Day 3 - Week 13 - Deuteronomy 6:6 - "These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart."

"Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart."

Loving God...how does that look?  Or maybe more importantly, how does that not look?

I know it does not look like selfishness.

Then Jesus said to the disciples, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.

  Matthew 16:24

I know it does not look like greediness.

Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.  Luke 12:15

I know it does not look like pridefulness.

Take my yoke on you and become like me, for I am gentle and without pride, and you will have rest for your souls.  Matthew 11:29

I know it does not look like hate.

Get rid of all hard feelings, anger and rage. Stop all fighting and lying. Put away every form of hatred.  Ephesians 4:31

I know it does not look like the world.

It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  Titus 2:12-14

Jesus told His disciples fairly clearly what loving God looks like....

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command. ..... This is my command: Love each other.  John 15:8-14, 17

...and John reminded those reading his letter nearly 70 years later....

If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.  And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.  1 John 4:20-21

So if we are to love God with all our heart, with all our mind and with all our strength, how do we show it?  By turning our hearts, our minds and our strength into actions of His love directed to His children throughout the world.  We cannot turn our backs on the needs of people...we need to be brokenhearted over suffering, injustice and abuse.  Pray for God to direct you into your personal area of  showing His love to someone in need of His love...and then you will be showing your love for Him.

 

Day 2 - Week 13 - Deuteronomy 6:6 - "These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart."

"Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart."

While only the last sentence is our "official" verse this week, I would really encourage you to memorize the preceding two sentences with it.  It is such a powerful lead in and emphasizes so strongly just Who it is that is giving us "these words."  You can still call it your D6 verse, you'll just have a little extra!

When our mind is set on God, when we have established Him as the Lord of our life, and when we love Him above everything else and with all that is within us, then how can we not want to fully embrace His message to us?  And embracing that message means carrying it with us in our hearts.

Everything God tells us is for our benefit (let's see, that would be 2 Timothy 3:16...wow!...see how well that works!), but the words that He gives us in D6 are especially powerful in how we are to live our lives in light of the fact that He has given us directives for life...in how we are to live, how we are not to live, and how knowing Him should make a distinct difference in the way we live. 

If we are going to have an influence in the world in which we live, if we are going to leave a legacy to our children and grandchildren that will make a difference in their worlds, then we had better be getting serious about knowing God's Word and dwelling on it, allowing it to guide us rather than trying to make it fit into our lives. 

Robert J. Morgan cites this alarming statistic, "Only 35% of American congregations now describe themselves as spiritually vital and alive."

Did you get that?  American congregations.  The vast majority of our churches admit that they are spiritually lethargic and dead.  Why is that?  Where has the passion gone?  Do you think the passion may have left about the same time that God's Word did?  For in many churches, God's Word is barely acknowledged, not affirmed as inspired or inerrant, and utilized in much the same way as a classic piece of literature. 

Sounds dangerously lukewarm to me.  And that is not the temperature God desires for His church.

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."  Revelation 3:14-16

Churches need to return to the complete message of God's Word, accept it as God's absolute truth, and get on fire for its proclamation.  And we, as individual members of God's church on earth, need to do the very same thing.  Then we will see a vitality and life in our churches, and in our lives, that will make the world take note!

Dear Father, please put a passion in me for Your Word and to keep it in my heart.  Let it guide my life and let me, because of Your Spirit, be a light in this world of darkness.  Forgive me for not always keeping Your Word active and alive in me.  Thank You for the gift of Your Word, and thank You for Jesus, our Savior. 

Day 1 - Week 13 -

Tuesday!  Review day!  Ready...Set... Go!

Four Corners of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; we have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father full of grace and truth."
John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life."

Romans Road:
Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 5:8, "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Romans 10:9, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."
Romans 12:1, "Therefore, dear brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.  This is your spiritual worship."

The Gift of Scripture:
2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correction, for training in righteousness."
Joshua 1:8, "This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth, you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it.  For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do."
Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your words in my heart that I may not sin against You."

We are really making progress, aren't we?  It really does amaze me that I'm remembering (almost perfectly!) 12 verses with their sources, and that I'm ready to add another one!  Don't you think God is pleased with this aspect of our lives?  I do!  That in itself is motivation to keep me going, but I'm also seeing the benefit that I'm receiving from hearing these words repeated in my head throughout the day...they are both comforting and convicting.  They bring with them the realization that God is always speaking to us, every step of every day.

So now for the start of Week 13, another addition to the verses reminding us of the wonderful gift of Scripture.  So far in this section we have learned that God's word is useful to us as we teach, as we rebuke other theology, as we correct both others and ourselves, and as we train our lives to patterns of righteous living.  As we keep God's words in our minds, they will direct us to lives of success in our endeavors within His will.  We have been reminded again that by keeping God's word in our hearts, we will turn our hearts away from the temptations of sinful living.

Now we read Deuteronomy 6:6 --- dubbed D6 by some of Robert J. Morgan's friends.  He says his friends "want churches to become D6 churches and parents D6 parents when it comes to sharing God's Word with their children.  If you get this letter-number coded in your mind, D6, you'll never have any trouble locating this vital passage in the Bible.

D6 - ready? It's not hard and it reinforces our previous verses.  While we will only memorize the one verse highlighted below, I'm going to include the surrounding verses so you can get the full intensity of this verse.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
"Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. "

Day 7 - Week 12 - Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."

Our last night on this sweet verse that we can easily bind to our hearts. Hold it tight and let it become your companion. 

I'm thinking tonight about our earthly lives and how fast they go by...maybe it's that melancholy feeling you have when your baby girl comes to spend time with you as a 31 year-old wonderful young lady.   You realize how fast the time has gone by, and how in another 31 years you will be 86, and you know the next 31 years will go at least twice as fast as the past 31, so in a sense you'll be 86 in 15 years...but probably more like 10.  Time is a funny thing, isn't it? 

So, again, I'm musing on these somewhat melancholy thoughts and then come back around to our verse and ask, "is there a connection?"  Yes...I think there is.  For when we complete these earthly lives of ours...no matter the length...the real thing that will matter is how well we have treasured God's words in our hearts, and how well we have allowed them to direct our lives into paths of God's leading, rather than into the paths of our self-direction, paths of sinfulness, paths of regret. 

When we avoid sin, we opt for God's ways.  What do we know about God's ways?

Genesis 50:20, "You planned to harm me. But God planned it for good. He planned to do what is now being done. He wanted to save many lives."

 

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

 

Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will."

 

No matter what we think, no matter what the world tells us, we need to affirm in our mind that God's ways are good ways...that His plans are the best plans...that living lives in opposition of sinfulness leads to lives of peace and security...

 

Isaiah 26:3, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

 

We should never feel deprived when asked to turn from sin...we should feel blessed and confident of future blessing.  Living lives that glorify God bring honor to Him, and He in turn honors His children who do so. 

 

We have already learned that sin's ultimate product is death, while God's gift is life! 

 

We've been given His treasured word to hide in our hearts to help us avoid the pitfalls of sin...let's treasure it, let's hide it in our hearts, and let's live victoriously!

Day 5 - Week 12 - Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."

Another wonderful Sunday --- had the rare opportunity to share worship time with my daughter this morning.  Johnathan Mast delivered a great sermon on pridefulness and the danger of thinking that we are beyond certain sins.  He used the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector that Jesus delivered to those who were "looking down" on others due to their sinfulness. 

Again, as I sat, I contemplated how this topic fit in with our current verse, and I came to the conclusion that there is a very direct connection.  While our verse says that we are to treasure God's words in our heart so that we will be armed against sinfulness, we can never presume that we will ever get to the point of being beyond sinfulness.  No matter how many Scriptures we memorize, no matter how deep an understanding we come to have of God's word, we remain, while on this earth, in our human state, terribly vulnerable to our tempter.

Once we say, "I'm beyond that one...", or "I'll never do that again...", or the most prideful, "I would NEVER do what they are doing, I just couldn't", I believe we turn Satan's ear toward us and he is alerted that we are prime targets for his arrows of temptation.  The quicker he can get us to fall into the area that we have publicly proclaimed victory over, the more ridiculous he can make us look to all those who have heard our proud professions.  Galatians 6:1 warns us "Brothers and sisters, what if someone is caught in a sin? Then you who are guided by the Spirit should correct that person. Do it in a gentle way. But be careful. You could be tempted too."

Falling to a temptation that you have criticized someone else for is humbling.  It hurts.  It makes you doubt if your relationship with God is as secure as you had previously thought, which is exactly what Satan's ultimate goal is.

I also heard David Jeremiah talk this morning regarding spiritual warfare and how God has absolutely given us specific direction on how to enter the battle, and how we so very often disregard his instructions and then are surprised when we fail.  Jeremiah pointed out the parallel between Isaiah 59:17 where we are told how God prepared Himself for spiritual warfare, ("He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak."), to Paul's instructions to us in Ephesians, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:10-18.  We are told to prepare ourselves just as God prepares Himself for battle, and yet we don't do it.  We try to get by with the very last directive of prayer without all of the other pieces of protection. 

Don't misunderstand me, prayer is vital and critically important to our success.  But God has instructed us on actions that we should take in order to be victors, along with praying for His supernatural protection, and I know I very often let Him down on fulfilling my part of the preparation.

So while we will always be vulnerable and should never presume to think that we can say we are beyond temptation or better than those who have fallen, we can also do everything that God instructs us to so that we are fully prepared for the battle that is before us each and every day.  His Word is our sword...and we are working on having that sword by our side at all times.

Day 5 - Week 12 - Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."

Excuse my recent absence---technical problems on Thursday evening and last night my sweet daughter drove in from Tulsa and we spent the evening talking, and walking and talking!  It is such a great thing to be able to have a daughter who is your friend...there are some really good things about getting older and enjoying your adult children is definitely one of them!

Now - back to our verse!  We have treasured God's Word in our hearts for what purpose?  To keep us from sinning against our God.  When we sin, we have to join David in saying, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight." (Psalm 51:4)  Our sin many times hurts others, offends others and damages our witness, but it is truly only God that we sin against because He is the only one without sin.  He is the one who truly holds us accountable to His law, and it is He who we absolutely hurt and offend with our sin.

In a moment of study and prayer, I had the sudden realization that since Jesus died for ALL of my sin,, and since every sin committed by every person added to His pain and suffering on the cross, that when I choose to sin, I choose to inflict additional pain on Jesus at the time of His death.  This is one of those "time warp" effects, but it has to be true.  My current sin adds to His crucifixion pain.  If I claim to love Him, how can I keep striking Him with additional blows, how can I press the thorns deeper into His head, how can I drive the nails harder into His hands?  These are not the actions of someone who loves, but of someone who disregards.  When we are in relationship with Jesus Christ, we can no longer disregard the suffering that our sin inflicts.

The way we become continually aware is by having God's words, His standards in our hearts.  Then we become constantly reminded of what He desires from our lives, and we are prevented from committing the sins that bring Him such pain, and our professed love for Him becomes love in action.

Thank You Jesus for dying for me....my love for you can never be expressed to the degree that You deserve, but let me be mindful every moment of every day of the cost of my sinfulness.

I'll never know how much it cost, to see my sin upon that cross...no, I'll never know how much it cost...