Stored your word in my heart

I was reading through Psalm 119 for my devotions tonight, focusing on verses 9-16.

Vs. 9 reads "How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Vs. 11 reads "I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you."

I was struck by two things in these verses. The first was in verse 9, the word guarding. My first thoughts were 'to be able to guard my soul, I must meditate on the Word.' I then began to think of two very different styles of guarding.

First, there's the reactive guarding. Take your house for example. To be reactively guarding your house, would be to wait until someone breaks into your house and you react accordingly to protect, or guard, your house. This may work from time to time, but it leaves you very vulnerable to attacks from the enemy.

Contrast that with the active protection. This looks like possibly putting in an alarm system, or making sure all windows and doors are appropriately secured. Before the attack comes, you have already prepared by reinforcing the weak areas.

How do you guard your soul? Are you reactive, or proactive? Do you wait for the attack, and then hope to defend it? Or do you sure up your weak areas proactively by informing yourself of truth?

The second thing that caught my attention is Vs. 11, specifically 'store up your word in my heart.' My first thoughts were I memorize scripture, how do i still sin against you? (besides the fact that I'm in the process of being sanctified) I hearkened back to a definition of the word heart from an earlier post: Websters 5th definition reads as follows: one's innermost character, feelings, or inclinations. Thus, to store the word in my heart, I must constantly inform my feelings and inclinations of the Truth. As shifting as my emotions are, I must proactively inform my feelings of the truth. Its not a once a week or day thing. To store the word in your heart is a moment by moment process. Its an active pursuit, not reactive.

Lets sum it all up: To guard our hearts we must be proactive. To store the word in our heart we must be active. Passivity isn't an option on the table. We must actively pursue Christ and his word!!!

Are you Sitting down?

I was recently reminded of the feeding of the five thousand in the book of John. As I read, two words stuck out to me that never had before, so I wanted to share my thoughts with you. Here's the passage:

3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people SIT down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were SEATED. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. John 6:3-11

Can you imagine the scene? There's probably about ten thousand folks milling around this field, hungry and anxious to hear Jesus preach. When they saw that all he had was 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, I'm sure there were many mockers and doubters in the crowd. Whats interesting is what Jesus did, and what John highlights in his gospel. It's noted that he only fed those that were seated.

Jesus told the people to sit down. In verse 11, it goes on to say he distributed the ones who were seated. Have you ever thought about that?

Place yourself at the scene. Thousands up thousands of people there.. probably hot depending on the time of year. Here was this man who taught with authority unparalleled to another. Maybe he gave some more instructions when he told the disciples to have them sit down. Maybe the disciples told the people he was going to feed them. We aren't told all that happened, but what we can infer from what happens is that the people who sat down trusted and possibly had faith in Christ (not necessarily saving faith...). I can imagine there was probably a group of people standing off to the side and back mocking, saying things like "who does this man think he is? There's no possible way he can feed all of us." Some folks probably walked away in complete unbelief. And yet most sat. And those that trusted the Lord, they were the ones given the meal that day.

So whats the point? How does this apply to us? Great question, I'm glad you asked! Where do you see yourself in your walk with Christ? Are you seated before him, believing he will meet your needs even though all you see is 5 loaves and 2 fish and your needs are infinitely bigger than that? Or are you standing on the side, watching others have faith in Christ, maybe even mocking for their unreasonable faith. Or maybe you have just walked away, not even giving Jesus a chance to meet your current needs.

I encourage all of us to examine our lives. Are we seated at the Lords feet, waiting in eager anticipation? If not, what do we need to do to get there? Do it! He's waiting to provide for your every need!

Faith - A fresh defintion

Hey friends!! Its been a long while since I last posted. I must admit I have been extremely slack in my writings as of late. I was corrected by a faithful friend (or two) that I had been working way too much and need to re prioritize my life. I was also challenged by reading some of my older posts which I found personally convicting and encouraging. I'm not sure if this is 'acceptable' in the blog land, but I would highly recommend going back and reading the "Seeking God and..." post. Not to somehow make me feel better about myself or in some way seek your approval, but that God would use it to encourage you to see beyond the things of this world, and to look solely to him.

Now to this post.

I can't remember where I was coming back from, but I was in my car listening to talk radio when a gentleman came on from an Apologetics ministry (the name escapes me). The topic escapes me as well, but one thing has stuck with me that has completely revolutionized my walk with Christ. The idea of faith came up and what exactly does that mean. That's a great, question, because I'm not sure I've personally ever heard a satisfactory answer that truly encapsulates the meaning of faith. What he said though has truly shaken (or shook?) the foundations on my belief in God.

The gentleman responded "faith is acting upon established truth."

Let me repeat that for affect: "faith is acting upon established truth."

Does the weight of that definition hit the very center of your soul like it did mine? This definition challenges my very paradigm of what it means to be a Christian. Much to my shame, I have put off action with the excuse of faith. Oh I have faith that God will provide, so I'm not going to do this or that.

I was specifically challenged one Sunday morning when it came to my finances. I hadn't been tithing for a while, but I had just started again. Money was getting tight and as the baskets were coming around i was battling with myself. Sure i have faith that God will provide my needs, but things are really tight right now, I'm sure he'll understand. Thoughts like this were dominating my mind.

Then, the definition of faith was brought to the forefront of my thoughts as if the Spirit was bringing it back to remembrance. It was almost as if he gently whispered to me "faith is acting upon established truth. How can you say you have faith in God yet don't act on his established truth? Are you just giving lip service to God?" I was stuck. Here I professed to believe God's word as true, and have 'faith,' yet I didn't want to act upon that established truth. My faith wasn't real that morning until I acted on it. In my opinion, my faith wasn't genuine until I placed that check (by God's grace alone) in that offering basket.

Lets make this personal. Where have you said you have had 'faith' in God, but have failed to act upon his established truth? Better yet, lets recount the victories where you have exercised this faith and God, of course, was faithful. Remember those times? Let those past victories inform future decisions.

You see, this definition of faith demands an active pursuit of God and his word. It does not leave any room for passivity. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option. Not taking God at his full word is unthinkable. Belief without action, is at best, is a self denial of our true state. Take my situation for example. I tried to tell myself I had faith in God, and by not tithing I wasn't actually acting in faith. It wasn't until i was confronted by the Spirit with that definition of faith that I realized my so called faith was actually unbelief.

It doesn't have to be about money either. It could be not confronting someone in their sin, not sharing the Gospel with that coworker. Or it could be God prompting you to step out of your comfort zone to be used by him in a new way. Whatever you are facing right now, I beseech you to ask the Lord to examine your heart in light of this all encompassing definition of faith (acting upon established truth). I pray the Lord would show you, as he has for me, where you have been passive and where unbelief has set in.

Acting upon established Truth - Faith