The treasure that we carry with us is far more precious than any ring or forged thing

"Oh word of God Incarnate,

O Wisdom from on High,

O Truth unchanged, unchanging,

O Light of our dark sky,

We Praise Thee for the radiance,

That from the hallowed page,

A lantern to our footsteps,

Shines on from age to age,"

Still, we are bid to let its excellencies shine in our lives and through our words. We are warned and exhorted not to take the glory to ourselves. I find this far more difficult to do when dealing in the things of the spirit, than in the obstinate pride of place in excellencies of other sorts.

I really do think that the more that your dealings are with the Word of God, the greater the temptation to exalt yourself and have the wrong ends in mind when accomplishing it. We must ignore this reality and confess and forsake much, or nothing at all would be done.

The allegory that I just watched of Lord of the Rings was vivid in that to me, when Frodo and Sam went about saying what might be said about them in their journey by those back at home in the future tales. That is so often my motivation and this lies in the face of our Savior, who was motivated by love for His own people and His Father in Heaven in coming to suffer on our behalf.

What an incomparable Savior we have, even to the heroes in mens' imaginations.

"Christian seek not yet repose,

cast your dreams of ease away,

Thou art in the midst of foes,

Watch and pray

Watch as if on that alone,

lies the issue of the day,

Pray that help may be sent down,

Watch and pray."

Lord, how can my treasure be the hidden man of the heart when it is so cold and indifferent, sometimes? Help me to do and carry the truths of Your Word and the word of our testimonies for Your glory and refuse to hold onto the glory for myself. What a great temptation that is and how often the devil gets the better in that battle. Help, O Lord. Help me to highly regard my precious Savior who was holy harmless and undefiled and not afraid to be misunderstood and maligned on my behalf. Thank you for that great salvation that He purchased and help me to greatly regard that treasure. I love you, Lord and see that eye has not seen the victory, ear has not heard the sound and neither hath it entered into the mind, the things that You have prepared for them that love You. Thank God that no allegory does salvation justice. You are the mighty God and all foes will bow at Your feet and yet You wage war against the enemy on our behalf, Your people. Halleluia, what a Savior! Amen.

Praise is not about how I feel or how it makes me feel.

Exodus 15:11 Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

I remember the distinguished way the Bishop Senior used to walk around the pulpit and say "When I think of the goodness of Jesus, and what He has done for me, my very soul cries out Halleluia! Praise God for saving me!"

If that is all that God has ever done for you than that could be all that you could say. I wasn't raised to say "Halleluia!" I wasn't raised in a tradition that raises hands and says stuff about God out loud. I was raised to say the responsorial stuff, in the bold print. But, there was something about the articulation of the elder Bishop that hollered out a Halleluia that was infectious. God deserves the praise and glory...

If there are people whose very presence can make you stand to your feet and hollar a the top of your lungs for their excellence in this or that field;how much more should God make you come to your feet and yell, at least sometimes?

The younger Bishop put it into perspective for me. He said, I don't worry about people giving me the glory. People say all kinds of nice things about me and you know what I do? I get right down on my knees and tell God."You know that all of that praise doesn't belong to me, it belongs to me. I am just rolling all of that worship people do and accolades onto the one who deserves it. He accepts all of the praise and all of the worship, because I don't want to be guilty of holding onto praise that really belongs to Him.

David danced before the Lord to show that he was humble enough to know who holds all of the victory. God accepts the praise and comes near in His presence. But that is not why we worship. We worship because He deserves all of it.

Romans 9:29 Except the Lord Sabbath...

Even Isaiah cried to his people that the Lord has to save us, for us to be saved, seems to be the sentiment, paraphrased. Before Jesus and after Jesus, it is always by grace, through faith and that not of ourselves.

My meditation this morning, however is "Lord of the Sabbath". What does that mean?

Why is Christ, Lord Sabaoth? In Isaiah, In Romans, all over really;He is designated as the Lord of the Sabbath.

Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress and seemed to be oozing Romans 9.

Did we in our own strength confide?....

Great men have shown us the relationship between God and His Commandments, through Christ's sacrifice. But, I can only chew on one aspect this morning. Is the Sabbath a stumbling block to my soul and to my heart? Is it a symbol of something to imitate that in imitating you are closing the huge gap between your perspective and God's? Is God inviting us to embrace Him in a delicate relationship of reality to toss aside our own ways on a regular basis? Is there a relationship between evangelical sabbath keeping and the perspective of all of the commandments? Is the non keeping of sabbath a gateway to cultural demise? We would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah had we not seen this, the prophet seems to say? The perspective that the commandments are for our cleansing of our own hearts which will bring us up to what God intends for culture, seems the reasoning. As I say, I am chewing on this thought.

God please grant a true acceptance of all that you have for us in Your Word, In Jesus' Name, Amen.

I have decided to follow Jesus means...

Basic thoughts on my learning to follow Jesus:

Means that I must look at Him.

Am I looking at Jesus when I am worrying?

Am I looking at Jesus when I am afraid?

I have decided to look at God's Word for direction and hope and instruction and blessing and not to myself or others first.

Where am I? is the question to myself...I am looking to Jesus to reveal Himself in this problem or confusion. That is deciding to follow Jesus. Everyday, I have to remind myself of that.

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus

It is a good and beneficial discipline to reminisce of the wonder of the first longings of the soul after my Savior.

I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to cast in my lot with the people of God. I have decided to be a Christian. Though baptized in infancy, knowing the Lord and seeking the Lord's Hand to move in my life, is a different impulse than listening and following the crowd, even if they are Christian Crowds.

It takes a lifetime of looking at His perfections and trying to conform your life, a little at a time to get to know Him. The older Saints that I met in early Christian profession didn't steer me wrong to question my knowledge of Him. Sometimes, I have real doubts about my attempts at being a Christian and whether I have decided to follow Jesus at this point or at that point of my life. The most important thing is am I trying to follow Him, today. I am looking at His attributes, which are perfect and putting aside my sins that are so different from my Gracious Savior. It is a dirty work of daily stinky sin dumping, repenting and believing, all over again. So that I can be found, in that day, in Christ and not in my sins. Some days are victorious and some days are a bust. Thank God it is not up to me. He is working in my soul. But, He is not doing it without me.

"He works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."

"I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew He moved my soul to seek Him, seeking me; It was not I that found, O Saviour true; No, I was found of Thee. Thou didst reach forth Thy hand and mine enfold; I walked and sank not on the stormvexed sea; 'Twas not so much that I on Thee took hold, As Thou, O Lord, on me. I find, I walk, I love; but O the whole Of love is but my answer, Lord, to Thee! For Thou wert long beforehand with my soul; Always Thou lovedst me."

Standing for Righteousness?

Nahum was warning us about just taking that word Stand and using it. IT,{Stand} is an exhortation and a directive. Donnie sang, what do you do when...? You just Stand? John P. Kee's song really struck me with its exhortations from the first time I heard it, many years ago.

Stand there means "represent". How can we stand for righteousness? I am looking for that reality in my life. Looking at God's righteousness and trying to look like that...Thank you John P. for that meditation. I am still looking at Nahum for the definition of what God was saying about Standing there.

Stand...

the book of Nahum???