With All My Heart

Psalms 119:57-64 NIV

“You are my portion, Lord;

    I have promised to obey your words.

I have sought your face with all my heart;

    be gracious to me according to your promise.

I have considered my ways

    and have turned my steps to your statutes.

I will hasten and not delay

    to obey your commands.

Though the wicked bind me with ropes,

    I will not forget your law.

At midnight I rise to give you thanks

    for your righteous laws.

I am a friend to all who fear you,

    to all who follow your precepts.

The earth is filled with your love, Lord;

    teach me your decrees.”

When we trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, this is what it should look like. We should see the Lord Jesus as our treasure, our inheritance, our all-sufficiency. He is now our life and our joy and our crown. He is now what we seek after and we long for and we desire above all else. Where we used to crave the sinful pleasures of this world, we now crave him and his righteousness and holiness, for he is now our desire.

And because this is now how we see the Lord, we want to obey him. We want to do what pleases him because we love him, and because we are so thankful for all that he has done for us. And so we commit our lives now to following him in obedience and to no longer walking in sin. It doesn’t mean we will never sin again or that we will be instantly perfect, but it means we are now walking in obedience to him as our life practice.

And because we love the Lord and we are so grateful for all that he has done for us to free us from our slavery to sin and to empower us to live godly and holy lives for his service, we have turned away from our lives of living in sin and we have turned our steps to following him in his ways and in the ways of his commandments (New Covenant). And we make this our daily practice to say “No!” to sin and “Yes!” to God and to his commands for our lives.

Now the wicked may or may not bind us with literal ropes, and they may or may not lay literal physical traps for us to fall into, but they will lay traps for us which are more mental, psychological, and emotional traps. For they will try to bind us with fear and worry, or they will attempt to trip us up with our words or to get us angry so we will explode, etc. And Jesus’ enemies laid these kinds of traps for Jesus on a consistent basis, but he did not fall.

So, we need to pray for spiritual discernment and wisdom to see these traps being laid for us to fall into so that we do not fall. And one of the biggest traps now comes in the form of deception, and mind manipulation, and misimpressions (indirect lies), so we need to pray to have eyes to see and ears to hear and minds and hearts to understand the truth versus these deceptions, for they are very subtle and very hidden (disguised).

And we need to be careful who we make our friends, too, for not everyone is who he or she says they are. For many of these traps laid come through those who are highly regarded and respected in today’s Christian world here in America. So make your close companions and friends those who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways, who are not crooked and deceitful, but who truly walk in holiness and in obedience to the Lord, as their daily practice.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 8:31-32,51; Jn 10:27-30; Jn 14:15-24; Jn 15:10; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 15:2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 5:9; Heb 10:26-31; Jas 1:21-25; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10,24; 1 Jn 5:2-3; 2 Jn 1:6]

Seek the Lord  

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you, 

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

https://vimeo.com/379408296