Keep the Heart

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! The next five minutes in Proverbs chapter 17 will increase your wisdom and strength, if you apply what you learn. Daily Proverbs are to the soul what powerful nutrients are to the physical body: life-changing.

Here's a verse for your week:

"The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with." (Proverbs 17:14)

Practice it:

The ne...

Welcome to Replay Wednesday, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, "Did God Answer Your Prayer?" was downloaded thousands of times. Many people wonder why God supposedly "didn't answer," but is that accurate?

If the answer to our prayers is according to God's will, things may turn out differently than how we prayed. If we really mean it when we pray, "Thy will be done," then we must...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs to grow in wisdom and knowledge. One of the most popular passages from Proverbs 3 is found in verses 5-6:

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

It's one thing to know this passage. It's a lot harder to live it. As you're ...

It is May 2025 and I am in a sling, recovering from rotator cuff repair surgery. This episode was recorded two days post-op, so my voice may be a little slurred at times as I tried to speak into a microphone while under the influence of strong pain medications! 

Why didn't I record before surgery? Because I was in conference season, which is the same as saying that I was living in airplanes and sleeping in hotels. But I wanted to p...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs and learn practical truths for daily living. Proverbs 24 is a collection of application treasures. The practicality of Proverbs makes it possible for us to understand what we're learning. When we understand it, we can apply it.

Make a commitment to read a chapter of Proverbs daily for the next 90 days without missing a day. Pay extra attention to ...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! Proverbs chapter 13 is a study of contrasts: "live like this, not like that." The practicality of these verses will sharpen and equip you to walk in greater wisdom.

Here's an example:

"Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard." (Proverbs 13:15)

When we know what is right, but we choose to do the wrong thing anyway, Proverbs 13:15 clearly warns us that our way wil...

There is a word for relationships that are stuck in a zone of alienation. That word is “estranged.” There are many reasons for people to distance themselves, but there are times when you may not even know what led to the separation.

Sometimes we may know why a relationship has been damaged, but not always. There are those times when you can’t think of anything you've done and God hasn’t brought anything to mind, and yet you are dea...

Welcome to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in five minutes or less! Developing a daily Bible reading habit is a "gift that keeps on giving." As you spend time in the Word, your relationship with God deepens and your ability to handle matters wisely increases.

Proverbs 29:23 is a great reminder verse for the day, cautioning us about the temptation to think too highly of ourselves:

"A man's pride...

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, "Don't Correct a Scorner," prompted emails, messages, and thousands of downloads. We are not the first people to have loved ones who are rejecting God, disregarding biblical living, and engaging in behaviors that cause a loss of sleep for those who love them.

If you have a scorner in your life, this episode is for you. ...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a Proverbs chapter in under five minutes! Proverbs 16 is loaded with life application principles that guide us into handling matters wisely. 

God's Word teaches us not only how to live, but even how to speak. Words have power, and when we employ them like power tools--with care--we arrive at better outcomes in our interactions with others. Here's a great verse example:

Welcome to Teachback Tuesday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons! 

This week's episode, "Three Great Relationship Habits" has a short list of goals that are easy to achieve. Life is a vapor, and that includes our relationships. Take a 10-minute break to listen to this helpful relationship-building episode from Season Three. 

Apply: Living What We Learn--31-Day Devotional by Francie Taylor

NEW! Herbs for t...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. The first day of each month puts us at the beginning of the book of Proverbs. This introductory chapter lays the foundation for the purposes of Proverbs in our lives:

"To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion." (Proverbs 1:4) The word "subtilty" means "wisdom and prudence." In other words, Proverbs teach us how to apply practical wisdom to the issues that we f...

Do you have a problem that is over 12 years old? Maybe your situation has gone on longer. One thing is certain: your issue is not too hard for God. We may not understand His timing, but we can trust His goodness. When we don’t understand, Psalm 119:68 makes an excellent prayer request: "Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes." 

There was an unnamed woman in the New Testament who had a "12-year issue of blood," which m...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in about 5 minutes or less. The goal of these chapter episodes is to build a habit of daily Bible reading. While listening may not be the same as reading from a physical Bible, this is a great way to establish your habit.

Here's a verse from Proverbs 18, reminding us that arrogance is destructive, while humility is rewarding:

"Before destruction t...

When I was a senior in high school, I was selected to participate in a foreign exchange student program that led me to live in Chile for a year. My first few months were hard. I felt like a person who didn’t fit in anywhere. There were some days when I just felt lonely and wanted my old familiar life back. 

Grief is like that.

The foreign land of grief is unfamiliar and can even make us feel hopeless at times, but there is hope bey...

Welcome to Replay Wednesday, where you'll hear some of the most popular episodes from the previous season. This week's episode, Calm in the Chaos, struck a chord with last season's listeners. When life is chaotic for too long, it changes from challenging to tormenting. It's doubly distressing when we don't know why things are so disorderly and confusing.

If you missed this episode in 2024, take a break for less than 15 minutes to c...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs in under 5 minutes. The point isn't to make Bible study as short as possible. The goal is to build a daily Bible habit. Time in the Word is personal time with God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1) 

In less time than it takes to scroll through social media, you could listen to a chapter of...

The Bible has historic accounts of the lives of people who were just like us. We are not the first to wrestle with uncertainty, disbelief, or even skepticism. God can help us to grow in our ability to trust Him, but we'll need to deal with the doubt. Let’s look at three ways that doubt works against our faith, and consider how we can surrender our doubts to God.

Mentioned in this episode: Secret Doubts: Working Through Unspoken Unb...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit! The habit of being in the Word of God daily builds us up, making us spiritually stronger. God uses the "knowledge of the holy" to give us understanding, helping us to make wiser decisions and choices in our lives.

Proverbs 14 is full of instructions, observations, and even warnings like this: "Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." (Prov...