Lord how I love Thy Law !

God's Word is beautiful.

It may be the most amazingly pieced together literature text, but its really more than that. Much more. It is God's breathed, meaning God spoke these Words to be penned down by men.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

When talking about scripture, its quite often that this verse comes into quote. There is another verse which I cant exactly remember, but vadely it mentions that God moved men to write, and upon further reading, to understand the word, "move" actually means the same movement as the wind or waves moving the ship wherever it directs. We can be sure that the Bible may be entirely the Word of God.

Oh, I found the verse. 2 Peter 1:20-21

knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scipture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Why do I suddenly talk about Scripture? Because I realise that if we do not take up our bibles and read and study, we will never do it. My personal experience is that, the more I neglect studying into the Word of the Lord, and "hide it in my heart", the more I feel distant from God and the greater my proning to fall into sin, and the greater unwillingness to really study God's Word in depth and apply to our hearts. For my part, I never fail to read the Bible every morning, and I hold on to precious truths that the Lord reveals to me. But I realise what I've learnt, I never did take it to heart and live it out in my life. I guess the reason I havent really been sharing my learnings is because of this. But I thank God that He leads me back, by conviction of the Spirit, to return to read His Word, and when I, in my despair and need, cries out for help. The Word of God speaks as a double-edged sword, piercing into my heart, and brings upon me deep conviction. It is true when the Bible itself claims that it is the discerner of thoughts. Even in Isaiah 55, it says that the "word of the Lord will not return void". I believe God's Word, and God's Word alone is sufficient, and really speaks. I guess Daniel, during Sunday School always taught us guys to always go back to the Bible, to source evidences for what men said. It is true that often we may depend on good spiritual books to help us in understanding the Bible, notice the books do not and cannot enlighten us, they point us to God's word for understanding. I know that before I realise this, I always like to source and keep in mind phrases and qutoes from books or men which may sound very meaningful, in fact, even spiritual. But I guess it is a lesson for us to learn that the Bible is the only reliable book which we can depend totally, because it is from God. I will not say that I will not read any other books, I think they help us to disect and understand better, but I will remember now always to return to the Bible to check on anything mentioned or taught.

I remembered my reflections about a Sermon by Dr Stephen Jones which spoke to me alot. It was about God's Word as the Guide of our life. To first bend our minds to understand what God speaks to us about, through the Holy Spirit, and then to bend our lives according to what we have learnt, through the Holy Spirit. The first psalm gives us the description of a men whose life roots deep into the Word of God.

Psalms 1:2-3
But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Firstly, we must plant the roots of our lives deep into the Word of God, as a tree roots itself into the streams of water. Then we recive what the Lord promises, to be a tree which brings forth fruits and does not wither, and to have the promise that whatever he does shall prosper! And 2 Timothy 3:17 tells us that the Word of God equips the man of God for every good work.

We have a precious Bible in our hands, and yet, we chuck it aside in our shelves or cupboards until every sunday when we bring it along to church. I guess we do not know the POWER, the PROMISES and the PERFECTNESS of God's Word. Because if we do, we would spend every single moment, finding time to read and read and read. I feel excited to read many Books, from Isaiah, Job, to ever 1 Peter or Philipians. But I often neglect to do so because I do not understand the importance of the Bible yet.

In Psalms 119, a large number of the longest chapter in the Bible talks about David's delight in the law of the Lord and the statures of the Lord. He cries in another Psalm, "Lord how I love thy law. My comfort of the day". Can we or do we make this cry? Think about it, during David's time, Scripture that he had were numerous commandments from the Lord, yet he was able to cry, "Lord how I love thy law My comfort of the day." We have the complete Bible, including the New Testament of fulfillment, and of love, peace and joy, and of salvation! All the more should we cry, "Lord how I love Thy law! " or "Your word has given me life!" (Ps 119:50)

We ought to thank God we have His word with us. We ought to desire and pray, "open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things from thy law". We ought to live according to, and by the Word of God every day of our lives, that we may be a man of God who is complete, and a tree that bears fruits and prospers!

"Lord how I love Thy law, My comfort of the day! "

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I don't know why I always love the end parts of the year, espeically CHRISTMAS! Yea, I love Christmas alot alot. But well, the End of Year holiday is filled with so much so much JOY, LOVE, PEACE? Maybe not exactly. But just as I thought about thanksgiving day and how we always share about the goodness and thanksgiving to the Lord, I don't understand why we hardly give thanks to God during the normal days. The same way I dun understand why we cant grow and be experiencing God daily even on a normal school day, or even to have JOY and rejoice every single day. Lets seperate them one by one.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving! I know if we do, pray we always should recognize the Lord and thank Him for all that He has done. I remembered Dar told me before how we often "forget His benefits" when He told us not to. I guess we are often so ignorant of the blessings of the Lord. Yea, I guess we are. Count your blessings name them one by one! Remember this song. How often does a day go pass without us recognizing the Lord's blessings on our lives. Notice that this life is even not about us, yet the Lord blesses so much. But the sad thing is we never count our blessings! We let each day slip by without thanking the Lord for all that He has done. So what does one day of thanksgiving really mean? To be honest, not a day pass by without the Lord bestowing on us countless blessings. Open your eyes christians. Look around you, everywhere anytimem and see what God has done for you. Can you not see the goodness of the LORD! Taste and see that the Lord is good! For me, right now, I feel we ought to thank the Lord for everything and anything that comes our way. What Bro Josh shared about eh Nigerian man who praise God every few lines in his prayer showed me that it is possible to live every single moment o fthe Lord thanking Him. Count your blessings. Live in view and in the light of God's blessings and I believe, the way we live our lives will not be the same. I have not done so, but I encouarge all who read to join me to count our blessings, to enter into His presense every moment, tasting the goodness of the Lord and thanking Him each moment. Lets not wait till thanskgiving. Lets begin praising Him every day from now.

JOY. I know that love is a significant hallmark of a christian. But when Bro Josh shared on saturday about being a distinctly and perculiar christian I thought of the numerous ways we can be special! X) haha. LOVE, undeniably reflects the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I thought also what JOY does. Why Joy? I know many to be loving caring people :) but when it comes to being joyful and rejoicing always in the Lord everyday, I realise that we are not able to do so. Oh we cannot deny that we youths feel strongly against going to school and study, we dread many things, we complain, we are dissatisfied of many things. But to all christians desiring to give glory to God in our lives, ever thought of how joy in a situation where most people can never have, may bring glory to the Lord? Let all things not be done through our own strength or wisdom, but dependace on the Lord, His strength and grace to do so. :) I challenge myself as I type, as I challenge you also, to go forth rejoicing and praising God no matter what comes your way and see what our friends respond to that. In the midst of tribulation, it may be tough to rejoice and have joy, but what does the song always repeat? "Rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistake." Are we rejoicing in the Lord in all things?

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What I have learnt today is too much to share today. Its like already 9 thirthy. I took 1 and a half hour for the entry above! haha I guess I shall share my learnings, which I thank the Lord for revealing to me, the next time I blog(if I remember). I hope we will all be challenged to read and live by God's Word, to count our blessings and to have joy and rejoice always in the Lord.