Read The One Year Wisdom for Women Devotional: 365 Devotions through the Proverbs for Free Online Page B

troubled heart, a weary heart, an empty heart? Worse yet, do you have a cold, hard, or bitter heart?
    In our proverb today God himself, our Father God, our Great Physician, gives us his prescription, his healing balm, the Word of God.
    God’s Word cleanses. It frees our hearts. It softens and restores. It’s surgically sharp and can actually completely and permanently heal our hearts. We must also know that God’s Word guards our hearts with truth. It’s the antidote for the lie. God’s Word is the Sword of the Spirit that defends and protects. It’s light that gives our hearts hope; therefore, keep your heart with all diligence, “for out of it spring the issues of life.”
    Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!
    There is lots of advice out there for emotional and spiritual brokenness. Take a pill, take a trip, read a book, or talk to a professional. Some women just give up and drown their sorrow. But let me give you the best prescription ever given to man (or woman). Read Psalm 23 three times a day for one week. “Keep them [the promises] in the midst of your heart” and you will see; he will restore your soul.

    One Year Bible Reading
    Genesis 48:1–49:33; Matthew 15:29–16:12; Psalm 20:1-9; Proverbs 4:20-27

January 25

    Pandora’s Box
          My son, pay attention to my wisdom,
               listen well to my words of insight. . . .
          For the lips of an adulteress drip honey,
               and her speech is smoother than oil;
          but in the end she is bitter as gall,
               sharp as a double-edged sword.
          Her feet go down to death;
               her steps lead straight to the grave.
          She gives no thought to the way of life;
               her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.
    PROVERBS 5:1, 3-6 ( NIV )
    Today’s proverb is a blunt, sober warning to men about the dangers of adultery, but if you were to watch almost any popular TV show today, the message is quite the opposite. They make casual sex look like a harmless game where the more you play, the more fun it is. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a dangerous game, and no one wins. If you use emotions or people as toys, they break, leaving everyone broken.
    Ladies, I don’t care if you are fourteen or forty-four or seventy-four. Women have an ability to bring men down. The situation portrayed in this proverb is of a woman who flirts and flatters and causes a man to fall.
    So if this has hit a chord, if you know that you have been flirting with danger, if you know you’ve opened a Pandora’s box, first of all, may I beg you, repent. Call a godly friend and ask for prayer, ask for accountability, and draw near to the Lord himself, who is able to reel you back from this dangerous path of death.
    Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!
    Let me talk to mothers for a moment. You are either planting good seeds or bad seeds in your sons’ or daughters’ minds regarding their attitude toward “casual sex.” Do you enjoy the latest sitcom that winks at sex on the first date or at couples living together? Do you buy the magazines that update you on the sex life of the stars? If you do, you are endorsing that behavior, no matter what you say. All I can say is, it’s time to clean your own house.

    One Year Bible Reading
    Genesis 50:1—Exodus 2:10; Matthew 16:13–17:9; Psalm 21:1-13; Proverbs 5:1-6

January 26

    Utter Ruin
          Now then, my sons, listen to me;
               do not turn aside from what I say.
          Keep to a path far from [an adulteress],
               do not go near the door of her house. . . .
          [Otherwise,] at the end of your life you will groan,
               when your flesh and body are spent.
          You will say, “How I hated discipline!
               How my heart spurned correction!
          I would not obey my teachers
               or listen to my