by David Brenneman
"Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: Let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause. Shew me thy ways, O LORD; Teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: For thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day." Psalm 25:1-5.
Many years ago we were taught a song based on Psalm 25. The version I used today is the King James version due to the wording used in the chorus.
Unto thee oh Lord, do I lift up my voice.
Unto thee oh Lord, do I lift up my voice.
Oh my God, I trust in thee
Oh my God, I trust in thee
Let me not be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me.
We would repeat that another time through. What was interesting to me years later was my problems with memorizing the Scriptures didn't crossover to music versions of Scriptures. It was because of songs such as this that I sought out other Scriptures set to music. There's several praise and worship CD's available that the whole album was Scriptures set to music.
Suffice to say God made a way where I needed a way. Not that I can arrive at where a passage is but once I hear parts I have at least a general idea of where to look.
Then there's Google. I often look up phrases there whereas I use the search function of my Bible app for specifics.
God does make a way when we rely on Him.
Our lives need a daily intake of the Word of God. We need to trust in Jesus. Have I enemies? Oh more than likely. Have I had ones in my past? Most assuredly. What became of them? Oh my Dear Reader God took care of these in ways that I could never imagine.
It's on us to trust and obey its on Jesus to keep His promises when we do.
What is your day like? How much of it do you include Jesus in?
My morning's begin with coffee, catching up on a few things then time in a Bible plan on my phone in my Bible app. For me, I give up some sleep to be here with Jesus to write what you read. This is when and where He wants to meet me. Daily at around 5 to 10 til 5 AM the writing stops. Then I post, and finish getting ready for work. On my ride to work I talk with Jesus all the way there. We go into work together. Sometimes during the day I send up Nehemiah prayers. Short and to the point. After work on the way home I thank Him for the day. After dinner I am now up to just over an hour of Bible study. I challenged myself to two Study Bibles and all the commentaries on both each evening and the Spirit challenged me to double that. So I did. Plus I read 2 short devotionals.
Truth be known I don't miss television or movies. I, like an old gospel song, would rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.
A few Disciples, after the resurrection, were taught by Jesus of every place in the Old Testament that mentioned Him. So I look for these when I read.
Since the beginning of the year I have read from Daniel to now the book of John. Daniel and the book that followed I read only 2 study Bibles worth, but after that it's been all 4. Two of the NASB, one of the Christian Standard, one of the New King James. All by Godly men of my lifetime.
You can't afford to spend no time in the Lord. Your days will not be fulfilling. Your mind will be pushed towards conformity to the world. Your mind and heart will not experience the transforming power of the Word of God. You will cave to temptations. You will inevitably have a life of practiced sin that we are warned about in the book of Romans. You will be quite deceived by your own sin nature as well as the world. You will redefine words to appease your conscience. You will see nothing wrong with the things that the Word of God says are in fact sin. When you hear God's truth you won't recognize it as that so you will dismiss it. Then the inevitable will fall upon you as is promised to everyone. You will stand before Jesus one day to give an account of your life. What will you say? You were too busy? You think that's going to hold up in the Courts of God Almighty?
My encouragement today is to get down and dirty with some serious Spring cleaning of your soul.
If your days aren't spent honoring the One who saved you then you aren't honoring the One who saved you. Nothing in this world in which you live is more important than the life you could be living with a right relationship with Jesus.
What you read of my routine...I had been praying about learning how to study. I am not saying that I am a genius or anything, depending on the testing my IQ is around 140. School work most of the time wasn't challenging. One of my hobbies are instructional videos. Sometimes physical books. I love troubleshooting problems. God's given me that ability. I like figuring things out. I am looking to the Scriptures to figure out some things in there as well. My list of questions to ask Jesus when I get to His Heaven grows.
If you are honest with yourself do you think that Jesus would be happy with the amount of time you spend with Him daily?
We just went through a celebration of the last week He had on Earth. The brutal beatings, scourging, being nailed to the cross to save us.
Doesn't that warrant more than "God is great, God is good, thank you for this food. Amen."?
Doesn't that warrant doubling down on getting to know the One who took your place on calvary?
What will you change today to honor His sacrifice to save you?
KJV is public domain.
All NASB 1995 and NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission. (C) Lockman Foundation.
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