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Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:137-140

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

Over the past few verses, the psalmist has identified several ways by which God’s Word impacted his life. In this weeks passage, he gives us two more to add to the list. Take a look at this passage for yourself in Psalm 119:137-140:

Psalm 119:137-140

A couple of weeks ago, we saw the first two reasons in Psalm 119:129-132. These were the first two of seven reasons for why God’s Word is so impactful. First, God’s Word gives understanding; and second, it displays mercy. All together, in this stanza and in the next, there are seven different reasons.

The second half of that stanza identified reasons three and four: That God’s Word gives us direction, and that it contains God himself within the very words of Scripture.

In this new stanza, we see three more reasons, two in the first half, and one final reason in the second half, which we will look at next week.

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Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:133-136

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

In the first half of this stanza of Psalm 119, the psalmist identified two ways that God’s Word makes an impact in his life. The second half identifies two more. See them for yourself in Psalm 119:133-136:

Psalm 119:133-136

The first two reasons that the psalmist gave for God’s Word being so wonderful and so impacting in his life were mentioned in the first four verses of this stanza. First, God’s Word gives understanding; and second, it displays mercy. All together, in this stanza and in the next, there are seven different reasons.

The latter half of this stanza identifies two more reasons God’s Word is so incredible.

Frankly, none of the seven items on this list should be surprising. Every single one of them is found in various other places in Scripture, and each of them can be seen readily in one’s own experience with God’s Word, if you’re looking carefully at how it can impact your life.

Both of the ones listed in this passage  of Psalm 119 seem especially obvious. However, they both bear a closer look.

The Path Toward Passion

The Path Toward Passion by Dean Trune (PrayerShop Publishing, 2009)

Several years ago, I met Dean Trune at a Christ In Youth conference. He spoke to the teens at that conference about spiritual disciplines, and especially the discipline of journaling.

I have put much of what I learned from him into practice in my own life with tremendous effect. His insights about journaling just seemed to make sense in my own thinking, and I have found them to be helpful in making my own habit of journaling much more impactful.

Since that first encounter with Dean, I have run into him a few times at different conferences and events. The last time I saw him, I picked up his book, The Path Toward Passion.

In this book, Dean outlines nine simple disciplines that can help us develop a greater passion for Jesus in our lives.One of these disciplines is journaling. Others include Bible reading, study, and memorization, praying, listening, fasting and worship. Each of these disciplines are laid out in simple, easy to read chapters, and can help you pursue a greater level of passion in your own life as you follow Jesus.

This is a short and simple book to read, but is proving to be a life-changing book for me. There isn’t really anything new to me in here, but the reminders it brings to light are well worth the time it takes to read it.

I highly recommend you pick up a copy of The Path Toward Passion. You won’t regret it. You can find it on Amazon.

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The Full Focus Planner

Achieving More With A New Planning Tool

I have always seemed to struggle with keeping a calendar consistently. It has just seemed to be an area where I could not maintain any continuity, and every system I tried failed. Until now.

Full Focus Planner

Keeping a calendar has always been hard. I started off in college by using the DayTimer system. I initially used the small, pocket sized planners. But eventually I “upgraded” to the Desk size, and purchased a few different leather covers to go with it over the years. It was a good system, but I struggled to keep it with me, and found that when I needed it, it was either at home or at the office… wherever I wasn’t. And, over time, I just stopped using it.

I moved to jotting things onto a wall calendar, hanging by my desk, and then to a deskpad type calendar. Those seemed to work for a while, but I ran into the same problem. I never had it with me when I needed to check something.

When I got my first BlackBerry, and then later moved to an iPhone, I thought my problems were solved. I started using the calendars on those devices, eventually settling on Google Calendar, which synced across all my devices. This seemed to be much more effective, but I had one small problem. I love writing, especially using pens, and specifically, using vintage fountain pens. While Google calendar was effective, I still struggled to use it. I just forced myself to use it, because what other option did I have?

And while Google does a great job of keeping my appointments, it doesn’t help much at all with my tasks or goals. It still wasn’t fully what I needed.

Several months ago, I discovered a new planner, a paper planner, and a full-feature planner. I was intrigued, but skeptical. So I started digging. I found others who used it, and looked over how they implemented it. I watched videos about it. I read blogs about it. Finally, I decided to pick one up and try it out.

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Coffee Break – 08.26.2019

Your Monday Dose Of Inspiration

Time for a Coffee Break! On this day in history: In 1873, the school board of St. Louis, MO, authorized the first U.S. public kindergarten. In 1939, the first televised major league baseball games were shown. The event was a double-header between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers. And in 1957, the first Edsel made by the Ford Motor Company rolled of the assembly line.

Coffee Break

Today Is National Cherry Popsicle Day!
Go find a popsicle and enjoy it! Just make sure it’s cherry!

How to Store Coffee Beans – This is one of the questions I hear the most frequently. There are so many misunderstanding surrounding the storage of your coffee. This is a good article, but let me emphasize two points: Keep it unground, and don’t store it in the fridge.

10 Clothing Hacks Most Guys Don’t Know – Want to look better without drawing attention to the fact that you are trying to look better? Try these ten hacks.

The Delicate Art Of Cobweb Paintings – I have never heard of this art medium. Now I kind of want to go see some of these paintings.

10 Most Heavily Guarded Places On Earth – Places like this always intrigue me, especially when the value is historical.

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Memorize Scripture: Psalm 119:129-132

Hiding God’s Word In Our Hearts

Verse 129 begins this stanza by using the word “wonder.” And God’s Word is indeed wonderful. Take a look at this week’s passage in Psalm 119:129-132:

Psalm 119:129-132

My kids frequently utter the statement, “I’m bored.” When my wife and I try to excite their wonder, little comes from it most of the time. We have been inundated with a barrage of incredibly life-like scenarios and creations from Hollywood, and prominent in the news of the day is the issue of “deep fake” news. This is the ability to create news events so real that they cannot be identified as fiction.

As a result of the entertainment industry, and the media and social media, much of our culture has lost our sense of wonder. But I don’t think that we can lay the blame at the foot of media and entertainment completely. I think that we have lost this sense of wonder because we have lost our sense of awareness of who God is and what he is doing in our lives.

The writers of the psalms have not lost this sense of awareness. The words “wonder” or “wonderful” or one of their many derivative forms occurs more than thirty times throughout the psalms.

In this stanza, the writer begins by stating that God’s statutes are wonderful, and worthy of obedience. This statement summarizes the theme of this stanza and the next, that God’s Word creates wonder within us when our obedience springs form a proper understanding and appreciation of it.

Why does the psalmist make such a claim about God’s Word? There are seven reasons given in these two stanzas, which we will look at in turn. From this segment, we can immediately see two of them.