TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - June 24, 2025 - Proverbs 4:20-27 - Ponder the Path of Your Feet

Episode Date: June 24, 2025

In this compelling conclusion to Proverbs Chapter 4, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart explore the powerful call to ponder the path of your feet. This lesson challenges believers to take personal responsibility for their spiritual focus, choices, and speech. The discussion unpacks the importance of guarding the heart, fixing our eyes and ears on God’s Word, and avoiding distractions that lead to destruction. Rick and Doc emphasize that true wisdom demands daily discipline, intentional listening, and unwavering obedience — all in pursuit of a life marked by wholeness and divine direction.Rick Wiles, Doc Burkhart. Airdate 6/24/25Join the leading community for Conservative Christians! https://www.FaithandValues.comYou can partner with us by visiting https://www.FaithandValues.com/donate, calling 1-800-576-2116, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961.Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves!https://www.AmericanReserves.comIt’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today!https://www.amazon.com/Final-Day-Characteristics-Second-Coming/dp/0578260816/Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/final-day-10-characteristics-of-the-second-coming/id1687129858Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. https://www.sacrificingliberty.com/watchThe Fauci Elf is a hilarious gift guaranteed to make your friends laugh! Order yours today! https://tru.news/faucielf

Good morning everybody, welcome to Morning Manna. We are glad that you have joined us for a one-hour Bible study. So there's a lot about you to set aside one hour, five days a week to study the Word of God. And Doc and I are just honored that you would allow us into your life one hour a day to share with you what we know about the Word of God. We're learning with you, we're expanding, we're growing. None of us stop growing spiritually. You shouldn't until the day you die. There should always be an ever increasing It should always be an ever increasing hunger and thirst for the knowledge of God and acquiring wisdom and understanding.

And that's what we're doing today. This month and next month we will be studying the book of Proverbs and today we're in the final verses of chapter 4. We're going to be looking at verses 20 through 23. If we have enough time, we're going to finish out the chapter and go to verse 27. So let's pray. Invite the Holy Spirit. Thou will read the Word and then we will begin our lesson.

Almighty God, our wonderful Heavenly Father, Father, we come to you in the name of your Son Jesus Christ, and we come with hungry hearts and inquiring minds. Father, we are desirous of knowledge and understanding of your Word. So, Father, we invite your Holy Spirit to illuminate us and educate us and bring revelation to us from the book of Proverbs in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. Praise God, we are continuing our study

in Proverbs chapter four today and we'll be focusing on verses 20 through 23. So if you got your Bibles, please turn to that. Hello to friends from all over the world this morning. Hello to Russia today. Hello to Malaysia. Hello to Brazil. Hello to Japan. Australia today. Praise God. All over the world and all across the U.S. and Canada today. God bless you. Thank you for joining us live here on this edition of Morning Manna. I'm reading from Proverbs chapter 4 verses 20 through 23. We might do some more later on. Let's focus on these verses, these four verses. My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear unto my saints. Let not them depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they

are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life." Put away for... Oh, then just verse 23. I got got ahead of myself there. All right, so 23-23, Rick. There we go. And we'll see if we can get to the bottom of the chapter I'd like to today. Verse 20, My son, attend to my words, incline thy ear unto my sayings. Three segments of this verse. The first segment, my son attend to my words. This segment emphasizes the urgent call to focus. Listen, focus on wisdom's instructions to prioritize God's truth as the highest thing in your life. My son, attend to my words. Once again, we see a fatherly appeal to the children to allow wisdom to guide their lives. Attend, which means listen.

Attend to my words. Listen to my words. Active engagement. Think of a father or mother talking to a child, you know, a teenager, saying, listen to what I'm saying, and the child has, the teenager has his or her cell phone in their hand, and they're scrolling through the phone, and the father is saying, listen to what I'm saying, put down the phone. Listen to me. You can go back to the phone later, but right now I'm speaking to you. I'm your father I'm speaking to you listen to me. Yes

That's what this is saying my child attend to my words Pay attention focus Don't partially listen. Concentrate fully. Absorb my teachings with a receptive heart. Throughout Proverbs we're seeing this theme, this relational bond of instruction. The teacher is a father. The father is teaching his sons and daughters. This isn't just a school, college, classroom. There's a family relationship, father to child. The focus is on my words, on the Father's words.

So this speaks of the divine authority of the words. This isn't Confucius saying something. This is Almighty God. This isn't some great philosopher. This isn't Plato speaking. This is Almighty God speaking. Right. the second segment is incline thine ear. Turn, turn your ear. Turn in the direction of my voice. Turn your ear. Make a deliberate effort to hear wisdom. deliberate effort to hear wisdom. Actively seek understanding of God's word. Have an intentional openness to his voice.

These are all statements about the condition of the heart. Right. Is the heart stony or is it is it broken up? Is the ground, the soil? We can go back and talk about the parable of the sower. Different conditions of the soil. The parable of the sower is not about the soil, it's to the Word of God. In the parable of the sower, the heart that is broken, tender, has been plowed. The clouds of dirt have been broken up. The tiller has gone through the pasture and broken up the clods. It's soft dirt. You can put your hand in it and it's just nice, moist, dark dirt. That's where you plant a seed and you get growth 30 fold 60 fold

100 fold what does that have to do with this with this verse incline your ear have a heart that is open to hearing the Word of God. Yes. The seed can't get in if the ears are closed. Yes. And it's got to be deliberate. It can't be osmosis. Remember as a kid, you used to think, well, if I just put my math book under my pillow

and sleep on my math book, maybe I'll absorb the math problems and everything. A lot of people had that attitude toward the Word of God. If I'm around it, if I'm exposed to it, I guess I'll just magically absorb it. But no, this verse here says that there's attention required, that you incline, that word incline, we saw it before earlier in chapter 4, means to lean in. You know, like when somebody is leaning in, could you repeat that?

Could you say that once again? So the idea here is intention, purposefulness, that you are seeking the word of God specifically, not just allowing it to kind of float into you, that you are wanting it, that you desire it, that you're pursuing wisdom. So a person who leans in when somebody else is talking makes an effort to hear. Is that person proud or humble?

Obviously, a humble person. Proud people don't wanna hear anybody else's opinion. Nobody else's opinion that matters. Proud people don't lean in. anybody else's opinion. Nobody else's opinion that matters. Proud people don't lean in, they don't incline their ear. They don't care what you think. That's one of the signs of narcissism. They don't care what you think. You're irrelevant, Doesn't matter your opinions your thoughts your feelings. Who cares?

But a humble person listens Humble persons says you're talking to me. I'm going to stop what i'm doing and listen Then the third part of this verse is unto my sayings. My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings. This speaks about the value of God's teachings. That the student is being told to cherish the counsel that comes to us from the Holy Spirit. Unto my sayings, my, or it speaks of the Father, and we're specifically talking about the Heavenly Father.

That's who My is. Attend to My sayings. So this directs attention to the words of the Teacher. It's telling us you're listening to the words of the teacher and the teacher is your Holy Father. So the sayings, the word sayings, unto my sayings, the sayings signify authoritative instruction. It's coming from the supreme source, the one who has the authority to speak truth. You saw that throughout the ministry of Jesus on earth, he spoke with authority. He didn't quote rabbis. He didn't say, well rabbi so-and-so

a thousand years ago said this about the Word of God. No, he spoke. In fact, not only did he speak with authority about previous statements from the Lord in what we call the old covenant scriptures, but every word that he spoke became new scripture. He spoke with authority. party. So there's a personal aspect, a personal nature of this divine guidance. It's His words. Let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart. So let them not depart. It's again an active instruction. Who's responsible for not not letting the sayings of the Father depart from your eyes. You and me, it's our responsibility. Can't blame it on anyone else. That's right.

You're responsible. We're responsible. Let them not depart. Each of us have a personal responsibility to keep the sayings of God in front of our eyes. So let them not depart from your eyes. What do you do with your eyes? What are your eyes for?

To see things, right? The sayings of God, the sayings of the Father are the Word of God, the Holy Bible. The only thing that we have in the words that God has spoken to mankind is the Holy Bible. That's it. There are no other words that God has spoken to the human race other than what's in the Holy Bible. Anybody else who has something, they're making it up. They're introducing heretical documents. We have the Word of God. The question for every human on the earth

is do I recognize and accept the Holy Bible as the inspired Word of God and that it is flawless without error. It is the Word of God. Do we believe it or not? That's a question every human has to answer. Right. I have talked to agnostics and atheists who say, I just don't believe. I just don't believe God wrote the Bible. Okay, that's your opinion. You've made a decision. I disagree with you. I'm not going to hate you because you have a different conclusion than I have. I believe it's the Word of God. I am persuaded. I don't think about it. I'm persuaded. And I'm not going to fight you over it. And I'm not going to fight you over it. And I'm not going to allow you to take my word away from me.

Amen. It works both ways. That's right. You can reject it, but you can't take it from me. Right. That's where we draw the line. We use our eyes to look. And one of the things that we do in looking is that we read. Let them not, let them, them means the sayings. The sayings are the Scriptures. Let the Scriptures not depart from your eyes. Well that means, that means regular looking at the Scriptures. What are we doing here five days a week?

What are we doing here five days a week? We're looking at the scriptures. Amen. Let them not depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. What you put in your, what goes through your eyes, enters your mind, what's in your mind goes into your heart. What's in your heart comes out your mouth. So keep the Word of God in front of your eyes and keep the sayings of God in your heart. For they are life to those who find them and health to all your body.

For they are life. The words have life-giving power. The word of God brings spiritual vitality. God brings spiritual vitality. It also brings physical vitality and good health. Life, the word life here signifies flourishing, purpose. It's abundant. It's not a state of misery. The Word brings life, vibrant relationship with God. For they, that's the word, the word of God, the scriptures, they. They, the sayings of God bring abundant life, bring vitality, purpose to your life

unto those that find them. There's a condition there. The Word of God is in the Bible. There are gazillions of copies of the Bible in the world, but if the covers are never opened, the pages never read, the words are contained on the pages and do no good. The sayings of God only bring life, vitality, purpose to those who find the sayings of God. So, there's active pursuit for this wisdom. The benefits, the reward of wisdom is free and open and available, but you have to seek it. You know that if it was announced that there was a billion dollars worth of gold hidden

in a specific location, there would be so many people there with shovels. You wouldn't have room to turn around. Why? Well, they want it. Yes. They want it. That's why they desire it. They're after it.

Why? Because of what gold can do. That's right. What can gold do? It can solve a lot of problems. And yet, Proverbs says wisdom is more valuable than gold. But if you tell people that something more valuable than gold is in a book, most people don't seek it.

Why? They don't believe it. It's just that simple. They don't believe it. They don't believe it. They don't believe what God said. What other reason is it? They don't believe it. They're calling God a liar.

If you don't believe what God said, aren't you calling him a liar? I mean, he might not, you might not come right out and say, I believe God's a liar, but if you don't believe what he said, then you privately, you think he doesn't tell the truth. He said wisdom is more valuable than gold. If you believed it, you'd pursue it. Well, the people that are in this class believe it. Pat yourself on the back. You believe it. You believe his word. And you keep showing up for more every day.

Yeah. On to those that find them. So this conditions this abundant life on seeking. There's some strings attached. You only get this abundant life if you seek the sayings of God. Wisdom's blessings come to those who actively search for it. Find it. Well, find it implies it's hidden. Wait a minute. Think about that. You're telling me that there's a treasure and I can have it but it's hidden. Yes, that's what God's saying to you. Yes. He says find it.

But here's the good thing. When he sees you looking for it, he leads you to it. You're getting warm. Remember that game as a kid? Yeah, right. He starts dropping breadcrumbs. Hey come over here He leads you he watches or how How deep is your sincerity How deep is your hunger? How thirsty are you? Will you pursue this

wisdom? What will you go through to find it? What sacrifices will you make to find it? What things of the world will you discard so that you can pursue this wisdom? Wait, you're telling me I have to give something up? What's that? You're telling me I have to give something up? Yes, things that are eating up your time and attention, things that consume your time and your attention. Focus your life on finding this treasure. And it comes through the study of the word and through prayer. Now, the whole other topic we can get into, and I'm not going to

go there today, but Satan will do everything he can do to prevent you from focusing. He will throw, he's talking about throwing everything but the kitchen sink, yeah, he'll throw the sink too. Anything to break your focus, to disrupt your life. Problems you haven't dealt with for years. Oh yeah. Will come popping up. But once you understand the pattern, you know what He's trying to do. Distract.

Distract. To tear you down, to take your eyes off of God and off His Word, and get your eyes focused on what He's doing against you. Yes. I wish I had an easy formula to overcome it. I don't. I haven't found a jet. I've had spiritual warfare at a level that I can't even describe to people. I know what it's like. I so don't think some of you don't think I'm I'm unaware of things that you're going through. I am.

I know what it's like. I know what it's like when Satan bears down on you with incomprehensible spiritual oppression to break your will to break your will to break spiritual oppression to break your will, to crush your will. But again, it's because you're pursuing God. He only does that against the people who are pursuing God with all their might. Right. So it's a good sign if he's coming at, coming at you at that level. And the third segment says, and health to all their flesh, where they are life

unto those that find them and health to all their flesh." So now we see a physical component to wisdom, but the word of God brings physical health. Health to all their flesh, their body, physical vitality, There's a universal impact of the Word of God on our lives, in our souls, in our minds, in our bodies. You can be physically well and mentally sick, emotionally sick. You can be physically sick and emotionally well. The overall purpose of the Word of God is to bring about wholeness, the Word of God is to bring about wholeness. A holistic healing of your mind, your emotions, your body, everything, your soul, everything. A holistic healing. That's where we are moving.

That's our goal in this life, to have a holistic healing of our of our being. And it's possible. I'll let you know when I get there. Yeah, let me know too. Okay. But I'm not there. I'm not yet there yet. I don't pretend I'm not there yet, but I'm going there And for that reason I know I'll get there

I'm going there. I'm always even if I'm crawling on my hands and knees. I'm still moving There are times you're gonna be knocked and you're on your hands and knees. There are sometimes you're crawling on your belly. But as long as you're crawling and you're moving, you're going in the right direction. The Holy Spirit will get you back up on your feet. When you're down on the ground looking at dirt, religious people will come up and kick you in the ribs. Call you names, but the Lord will get down on the ground with you and sit with you. And encourage you to get back up on your feet.

And religious people don't understand his mercy, his grace. Religious people live by the law. They know the law, the law, the law, the law. The law demands punishment. The law demands retribution. But we live under grace. And it's the judge. It's the judge of the universe who gets down on the ground with you when you're knocked

down and wiped out, sucking in dirt with your lips. The judge of the universe who has the power to judge you, he's the one who gets down on the ground with you and whispers to you, I'm here, I'm here, I love you. You can get back up. Come on, let's do it. The Father's love is greater than anything we can comprehend. His love, His mercy, His kindness, his loyalty, his fidelity to you. He's loyal to you. He will show fidelity to you. He's not like humans.

Yeah. Oh boy. While you're down, the humans will kick you in the ribs and go through your pockets looking for your wallet. And then go to church. Then go to church and tell everybody how righteous they are. Verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Keep thy heart. Guard the heart. Protect the inner life. Again there's a commandment. There's an instruction.

You not that person over there but you. You keep your heart. You keep your heart. You keep his heart or her heart. You keep your heart. See, that's another thing. Religious people want to keep your heart. They don't want to keep their heart. They want to keep your heart. They want to use religion on you, but they don't want to keep their heart because they don't study the Word of God. Right. Because you don't want to keep their heart because they don't study the Word of God right because you don't match their ideals Right, but they have they have a religious concept of the law that they want to use against you

So there's a there's an instruction here keep the instruction is keep That's the instruction requires action Keep means active guardianship That's the instruction. Requires action. Keep means active guardianship. You are responsible to watch over your heart. When we get in trouble, it's because we stop guarding our heart. Out of the heart flows the issues of life. So your heart is speaking about the inner life, the real you.

Guard your heart. With all diligence. Don't be sloppy about it. Right. Protect your heart. Satan is trying to get into your heart. He's trying to inject viruses and germs and bacteria into your heart. Fight him off with all diligence. Fight him off.

He's trying to find a way to inject harmful substances into your heart. Those harmful substances are ungodly thoughts. Where he's telling you things that are contrary to the Word of God. Telling you things about you. That you are not, but he's telling you, you are. Yep. Satan will tell you that you are something that you are not. And if you listen to it long enough, you'll become what he says you are. And God's trying to tell you you're something that you don't believe. That you're a child of God.

But do you believe that? If you really believed you were a child of God, would you live differently? Of course you would. That's right. God has an opinion about you. Satan has an opinion about you. God has an opinion about you. And you have an opinion about you. Satan has an opinion about you God has an opinion about you and you have an opinion about you The world has an opinion about you people Relatives friends co-work, you're you're it they all have opinions about you. Which one do you believe? The one that you believe is the one that gets into your heart, yes

And so just keep your heart, guard your heart with all diligence. Diligence. That's a that's kind of a foreign word for a lot of people today, isn't it? Diligence, steadfastness, trustworthiness, like you have a plan. fastness, trustworthiness, like you have a plan. If an Army Colonel told a private, guard this door with all diligence. What does that mean? That means pay very special attention, be on high alert. There's a reason why the commanding officer said, with all diligence, maybe he has more information than you do. Maybe there's an enemy that is prowling about. This is no time for sleeping. It's no time for being on your phone.

No time for reading a comic book. No, stand your post. Guard your post. So if the enemy showed up and tried to open the door, what would the private be empowered to do? To protect it and to defend it at all cost. At all cost, yes. Because the private would say,

the Colonel said with all diligence. Which means in the military would mean you're authorized to shoot the person trying to open the door. It spiritually we're talking about you're authorized to use spiritual force against somebody who's trying to open the door to your heart. You're to have steadfast attention to protect your heart from foreign substances. Those foreign substances are the thoughts, the opinions, the words of Satan and people who are influenced by Satan because they're constantly trying to get negative thoughts into your heart and to look for any fissure, any crack, any opening, any hole, where can they worm their way into your heart?

What's the weakness? What is the greatest weakness in your heart right now? That's where Satan's coming at you. What is your greatest weakness today? That's where Satan is focusing his fire power. Not at your strength. He's coming at your weakness. Verse 3, out of it are the issues of life. Out of what?'s influence. It's like a spring, for out of your heart flows the issues, the water of life, like a spring.

Jesus said, "'Ow the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So the issues is actually a word for springs. It signifies the heart's outflow. Again, we have nobody else who can be held responsible for the issues of our heart other than ourselves. If something comes out, it's because we've allowed something to come in. That's where Satan has been pounding at you relentlessly for years and years and years Telling you something that you are that God says you're not

Amen Oh What do you think doc I go for the rest of the 24 through 27 We're we still have time. So how's the class thing. What do you think guys. You want me to go on. I think they're all gonna say yes Rick. All right, I don't want to impose my cell phone others. I know everybody's got schedules. Okay, I'll pick up the pace so we can get done here in about 12 minutes. Doc, would you read verses 24 through 27? Yes, sir. So picking back up at verse 24, put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse

lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand, nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil." Lots of instructions in there. It sounds like we're repeating the same thing, and there's probably a reason for that. He's repeating the instructions. Verse 24, put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee.

World English Bible put away from yourself a perverse mouth, put corrupt lips far from you. So now we have an instruction to deliberately reject sinful speech. Put away from you. You do it. Not your mother, not your friend, you. You do it. You put away from you. You put away from yourself, from your mouth, sinful speech. There's a decisive rejection. You've made a decision.

a decisive rejection. You've made a decision. You're going to eliminate sinful thoughts and words from your life. So we have to take personal responsibility for speech. Can't blame anybody else. It's you. You own it. You own it. Deal with it. What comes out of our mouth, we allow somebody to put it in. Again, Satan is relentlessly coming at your mind every day with vile thoughts about you. He's a disgusting devil. He's disgusting. He brings destruction to lives. He's the supreme narcissist because a narcissist gets joy. You know, when a person goes into malignant narcissism, they get joy out of seeing lives destroyed.

Satan is the supreme narcissist. And I have the view that all levels of narcissism is satanic. There's narcissism light and there's narcissism dark. But all of it is satanic because it reflects his nature. So he's always coming at you with thoughts and words for the ultimate purpose of destroying you. There's no other purpose, it's to destroy you, to crush you, to take your soul from you. Put away from yourself a foward mouth, a perverse mouth. So a foward mouth is both a dishonest mouth or a harmful mouth.

Crooked. Distorted. It's contrary to the Word of God. It can be rebellious talk. You can have people who would never say a cursed word ever never ever say a cursed word and yet they speak words of rebellion Well, that's cursing in heaven right witchcraft That's what the Bible calls it witchcraft So, you know, if you think that a throw word or perverse is just dirty words, that's not

what this includes it, but it goes beyond that. Words that are contrary to God's words. Deceitful words. I'm going to go back to narcissists. Narcissists are deceitful people. They have two personalities. They have one that they put forward to some people and they have another one. I would say they have three personalities. They have one that they put forward to the general public. They have another one that they put forward to the general public. They have another one that they put forward to the victims

that they're going after. And then they have their real personality that only they know about. So they got their split personalities, three personalities. I'm not a clinical psychologist, maybe psychologist with disabilities, that's not right Rick, but I'm just telling you what I've seen, the way I see it in my amateur layman analysis.

But they will go after you to bring you down. They're deceitful. They know what they're doing. They know that they're deceiving you. Yes. They know it. That kind of person may never say a curse word, never say a sexual word, never say anything, but they're deceitful.

Their heart is wicked and deceitful and yet their exterior is oh so clean and religious. What did Jesus call them? Whitewashed seplicers. He said on the outside you're painted white, on the inside you're full of dead men bones. A tomb. A tomb. I don't, I was at my age right now, I don't care about religious people. I just don't care anymore. That's where I'm at. I just don't care anymore about religious people. I want to say I don't care. I don't care what they say anymore. I just don't care. I've reached a point of being bothered. Okay? I just have to get myself across the finish line.

That's where I'm at in my life right now. I've got to get myself across the finish line. The only opinion about you that matters is what God thinks. Your mother's opinion, your father's opinion, your brother's and sister's opinion, your cousin's opinion, your co-worker's opinion, it doesn't matter what they think about you, what they say about you, stop thinking about it. The only opinion that matters about you is your heavenly Father's opinion. Is He pleased with you?

That's it. And I'm telling you that even when you fail, when you fall, the Father doesn't disown you. He desires you to see the depth of his love and his mercy and his grace. See, there's just no room for religion in that kind of theology. kind of theology. So a foward, perverse mouth, it does, it includes many forms of ungodly speech, but it does include twisted, deceptive, rebellious speech. A lot of people are very skilled in crafting their words and sentences to not openly lie

but to deliberately conceal. Yes. To lie with the truth. I didn't tell you a lie. I just didn't tell you the truth. I didn't tell you a lie, I just didn't tell you the truth. You know anybody like that? Yeah, technically they didn't lie, but they didn't tell the truth because they're skilled at concealing the truth.

That's a foward mouth. That's a perverse mouth. You're missing it if you just think it's somebody that curses or says vulgar things. Those things are perverse and foward, but you got these clean, nice-looking, smelly people, nice, you know, they're all, everything's perfect about them, and yet their mouths are forward and perverse.

And perverse lips put far from thee. So all corrupt speech. All corrupt speech. All corrupt speech, right? Again, it's not just dirty jokes using vulgar words. God's definition of perverse speech is a lot broader than what we like to think right If it contradicts his word it's perverse What are the things you would not say in front of Jesus Christ if he were standing in front of you right now. What are the things that you would ordinarily say to other people

you would not say if he were standing in the room? Well then that is classified as perverse. If your heart convicts you right away, it's perverse isn't it? Right. Right Verse 25 let thine eyes look right on and let thy eyelids look straight before thee Let your eyes look Focus your vision on wisdom's path. Again, here's an active instruction. Eyeballs. Okay, so we know what we, it's told us about our ears.

Incline. Listen up. Now, focus your eyeballs on the path of wisdom. Remember we talked a day or two ago about the two paths? Keep your eyes on the right path. Satan's going to be trying to get you to veer right, veer left, get on the wrong path. He's always going to have a ramp to leave the path of righteousness. He's always going to put that path there when you're really hurting, when you're really lonely, when you've been knocked down. Whatever it is, Satan will make a path appear and say, Hey, if you go down this path, there's relief.

Come down this path. For some people, that path leads to liquor. Other people, the path leads to drugs. Other people, it leads to sex. It doesn't matter, Satan. It doesn't matter Satan. It doesn't matter. He's promising you a way to medicate your pain. Come down this path and let me medicate your pain. I've got something that will lessen the pain. Just walk down this path. This verse says, keep your eyes on the path of wisdom.

Focus your eyes. Let your eyes look. Looking all around? No, looking straight ahead. You can't read Proverbs without comprehending the importance of active engagement with the Word of God. All these verses are talking about our responsibility to actively engage with the word of God, with eyes, ears, mouth. Let your eyes look where? King James says right on,

modern English says straight ahead. Let your eyes- Let your eyes look blinders. Yes. Why do they put blinders on racehorses? Keep them from being distracted. Isn't that what God's telling us here? You'd be better off to wear blinders. You can't look either way.

You're just looking straight ahead. Unwavering, unbroken focus. Straight ahead. Straight conveys clarity, purpose, direction, a journey that's aligned with God's will. No wandering gazes. Again, Satan will have people and all kinds of see the the girl lady. Yeah, come on in. The one I always remember as a kid was Carl the Frog Boy. The one I always remember as a kid was Carl the Frog Boy. Oh, mine was the two-faced man.

Oh, yeah. He was at the state fair every year. Half of his face was normal, right? The other half was like a big giant puffy thing, right? But one side, he looked like Clark Gable. I mean, just Hollywood's looks, but the other side, he had the big giant puffy head. You know, always freaked me out.

Well, I had to see it every year at the State Fair. It was worth a quarter, wasn't it? That's right. When you're 14, it's worth a quarter. You won't believe what I saw at the fair. And the bearded lady, which I found intriguing. Then to quarters everything this is what look at think of life this way. Satan is he's got his carnival barkers on both sides

of the path shouting at you. Come over here and look. Look what I have for you. And let your eyelids look straight ahead. Not just your eyeballs, but your eyelids too. The eyelids, yes. Okay, what does that mean? This is an, I mean, when you, on the surface, what do you mean, let your eyelids look straight ahead?

Don't blink. Just stare ahead without blinking. Don't blink. He says, it's so dangerous, you can't even blink. Wow, hadn't thought about that before. This path, the path itself is good. But the attempt of the devil to get you off this path is so strong and so severe, you can't even blink. Hmm. Wow.

You gotta fix your eyelids, because in the blink of an eye, Satan will try to throw something in front of you. There's intentional control on your focus, on your gaze. Verse 26, hey I think we're gonna do it, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Ponder the path. Think about the path you're walking on. Think about this path that you're walking on, the path of righteousness, the path of wisdom. If you think about the path that you're on and you got on the wrong path, then your mind

is going to tell you, �I made a mistake.� Something's not right here. We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto. Look around. We got flying monkeys. Something weird here. You see the flying monkeys, you know, you're not in Kansas. By the way, flying monkeys, that's another common attribute of narcissists. You've intrigued me now. What are flying monkeys? Yeah, we'll talk about that in another lesson.

But they are flying monkeys. Flying monkeys for the narcissists these are the people that they they've convinced of their delusional alternate reality. They're minions, they're henchmen. Yeah. I get you now. They buy into it, they buy into it. They're minions, they're henchmen. Yeah. They buy into it. They're the flying monkeys around the narcissist. The narcissist has over time convinced people

of the truth of their alternate reality, which is delusional. And so those people become the flying monkeys that surround the narcissist. That's my layman's explanation. Ponder the path. Think about the road.

Hey, what road are you walking on right now? Think about it. Does this look good? Does this smell good? Or are there flying monkeys? All right, ponder it, think about it. If you're thinking about it, I mean, if you're just wandering,

you're not even thinking about what road you're on. Have you ever driving? Have you ever been like one day, at one moment you go, where am I? Have you ever been like one day at one moment you go, where am I? Have you ever done that Well, I'm gonna admit I have Miss the exit, you know, I got something on my mind I'm thinking about something and I'm just driving and driving and driving and miss the exit and all of a sudden I realized Where where am I? Oh?

I should have turned five miles ago Am I the only person has done that Well, I wasn't pondering my path I Was distracted I was thinking I was pondering something else not the path I was distracted. I was pondering something else, not the path I was on. See? I should have not blinked my eyelids. I should have been focused on the path. So ponder, this implies active planning, observation, observance of where you're at, where you're going, the direction of your life. Is your life going in the right direction?

If you say no, well then that's a big clue right there, you're on the wrong path. Okay, ask the Lord, where did I get off the right path? God says in the Old Testament, go back to the old paths. Right. Why did he tell Israel to go back to the old paths? He's saying to Israel, there was a time you were walking the right way. You're on the wrong path. Just go back and find the right path.

He isn't going to beat you. God isn't going to beat you all the way back. You turn around and you admit, I'm on the wrong path. I'm going to go back and find the right path. Your father's not going to take a big rod and beat you all the way back and say, I'll teach you a lesson. I'll teach you never to get on the wrong path. That's not God. That's not your father. Your father will walk with you on the way back to find the right path. He is a loving father. I really desire you to discover how kind your father is. Many fathers. So we don't know do we? We don't have an earthly example. So ponder the path that you're on. The path of your feet. A path is meant for feet. A creature that has wings doesn't need a path. Right. Only creatures that move on feet need a path. So again, we're back to your feet, not his feet, her feet, it's your feet. Ponder the path of your feet. Ponder the path, your path that your feet are walking on.

Who is responsible? You. You are responsible for you, I'm responsible for me. The feet represents, it symbolizes the daily choices that we make. I have in recent days, I've really making an effort, my prayers every day, every morning in with, I look at my feet and I say, Lord, direct my steps today. Order the path of my feet today. Help me today to walk in your ways. And let all thy ways be established. There's the stability that wisdom brings to our lives. It establishes you.

Wisdom gives you a firm foundation. Wisdom, established word, established conveys strength, permanence. Verse 27, and we'll wrap it up here. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Turn not. Once again, here's a commandment, personal responsibility, resolute commitment, a determined action, turn not.

Do not turn. Do not turn. The responsibility is ours individually. A turn represents a shift in direction. Do not get off this path. Do not fall for Satan's deception. Do not let him entice you to get off this path. Turn not to the right hand or to the left. Satan's on both sides. He's got his crowd on both sides of the path. There are rest stops and convenience stores.

He's got it all for you. Right. He's got everything you can imagine on both sides of the path. And God is saying, look straight ahead, don't even blink your eyes, don't turn to the right or left, just stay on this path. Why is God giving us destruction? Because He knows the enemy seeks to deceive us. It's the only reason. Because God knows Satan seeks to deceive us. And He's saying, son, daughter, listen to me. That devil is so dangerous. He's so conniving. I know him. I'm the one that kicked him out of heaven.

Yes. I know what's in his heart. And I'm telling you, son, I'm telling you, daughter, you look ahead. Don't you even blink your eyeballs. Don't blink your eyelids, you just focus. Don't look to the right or the left, I'm with you. You stay on this path and this path will lead you to abundance of life.

So don't look to the right or the left. Avoid all distractions. Remove thy foot from evil. Reject sin. Withdraw from evil. Deliberately. Make a deliberate decision. Your feet is what takes you in the right direction or the wrong direction. Satan is always trying to get you to move your feet towards evil. God is always trying to get you to move your feet towards righteousness. And so this chapter four ends with the instruction,

remove your foot from evil. Intentional action, you do it. God's not gonna do it for you, you do it. Right. Okay, we did it. We're a couple minutes, 15 minutes over. That's all right. So thank you for being patient and staying with me. Awesome.

Thank you. Thank you for your prayers yesterday for our brother, John Mark. We appreciate that. Rick, you can post today on faith and values on John Mark's status. He's home. I didn't want to share that today. Yes, he's home. He was released from the hospital last night and he's home. And I don't know anymore.

I'm going to try to talk to him today. I tried to talk to him yesterday. He said he was very tired and wanted to go to sleep. He was at his house. And he said, call me tomorrow and I'll talk to you. So anyhow, he's home. Continue to pray for him. So yes. All right and continue to pray for this ministry as well. This is a ministry of faith and values fellowship here in Bureau Beach Florida. We're here every day live from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. sometimes longer than that like today,

studying the word of God together usually anywhere from 350 to 400 people every day with us live plus and innumerable people that join us throughout the day on various repeats and restreams on social media and on truenews.com. And so we appreciate those that not only join us live, but join us on the repeats as well. Be sure to share this content with other people that you know and love. And let's get some more people here in our Bible study on a regular basis. That'd be a great thing here

as we move through the second half of the year. And we are moving through the second half of the year, Rick. I mean, that's just hard to believe. We're closing out the first half of the year, Rick. I mean, that's just hard to believe. I know. We're closing out the first half of the year here next week. So 2025 is going away to what a year it's been, not only in the world, but in the Word. Amen? Yes.

But all of us are going to be stronger saints by the end of this year. Amen. Because of the word. Praise God. All right on that note, God bless you. We love you. Join us again tomorrow for the Wednesday edition of Morning Manor. We love you very much. We look forward to being back here with you again. God bless you. We'll see you then.