Keep the Heart

Welcome back to Proverbs Chapter 15 on Build Your Bible Habit. This chapter, like the rest of Proverbs, is filled with relationship verses. When we apply the verses to our daily interactions, we have better outcomes, but when we disregard the Word, we have more messes. Here's an example from Proverbs 15:1: "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Application: We can te...

Welcome to Replay Friday, where we play the most popular episodes from previous seasons. This week's episode, “Four Ways to Stop Double Mindedness” was in demand back in season 3. No surprise, because this is a common problem, especially when we're faced with tough decisions.  Double mindedness overcomplicates our lives, making us unstable. This episode shares ways that we can avoid this unhelpful...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, where you can listen to a daily chapter from the book of Proverbs. The second chapter of Proverbs reads like a "listen up" list of life instructions, written to help us to walk wisely even in unexpected situations. It takes less than five minutes to listen to or read a chapter of Proverbs, but this habit provides a lifetime supply of wisdom. Wise people make...

We tend to think of losing as an automatically negative event, but in her new devotional, " What Do I Have to Lose ," Janice Wolfe demonstrates how Christ reframes losing into the miraculous discovery of an abundant life in Him. Losing is culturally scorned, but it is biblically desirable.  To find our lives, we must first lose them in Christ. This is a painful yet strength-building journey design...

Welcome to Proverbs chapter 19 on Build Your Bible Habit. The theme of upright living is woven throughout this chapter, giving us principles to put into practice right away. If you haven’t started doing so, I suggest that you pray before listening to these Proverbs. Ask the Lord to show you what to work on from the chapter, and then watch for pop quizzes throughout your day. Remember, sometimes pe...

Welcome to Replay Thursday, where we play the most popular episodes from the previous season.  Imperfect people can’t have perfect relationships, but God left us with the wisdom of scripture to help us do a better job. This episode shares three verses that are great for our interactions with each other. When we have better relationship habits, we'll have better relationships.  

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit, audio Proverbs combined with brief commentary from your host, Francie Taylor. The Proverbs are known as God's "instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity" (Prov. 1:3). The book of Proverbs teaches us how to live what we're learning from the Word.  Chapter four reminds us that wisdom is essential. Take the next five minutes to saturate your soul...

Welcome to REPLAY THURSDAY, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from the previous season. What does it mean to be “double minded? The Strong’s Concordance defines it as “two spirited,” “TWO” as in number. It goes on to define it as “wavering, doubting, and uncertain.” We’re going back and forth on an issue in our opinion, our purpose, or both. This phrase only appears twice in the New Test...

Welcome back to Build Your Bible Habit. These audio Proverbs provide a great tool for getting into the Word of God daily. In less than five minutes, you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs, allowing the principles to sink into your soul. Before long, you'll go from listening and reading to living and applying!  Verse of the week: "Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own...

No matter how many times I read the book of Job, I pause and try to imagine the traumatic shock waves that must have been passing through the souls of both Job and his wife, not to mention the unnamed people who were a part of their lives. What happened to their family was beyond comprehension. It was as if they were living in a horror movie. People still go through heartbreaking tragedies today t...

Build Your Bible Habit with Proverbs! One of the greatest gifts you'll give yourself is the habit of reading or listening to your Bible daily. Knowledge of God, strength for the journey, and instructions on how to live are all found within the pages of the Word. Keep building your Bible habit. You're improving your life! Apply: Living What We Learn by Francie Taylor Olive Petal KJV Snap Flap Bible...

Welcome to Proverbs chapter 30 on Build Your Bible Habit! These audio proverbs, read by Francie Taylor provide a easy way to learn and apply the Bible to daily living. Look at this prayer request from Proverbs 30:7-8: "Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me..." "G...

Don’t you hate self-sabotage? You know, those times when you are planning to do something that is good for you, but then you’re forced to battle the inner toddler that wants to do the opposite. There was someone who had this same struggle in the New Testament, and he wrote these words in Romans 7:15: "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I." Th...

Welcome to REPLAY THURSDAY, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from the previous season. Have you ever heard someone say they were "speaking their own truth?" The absence of God plus the presence of deception equals strong delusion. We need to protect ourselves from deception by keeping our souls nourished. God's Word is our "necessary food," as Job observed in Job 23:12: "Neither have I...

Welcome back to Proverbs chapter 9 on Build Your Bible Habit! In less than five minutes, you can listen to a chapter of Proverbs while building a habit that will improve your daily decisions and interactions with others. Walking in wisdom is possible. We just need to apply what we're learning! "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Prove...

There are regular conflicts, and then there are MESSY conflicts. Regular conflicts are easily resolved, but messy ones take more time. Messy conflicts are a part of the cost of having relationships. There will be awkward, uncomfortable, embarrassing, infuriating, and even shocking events that happen in daily life. Maybe you’re facing a messy conflict right now. It’s like trying to walk over a bed...

Welcome back to Proverbs chapter 19 on Build Your Bible Habit. The theme of upright living is woven throughout this chapter, giving us principles to put into practice right away. If you haven’t started doing so, I suggest that you pray before listening to these Proverbs. Ask the Lord to show you what to work on from the chapter, and then watch for pop quizzes throughout your day. Remember, sometim...

Here’s a question I’ve been asked a lot since my Norman passed away: "Francie, are you ever going to remarry?" There’s nothing wrong with the question itself, but may I tell you how it sounds to my ears? (I am only speaking for Francie here, not for all of widowkind!) It sounds like this: Francie, when are you going to become whole again? Francie, when are you going to stop being single? Francie,...

REPLAY THURSDAY: Guile is the art of being deceitful, dishonest, and double-dealing in our interactions with others. Guile is easy to practice because it's carnal, and carnal behaviors come naturally. It's also problematic, because a person with guile cannot be trusted. Genuine Christianity is hard to find, but if we'll let God "create clean hearts" within us, we can become people who are without...

Does it seem to you like people are more stressed out lately? The further we move along the timeline of what the Bible calls “last days,” the more we are seeing people who are operating in a constant level of distress. But is this our lot in life? Do we have to live as if life is ganging up on us and we have no way to stop it? It’s unreasonable to expect life to be free of trouble. Job recognized...

REPLAY THURSDAY: A friend of mine once said to me, "If you don't like my cooking, lie to me." She was just kidding, but it reminded me how easy it is for us to pick and choose when we're going to lie or tell the truth. Lying is habit forming, but it is also a breakable habit. When we know better, we can do better. God can help us to remove this habit from our lives, but we will need to ask for His...

Welcome back to BUILD YOUR BIBLE HABIT, the popular audio Proverbs series. Chapter 29 opens with a warning about being stubborn: "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." (Proverbs 29:1) Stubbornness can fill our lives with unnecessary chaos and pain. This is another loaded chapter, and it will take you less than five minutes to read...

Welcome to REPLAY THURSDAY, where you'll hear the most popular episodes from the previous season. This episode first aired on February 13, 2023, the day before Valentine's Day. Not exactly the kind of episode for a romantic holiday, but thousands of downloads later, it was one of the most played episodes of 2023. It's devastating to hear about marriages and families exploding because of inappropri...

BUILD YOUR BIBLE HABIT with the daily Proverbs system.  You won't have to wrestle with yourself to develop and embrace this habit. Simply press play. In four minutes, you've covered one chapter of Proverbs. Repeat this daily, and you'll finish the entire book of Proverbs every month! Gain wisdom, increase in understanding, and learn how to handle the issues of life while deepening your walk with G...

AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR KATHY ASHLEY When Kathy Ashley heart about "AI," those letters brought two different words to her mind. Not "artificial intelligence," but Arrogance and Ignorance. This is the kind of AI that leads to an artificial inflation of self, and it's hazardous to our spiritual health. Arrogance is pride on steroids. When you mix arrogance with ignorance, this creates a puffed up c...