Keeping God’s Word in our Hearts
Psalms 119:1-11 (NRSV) 1 Happy are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord.
2 Happy are those who keep his decrees,
who seek him with their whole heart,
3 who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways.
4 You have commanded your precepts
to be kept diligently.
5 O that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
6 Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
7 I will praise you with an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous ordinances.
8 I will observe your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
9 How can young people keep their way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
10 With my whole heart I seek you;
do not let me stray from your commandments.
11 I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.
When I was young, we memorized scripture and were rewarded with a pin, or perhaps a bookmark. It was exciting to be able to recite Scripture, and even as a child I understood something greater was happening than a sense of accomplishment. We were beginning a lifelong journey of hiding the Word in our hearts, so tht we might not sin against God.
I admit that today I have a difficult time memorizing Scripture. In 2018, most of us do not even commit phone numbers to memory. I am grateful that I can usually point to the right book and chapter, even if I do not know the Word “by heart.” But sometimes I wonder if that is enough.
After all, we cannot keep God’s statutes if we do not know them. The psalmist tells us that so much depends upon knowing and keeping the Word.
- “Happy are those who keep his decrees and seek Him with their whole heart.”
- “I will praise you with an upright heart.”
- “With my whole heart I seek you.”
- “I treasure you in my heart, that I may not sin against you.”
Many of us may have reached the age where memory work is next to impossible, but can I encourage you that the more we read the Word, the more we will treasure it. And the more we treasure it, the more planted it will be in our hearts. And, the more the Word finds root within our hearts, the more we are transformed.
In peace,
Pastor Carol
PRAYER: Father God, you are aware of our limitations, but you also understand that we seek to know you and to be more like you. We pray today that you would help us to purpose in our hearts to stay in your Word, and that through your Word we would be transformed into the people You have called us to be.
Be Strong
Have you ever considered how vital personal strength and courage is to your living into and through your faith?
For Such a Time as This
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1044599657
Esther 3:12 – 4:15 (NIV) 12 Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed with his own ring. 13 Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews —young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.
15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was bewildered.
Mordecai Persuades Esther to Help
1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went only as far as the king’s gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
4 When Esther’s eunuchs and female attendants came and told her about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned Hathak, one of the king’s eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to find out what was troubling Mordecai and why.
6 So Hathak went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate. 7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8 He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.
9 Hathak went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 “All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that they be put to death unless the king extends the gold scepter to them and spares their lives. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king.”
12 When Esther’s words were reported to Mordecai, 13 he sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
I love the story of Esther, a Jewish woman whom God used to save His people. King Artexerxes of Babylon was married to the beautiful Queen Vashti. During an extended banquet the King became drunk and ordered his wife to parade naked in front of his guests. She refused, and the king ordered her removed from his presence. The search then began for a new queen, and Esther was chosen.
One of the king’s most trusted men was Haman, and he hated the Jews. Haman convinced the king that the Jews should all be killed, and when Esther’s relative, Mordecai heard of the plan, he implored Esther to intervene. And thus Esther became a conduit through whom God worked to save His people.
Read the rest of the story and you will see it is not necessarily the courageous God uses, but the willing. And when we become willing to answer God’s call, He supplies us with whatever we need to accomplish His purpose. Do you think you are not strong enough, or knowledgable enough or holy enough to answer God’s call? It has never been about what we can do, but what God can do through us.
Do you know God’s story? You can find it in the Apostles Creed*. What is your story? How did God’s story intersect with your life and give you hope, not just for eternal life but for today?
There is an urgent need today for Christ followers to be able to share God’s story with others, and to help them see how their lives can be transformed. There is a saying, “People don’t know what they don’t know.” Perhaps you can be the Esther of the 21st Century, sharing with others the story of Jesus. Because you see, once you know the story of Jesus, you can’t un-know it. You may not believe it, you may not accept it, but once you have heard it, it becomes a part of the body of knowledge that you have built up over the years. And, when people see that the story of Jesus impacted your life, then they can begin to see how it just might make their lives better.
Perhaps you, too, have been chosen for such a time as this.
In peace and grace,
Pastor Carol
*I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;*
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic** church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Fact or Fiction–God Will Never Give Us More than we can Handle
1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
How many times has someone encourage you with the phrase, “God will never give you more than you can handle”? Have you experienced the truth of this statement during your lifetime? Or, do you, like me and countless others, question the validity of this statement?
When Paul included this verse in his letter to the Corinthians, he clearly said that no temptation (to sin) will overcome us that would be greater than we can bear. But most of the time, we interpret this verse to mean than God will not allow us to suffer greater pain than we can handle during the death of a loved one, or a relationship, or illness, or a myriad of other afflictions. When we take this scripture out of context and replace it with our own meaning, instead of encouragement we become discouraged. Why? Because each of us has experienced a pain greater than we can handle by ourself, so for someone to tell us that God will not give us more than we can handle just does not ring true.
Rather than taking a verse that was dealing with sin, and using it to assure people that we will not suffer anything greater than we in our own strength can endure, wouldn’t it be better to listen to Jesus’ words that tell us in this world we will have trouble, but take heart, because I have overcome the world! John 16:33.
Look at both 2 Corinthians 1:4-10 and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 which are far more applicable to our endurance during suffering.
2 Corinthians 1:3-10 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I want to point out something in the 2 Corinthians 1:4 scripture you may have never noticed. When we suffer, especially because we are Christ Followers, that suffering is not only comforted by Christ, but we can take the experience of being comforted and share it with others. Is that awesome?
Additionally, Paul says that we are allowed to suffer so that we will not place our trust in ourselves, but in the Christ who has delivered us and will continue to deliver us. Can you see the difference between saying that a scripture about sin tells us that God will never give us more temptation to sin than we can handle, and a scripture about affliction, where Jesus says He will pour out His grace upon us to enable us to handle life’s events?
Using the scripture referencing sin to show God’s grace places the emphasis on us–God will not give US more than WE can handle, but utilizing the scripture about affliction places the emphasis where it belongs, upon GOD.
Prayer: Father God, we ask that you would help us rearrange our thinking, so that, as we seek holiness, we would be transformed to know, believe, and understand, that when our focus is on You, then we will have all of the grace we need to make it through this journey we call life. In Jesus’ name.
Peace to you,
Pastor Carol
Retiring from the Clerical Ministry, but not from ministering to People
For the past five years I have cherished answering God’s call into Ministry. I loved being a preacher, a pastor, and minister. I married people, buried people, and each week I endeavored to write a fresh, new sermon that would inspire and possibly convict. I would have loved to have continued in this capacity for at least five more years, but declining health convinced me it was time to retire.
When God calls us, I believe He calls us for life. So, although my “Seeking Holiness” blog has taken a back seat, I will once again pick up my pen and paper (or in this case, my laptop) and use this means to reach those who are seeking hope and try to provide a few words of encouragement.
Join me, each week, as we explore what it means to become an intentional disciple as we seek the holiness that comes only from the one, true and the living God.
Psalms 27:4 (NIV)
4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
In Christ,
Pastor Carol
Seeking Holiness 