Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 “ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105 ESV This verse reminds me of a couple of verses in Proverbs. They basically say that the way of the righteous is like the sunrise. The way of the wicked however is deep darkness and ignorance about what makes us stumble.  We need God's word to illuminate our path. Jesus is the Light of the world himself. One of the main ways he brightens us up is by his word. The Bible is the primary way we can get to know the Light of the world. There's a lot of darkness in this world. There will be until the Sun of righteousness returns. We need God's word to light up our way. The Scriptures show us the way to God. They also highlight potential pitfalls and stumbling blocks. We need to stay close to Jesus to stay well spiritually. 'Heavenly Father, please brighten up our lives in the Light of Christ, and show us the way to go. In his name we pray, amen'.

 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples!” 1 Chronicles 16:24 ESV One of the main reasons we're not immediately translated to glory once we trust in Jesus is so that we can declare his glory to others. In his wisdom, God has chosen to spread his Good News not by angels but by us ourselves. There won't need to be any evangelism in heaven, but until we get there, we're to make Christ known to those who are strangers to his grace. The Good News isn't just for Israel. It isn't exclusively for traditionally 'Christian nations' (if there is such a thing). There will be people from every nation, every ethnicity, every language, every tribe; in God's Kingdom in the new creation. We are to take the Gospel to the world. God does marvellous works. He brings the dead back to life spiritually. He causes the spiritually blind to see. We aren't to miserly keep the Gospel to ourselves. We're to tell the Good News to the p...

 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” ” Luke 1:37 ESV With this verse I'm reminded of some lyrics from the Brandon Lake song 'Kids': 'we'll see the prodigal returning; we'll see the marriage on the rocks come back to life' etc. In the immediate context of this verse, the virgin conceived and would bear a Son for our salvation. Mary struggled to comprehend how this could be, but the angel explained it would be a Holy Spirit conception, not a manmade one. Sometimes people aren't healed. Sometimes marriages aren't saved. Sometimes prodigals don't return. That doesn't invalidate the truth of this verse. God is able and willing to save, by the virgin born Son of God. We need to be willing to be delivered however. Otherwise we remain lost. This verse encourages us to keep praying for the seemingly hopeless cases. Nothing is impossible for God. He can cause a turnaround/a breakthrough/a deliverance/whatever is necessary. 'Gracious God, ple...

 “ Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ” Philippians 4:8 ESV We are all too easily tempted to focus upon our sins, or worse, to focus upon the sins of others. The Apostle Paul gives us a better focus. If anything is praiseworthy, focus on that! If in doubt as to what to focus on, Jesus is a great place to start and end. He is true, honourable and just etc. He is the personification of all that is pure, lovely, commendable and excellent etc. There is a place for confronting sin. Jesus emphasised that in Matthew 18. Yet it is also true that love covers over a multitude of sins. Sometimes, in our zeal to be 'right', we forget to be loving, which is the most right thing to be. We tend to follow our thoughts. What we think about tends to be what we talk about and end up doing. So let...

 " Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. ” 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV I find this a challenging verse. It's all very well for me to talk the talk, but do I walk the walk? Do I practice what I preach/write about? God doesn't want half heartedness. He doesn't want us to drag our feet to obey him. The Lord expects us to do our best. Shame is a horrible feeling that doesn't come from God. Jesus dealt with our shame at the cross. We mustn't add to our shame by shoddy living. The word of truth is to be rightly handled. We must submit to God's teachings. We can't twist it to say whatever we might want it to. 'Almighty God, may we be obedient to your word of truth, and to do our best in our lives. For the honour of Christ we pray, amen'.

 “  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ” Matthew 7:24 ESV Jesus isn't just an advisor. He is Lord. So when he says something, his word is final. For example, Jesus said that divorce is because of hard hearts. He said that what God has joined together, man shouldn't separate. So divorce is disobedience to him (although not the unforgivable sin!). Of course, separation within marriage is sometimes necessary for habitual unfaithfulness or even abuse. Yet Jesus said that a married couple are one flesh and that they shouldn't be torn apart in the finality of divorce. If we want to be wise and build our lives on the Rock we will obey the Lord. Ultimately, we are to confess, repent and renounce our sins, and trust in Christ crucified for our forgiveness. As the hymn writer said, 'Rock of ages, cleft for me/Let me hide myself in thee'. Jesus is a sure and certain refuge for those who cling to h...

 “ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11 ESV Often, when we sin as God's people, it is simply because we have forgotten who we are in Christ. We forget to consider ourselves dead to sin. We forget that we have been made alive in Jesus. If we remember God's word, we will recall its warnings and encouragements not to sin. If we habitually sin, we risk betraying the fact we don't truly belong to Jesus. If our lives aren't transformed by his word, maybe we were never his in the first place. To memorise Scripture is to arm ourselves with God's promises and admonitions to obey him. If we live in holiness, we can have a good conscience. If not, we're going to be troubled. As Christ himself said, 'where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also'. If we treasure God's word, we will live lives that are honouring to him. If not, we will dishonour our Lord. 'Lord our God, please help us to memorise your ...

 “ For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ” Hebrews 4:12 ESV Gods word is powerful. When wielded by the Holy Spirit, it is 'the sword that makes the wounded whole' in the words of the hymn writer. Interestingly, the writer to the Hebrews emphasises how the Bible divides, rather than makes whole. I've heard soul and spirit explained as following. Our souls are our personalities and emotions. We all have eternal souls. Our spirits are our spiritual sides. We are naturally spiritually dead, but we can be made alive in Christ. Even if we feel bad in our souls, we can be secure in our spirits. God knows our thoughts and intentions. He knows if we take his word seriously or not. He knows whether we have any intention to obey. 'God, may we obey your word. Please help us to think and to intend to honour you with o...

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ” John 1:1 ESV John purposefully referenced Genesis 1:1 here. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. God is Father, Son/the Word and Holy Spirit. Apparently even the Hebrew word for God 'Elohim' contains within it a sense of trinitarian plurality within it. Yet here John starts to unpack what that triunity looks like. Jesus is the Word of God: if we want to know what God would have to say to us, we need look no further than Jesus. Jesus wasn't just born a baby in Bethlehem. He has always been with the Father in glory. He's not a Son in the sense that he had a beginning. We are made in his image and likeness, not the other way round. Christ isn't just a prophet or an angel. He is God who became flesh to reconcile sinful flesh back to God. He's the only Way of salvation back to God. 'Father in heaven, thank you for your Word become flesh for us. May we trust in h...