Friday, October 28, 2016, 8:32 p.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Total Praise.” Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read Psalm 86:11-17 (ESV).
Teach Me Your Way (v. 11)
Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may
walk in your truth;
unite my
heart to fear your name.
How do we learn the way of
the Lord? For those of us who have been blessed enough to own our own Bibles,
or to have access to the internet where we can read God’s Word, we can learn the
ways of God through the reading of His Word, which is the Holy Bible (Genesis
to Revelation). Through his Word, especially in the New Testament, we learn the
ways of God (of Christ), so that we can walk in the truth. This means that we
need to spend a lot of time reading the Word, and listening to the Holy Spirit
speak its truths to our hearts, and then apply its truths to our daily lives.
So, what are God’s ways in
which we must walk? First of all, we must learn that Jesus died that we might
die to sin and live to righteousness. He did not die merely to rescue us from
hell and to promise us heaven when we die. For our sake God made him (Jesus) “to
be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God” (2 Co. 5:21). Coming to Christ means we are crucified with Christ in death
to sin, and we are resurrected with Christ in newness of life, “created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See: Ro. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).
Jesus died that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his
life up for us (2 Co. 5:15). A saved life is a life transformed by the Holy
Spirit from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God (See: Ac.
26:16-18).
If we say we have fellowship
with God, and yet we walk in darkness (live a sinful lifestyle), we are liars,
and the truth is not in us (1 Jn. 1:6). If we walk (conduct our lives)
according to our sinful flesh, we will die (in our sins without Christ). But,
if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh, we will live
(with Christ for eternity) (See: Ro. 8:1-14). If we want to come to faith in
Jesus Christ, we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and
self) and follow (obey) Christ. If we hold on to our old way of life, of living
for sin and self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But, if, for the sake of
Christ, we lose our lives, i.e. if we are crucified with Christ in death to
sin, we will gain eternal life with God (See: Lu. 9:23-25).
So, our new lives in Christ
Jesus must begin on the right premise. We must repent of (turn from) our sinful
lifestyles, and turn to God to walk in his ways and in his truth. All this is
the working of God’s grace in our lives in spiritual transformation, as we
cooperate fully with that work of grace. When we trust in Jesus Christ to be
Lord and Savior of our lives, and we die with Christ to sin, the Holy Spirit
comes to dwell within us. Then, we can begin our spiritual journey of walking
in the ways of the Lord, empowered, led and strengthened by the Spirit of God
now living within us. We no longer choose to conduct our lives according to our
sinful flesh, but now our desire is to walk in the Spirit, according to God’s
will and purposes for our lives.
Yet, we still live in flesh
bodies, and our flesh still pulls at us, and Satan tempts us, and the world
tries to influence us away from God, so we must remain in Christ and in his
Word, and we must daily put on our spiritual armor with which to fight off
Satan’s evil attacks against us (Eph. 6:10-20). We must no longer live
according to the ways of this sinful world, but we must be transformed in the
renewing of our minds (See: Ro. 12:1-2). This means we can’t spend hours a day
glued to the TV set or to the internet, taking in the world’s philosophies,
values, mindset, and morals, and spend little time with God in his Word, in
prayer, and in obedience, and then expect to fight off temptation and to have united
(undivided) hearts with God, walking in the fear (awe, honor, respect) of the
Lord.
So, if we want to have united
(undivided) hearts with God, and we truly want him to teach us his ways,
because we honestly and sincerely want to walk in his truth, then we can’t have
one foot in the world of sin and one foot in the Word of God. We have to choose
whom we are going to serve. We have to make Christ Jesus our only Lord
(owner-master), and we have to cut things out of our lives which are hindering
our walks of faith and our obedience to Christ - things which are leading us
into sin (See: Heb. 12:1; Matt. 5:27-30).
For example, we are not going
to conquer lust and walk in purity of heart if we are daily or even weekly
viewing pornography, or TV shows or movies which have sexual or sensual
(seductive) content. This also includes video games and music which are
worldly, which glorify sin, and which are seductive. That is counterproductive.
That shows we have divided hearts. So, we need to rid our lives of those things
which hinder our walks in the Spirit, so that we can learn the ways of the Lord
and can walk in his truth.
I Give Thanks
(vv. 12-13)
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole
heart,
and I will
glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have
delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
Jesus Christ came to set us
free from sin, not to give us a “pass” so we can continue in sin without guilt
and without remorse. Through his death on a cross, and through his
resurrection, he conquered sin on our behalf so that through faith in him we
could be set free from the control that sin once had over our lives. Amen!
Praise the Lord! So, we should give him thanks for this, not just with our
mouths, but with our whole hearts! If we are truly grateful for deliverance
from slavery to sin, and we are honestly thanking him and praising him for our
salvation, then it should be evident in our lifestyles and not just in our lip
service.
Give Your Strength (vv. 14-17)
O God, insolent men have risen up against me;
a band of
ruthless men seeks my life,
and they do
not set you before them.
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to
anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give your
strength to your servant,
and save the
son of your maidservant.
Show me a sign of your favor,
that those
who hate me may see and be put to shame
because you,
Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
The Christian life is not
easy, though. Satan is our enemy, and he has servants who also are our enemies,
because they are enemies of the cross of Christ. So, they are always plotting
against us in how they might trip us up or get us to fall into sin, or in how
they might be able to discredit us (and the gospel) so that people won’t listen
to what we have to say.
Some of them are preachers,
who claim to be ministers of the gospel, but who are wolves in sheep’s
clothing. They manipulate and twist the Word of Truth to their own advantage in
order to win people for themselves, not for Christ. Others of them are
politicians who claim to believe in Jesus Christ, but whose words and
lifestyles speak just the opposite. Together they are working to destroy the
gospel and those who proclaim its truths. They want all people to unite with
them as one under a one-world government and one-world religion. They want us
to break down all which divides us as the people of the world. Sovereign
nations and Christianity divides us, so they must destroy both. They want us to
tolerate (accept, allow for) sinful lifestyles and for all religions as viable
ways to God and to heaven.
So, we need to stand strong
in our faith and not give way to sin or to compromise, and we need to keep
speaking and living the truth of God’s Word, even in the face of great
opposition, for many need to be saved, and the church needs to be revived. We
need the strength of the Lord to see us through these troubled times, which are
only going to get much worse in the days to come. And, we need to not give way
to fear, but we should place our absolute trust in our Lord Jesus, lean on him,
and rest in him. He will give us his peace and calm reassurance, even though
all hell may be breaking loose all around us, which it is (just read the news).
The Lord Jesus is our helper.
He will give us all we need to withstand Satan’s evil plots against us, and to
be victorious over our enemy. And, to him we will give all the praise for what
he has done, is doing, and yet will do in our lives in giving us victory over Satan,
and in filling us with his peace and joy even in the midst of suffering.
Total Praise
/ Richard Smallwood
…Your peace You give me in time of the
storm
You are the source of my strength
You are the strength of my life
I lift my hands in total praise to You…
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