Reflections on “Storing Up Your Word In My Heart!” October 8, 2024

Your Word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your Word. Psalm 119:11-16.

How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore, I hate every false way. Psalm 119:103-104. A precept is a rule or principle that teaches us acceptable behavior and thinking.

What does it take for us to say ‘Teach Me’? Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:4-7. And again, Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10.

When we love God, our King, we want to be right with Him,  please Him, and glorify Him. The childhood song, Zaccheus, a wee little man, was he. He climbed up into the tree, the Lord Jesus, he wanted to see. Jesus said, “Come down, for I am going to your house today.”

Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:8-10.

Jesus, the one and only Son of God, was sent to this world to teach and became the sacrifice that we might be redeemed. He endured those He encountered scoffing from unbelievers until the cruel death final moment. As He hung on the cross, He received sour wine. He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30. Jesus was sent by Father God. Therefore, Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. You will seek Me and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.” John 7:33-34.

Can the world give us Delight? It comes from the Father God when we trust and obey our Lord Jesus, who came to give His life to redeem us. Delight is Joy, Contentment, and practicing Gratitude to our Lord God and His Son Jesus.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2. Does this seem impossible? Not when you hunger and thirst for God. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? Psalm 42:1-2.

Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord, And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Psalm 37:3-6. These verses signify the sureness of every promise is good for an eternity in four brief words—He will do it!

Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. John 19:30.

Jesus completed the task God gave Jesus to do. Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me.” John 8:42.

But what does it mean? “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the Word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Romans 10:8-10.

How can we follow Jesus? Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6.

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3-6.