Living the Journey

Welcome to Day 16 of The Challenge!

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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms
and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord.

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In order to live in the “new man”, the Word of Christ is to dwell within our souls. This means that the Word is to take deep root in our mind, will, and emotions so much so that it influences our entire being. It ought to affect our every action, word, motive, and feeling. Our lives out to be governed by the Word of God. Just as a father governs over his household and leads his family in ways that are right and good, so our Heavenly Father should govern over our hearts leading us in His righteousness and holiness.

How can we achieve this desire and obey this principle? Well, it’s simple. We have to get into the Word! We must spend time day after day letting the Word soothe our weary souls, bring joy for sorrow, and replace anxiety with peace. There will be days that we don’t feel like it or feel too busy to sit down and read, but sometimes we need to “crucify” our excuses and put our faith in action. As we immerse ourselves in the Word of God, we will begin to understand the breath, length, depth, and height of the love of God that surpasses all human understanding.

As we read and begin to meditate and “chew on” the cud of the Word, we will gain wisdom. Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. The more we know Christ, the more we will attain wisdom! Do you often get frustrated with unresolved questions concerning your life, future, relationships, choices, etc? I’m reminded of the verse that says “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). Jesus wants to guide you in His way but how can He if you are following the desires of your heart instead of the desires of His?

Knowing God, loving God, and living for God is crucial to doing that which is right and good as a disciple of Jesus Christ. As we understand more of our Lord and begin to develop a more intimate relationship with Him, godly desires will start forming within us – desires to obey His commandments, edify and encourage the believer, and disciple those that God brings along our path. Our lives will begin to prosper and have a renewed sense of joy and purpose for we will be doing that which is pleasing in His sight!

As we look at the above verse, we see that we are not only to allow the Word to richly dwell within us but we are to teach and admonish one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Notice it’s not the songs of the world?! It’s not the sensuous rhythms and immoral words of our day that will teach us the ways of God. These will not enable us to delight in our Lord and His set-apart way but will rather bring about fears, bitterness, discontentment, and rebellion in our thinking and conduct.

As we sharpen and revive our spirits by our praise and adoration to Jesus Christ in a delightful singing of our hearts, we quicken, inspire, and encourage others in their walk with the Lord. As Matthew Henry so perfectly describes it: Singing “mutually excites affections and conveys instruction”.

Blessed is the one who abides at the feet of Jesus, soaking in His every Word, and then takes on the challenge of sharing it to the world around him. I encourage you, as well as myself, to diligently seek to know the heart of God. I think we’ll be amazed at just how much God loves us, desires the best for us, and how wonderfully blessed it is to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ!

~ Sara Nicole
http://simplysanctified.wordpress.com

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 6:00 am and is filed under Memorization Challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.