortunately, we have grown accustomed to shrugging off lapses in moral character, manifested in secretive and deceptive lifestles. We are frequently told that trying to find people who value honesty and model responsibility, who promote fairness, accountability, loyalty, respect for others, and who hold to strong, upright convictions is not at all realistic.

“Such people don’t exist… we need to stop requiring personal purity,” we are told. Or, as one air-headed soul said during one recent presidential campaign, “We’re voting for president, not pope.”

To such as analogy, I reply “Nonsense!” That kind of logic (or rather, lack of logic) gives me the jitters.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing. But the soul of the diligent is made fat. Proverbs 13:4

A young fellow rushed into a gas station to use the pay phone. The manager overheard his telephone conversation as he asked: “Sir, could you use a hardworking, honest young man to work for you? [pause] “Oh… you’ve already got a hardworking, honest young man? Well, thanks anyway!” The boy hung up the phone with a smile. Humming to himself, he bagen to walk away, obviously happy.

“How can you be so cheesy?” asked the eavesdropping manager. “I thought the man you talked to already had someone and didn’t want to hire you.”

The young fellow answered. “Well, you see I am the hardworking young man. I was checking up on my job!”

If you called your boss, disguised your voice, and asked about your job, what do you think would be His answer?

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance Psalm 32:7

Providence. We toss the word around. But have you ever analyzed it? It comes from the Latin, providentia. Pro means “before” or “ahead of time”; videntia is from videre, meaning “to see.” Put them together and you have “seeing ahead of time,” which is what Almighty God does. He sees the events of life ahead of time-something that we of course can never do.

We’re great at history. Our hindsight is almost always 20/20. But we’re lousy at prophecy, that is, the specifics of the future. Stop and think. We’ve no clue as to what will happen one minute from now, no idea what’s going to happen next. But our invisible God, in His providentia, is continually, constantly, and confidently at work.

He never changes, He knows what He is about, and He pursues it with relentless determination.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3

Disillusionment is a dangerous, slippery slope. First we become disillusioned about our fellow man. Then we move on to cynicism. Before long. We trust no one, not even God. We’ve been burned. We’ve been taken advantage of; we’ve been mistreated.

The cause of disillusionment and the cure for it can be expressed in almost the same simple words. The cause of disillusionment is putting one’s complete hope and trust in people. Putting people on a pedestal, focusing on them, finding our security in them and when their feet of clay crumble (as the surely will) total disillusionment sets in.

What’s the cure? Putting our complete hope and trust in the living Lord. When we do that, the simplest messages from God calm our spirits.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

I will put my trust in Him. Hebrews 2:13

Helen Rosebeare was a British medical missionary in the Congo years ago during an uprising. Her faith was strong and her trust was confident, yet she was raped, assaulted, and treated brutally. Commenting later, she said, “I must ask myself a question as if it came directly from the Lord. ‘Can you thank Me for trusting you with this experience even if I never tell you why?’”

What a profound thought. God has trusted each of us with our own set of unfair circumstances and unexplained experiences to deal with. Can we still trust in Him even if He never tells us why?

The secret to responsible trust is acceptance. Acceptance is taking from God’s hand absolutely anything He gives, looking into His face in trust and thanksgiving, knowing that the confinement of the hedge we’re in is good and for His glory.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

A word fitly spoken, is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Proverbs 25:11

Like Jell-O concepts assume the mold of the words into which they are poured. Who has not been stabbed awake by the use of a particular word… or combination of words? Who has not found relief from a well-times word spoken at the precise moment of need? Who has not  been crushed beneath the weight of an ill-chosen word?

And who has not gathered fresh courage becuase a word of hope penetrated the fog of self-doubt? The term word remains the most powerful of all four-letter words.

Colors fade.
Shorelines erode.
Temples crumble.
Empires fall. But a “word fitly spoken” endures.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

Keep my commandments and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye. Proverbs 7:2

What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are completely His- completely.

God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He’s looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-the-the-core servants who have integrity.

Today, we live in a world that says, in many ways, “If you just make a good impression, that’s all that matters. ” But you will never be a man or woman of God if that’s your philosophy. Never. You cannot fake it with the Almighty. He is not impressed with externals. He always focuses on the inward qualities… those things that take time and discipline to cultivate.

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. Eccelsiastes 4:9

Independence is our watchword and “Think for yourself” is our motto. Declaring a need is a sign of weakness, and an open admission of failure and lack of character. Furthermore, we are on the move so much, who has time to share and to care? It has been my observation that we Christians are not immune from this hurry-up, hassle-hustle mentality.

Even though it is easy to buy in to the selfish lifestyle and opt for isolationism instead of involvement, the consequences are bitter and inescapable. Swimming with the current of today’s me-ism mindset has a way of eclipsing the contrasting light of scripture.

“Two are better than one…” Because:
1. They have a good return for their labor – mutual effort
2. One will lift up his companion – mutual support
3. They keep each other warm – mutual encouragement
4. They can resist an attack – mutual strength 

[Excerpt from Charles Swindoll's book -Wisdom for the Way]

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:-23-24

Stop and think: Upon believing in Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and bodily resurrection, the once-lost sinner is instantly unconditionally, and permanently “declared 100% righteous.” Anything less and we are not righteous… we’re almost righteous.

If we are declared 99.9% righteous, some verses of the Bible would have to be rewritten. Like Isaiah 1:18, which might then read: “Come now, and let us reason together,’ says the Lord, ‘though your sins are as scarlet, they will be light pink.”

Nonsense! The promise of sins forgiven is all or nothing. Eighty percent won’t cut it…

When out Lord said “It is finished,” He meant “finished”.