PSALMS 119 “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” Walk in the law of the Lord this week and see what blessings God has for you. 2 “Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.” Seek Him and see what blessings God has for you. 3 “They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. 4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.” A full focus on living right starts to lead toward a full blessing. 7 I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.” Always praise Him no matter what. He is always right. 8 I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.” David had experience with God forsaking him because of his lust and murder. He did not want it to happen again. 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” When we focus on the Bible verses about the things we struggle with, our ways are cleansed. 10 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.” When we obey and seek the Lord, life starts to get good. 11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” We don't stop sinning by luck. Sometimes we struggle with sin even though we pray. But once God's Word is filling our hearts, we begin to have the power to overcome.
Three brothers attended a family gathering. At devotions their grandfather quoted the following: 31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31 KJV The oldest brother decided to spend 20 minutes in prayer every day waiting on the Lord. For a few days, he stuck with it. But soon, the pressure of his important job and two kids made it hard to do. Plus... he really didn't notice anything different in his life. The middle brother decided to spend 30 minutes in prayer every day waiting on the Lord. For a few weeks, he stuck with it. He had also prayed a bit about his purpose and just last week his pastor had given him a small task to do to help out at church. He had noticed that in some ways this verse was starting to come true a little bit. But, he really expected the verse to be exactly true in a great way in his life. Why pray 30 minutes every day if it wasn't exactly true. He had things to do. Soon he was back to his normal 15 minutes of prayer per day. The youngest brother decided to spend 55 minutes in prayer every day waiting on the Lord. He had been praying earnestly about purity and purpose and he badly wanted to do something for Jesus. For a few days, he struggled to put the prayer time in. This was so new. But then he started to really enjoy it. After a few months, his pastor said that one of the two key youth leaders was leaving. He asked if he could help out. At first, he hesitated. He was busy. But then he realized... that this verse was coming totally true in his life. His strength was up. He was flying like an eagle. He was running without being weary and walking without fainting. When he called his pastor to accept the role, he felt more energy than he had felt in years. He also felt more excitement. Before waiting on the Lord he knew he wanted something. After he dedicated himself to waiting on the Lord he now knew, this was exactly what he had been searching for.
A Christian is supposed to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. When we spend time in Bible study and prayer this is supposed to be the result. If this is not happening for you it is wise to ask the Holy Spirit why. Consider praying: “Father, please show me why Your power is not on me?” Often sin is a problem, but what if we are fighting with all our might against sin? What then? Often God has something for us to do for Him. Sometimes it is big, sometimes it is a small thing. There are 100 responses we can have. Often we can connect our weak response with a weak level of power in our lives. When we look at Biblical Paul we think... he was chosen, special, gifted. We could never be like him. While that is likely true, we could be a lot more like him if our response to God's will was a lot more like his was. His response was a 100 on a scale of 1 to 100, what is my response? A 10, a 30, a 40? Why do we respond like this? Because we have very important things to do today, this week and this month. Paul knew that doing God's will was more important than any of those things. I don't know that. Consider praying: “Father, help me to do Your will.” “Father, show me what is important in life.” When our focus is on what is important in life our problems get smaller. When our focus on what is important in life is closer to 80 or 90 we suddenly receive a huge amount of power to overcome from the Holy Spirit. When our focus is on what is important in life, we will start to see the abundant life as a huge reality, instead of seeing some small glimpses of it.
Is it really study and prayer that give us access to the Spirit's power? Are these things sufficient in themselves, or is anything else involved?
Study and prayer give us access to the Holy Spirits power. If that does not work, we need to ask the Holy Spirit why. Then make the changes needed.
When we ask the Holy Spirit why we have no power... He may lead us to worship more or lead us to one of the many things the Bible says for us to do.
Many prayers are somewhat helpful for quitting. But consider a huge focus on a prayer that has great power to overcome. Consider praying: “Father, help me to turn from lust, and help me to care about souls.” Background: When we are young we try to accumulate stuff, money, success, etc. But, when people are old they start to give away stuff, cut back on stuff, and make their life more simple. As they age they start to realize, that nothing matters but doing God's will. All of the rest is just blowing of the wind. Second, lust leads to emptiness, helping people leads to satisfaction and treasures in heaven. Today, consider writing down the 5 things that lust leads to, that you hate the most. Third, I will write down 5 things about going to war with sin and doing God's will (helping others) that I like the most. #1 It feels good when someone says thank you. Since... now they have a bit of hope and direction. #2 I like not having destruction in my life all the time. #3 I like that I am starting to be blessed. #4 I like that I have a purpose for my life. #5 I like that I am starting to have joy for the first time in my life. Fourth, I prayed a prayer similar to the above one thousands of times before I made real progress. I chased the wind and then chased it some more. Learn from my stupidity. Dig into scripture, dig into prayers like this one. Stop chasing the wind, and start focusing on what God wants you to do.
Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you[a] shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Read this, study it, memorize it. If you learn to love the Bible you will have a great life. Do you want to be prosperous? When I meditate on scripture, all of a sudden a light comes on. God's way is best. Based on the above verse, what would your life look like in 3 months if you meditated on a new scripture, adding one every other day? Constantly working on quoting these scriptures and making them a part of you? Consider praying about that for 5 minutes. Finally, study the chapter from the March 3 article in this thread. It is a great recipe for living. Pray over it, think about it, live it.
