Chapter 12, Part One The Five Sides of the Triangle 2024
Life is about balance, period. You don’t do it, productivity suffers. Period. Those who accept that do well, those who do not simply remain inconsistent, frustrated and forever chasing an invisible, unquenchable, unobtainable, fleeting dream of success in all areas of life.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
Proverbs 11:1
A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,
But a just weight is His delight.
A triangle has three sides plus a front and a back, 5 sides total. Three sides, mind, body, spirit. Not hard to understand. You feed your mind junk, no good. You feed your body junk and sit on your back-side all day, no good. Fail to feed your spirit with gratitude for life, not good. Three sides, a framework, holding the lens, like a picture frame holds a painting, the side 4 and 5, knowledge and wisdom.
Proverbs 2:6 New American Standard Bible
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
That becomes a bit more challenging to engage if I’m out of order. I pray for you and me, that we realize what that means. When you are a great deal out of whack, easy to see. Not so easy when you’re just a little whacky, hence I need the triangle. A compass, a little out whack or a lot, is still useless.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 New International Version
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Side #1: Mind. Reading, studying, going in depth in the bible, politics, what the world and my business are up to. Line up scripture with current events, understand prophecy, philosophy, what makes your children tick, you, spouse, business. Learn the difference between wasting time and learning time. Learning serves people, places and things God given, wasting serves nothing except nothing. Look, you can’t lead if you don’t read.
Side #2: Body. Sleep, correct food, exercise, oxygen to the brain. Consistent, alcohol is not my friend, drugs, stupid people, be aware. Repeat that last sentence.
Side #3: Spirit. Inspiration. Chores accomplished yield a great feeling of accomplishment. Kids, writing, re-painting a room, creating new spaces to work, walking, problem solving, achieving a personal goal, sharing testimony, breathing in your life…
Three sides keep me in order, the Lord provides the fourth and fifth side, knowledge and wisdom, use it wisely.
Hosea 14:9
New International Version
Who is wise? Let them realize these things.
Who is discerning? Let them understand.
The ways of the Lord are right;
the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them.
Leading, leadership, authority, responsibility, honor — a critical position that God gives. What you do with it, that is the measure of me or you.
1 Timothy 3:2
English Standard Version
2 Therefore an overseer[a] must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,[b]sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
Fill your mind and your spirit with sustained commitment. Mind, body, spirit, with God achieve the fourth and fifth sides, knowledge given by the Lord and wisdom in it’s application.
1 Corinthians 14:40
American Standard Version
40 But let all things be done decently and in order.
1-Mind = complex necessary problem solving, study, read and retain, note taking and study of notes.
2-Body = steady and consistent training. Safe and well thought out products for your body’s systems.
3-Spirit = time, order, love, a little bit everyday…, teaching the children, sharing with spouse, loved ones, creativity, God.
4-Knowledge = Utilizing God’s word, discernment in all matters, paying attention to historical evidence, letting go of theories and generalities, observing the evidence of God in all things!
5-Wisdom = the difference between needs and want, God and men, flesh and spirit, fact and fiction, stewardship and arrogance, and listening for God’s direction in the Word, authentic and true…
Proverbs 2:6-8
Contemporary English Version
6 All wisdom comes from the Lord, and so do common sense and understanding. 7 God gives helpful advice[a] to everyone who obeys him and protects all of those who live as they should. 8 God sees that justice is done, and he watches over everyone who is faithful to him.
Matthew 11:15. New King James Version 15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
Take care of you and the people, places and things in your life. Come home to what the Lord has had for you all along, enough of traveling the road with all the riff/raff, squandering time and talents for ill-begotten gain and selfish reason. He’s been waiting a long time to share you with you.
Luke 15:24
New American Standard Bible
24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Either I accept the challenge of balance using this triangle, or perhaps stay crippled without it?
John 5:6-10
New International Version
6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
Great scripture, I guess the question is, “do you, do you want to get well, or stay as scripture says, “in this condition..” I had a thought the other day. What’s the opposite of the this triangle? Ah, yes, I remember my life before these lessons, I had a triangle then as well. Three sides of distraction, destruction and demonic, housing the lens of the fourth and fifth sides of envy and jealousy. Think about it. I don’t want that triangle anymore, and I’m assuming neither do you. What is the goal?
Philippians 4:7
New King James Version
7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
What say you? Let’s try the triangle correctly, Philippians 4:4-7 sounds way more comfortable. How could you possibly understand all this stuff, if your office is a mess, your truck is a disaster, your kids don’t remember you, or your business asks you to take a seat when you finally walk in, thinking you’re a customer. How can you prevail if you don’t remember what you read, or you don’t read anything. How can you help God’s direction, hung-over from too much of anything bad? Be a new creation in Christ, hold yourself together against the world’s temptations..
1 Corinthians 1:30
New International Version
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
Let’s end with an example for your mind…, (side 1 of the triangle)
Scripture written on the walls of the United States
Do you know? Do your kids know? Why not?
Pray that our country remembers where we come from, now let’s learn something important..
- The Washington Monument. The aluminum cap bears the inscription, Laus Deo, “Praise God.”
- Biblical passages found within the Parliament buildings is Ephesians 6:13 and Psalm 139:8-10.“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm” Psalm 139:8-10 New International Version 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. That is written in the wall of the Parliament building of the United States.
- What’s written on top of the Washington Monument? On the east face, facing the rising sun, the Latin words “Laus Deo,” which translate to, “Praise be to God.”
- What Bible did George Washington have? King James Bible, and he liberally seasoned his discourse with biblical phrases.
- What is written on the Jefferson monument?”We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men.
- What did George Washington say about God and the Bible? It was, he wrote, “the duty of all Nations” to acknowledge, obey and be grateful to “Almighty God.” That same God is a “great and glorious Being,” he goes on to explain, and the “Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”
- What did the Founding Fathers say about the Bible? Even unorthodox founders like Thomas Jefferson, argued that finding truth and wisdom in the Bible was like finding “diamonds in a dunghill,” also declared that Jesus’s teachings were “the most benevolent and sublime that [have] been ever taught.”
- Congress added “under God” in 1954, at a time when the United States wanted to distinguish itself from godless communist countries.
- What Bible verse was used in the founding of our country? Galatians 5:1, “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” This was a very attractive text to Americans of the founding era.
- What three rights are guaranteed to the U.S. by God? We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Deuteronomy 28:1–14
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 28:15-16
However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.
There it is, a final point for your mind and that’s just one side of the triangle. There are two more sides, things that you can do. Remember God doesn’t do for you what you can do for yourself. He does things you can’t do for yourself, the impossible. Work this thing, let God be your guide, listen to the lesson again and again. Pray for America, Israel and your children. Next week the sliding scale, how to measure the triangle…
