Day 2 - Week 12 - Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."

This verse is where the title of this blog came from...in many translations it reads, "I have hidden Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You.

Matthew Henry, a Biblical scholar of the early 1700s states, "God's word is treasure worth laying up, and there is no laying it up safe but in our hearts." 

Where do you store your dearest treasures?  In a vault, in a safety deposit box, under your bed?  Are any of those places absolutely safe?  I think there have been movies made about every one of these places being invaded by thieves...I mean James Bond has been successful at breaking in any where he has needed to, hasn't he? 

When you stop and think about it, the only absolutely safe place we can store anything is in our hearts.  Photo albums may fade, but our memories of special times are always with us.  Marriage certificates may become lost, wedding dresses tattered and torn, but our love for our mates is always within us  The tangibles are always able to be taken from us...even our most precious Bible, with all of our notes and pages that have been dog-eared and verses highlighted, can become lost.  But what we have stored in our hearts is ours to keep.  No one can take it from us unless we allow that to happen.  We will need to treat these words like the treasures they are and diligently work at safeguarding them so that they will never leave us.

So both translations can merge together and become very meaningful to me...we are hiding these words because they are our treasures.  We are treasuring these words because they are so precious to us, they bring life, joy and peace to our hearts. 

Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also," (Matthew 6:21).  If we are truly treasuring God's Word, and maintaining that treasure in our heart, is there any doubt where our passion will be directed?

I think American Christians have become very complacent about the treasure that we have in God's Word.  But ask a persecuted Christian in China, Sudan, or many other areas of the world where outright persecution of the Christian faith is occurring how they view the Word of God, and I think you would find a much different level of passion exhibited toward it. 

God's Word is our most precious treasure.  We must view it as such and honor it by housing it in the safehouse of our hearts.  We should be studying and absorbing it every day, and as we do we should be lifting up in prayer our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who are suffering and dying in order to do the very thing that we take for granted.

Lord, help me to realize that I have a treasure at my fingertips.  As my hands turn the pages of Your Word, let them simultaneously be lifted in praise to You for this wondeful gift.  Let me store Your treasures in my heart, and let those treasures direct my steps in the direction that You have laid out for me.  Thank You, my Father, especially for the gift of Jesus, and for the gift of Your everlasting Word.  Amen.

Day 1 - Week 12!!! - Can you believe it?

Here we are again - starting another week with another verse!  Are you still excited about adding verses from God's Word to your heart?  Don't let your joy be stolen by the temptation to become either discouraged or disinterested...remember all the blessings that will come to your life as you add to your heart each gem of God's treasure that we are mining and, in turn, have them take life in your actions.

I don't mean to make Tuesdays feel like "test nights", but we've got to review if we're going to keep these gems safeguarded!!

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 Go."
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."

Each week, I hesitantly embrace the new verse.  Each week the new verse seems less endearing than the ones already studied and memorized have come to be to me.  But by the end of the week, I always find that the new verse is now just as important to me, just as vital to my thought process as the previous ones have come to be.  Each seems to build on the other and become another critical piece of the beautiful picture of Scripture. 

This last verse has especially taken that route...it seemed so lengthy and difficult to memorize, but the more I let it just "sit" on my heart, it has now taken a very special place in my memory.  I find myself reciting it "day and night" and letting it remind me to recite the remaining verses of our expanding list "day and night", so that they have all become more firmly embedded.  I am amazed at how God is enabling me to memorize this expanding selection of His words to us.

So we come to the beginning of another week...and what is this week's verse?  You'll be glad to know that we get a bit of a reprieve this week with a much easier verse to memorize...

Psalms 119:11, "I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You."

Can we spend a whole week camped out on this brief one-sentence verse?  Yes we can!  And I bet we'll be amazed at what God will allow us to see stored in these sixteen words so poetically phrased by David so long ago.

Day 7 - Week 11 - 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 shall prosper and succeed in whatever you do."

"For then you shall prosper and succeed in whatever you do."

This sounds like a great promise, doesn't it?  All we have to do is read, meditate upon and obey God's Word and we will prosper and succeed in whatever we attempt.  Do you believe it?

In our selfishness we read this promise as a way to get whatever we want...it's almost like we've found the magic formula to satisfying all of our personal desires.  But when you realize that when you read, mediate upon and obey God's Word, that transformation occurs, then you also realize that the desires that you will have once so transformed will be anything but selfish or self-motivated.   As Robert J. Morgan puts it, "As we meditate on God's Word, our minds are improved.  They are God conditioned.  We begin thinking more as he thinks, looking at life from His point of view.  As we're transformed by the renewing of our thoughts, we become successful in those things God appoints for us to do."

Is that disappointing to you?  Would you have preferred to have your selfish, earthly desires fulfilled?  I hope not...for transformation into a God-like thought process should be our highest priority and the one that, as we slowly attain throughout the sanctification process of our entire Christian life, brings us the most joy and the most peace in our lives. 

If our plans are to align with God's plans and thereby assure our success, don't we need to know what God desires?  Here's a few things that I know from His Word that God desires or that please Him:

• He desires all to be in relationship with Him (2 Samuel 14:14, "Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.")
• He desires His people to live righteously without a spirit of anger (James 1:19-20, "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.")
• He is pleased when our spirits are broken over our sinfulness. (Psalm 51:17, "The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.")
• He is pleased when we serve Christ in righteousness, with a spirit of peace and joy. (Romans 14:17-18, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God.")

There are so many other verses in the Bible telling us what is pleasing to God.  Spend some time making your own list and meditating on it.  Make these the goals that you aspire to, and by staying in God's Word, by keeping it active in your life, you will prosper in your wealth of the knowledge of who God is, and you will succeed in living the life that He has prepared for you....what could ever be more exciting than that?

Day 6 - Week 11 - 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 shall prosper and succeed in whatever you do."

"....so that you may carefully observe everything written in it."

What is the good of our reading Scripture, memorizing Scripture, reciting Scripture if it doesn't change our lives?  God's book of instruction is given to us so that we may live by His instructions.  Instructions are given for a purpose.  Just reading the instructions on how to plant and raise a backyard garden, doesn't get the seeds planted, fertilized, watered and weeded in order for the plants to produce a good yield.  You have to carefully (VERY carefully when planting a garden in the Texas panhandle!) observe everything written in the instructions and follow the instructions to a tee in order to have great summer vegetables.

In the same way God's book of instruction is given to us to construct our lives carefully, in order for them to be productive and produce the yield that He has planned for us.  Without following His instructions, our lives will never be as productive as they could be with the right cultivation.  Without following His instructions, we will most likely end up with times of "weediness" and "drought" that could be avoided.

The other thing to remember about instructions is you can't just read steps 1 through 4, and expect good results without going through all the listed steps.  In the same way, you can't read portions of the Bible, or segments, and expect the complete result.  As we stated earlier, the Bible is 66 books dependent upon each other...you need the complete set of instructions...all 66 books with the message in its entirety to understand God's complete directions for our lives.  It takes the whole book to get the whole message. 

Become fervent about knowing God's instruction for your life.  Become a diligent student of His instructions so that your life will be a product showing the result of "carefully following the directions."

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does."  James 1:22-25

Day 3 - 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 shall prosper and succeed in whatever you do."

Second section...

"You are to recite it day and night."

So are we supposed to go around quoting Scripture incessantly.  Can you picture this...

"Good morning, Janice! It's a bright sun-shiny day!"

"Good morning...yes, remember "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."  That's Genesis 1:1 in case you don't know!"

or....

"Man I sure am glad it's payday!"
"Me too!  You know the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Romans 6:23."

Effective? Maybe at getting you classed as out-of-touch and someone who's trying to impress others with their Biblical knowledge.

But on the other hand, this scenario is one that might just make a difference with your child....

"Mommy, isn't the sky so beautiful today?"
"It really is...you know that the very first verse in the Bible tells us that 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' We need to always remember that everything we see was made by God, everything we see in the sky and everything we see around us."

Or this conversation with someone who is struggling with thinking that they are beyond God's love...

"I want to believe in God's forgiveness, but He can't love me...I'm rotten, there's so much sin in my life."

"You know, God knows that's exactly how we feel...and in Romans 5:8 He clearly tell us that's why He sent Jesus for us.  'For God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  He knows that we need saving because of our sinfulness, and He loves us enough to provide His Son for our salvation."

These are simple illustrations, but I hope you get the point...we don't want to be obnoxious about our knowledge or use it to impress people, but given the right moment, and led by the Holy Spirit, then we should be ready to recite God's Words without hesitation.  Day and night, they should be on the tips of our tongues, ready for Spirit-led opportunities.

Second reason for constant repetition is for our own discipline.  That's what we'll talk about tomorrow night!

I pray tonight to become more and more aware of opportunities to share God's words with those who are thirsting for them, and with that awareness to be courageous and bold in letting His words come out of my mental storage bins, to be used for His effectiveness.  That's the whole point, isn't it?

Praying His blessings all over you!

Day 2 - Week 11 - 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."

Wow - this one is a long one, isn't it?  Let's break it down bit by bit and absorb it slowly.....

"This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth...."

In our reference book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, Robert J. Morgan states in reference to this section of our verse, "We must keep speaking it, reading it, repeating it, hearing it."

Referencing the Bible as "this book of instruction" reinforces the first application that Paul listed in our verse of last week...that of teaching.  We've probably all heard the phrase, "BIBLE - Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."  We have in our hands God's book of instruction.  He has given it to us and He wants us to not only read it, but to know it and to declare it. 

The word "depart" used in this verse is used in the context of "be removed", so the verse could read, "This book of instruction must not be removed from your mouth."  It should always be ready to flow off our lips, to cite God's Word at appropriate times to ourselves and to others.  You can picture God's words being stored in the back portion of our mouths, just sitting there waiting for the right time to be released, but never removed.

We can't be concerned about their removal if they are never firmly stored in the first place.  Aren't all of these verses affirming our exercise of Scripture memorization?  It's like we are memorizing all of God's reasons for memorizing!  He is an encourager when we struggle, isn't He?

I'm loving God's wonderful book of instruction.  The more I memorize, the more I find myself quietly saying verses during the day when random occurrences bring them to mind.  And I smile knowing that God is pleased hearing His words on my breath.

Day 1 - Week 11 - Ready for a tougher one?

You may get tired of me going over our verses, but you'll just have to bear with me.  I HAVE to recite them periodically so I can keep the ones I've already learned firmly placed in this somewhat mushy brain of mine!  AND as a result, even more firmly embedded in my heart!

So do you use this time to exercise your brain along with mine? Hope so!  Here we go....

Four Corners of the Bible:
Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heaven 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, my 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 correcting, for training in righteousness."

This past week has impressed upon me the value of Scripture in so many different areas of life, and how I have often undervalued it in so many areas of my personal life.  I could be much farther down my road of faith had I used Scripture to its maximum profitability.  If I had turned to Scripture when I needed to be taught, convicted, corrected and just for the continual training that I have always needed, I would have made better decisions, avoided some pitfalls and been a better example to others of God's activity in my life.

But one of the most wonderful things about our God, and about the message of Christianity, is that He continually allows us to not only start over, but to use our past, whatever it may be, to build on our future and to allow Him to use the things we have gone through to enhance our lives, not detract from them.   Many Christians I know with the strongest testimonies are those who have come the farthest and can closely identify with people who struggle with many of the same things they did  in the past.  Many times our histories become our ministries.

So...what will this week's verse impress upon us?  It is a little more difficult passage, but again broken down becomes fairly easy to grasp.  This is an Old Testament verse from the book of Joshua:

Joshua 1:8, "This book of instruction must not depart from your mouths; 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."

Wow - that's quite a bit.  But I think by the end of this week we will grow to love this verse and wholeheartedly embrace it. 

Remember what we send last night about a more rigorous training routine!  Let's get moving!