“…the hand of the diligent maketh rich.” (Proverbs 10:4 KJV)

The word diligent in the original Hebrew essentially speaks of sharpness. It means to bestir oneself, decide and decree, determine, and to move.

I define diligence as “consistent application of what you know in one direction over time.”

To coin some phrases.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast…

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The hand of the diligent make us rich. That’s what the Scriptures tell us. As you know, it’s not what you know that makes the difference. It’s what you do with what you know. I call it go, how not just know how really being moved to action, acting on what we know, we must diligently apply what we know.

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If we want to see progress and we want to see expansion, it is really pointless to know something and then not act in accordance with that knowledge, because essentially it’s no different than not knowing that truth or that principle in the first place. And I discovered that the word pointless, you know, to it being pointless to know something and not act in accord with it. I discovered at the word pointless here is very appropriate in regard to this scripture that the Holy Ghost brought to my attention over this past week.

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The hand of the diligent makers rich Proverbs 10:4 and there in the in the original Hebrew. And I’m no Hebrew or Greek scholar by any stretch of the imagination.

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But I do know how to double click on a word in my Bible software and having bring up strong or fears or whatever kind of lexicon I have in the software and that were diligent in the original Hebrew essentially speaks of sharpness. It means to bestir oneself, to decide and decree, to determine and to move. Now that is so powerfully highlighted to me that there needs to be a sharp edge to what we do. We need to take our knowledge and really kind of sharpen and wet it in a way that it cuts through the noise.

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It cuts through all of the tendency not to act and that we actually begin to Lee according to what we believe in what we know.

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The way I would define diligence is consistent application of what you know, in one direction over time. Now, to coin a few phrases, slow and steady wins the race. Slow is smooth and smooth, is fast. And when I talk about slow being smooth or slow and steady, I’m not talking about being slow to act. I’m not talking about procrastinate until Jesus returns, but slow in the sense that we are not here.

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As Christian creatives authors, artists, entrepreneurs, men and women looking to make a dent and a difference in the world, we’re not on a 100 metre dash our lives or not to be lived in fits and spurts. That just this random string of accidental or explosions of inspiration and activity. It’s the daily habitual actions that stack up over time that are actually far more effective than these infrequent eruptions of genius that spill out. Lee, whatever opportune are in opportune moments, Lee all love them. And I love those downloads that we get from heaven and those kind of where you’re just spurred to do something remarkable.

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But we can’t live that way we can’t. Lee just expecting for these things to just erupt at any at will. We need to actually diligently consistently apply what we know in one direction over time, always learning, always growing. We live day by day, building line online, moving purposefully toward our stated goals. And diligence and discipline arise because we bestir.

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I love that word bestir ourselves to move in the direction that we’ve decreed. Our course is not set by the fickle winds of fashion, but by the gentle leading of the Holy Ghost, and he leads and directs our steps. You know, sometimes our pace will increase, you know, sometimes will be. He will prompt us to kind of really throw ourselves in boots and all and run hard. And other times, the speed of implementation may be slowed down as we learn new skills and even develop strength of character.

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You know, patience is one of the key ingredients that develops character in our character, hope. And so all the while, every day in a forward motion should be apparent. Even if it’s just an inch by inch, we should walk in pace with our leader. We should walk in pace with the leading and the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You know, his hand on hours allows us to overcome the tendency, and I’m sure that many of us fall into this tendency.

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I know certainly I do to start well but not reach the end tape. But the hand of the diligent under the direction of the hand of the Divine, leads to purposeful progress propelled by Grace, we yield and allow the fruit of long suffering. I use that word specifically that’s good old King James. You know, other more modern translations like to kind of sugar coat that one and just put patience. But I just I like the straight that the forthright nature of the old King James is always delightful.

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It’s there’s the fruit of long suffering. It takes some work and some discipline and sometimes some pain for us to grow and to move forward. If it didn’t, everyone would be reaching the summit of their dreams and their desires. But as we know, that’s not the case. It’s the diligent, the hand of the diligent, the hand of the diligent.

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And if we allow that fruit of long suffering and patients through the Holy Ghost to have his way in our lives, shaping our character, sharpening our vision. The results are remarkable. Diligence make us rich. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully, it’s been an encouragement to you today.

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If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at DavidLeeMartin.Com. Have a great day.