“You have done many good things for me, LORD, just as you promised. I believe in your commands; now teach me good judgment and knowledge. I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word.” Psalm 119:65-67, NLT
How many times do our minds, the “control centers” of our behaviors, wander. I immediately recall the phrase, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it…” from the old hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, that has become popular again, and coupled with “Jesus Paid it All”…because of our need to embrace the grace! His AMAZING grace brings us from lost to found and compels us to love like He loves, once again, as we follow His Word and learn His ways.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for your amazing grace that covers our messy lives and makes all things beautiful again. In Jesus Name, Amen
As we read the conclusion of another “paragraph” of the Psalmist, all I can picture is Jesus Christ! I see HIM being “hemmed in”, with seemingly no way out of his situation.
“The wicked hemmed me in–there was no way out–but not for a minute did I forget your plan for me.” Psalm 119:61, Msg
What a perfect example of complete focus on His mission and God’s plan to redeem us! “Not for a minute” did HE forget THE PLAN for us to be saved from our sins.
“I get up in the middle of the night to thank you; your decisions are so right, so true–I can’t wait till morning!”
Psalm 119:62 Msg
After the Passover meal, on the night Jesus was betrayed, he did not sleep, he passionately prayed until his sweat became drops of blood…”Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” And an angel came to give him strength…When we are awakened in the night from stress or worry…PRAY! Maybe God is trying to get your attention in the still of the night without the noise of the day to give you focus and remind you of HIS will for you. Turn those worries into prayer and leave it there! (Preaching to myself!) It works for those of us who have trouble sleeping through the night.
“I’m a friend and companion of all who fear you, of those committed to living by your rules. Your love, Yahweh, fills the earth! Train me to live by your counsel.”
Psalm 119:63-64, Msg
BE a friend for your brothers and sisters, one who won’t let them down in times of crisis and who will lift them up when troubles come, in prayer and action as God directs. Laugh with them when they are happy. Cry with them with they are sad. Go as far as you can to be and do what pleases God for them.
Jesus told us about God’s love and John, his beloved disciple writes pages and pages about it. It all boils down to:
LOVE GOD. LOVE OTHERS.
Dear Heavenly Father, The Psalmist was writing about Jesus wasn’t he? We have learned from your Word a valuable lesson about Your love and will. Thank you for the encouraging words! Your will and plan are greater than what any wickedness can do to us. Where You guide, You will provide the ways and means to accomplish Your work in and through us. Thank you for loving us this much and more! Continue to train me and counsel me.
In Jesus Name, Amen
“I pondered the direction of my life, and I turned to follow your statutes. I will hurry, without lingering, to obey your commands.” Psalm 119:59-60, NLT
“When I took a long, careful look at your ways, I got my feet back on the trail you blazed. I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet, was quick to follow your orders.” Psalm 119:59-60, Msg
As the Psalmist considers his options for life, he draws closer to His Creator and God. Without delay, at a “crossroads” in life, he chooses the “road less traveled”, the path of obedience because of his love for God and his extreme desire to put a smile on God’s face.
I am reminded of a hymn that my grandpa led the congregation to sing at every baptism service in my childhood. We could always count on him singing his beloved hymn. The joy on his face told us how much he loved the words and the message. He wanted those being baptized to show they loved Christ, that the next step was to learn to LIVE IT. My Grandpa Lacquement could have written this passage of the Psalmist because he was my example growing up in obedience to Christ. Makes me smile to remember his life this morning.
My prayer is that I will make my Lord smile as I go about my day today with my heart, mind and soul singing…
“Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey”
Why? Because of the peace, encouragement and pure love obedience brings to our lives to first love God with all our hearts, minds and souls…then to love others in the same way God loves us. If we anchor these two commandments into our lives we will help to change, affect, transform our world!!
And I’m singing…
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet,
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for Your Word that speaks LIFE to us today. In Jesus Name, Amen!
BE ENCOURAGED! YOU ARE FORGIVEN!
“If I say I’m sorry, I’ll just keep doing the same thing over and over anyway.” The logic of a child who needs to repent of wrong doing. “I just keep messing up.” says a child trying to figure out how to stop doing what he/she gets in trouble doing. “How many times can I say I’m sorry?” Then tears.
As the teacher, my heart went out to this little one who was trying to be good, but his human will got the best of him most times. He felt like a failure. Extreme thinking as a child made him think he could never be perfect, so why try? Why say I’m sorry for the same thing.
The door is now open to express just how much God loves us and shows His powerful mercy and grace to us with his forgiveness for His imperfect children. Apparently this was a problem even in Jesus day with the question posed to him by one of his “boys”…”How many times must I forgive a person?” Peter was asking Jesus, is there a limit to forgiveness? Jesus said, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.…meaning there is no limit to God’s mercy and grace. Therefore, there is no limit to our forgiving our brothers and sisters!
Are WE caught up in childish thinking? Are we thinking, Lord, I have messed up so many times therefore I feel unforgivable?
Be encouraged! His mercy is NEW and FRESH every day, like the dew on the grass! Get up, be forgiven and walk in the Word again. Pray…”Give us THIS new day a fresh start with new mercies because You are God and we are not. You are faithful and forgiving. I look to You for mercy and grace. Thank you, Lord.”
He knows we are not perfect. He knows we are trying because He knows our hearts. So forgive yourself and move on. Stop asking for forgiveness for the same sin of yesterday that you already asked, because He doesn’t know what you are talking about…He forgives so completely, He doesn’t remember yesterday’s sins. But we do. Yesterday reminds us to learn from our mistakes and “Go, and sin no more!” Sigh of relief.
“Lord, you are mine! I promise to obey your words! With all my heart I want your blessings, Be merciful just as you promised.” Psalm 119:57-58, NLT In Jesus Name, Amen.
Yes, I am one of “those”. I am a believer who has a relationship with Jesus. I am one of those who believes that God’s Word is Truth and that the Truth is the person of Jesus Christ who was at the beginning of creation with God, from God and remains God. I believe that God planned, from the beginning of time, a way, The Way, for us to love Him back, be able to enter the throne room in prayer and continue to have and develop an intimate, healthy, personal relationship with Him, because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sin. I believe God sent prophets to tell Who would come. Some believed. Some did not. Mankind is given a choice by a loving God.
I believe that the Law was given to guide and protect us in our imperfect world marred by sin by the first man and woman. Devoted to God, and called of God, many imperfect men and woman tried to live out the commandments of God. Then man progressively distorted the Law by adding on man made rules and traditions that were increasingly impossible to obey, unless you were “one of them” who judged you by your position and rank. Man turned God’s Word into a religion. But God wanted a relationship.
I believe that Jesus, who was with God and was God, left His safe, perfect throne of heaven, to enter our filthy, sinful world through the womb of a virgin, chosen specifically for God’s work of redeeming us. I believe Jesus grew from boy to man, living as man/God with mankind’s life experiences. He grew in stature with wisdom, power, unconditional love, mercy and grace beyond anyone else. The difference? He never sinned.
He “moved into the neighborhood” of all hearts, provoked minds with a new way to look at the Law and troubled men’s souls with hard core Truth. Though He had a perfect right to judge, He did not. Instead, Jesus said things like… “I forgive you…go and sin no more.” “I want to come to your house today!” “Rise up! Walk!” “Open your eyes and see!” Yes, He taught Love, showed Love to everyone and was Love. He came to seek and to save lost people, to bring them back to relationships with God!…and then He served them! He even served those who betrayed Him…even his friend, Judas, by washing his feet! How countercultural! How missional! How ridiculous to the law-makers and law-judgers of the day! So they tried to kill Him. But He rose again! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today! And He’s coming back!
Yes, I’m “one of those” who believe that Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. I am not childish, but I do have a childlike faith. Some mock me who are my friends, my brother and sometimes other family members, but I still believe. My relationship with God is more important to me than what you might think about me. So go ahead, roll your eyes back into your head until you see your brain, but as for me, I will still believe. You eye-rollers say my faith is a just a crutch to survive life. I say my RELATIONSHIP with the King of kings IS LIFE! And I pray for you who do not believe.
The Psalmist nails it again today…
“The proud hold me in utter contempt, but I do not turn away from your law. I meditate on your age-old laws; O LORD, they comfort me. I am furious with the wicked, those who reject your law. Your principles have been the music of my life throughout the years of my pilgrimage. I reflect at night on who your are, O LORD, and I obey your law because of this. This is my happy way of life: obeying your commandments.”
Psalm 119:51-54, NLT
Am I perfect? Absolutely not…but because of our intimate relationship…I am forgiven.
Yesterday I taught Kindergarten kids. We were talking about taking care of earth where we live and breathe. One little, angelic baby girl spoke up, boldly, I might say, with “AND we take care of God’s world because HE created it for us to enjoy. Its our job to keep it clean and nice!” My overwhelming joy was marred a bit by also watching a little boy next to her, close his eyes and cover his ears, while shaking his head while she was talking, in indignation of her words. Wow, it begins…the rolling of the eyes for being “one of those”…even in Kindergarten. Sad.
Dear Heavenly Father,
I am struck with awe of You and what you teach us through your word and through the positive and negative actions of others. And we pray all the harder for those who do not believe. How it must break Your heart even more, for You have done all to save us from ourselves, except taken away our choice. I choose to love you back, Lord.
Thank you for our relationship, pure and sweet, full of unconditional love for your imperfect servant. How can I say thanks? By living it. In Jesus Name, Amen
