A Snare For Your Soul

Proverbs 22:24-25

Make no friendship with an angry man,
And with a furious man do not go,
Lest you learn his ways
And set a snare for your soul.

At our weekly gathering on Tuesday afternoon, we were led into a time of spirit-filled sharing based on Proverbs 22:24. We have not shared reports of our Tuesday meetings for some months now, but feel to remedy that omission, but more in the form of ‘inspired by’, rather than ‘this is what was said’.

We have had personal experience of an ‘angry man’ recently, and reflecting on this fact, it occurred to me at least, that many conflicts in my life have been the result of coming up against the will of an angry person. Why that person is angry, and ‘venting their spleen’, is rarely clear; but The Lord reveals that the root cause is likely to be arrogance and pride. An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression. A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honour. [Proverbs 29: 22-23]

I have been that ‘angry man’ on occasions, and I know that it deeply affects those around you, and never allows you to feel better afterwards. That violent spirit is the antithesis of the spirit of Christ, but once it takes hold it does indeed become a snare for your soul, chaining and imprisoning without mercy. Furthermore, that spirit of anger spreads like a contagion, either gripping others or instilling fear.

Only the Holy Spirit can release you and bring peace, and the counsel that Proverbs gives us is in verse 28 … Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set. This seems a strange thing to say, but when you know that a landmark is a boundary, a protective wall, then we realise that the ancient landmark is the Holy Spirit — bringing salvation — gifted to our forbears by God and eternally established in the hearts of believers.

Our God — in His mercy — has granted us the free will to choose or deny Him, and so Solomon’s Proverbs tells us Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set; don’t lay yourself open to the spirits of fear or anger; hold on to what The Lord has given you.

Thus says the LORD: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it. [Isaiah 56:1-2a]

Hold on to Him — He will then take care of the rest, for He has promised it

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Meditate On These Things

DEUTERONOMY 26:17-19
Today you have proclaimed the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice.
Also today the LORD has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments,
and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honour, and that you may be a holy people to the LORD your God, just as He has spoken."

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BY YOUR SPIRIT — Influence Music and Kim Walker-Smith

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A HOLY CONDITION: Oswald Chambers on JOY AND PEACE
— PEACE: Life in the Spirit --

WE MUST BE like a plague of mosquitoes to the Almighty with our fussy little worries and anxieties, and the perplexities we imagine, all because we won't get into the elemental life with God which Jesus came to give. "His love in times past" should enable us to rest confidentially in Him. There is security from yesterday, security for tomorrow, and security for today. It was this knowledge that gave our Lord the imperturbable peace He always had.
[from ‘Biblical Ethics’]

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Listen to this meditation by clicking on download file below…

22-08-21__464__a_snare_for_your_soul.m4a
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