Rules of a Godly Life~Amish/Mennonite proverbs that guide in their Christian walk

The Amish treasure rules, but not the kind you may think. All the "thou shalt not" rules are not so typical of their culture as you may think. Yes, there are many things not to do, but many things to do that will enable you to live a victorious Christian life.

A little book,  Rules of a Godly Life,  is found in most Amish and Mennonite homes. It has three basic sections. Rules on thoughts, words and works. They are proverbs of sorts, which help steer a Christian in the right direction, similar to the book of Proverbs in the Bible, though they are not weighed as heavy as the latter.

I started to read Rules for a Godly Life and was so drawn in that I include many of the proverbs in my books, and I hear from readers on how much they've gotten out of the profound little truths.

I break them down into bite size pieces and then meditate on it. Here's the first part of Rule I and what I got from it.

 

 

 

Awake in the morning with your thoughts turned to God…

How can I awake with my thoughts turned to God if I’ve just been chased in my dreams all night by giant spiders? Or haunted by painful memories? 

In Psalm 5, we see King David’s call for help and I take comfort that he struggled in the morning, too. In verse one he asks God to give ear to him. In modern language, he’s asking God to listen to him. In the next verse he asks God to “Hearken unto the voice of my cry”.  He then goes on to say that he will pray in the morning…

My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Psalm 5:4 translated from the Hebrew is:

O LORD, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice; in the morning will I order my prayer unto Thee, and will look forward.

The original Hebrew really strikes me. It’s saying that David talked to God in the morning, and then looked forward, as opposed to looking backwards.

In Philippians 3:13, Paul states…. forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…

Paul, a persecutor of Christians could have looked back with regrets. But he looked forward.

If you’ve erred, friend, ask God for forgiveness. He loves you with an everlasting love. And then, move forward.

A wonderful resource is A Devoted Christian Prayer Book published by Pathway Publishers, an Amish publishing house. An English company fulfills their online orders (No eBooks available yet) Order from Scroll Publishers at

http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/product1456.html