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My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words.
Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart;
for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body.
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
Proverbs Chapter 4: Verses 20 - 27
A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit.
Proverbs Chapter 15: Verse 13
Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
Proverbs Chapter 16: Verse 24
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs Chapter 17: Verse 22
Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility-
young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians.
The king assigned them a daily amount of food and wine from the king's table. They were to be trained for three years, and after that they were to enter the king's service.
Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.
The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel,
but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,
"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see."
So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.
So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service.
Daniel Chapter 1: Verses 3 - 19
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
Isaiah Chapter 58: Verses 6 - 8
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.
1 Timothy Chapter 4: Verse 8
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