Psalms 19:14 ESV
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”
Acceptable Words
What are acceptable words in God’s sight? They are good and
holy, approved by God, pleasing to him, and agreeable to him. They are of
goodwill, which will be of benefit to others, for their good. They are kind. And
they are according to the word of God, and thus praiseworthy.
They are truthful, but not condescending, not immoral, not
lewd, nor obtuse. They speak the truth in love for the benefit of their
listeners, thinking of what is best for other people even at the potential cost
to the one speaking, knowing that the speaker may be opposed, rejected, and
persecuted.
They are the quoting of Scripture and the sharing of what
the Word of God teaches us, but with regard to and with careful consideration
of the context in which the words were written so that we do not take
Scriptures out of context to make them say something they are not saying.
They are the gospel of our salvation which we share with others,
but in truth, and in context, being careful to make certain we are correctly
handling the word of truth. For we can’t pull a few Scriptures out of their
context and then build our own doctrine of salvation around them.
They are led by the Spirit of God and not of human flesh.
They do not blend the word of God with humanistic philosophy, psychology, marketing
schemes, witchcraft, new age teaching, and teachings from other religions. And
they are not twisted, manipulative, or willfully deceptive.
They are not the teachings of men by which they twist the
Scriptures for evil purposes. For, not every “Christian” author or “Christian”
book is teaching what is acceptable to God. So, we need to be students of the Scriptures,
not followers of famous authors or preachers or evangelists.
They are not flattery, “white lies,” and appeasements of
sinful practices. And they are not false gospels which dilute the true gospel, and
which preach feel good and sugar-coated messages, willfully and skillfully
misrepresenting God and his gospel message in order to condone sinful living.
Heart Meditations
What is acceptable meditation of the heart in God’s sight?
First, what is the heart? It is the core of our being, the essence of who we
are in character, in thought, in word and in deed. It is our nature, our
spirit. And it is the center of our emotions and of our will.
And what is meditation? It is our thinking, our ponderings,
and our introspections. It is what we entertain in our minds. It is whatever
our minds think on which has a lot to do with the things (the messages, ideas)
we are taking into our minds on a daily basis, too.
What we think about and meditate on has much to do with what
is stored up in our hearts, too. If what is godly, moral, pure, and upright is
what is stored in our hearts, then our meditations should reflect that. But if
what is stored in our hearts is evil, immoral, lustful, prideful, and
resentful, then our meditations will be evil and immoral, etc. (See: Luke 6:45)
But this is the meditation of the heart we are speaking
about, which goes to the core of who we are and what we are about, and our
character. So, these are not just passing thoughts which may go in and out of
our minds, but this meditation (thinking, ponderings) come from our character.
So, if the meditation of our heart is going to be acceptable
to God, we need to have hearts that are cleansed of sin, regenerated of the
Holy Spirit of God, purified, made holy by God, and filled with God’s Spirit.
And we need to daily be transformed in our minds, putting off and rejecting
what is evil, and putting on and embracing what is good.
For, if we live according to the flesh, this shows that our
minds are set on the things of the flesh. But if we live according to the Spirit,
it shows that our minds are set on the things of the Spirit. So, we must know
this: If our minds are set on the flesh, that means death for us, but if our
minds are set on the Spirit, that means life and peace for us (Rom 8:5-7).
So, we are to set our minds on things above, not on things
of this earth. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and
strength. And we are not to be conformed to this world, but we are to be
transformed by the renewal of our minds (Col 3:2; Rom 12:1-2; Lu 10:27).
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Phil 4:8 ESV
The Heart and Our Words
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Lu 6:45 ESV
“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.” Matt 15:18-20 ESV
So, there is a direct correlation between what is treasured
or stored up in our hearts and what comes out of our mouths. For we speak from what
is in our hearts. And there is a direct correlation between what is treasured
in our hearts and what we do, too.
We may, at times, not even be consciously aware of what is
stored in our hearts until it comes out through our words or through our
behaviors. But it is then, when it is revealed to us, that we need the Lord to
help us to identify what is in our hearts so that, by the Spirit, we can be
putting to death the deeds of the flesh and be putting on Christ and his
righteousness.
Let me give you an example of this. I was abused as a child,
mainly by my father, though I was also emotionally neglected by my mother. We
were taught to “forgive and forget,” but “forget” meant to stuff the pain, to
not talk about it, and so never to deal with it.
So, I thought I “forgave and forgot” but the pain wasn’t
really forgotten. It was just suppressed. And part of that pain I did not
realize was a belief that my Lord had forsaken and abandoned me, and that he
had failed to protect me. So, there was bitterness in my heart I was unaware
of.
But it eventually surfaced through my actions, and then the
Lord revealed to me what was in my heart, and so I gave it all over to him,
repented of my sin, and chose to trust in his absolute sovereignty over my
life, no matter what might come my way.
And that has definitely been put to the test these past 18
years since the Lord revealed that to me and he changed my way of thinking and
believing to where it was in line with his word, and to where I was free of the
pain that had plagued me so long, and to where I trusted him fully.
And then the Lord called me to this present ministry where I
am to write down what he teaches me from his word each day, and I am to put it
on the internet so that the internet can “Run With It.” And that is what I’ve
been doing since 2004, and daily since 2006.
I am not perfect, and my words are not always perfect, but
now my words reflect something different in my heart. Now my actions reflect
something that has changed within my heart. Now my words and my actions mainly
reflect the heart of someone who is trusting the Lord and walking in obedience
to him, in doing what he has called her to do.
Thus, when I, or when you speak the truth of God’s word, out
of obedience to the Lord, and when you or I do what he says, and we speak when
and what he says to speak, we truly have to trust in God’s sovereignty over our
lives, because we are going to be hated, rejected, and persecuted.
But when they do persecute, and they speak evil against us,
we have to keep believing that God is good, that he has his best in mind for us,
and that he is working all things out in conformity with his will and purposes
for our lives. So, we need to trust him fully and not give way to fear. Believe
him!
All
Through the Night
An
Original Work / December 7, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
Blessed are you when you’re persecuted
Because of your faith in Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you when people insult you,
And falsely say what leads folks to doubt.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
Great in the heavens. You’re not alone.
When you are persecuted in one place,
Flee to another. God will be there.
You will be hated by all the nations
Because you testify of God’s grace.
Many will seize you and persecute you,
And put to death the foll’wers of Christ.
Yet do not fear what humans may do to you,
For I’m with you all through the night.
I tell you, love your enemies with my love,
And forgive as I forgave you.
Pray for those who do evil against you.
Rest in my love and grace from above.
No comments:
Post a Comment