Thursday, January 03,
2013, 6:57 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Jesus, Lead Me” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Psalm 84 & 86
(quoting 86 in the NIV 1984):
Hear, O Lord, and
answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I
am devoted to you.
You are my God; save your servant
who trusts in you.
Have mercy on me, O
Lord,
for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your
servant,
for to you, O Lord,
I lift up my soul.
You are forgiving and
good, O Lord,
abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, O
Lord;
listen to my cry for mercy.
In the day of my
trouble I will call to you,
for you will answer me.
Among the gods there
is none like you, O Lord;
no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you
have made
will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name.
For you are great and
do marvelous deeds;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O
Lord,
and I will walk in your truth;
give me an undivided
heart,
that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, O
Lord my God, with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love
toward me;
you have delivered me from the depths of
the grave.
The arrogant are
attacking me, O God;
a band of ruthless men seeks my life—
men without regard for you.
But you, O Lord, are a
compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness.
Turn to me and have
mercy on me;
grant your strength to your servant
and save the son of your maidservant.
Give me a sign of your
goodness,
that my enemies may see it and be put to
shame,
for you, O Lord, have helped me and
comforted me.
Devoted
In reading this prayer of David to God, I could not help but
note the various terms and phrases he used to describe his relationship with
God – devoted (dedicated; fervent), servant (slave), trusts in God, calls on God
all day long, lifts up his soul to God, God is his God (Lord), calls on God
when in trouble, confident God will answer, praises God with his whole heart, and
thankful for God’s love and deliverance. He loved God with his whole heart,
mind and strength. God was his closest friend and companion, yet he honored him
and revered him, too, as the Almighty God that he is. He loved to be with his
Lord, to hear his voice and to obey him. Oh, that this might describe each and
every one of us and our relationships with Jesus Christ day to day!
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we humble ourselves
before God, repent of our sins and choose to leave our lives of sin behind us,
and to walk in faithful obedience to our Lord. We also enter into a “marriage”
covenant relationship with Jesus Christ as his bride. We promise fidelity,
loyalty, love, honor, respect, obedience, faithfulness, and to cherish him
above all others. And we treat him, or we should treat him, much like we would
a first love with whom we are head over heels in love, and want nothing more
than to talk with him, be with him, and share everything with him. That is the
impression I get of David’s relationship with God when I read this psalm. He
loves God and wants nothing more than to please him. This is true devotion, and
it should describe each and every one of us in our relationships with Jesus
Christ.
Merciful
I also noticed the words and phrases David used to describe
God – merciful, brings joy to his servants, forgiving, good, abounding in love
to all who call on him, answers the prayers of those who trust in him, is above
all “gods”, no deeds compare to his, creator of nations, great, does marvelous
deeds, deliverer, Savior, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in
love and faithfulness, gives strength to his servants, and helps and comforts
those who are his. God is all these things and so, so much more! We may look at
David’s description of his relationship with God and see some parallels in our
lives, or we may see where we are lacking in our devotion to and love and honor
for God, and perhaps even see where David was not perfect in his devotion to
God, but no one can fault David’s description of God, because God is absolutely
who he said he is, and we can count on that!
Because God is all these things, and because of all the
wonderful things he has done for us on our behalf, because of his great love,
mercy, compassion and grace toward us, how can we do anything less than give
him our all? We should be so grateful! We should love him so much! And, we
should desire nothing more than to walk with him daily, to sit at his feet, and
to hear his words speak conviction, encouragement, and/or instruction to our
hearts. And, we should want to obey him with our whole being in every way
possible. Jesus said that if we love him, we will obey him. And John, in 1 John,
said that the way we know that we have come to know God is if we obey his
commands.
His Way
To obey our Lord means to walk in his ways and to do what he
says. In order to do that, we need to know what those ways are. And, the only
way we are going to find that out is if we spend quality and quantitative time
with our Lord each day in studying his word, in listening to what it says, and
in obeying what it teaches us. We can certainly also learn through sermons,
Sunday school lessons, Bible studies, books of godly men and women, and scriptural
songs, etc., yet these should never replace our personal times in communion
with our Lord each day, learning from him, fellowshipping with him, and
praising and worshiping him. We should also test everything we hear and rely
upon the witness of the Holy Spirit within us to give us spiritual discernment
to know what is of God and what is not, because not everything called “Christian”
is truly of God or is really the truth of God’s word.
Also, if we want to know God’s ways so that we can walk in
his truth, which is what we should all desire, then we must rid our lives of
everything that stands in opposition to God’s truth and to his will for our
lives. In other words, we cannot spend a few minutes a day in reading the Bible
and praying and then spend most of the rest of our free time veg’ing out on TV
programs, movies, videos, internet sites, social networks, video games,
entertainment, recreation, and/or any self-indulging and self-satisfying
activities that do nothing to grow us in Christ or to fulfill the great
commission, and especially those that feed our minds and hearts with what is
contrary to God, to his word and to his will for our lives.
Undivided Hearts
The psalmist prayed for an undivided heart that he might
fear God’s name. To fear God in this sense is to honor, value, acknowledge,
respect, revere, stand in awe of, and obey him. We can’t do that if our hearts
are divided in loyalty between God and the things of this world which conflict
with his word, his will and his ways. We can’t be worldly and godly at the same
time. We can’t mix the two together. We can’t shove God in a corner of our
lives and give him the leftovers. We can’t be all about praising publicly
sports figures, the super-talented, movie stars, cars, guitars, I-pads,
computers, smart phones, sports teams, careers, or whatever gets our praise,
adoration and cheer, yet never speak of our Lord in such audible ways and with
such enthusiasm to our friends and companions, and not have divided hearts.
We also can’t give God a few minutes a day or a few hours a
week at a church service and yet ignore him most all the rest of the time, and
not have divided hearts. We can’t spend most of our time taking junk into our
minds and hearts that is dishonoring to God and to the truths of his word and
yet stand up and praise him in a worship service with our tongues and not have
divided hearts.
If we want undivided hearts, then we need to give God our
all, holding nothing back, being willing to obey him in all things and in all
ways, no matter the cost to our pocketbooks, to our time, energy and resources
and/or to our reputations. We can’t have one foot on God’s side of the line and
another on the side of self, sin or Satan, and not have divided hearts. God
wants us as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our
reasonable service of worship of him, no longer conformed to the ways of this
world, but transformed in heart and mind by the working and power of the Holy
Spirit of God in our lives (see Rom. 12:1-2). Then, we can have undivided hearts.
And, then he can teach us his ways. And, then we can walk in his truth. And,
then we can honor, respect, revere and stand in awe of our Holy God! And, we
can praise and honor him, not only with our lips, but with our lives! Amen!
Jesus, Lead Me / An Original
Work / July 22, 2011
Jesus, lead me
all the way.
Be my hope and
be my stay.
Gently lead me
where I should go,
So Your Spirit,
I want to know.
Open up my
heart to You.
Fill me with
Your love and truth.
Make my heart
want to obey.
Be my Lord
today. Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of
my soul,
Cleanse my
heart, and make me whole;
Be transformed
in my heart today,
As I turn from
my sin and pray.
Make Your will
known to my heart.
May I not from
You depart.
How I long to
hear You now,
As I humbly
bow. Jesus, hear me now.
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