Living intentionally seems to be an easy thing to say, but how do we do it? How can we actually live it out? In the beginning of Proverbs, Solomon spells out how to live intentionally for us and further elaborates, in much of the book, about intentional living by contrasting the wise with the foolish. We are going to get some basic tips from the first three chapters of Proverbs to understand how to practically apply intentional living in our lives. 

Solomon starts Proverbs by telling us to get wisdom. As the wisest man to walk the Earth, some of his advice is to learn to seek after wisdom. He starts out by explaining how to “know wisdom” and goes on to talk about pursuing it and the rewards of having wisdom. But how? How do we get wisdom and what exactly is wisdom? Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Wisdom works when knowledge and instruction come into practice.

Proverbs 9:10, as well as Job 28:28 and Psalm 111:10, talk about the fear of the Lord being the beginning of wisdom. The Hebrew word for fear here can be used to mean terror as we fear the strength and power of the Lord and what He is capable of as well as a reverent and holy fear. The power and might of the Lord is scary, it’s more powerful than we can imagine, but because He loves us and we obey Him, we can have a healthy fear towards Him. We would do well not to forget the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 2:5 tells us that if we search for wisdom we will be able to perceive and understand the fear of the Lord. Fearing the Lord involves recognizing His power and might, respecting that, treating Him as holy, and obeying Him because of our respect towards Him. The first practical step towards getting wisdom is to fear the Lord.

The next step is to have a knowledge of the truth. Gaining plain knowledge is not enough, it has to be grounded in the unalterable truth. For example, a boy can never be a girl. That is knowledge grounded in truth. It will always be correct. “Knowledge” without morality is faulty knowledge. True knowledge comes from the Lord with whom there is ultimate truth, Proverbs 2:5-6. Following God’s way is gaining knowledge. Proverbs 3:3 says, “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck,” We must hold fast to the truth by not forgetting Solomon’s teaching, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, and keeping His commandments (Prov. 3:1). We find good favor in the sight of the Lord by keeping truth present with us at all times (Prov. 3:4) and heeding His knowledge. To get wisdom, we must then fear the Lord and have knowledge grounded in the truth of God.

In order to live intentionally we must flee from sin. Proverbs 3:7 says to fear the Lord and turn away from evil. We need to use the wisdom and knowledge we have gained to reject the path to destruction and follow the path to peace and healing (Prov. 3:2,8). On a practical level, how do we flee sin? Saying, “flee sin” sounds great and all, but what are some tips to put it into practice? First, we must recognize sin for what it is. Proverbs 1:11-15 talks about what sin looks like. It lies in wait for blood, ambushes the innocent, devours people, is greedy, violent, and destroys the lives of those who practice it. It’s pure evil. Since we cannot flee from something that we cannot define, Solomon defines the way of sin and contrasts that to the way of the wise.

Second, it is not enough to just recognize sin, we can recognize something as detrimental and still practice it, but we also need to reject sin. Proverbs 1:15 says, “My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path.” Do not walk with sinners! Don’t even walk on their path. Reject their way of life completely and stay away from the places they tread. Do not go close to it! Set up your guardrails far away from the sinner’s path and don’t cross them. If something is questionable, stay away from it. The curse of the Lord is upon the house of the wicked (Prov. 3:33), we don’t want to experience the curse of the Lord, but His blessing (Prov 3:33). We need to recognize and reject sin in order to flee from it.

It’s not enough to be actively running from sin, we also need to be actively pursuing godly things like instruction. In order to live intentionally, we must be willing to accept instruction from God and others.  Proverbs 1:7-9 talks about how fools despise instruction and wisdom, not the wise. Accepting teaching and instruction from mentor figures in our lives adorns us with the beauty of the inward man. We cannot be prideful as to not accept guidance from people who are able to provide it. We must be open to those seeking to help us on our Christian walk. We might not like it, but sometimes instruction involves correction and reproof. In Proverbs 1:23, Solomon encourages everyone to turn to wisdom’s reproof, a word that has the idea of rebuke. When one does that, they receive wisdom’s spirit and the words of wisdom she (wisdom) offers.

Proverbs 3:11-12 says, “My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” The Lord doesn’t discipline people for the fun of it, He disciplines them because He loves them. Because of discipline, we are more well-rounded and developed than if we had no discipline. To bring about characteristics of a godly person, we sometimes need to go through a period of discomfort and reproof to grow. A wise man accepts instruction which may be in the form of rebuke, reproof or discipline. Not only do we accept this from the Lord, but we must accept it from His people as well. As Proverbs 12:1 says, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, But he who hates reproof is stupid.” We need to be a people accepting instruction. 

Not only do we need to accept instruction to live intentionally, but we need to trust in the Lord. Trust, having confidence in God so that we live differently in that confidence. How do we practically have trust in God? How do we live that out? The answer lies in the text of Proverbs chapter three as follows.

First, we must trust in the Lord with ALL our heart. Not part of it, not occasionally, but with all of it and all the time. You give your heart to what you dwell on, think about, spend time with and are influenced by. Give your heart to God by valuing what He values.

Second, we must have humility to trust God. Verse five and seven of Proverbs chapter three says to “not lean on your own understanding” and to “not be wise in your own eyes.” It’s the idea of not trusting and relying on our own abilities and wisdom. We cannot think we know everything and have it all together, we don’t. We need to acknowledge God’s ways over ours. Man’s ways lead to death (Prov. 14:12) but God’s leads to life. Man’s wisdom is but foolishness to God. We need to humble ourselves and follow God’s leading. Lean on God’s understanding and wisdom which will never let us down.

Third, we need to honor Him to trust Him. Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce.” Honor, coming from the Hebrew word kabad, meaning to magnify, glorify and praise. We must physically honor God by using our material belongings to His glory. We are simply being stewards of what God has entrusted to us. We can also physically honor Him by giving Him the first fruits of our labor. The children of Israel were required to bring the Lord the first of their produce, the first of what they earned. We are not called to do exactly that as Christians, but we are called to give to the Lord. A broader application would be to honor the Lord with our nonmaterial possessions like our heart, our mind, words and our actions. We can also magnify and honor God by serving Him with the unique gifts and abilities He has given us. Practical things we can do in order to trust the Lord would be to give Him all of our hearts, humble ourselves to His way and to honor Him with our material and immaterial possessions. 

Ladies, let’s live intentionally this year! We need to focus on what is truly important with a sense of purpose and not abstractly. We can do so by getting wisdom from fearing the Lord and coming to a knowledge of the truth which is only in Him. By fleeing from sin, recognizing it for what it truly is and rejecting it. By accepting instruction, which may be in the form of correction, from the Lord and His people. And finally, by trusting in the Lord with our whole heart, in a state of humility and honoring Him. Let’s use these concepts as we go through Proverbs to find practical tips to intentionally live our life in a manner pleasing to the Lord.

About the author:

Amanda Turpin was originally born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is the oldest of five siblings and is now a proud wife and mother. Being from a military family she lived in quite a few different states including Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, California and Texas. She attended Yosemite Bible Camp for eleven years, two of those being a counselor, and was also a junior counselor at Future Teacher Training Camp (FTTC). She has spoken at FTTC, given a devotional at the Come Fill Your Cup Retreat (CFYC) and helped with jail ministry in Custer Co. OK. She graduated from OSU with a Bachelor’s of Natural Resource Ecology and Management with a degree option in wildlife ecology and management. She moved to Clinton, OK in October of 2021 to accept a job as a wildlife biologist for Southwestern OK under the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). She married her husband, Tyler Turpin in May of 2023 and recently resigned from her job in 2025 with the birth of their first daughter, Eden, and now resides in Checotah, OK where she stays at home to raise her child.

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Re'Elle Crowell

Re'Elle Crowell is a dedicated Christian who does her best to grow closer to God and help others do the same. She is an accountant, working remote for Liberty Mutual Insurance. In her free time she enjoys cooking, playing games, and reading. In addition to her work with Come Fill Your Cup as an editor, writer, and speaker, she has contributed to the second My Study Era women's devotional book, Excel Still More, and served as a counselor and instructor for Future Teacher Training Camp (FTTC).

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