Wednesday, January
09, 2013, 6:20 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Hear my Voice” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Psalm 119:17-24 (NIV 1984):
Do
good to your servant, and I will live;
I will obey your word.
Open
my eyes that I may see
wonderful things in your law.
I
am a stranger on earth;
do not hide your commands from me.
My
soul is consumed with longing
for your laws at all times.
You
rebuke the arrogant, who are cursed
and who stray from your commands.
Remove
from me scorn and contempt,
for I keep your statutes.
Though
rulers sit together and slander me,
your servant will meditate on your decrees.
Your
statutes are my delight;
they are my counselors.
Do
Good…
As always, when we are interpreting and
applying the teachings in the psalms to our lives today, we must understand
them in light of the New Covenant relationship between God and his people, and
in light of the teachings of the New Testament. So, with that said, the good
that God has done to us so that we may live is he sent his Son Jesus Christ to
the earth to take on human flesh, to suffer as we suffer, to be tempted as we
are tempted, yet without sin, to die on the cross for our sins, and to rise
from the dead triumphantly over sin, death, hell and Satan so that we might
live eternally with God in glory.
Yet, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross
for our sins just so we could go to heaven one day, as wonderful as that will
be. He died so that we might live new lives in Christ Jesus while we are still
on the face of the earth. He died so we would be free from slavery to sin day-to-day,
and so we would no longer live for ourselves but for Jesus Christ who died for
us (see 2 Co. 5:15). He also died so that we could walk in daily fellowship
with our Lord, in obedient service to him, making him both our Savior (from
sin) and our Lord (master of our lives).
He, as well, died that we might die to sin
and live for Christ. Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must
deny (disallow; renounce) his self-life, take up his cross daily (die daily to
sin and self) and follow Jesus Christ in obedience (see Heb. 5:9; 1 Jn. 2:3-5;
3:24; 5:3; Rev. 3:3) wherever he leads us (see Luke 9:23-25). He said,
basically, that if we hold on to our old lives of self and sin that we will
lose them for eternity, but if we willingly give up our old ways of living
according to the flesh, we will live with Christ eternally.
We also read in Ephesians 4:17-24 that coming
to Christ by faith means that we no longer live our lives to please our sinful
passions and desires, but we put off our old self, “which is being corrupted by
its deceitful desires,” we are made new in the attitude of our minds via the
power and working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, as we cooperate with that work,
and we put on our new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.” All of this is the working of the Holy Spirit, as
we cooperate fully with that work.
Open
my Eyes
When we come to a relationship with Jesus
Christ by faith, one of the first things we want to do is to begin to read and to
study his word, for this is the main way in which he speaks his truths to our
hearts, for the Bible is the living word of God, and inerrant in its original
form. As we read, we want to pray for the Lord Jesus to open our eyes and
hearts to hear from his word what he wants to teach us. In other words, we don’t
read the Bible as we would any other book, but we pray for the Spirit of God,
now living within us, to speak its truths to our hearts – to convict of sin, to
encourage, strengthen, give hope and healing, teach, rebuke, correct and to
train us in how we should live for our Lord Jesus each day. And, when the Holy
Spirit speaks to our hearts, then we need to obey him by applying the truths of
God’s word to our daily lives in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit
within us.
A
Stranger
The psalmist said he was a stranger on earth,
so he longed for God’s commands. In 1 Peter 1 we read that, as God’s elect, we
are strangers in the world. And, “Since you call on a Father who judges each
man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.” In
1 Peter 2 we read: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the
world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such
good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they
may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”
A stranger is somebody who doesn’t belong; is
a visitor or a guest; somebody who is not familiar or acquainted with a particular
thing; and/or is distanced or alienated from something (Encarta Dictionary).
We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are not
supposed to fit in with the world and the ways of the world. We are not
supposed to be like the world in order to win the world for Jesus Christ. We
should not be experienced and familiar with the things of this world that wage
war against our souls. We are not supposed to adopt the customs of the people
around us or join in with them in what is contrary to God’s holy word. The
world of sin should hate us because we stand against what is sinful and we
preach and live, hopefully, what is of God. And, in this life of separation
from the sinful pleasures of this world we should long, too, for God’s holy
word to lead us, guide us and teach us all truth so that we may walk in it.
Persecuted
If we are truly walking in the ways of Christ
and his word, and we are living lives that are separate from the sinful
passions and desires of this life, and we are standing against what is sinful
and for what is righteous, and we are sharing the truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, we will be hated by some, even by those within the institutional
church, and we will be persecuted, mocked, criticized, rejected, despised,
ostracized, and/or kicked to the curb, etc. Jesus said this would be the case,
and he does not lie. People will slander us, ridicule us, make fun of us, and
some of us may even die because of our testimony for Jesus Christ. Yet, through
it all, the words of God/Jesus Christ should be our delight, and we should look
to the Lord and to his word to give us counsel, encouragement, strength and
hope, and we should never ever give up or run away due to persecution, but we
should daily put on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil
attacks against us, and we should daily sing songs of praise and rejoicing in
God our Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Hear
my Voice / An Original Work / July 9, 2012
Based off Psalm
27
The
Lord is my great salvation.
He’s
the stronghold of my life.
When
my enemies attack me,
My
heart will not fear at all.
Though
a war break out against me,
Confident
in Christ I’ll be.
Of
the Lord, I ask that I may
Live
with Him eternally.
Hear
my voice, Lord, when I call you.
Merciful
to me You’ll be.
Though
my relatives forsake me,
My
Lord God will receive me.
Teach
me Your way, O my Jesus.
Lead
me in Your righteousness.
I
will sacrifice to my Lord.
I
will sing with joyfulness.
I
am confident that I will
See
the goodness of the Lord.
All
the richness of His blessings,
My
Lord has for me in store.
He
asks me to be of courage;
To
be strong and to take heart,
Patiently
as I wait for Him,
And
from Him to ne’er depart.
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