All
men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.

However,
it is time to dream again. Turn loose of the pain of loss. Receive
courage to rise up out of the death of the past season and to embrace
newness of life. Don't merely dream the dream of the past. Let your
dream now rise to a new level and begin to act on your dream. You
were born to be a dangerous dreamer who causes dreams to come true!

Barbara Wentroble is the founder of International Breakthrough Ministries and the author of
several books, including Prophetic Intercession.  

Solomon begins the book by saying, “The purpose of these proverbs is to teach people wisdom” (1:2). In essence, he is saying: “I am writing so you can have a personal encounter with wisdom.” He emphasizes the importance of wisdom by mentioning it more than 123 times in this one book.

The Hebrew word for “wisdom” is hokmah. It’s a multifaceted noun that means “to have skill, intelligence, and sensibility, judicious prow, to be endued with reason.” Wisdom is simply the ability to live skillfully in whatever circumstances we find ourselves.

King Solomon uses the feminine gender and first person to characterize wisdom. Why does he present wisdom as a woman? Some scholars lay the blame on his heightened preoccupation with women. However, since all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (see 2 Tim. 3:16), there must be a deeper purpose.

I believe the Holy Spirit is giving us a physical picture of spiritual truth. Think about it: From the natural standpoint woman is appealing. So is wisdom. She is desirable and unique among the species. Wisdom also holds these qualities. In the creation account, woman is represented as the crowning of all God’s creation—the completion of humankind. Wisdom too brings fullness and completion. It is principal, first and necessary.

Solomon refers to wisdom in first person to set forth the truth that wisdom is speaking directly to each of us. For example, in Proverbs 8:6-7, he writes: “Listen to me! For I have excellent things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and hate every kind of deception.”

By using first person, the Holy Spirit is making wisdom personal rather than presenting it as mere information or knowledge. Therefore, wisdom becomes intimate, real and animate. Wisdom takes on the nature of a close, personal friend.

Do you need wisdom? The book of Proverbs focuses on this topic more than any other book in your Bible. Why not avail yourself of it? Grab your Bible—and wise up!

Read John’s Blog

With remarkable presence of mind, and graciousness, considering
the hostility expressed toward him, my friend replied: “I don’t hate
you at all. I’ve probably committed far worse sins than you have, at
least in my own mind.”

Then, breaking away from his fellow pro-life marchers, he
simply hugged the man. Stunned, the would-be antagonist now kept pace
with my friend for a different reason.

Instead of hurling more insults at him, he peppered him with questions:
“Why did you do that? What were you trying to convey?” and so forth. He
was absolutely stunned that an evangelical Christian would ever express
any affection at all toward an obviously gay person.

The moral of this story is clear: Gays, in general, regard
evangelical Christians not just as critical of them, but also as
implacably hostile toward them.

It is certainly true that a few conservative Christians–the
handful, for example, who have waved placards reading “God hates
fags”–have expressed inexcusable enmity toward gays, undoubtedly
providing a basis for gays to use the term “homophobia.” It is also
true that most Christians simply don’t believe homosexual behavior to
be “natural,” but this attitude is equally true in societies where
there are few if any Christians at all.

The overwhelming majority of Christians I have met all over the
world don’t “hate” gays or wish them any harm whatsoever. But they do
believe the Bible emphatically prohibits all sexual acts outside of
marriage, including–but not singling out–homosexual activity, and
they clearly do not believe there is any notion whatever in the Bible
of a gay “marriage.”

So why is the gay perception that Christians “hate” them so
widely held? Why, for example, are Christians not assumed to “hate”
bank robbers, forgers, adulterers, even murderers?

One reason is that very few churches have learned how to live out in
practice, in relation to gays, the principle of loving the sinner but
hating the sin. Evangelical Christian churches, by and large, have
failed to reach out effectively to the gay community.

This, in part, is due to sheer fear. If they exhibit grace and openness
to gays, will this be seen either by gays or other Christians as
“tolerance” of the gay lifestyle?

Alternatively, many churches would like to pretend the gay
phenomenon simply doesn’t exist. If they have to express a biblical
position on sexuality, they may run the risk of the dreaded accusation
of “homophobia.”

Some of the fear is based on ignorance. The fact is, the gay
lifestyle can be physically very dangerous. Medical studies galore have
confirmed this.

Life expectancy can be up to 20 years shorter than for the heterosexual
population, almost entirely as a result of sexually transmitted
diseases. Depression, attempted suicide and drug abuse are
significantly higher among gays and lesbians. This is true even in the
Netherlands, where 77 percent of the population fully accepts
homosexual behavior, and so it cannot be attributed to traditional
“homophobia.”

By their own admission, gays are far more likely to be sexually
unfaithful–even to partners with whom they claim to be in a “loving,
committed, consensual relationship”–than heterosexual couples, hence
more vulnerable to sexual disease than the general population.

In short, is this something Christians should encourage, regardless of moral attitude? Of course not.

“I think there’s an untold
number of people that have had their lives changed as a result of
reading the Gideon Bible or New Testament,” said Steve Smith,
director of communications and development for the Gideons to the AP.
“We’ve been blessed to learn the details of many of those and are
confident there are still many more we have not yet learned about.”

Last year alone the interdenominational ministry gave out
nearly 77 million Gideon Scriptures, translated into 85 languages in
187 countries around the world. “What it’s done is actually
changed our culture,” Leith Anderson, president of the National
Association of Evangelicals said to the AP. “People expect there to
be a Bible in a hotel room. There’s hardly anything that’s
parallel to it.”

Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia joined
ministers Rob Schenck of Faith and Action and Patrick J. Mahoney of
the Christian Defense Coalition, both based in Washington, D.C., in
the 10-minute prayer service inside the U.S. Capitol building.

Schenck read from Proverbs 21:1, which says God directs the hearts
of kings, and from 1 Timothy 2:1-4, which admonishes Christians to
pray for those in authority. He then rubbed oil imported from
Jerusalem on the doorpost of the arched walkway to consecrate it “to
the use of God and His Word.”

“Oil symbolizes consecration, or
setting something apart for God's use,” Schenck said in a
statement. “George Washington used oil during the dedication of the
U.S. Capitol. We used oil today to set apart the walkway and doors
that will be the literal right of passage for Barack Obama as he
ascends to the highest office in our land.”

Broun, a Baptist layman who was widely criticized during the
election for calling Obama a Marxist and likening him to Adolf
Hitler, said he hopes Obama is successful as president and that he
will heed God’s direction.

“It’s important for us to pray for this
place, but it’s also important for us to pray for the people who
are involved so that God, as He stirs our hearts, that we can hear
very clearly and that we can heed God’s directions and can follow
those directions,” Broun said. “Because that’s what’s going
to make the nation successful, that’s what’s going to put this
country back on the right course is our listening to the Lord,
reading His Word, understanding what God expects of us and what He
wants of us so that we can follow in obedience.”

Mahoney, who is on a 21-day fast for Obama, read an inaugural
prayer Billy Graham delivered 40 years ago and prayed that Obama and
his family would experience God’s presence and power as they move
into the White House.

A video of the prayer service can be viewed
here.