Timothy Ministries

09/12/2022

24/01/2022

Wisdom Hates Evil

Proverbs 8:12–13
I, wisdom, dwell together with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion. To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. NIV

Wisdom comes to us in the Scripture sometimes as a person and speaks to us in a very personal tone of voice. Wisdom presents to us a choice. Wisdom shows us the dividing of the pathway – the pathway of life and the pathway of death. Wisdom warns us that if we are to walk in the pathway of life we have to hate evil. There is no room for compromise.

Those who are walking in that pathway cannot in any way permit themselves to entertain the thoughts of evil. We have to watch our own lives, our own behavior. We have to guard against the things that wisdom hates.

Wisdom hates pride and arrogance. These are subtle things that may begin to grow up in our lives without us scarcely being aware of them. Evil behavior and perverse speech – these are things that wisdom hates, and if we are to walk in the way of life we have to hate what wisdom hates. We have to side with the Lord against sin and iniquity, rebellion and deception. We have to dethrone these things from our hearts and to make room there for wisdom – wisdom with prudence, with knowledge and with discretion. We have to bear in mind continually that all the counsel of wisdom, all the instruction and even the admonition of wisdom is designed for our good.

—Derek Prince

28/10/2021

The True Source of Wisdom

Proverbs 4:10–13
Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be hindered, and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. KJV

I want to give my personal testimony that those words are true. As quite a young boy, I became interested in wisdom. I became a student and finally a professor of philosophy and the word philosophy means literally “the love or the pursuit of wisdom.” But the wisdom that I pursued didn’t satisfy me. It led me finally to confusion and frustration.

Then, through God’s marvelous grace, I turned to God, the true source of wisdom, and to the Scripture, the way in which wisdom comes from God to us. And now I can look back on forty years that I’ve walked in this way and I have to say: God’s promises are true. He has led me in the way of wisdom and in right paths. When I go I am not hindered, when I run, I don’t stumble. And yet I know that I cannot afford to forsake wisdom.

The warning is: hold fast to instruction, keep on holding on. When we come to the place where we know it all, we have come to a place of real danger. After forty years of studying the Bible, I feel there’s so much more to study than when I first began. It’s like an endless ocean and I’ve just dipped my feet in the margin, but it’s all good.

—Derek Prince

18/10/2021

Love Wisdom

Proverbs 4:5–8
Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it costs all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. NIV

There are some people whom we may love and admire and seek to do good to, and yet in the end they will turn against us and fail us and betray us. It’s one of life’s tragedies to invest your love and to give yourself to someone who ultimately betrays you. But the advice of Scripture is: love wisdom. Devote yourself to wisdom, she will not betray you, she will honor you, she will uplift you, she will protect you. And wisdom comes from the Word of God.

Wisdom is more important and more precious than all the things that men seek after. Wisdom is like that pearl of great price that Jesus spoke about: when the merchantman found it, he went and sold all that he had and bought that one pearl. He was a merchantman and knew the value of things. That’s how wisdom is. It’s a pearl of great price.

Even if it costs you all you have, the Scripture advises you buy it. Give yourself to wisdom, devote your life to her, she’ll never betray you. She’ll exalt you, she’ll bring you to honor. Your latter end will be better than your beginning.

—Derek Prince

11/10/2021

Learn to Say “No”

Proverbs 1:10
My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. NIV

One of the secrets of success in life is learning to say “No,” and mean it. We will all be subjected at sometime or another to enticement from sinners, from people whose motives are wrong, whose standards are low, whom we cannot afford to follow. It’s one of the things that happens in life.

It happens so often in our early years, at school or at college – sinners entice us. They come with attractive offers of pleasures and entertainment and forms of life that are unhealthy and evil. And if we are going to succeed in life, we’ve got to learn early in life to say “No.” “No, I won’t.” “No, my standards don’t permit me.”

And I’ve discovered this, both men and the devil himself recognize when you really mean it. You can say “No” in a tone of voice that means, “If you ask me again, you might persuade me.” Or you can say “No” in a tone of voice that means, “You’re wasting your time asking me.” And if you are going to succeed in life you’ve got to learn to say “No” with that tone of voice which means, “You’re wasting your time if you ask me again.” The devil is very clever; he doesn’t waste his time. When we say “No” with that tone of voice, the devil moves on to test somebody else.

—Derek Prince

05/10/2021

“Farther than from a sunrise to a sunset— that’s how far you’ve removed our guilt from us.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭103:12‬ ‭TPT‬‬

“From sunrise-brilliance to sunset-beauty, lift up his praise from dawn to dusk! For he rules on high over the nations with a glory that outshines even the heavens.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭113:3-4‬ ‭TPT‬‬

04/10/2021

Hope in God

Psalm 147:10–11
[God’s] pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. NIV

Human strength and human cleverness do not greatly impress God. We may feel ourselves so strong, so capable, but something can happen in just an instant that can rob us of all that strength and capability.

Some years ago, I was principal of a college for training teachers in east Africa. We had a number of keen athletes in that college and one day I was reminding them of the frailty of our human flesh. And I said, “You can feel so strong and so active but just let one little malaria-bearing mosquito insert its proboscis into you and within twenty-four hours you will be shaking like a leaf. You will be quivering; you will be ridden with fever; you’ll be altogether incapable of anything that’s effective. Just one little insect can change all that.” No wonder God isn’t impressed by human strength.

But God loves those who fear Him and put their hope in His unfailing love. There’s just one response of the human heart to which God reaches out, it’s the response of faith, of love and of commitment to Him. Don’t rely on your own ability, don’t rely on your own strength, they will fail you sooner or later, but put your trust in the unfailing love and faithfulness and the mercy of God. Put your hope in Him and He will not fail you.

—Derek Prince