Thursday, December 25, 2008, in the morning – The Lord directed me to this song again this morning, Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord / Benjamin Ramsey
Teach me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy way!
Thy guiding grace afford, teach me Thy way!
Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight;
Lead me with heavenly light, teach me Thy way!
When I am sad at heart, teach me Thy way!
When earthly joys depart, teach me Thy way!
In hours of loneliness, in times of dire distress,
In failure or success, teach me Thy way!
When doubts and fears arise, teach me Thy way!
When storms o’erspread the skies, teach me Thy way!
Shine through the cloud and rain, through sorrow, toil and pain;
Make Thou my pathway plain, teach me Thy way!
Long as my life shall last, teach me Thy way!
Where’er my lot be cast, teach me Thy way!
Until the race is run, until the journey’s done,
Until the crown is won, teach me Thy way!
I just reread these words and prayed them back to the Lord as the prayer of my heart in my relationship and walk with him. The Lord is encouraging me and strengthening me much each and every day in my struggle “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (See Ephesians 6:10-18).
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Hebrews 4:14-5:10:
Jesus the Great High Priest
14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. 3This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
4No one takes this honor upon himself; he must be called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
"You are my Son;
today I have become your Father." 6And he says in another place,
"You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek."
7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Lessons Learned: The Lord is teaching me much about perseverance in suffering, in persecution, in affliction, in distress, in sorrow and in pain. Jesus was our example. He came to earth as a baby and grew up to be a man. He was very God and yet very man in that he had a body of human flesh and he suffered as we suffer; he was persecuted as we are persecuted; he suffered ridicule, rejection, loneliness, longing, thirst, hunger, beatings, imprisonment and ultimately he suffered death on the cross for our sins so that we might be free of the bondage to and the penalty of sin in our lives. He also suffered the temptations of the flesh and of the devil but was without sin so that he could be the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins.
I find much encouragement in knowing that I have a High Priest who has been where I am to a certain extent, yet was without sin. He knows what I am going through because he went through the same type of pain and suffering, so he can sympathize with me in my weaknesses. He was tired. He got physically drained. He was beaten down by the enemy. Yet, he rose again so that we, too, may rise again with Him. He conquered death and sin and hell and Satan so that we can be more than conquerors through Him who loves us and has called us with a Holy calling in Christ Jesus, our Lord. To Him be all the honor, glory, praise and thanksgiving. Great things He has done!
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Since the Lord has done what he has done for us, we can approach him in prayer with confidence so that we may find grace and mercy to help us in our time of need; we can hold firmly to the faith we profess; and we can know that we will be heard because of our reverent submission. Jesus set the example for us not only in his reverent submission to God, but even though he is the Son of God and very God himself, he learned obedience from what he suffered and thus became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
The Lord has been teaching me much lately about learning obedience through the things I am suffering presently. He is teaching me to trust Him more and more in all things. He is showing me areas of my heart that were still not surrendered completely to Him. He’s been teaching me about prayer, about perseverance in suffering, about listening, obeying, submission, etc. Recently he’s been talking to me about teasing people and how when we do that, we are usually speaking with a forked tongue, because when we tease we often say the opposite of what we really mean, so not only are we lying, but our tongue is split because we say the opposite of what we mean in order to say what we really mean and not only is that a lie, but it can cause much harm to others. So, I have been asking the Lord to reveal to me things hidden in the darkness and to make me aware even when such a thought enters into my mind before it ever reaches my tongue so that I always speak truth to my neighbor and I no longer speak with a forked tongue in teasing and kidding.
