Sunday, December 21, 2008, 7:18 a.m. – The song “Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord” is in my head. I love the words to that old hymn. The Lord is bringing back many of the old hymns into my life. Many of them are so rich and deep in meaning. I want to make this my prayer for the Lord to teach me His way:
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Psalm 118:24:
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 73:26,28:
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 75:
We give thanks to you, O God,
we give thanks, for your Name is near;
men tell of your wonderful deeds.
2 You say, "I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge uprightly.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
Selah
4 To the arrogant I say, 'Boast no more,'
and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak with outstretched neck.' "
6 No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt a man.
7 But it is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
9 As for me, I will declare this forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
Thank you, Jesus, for these words. There is a quote that stood out to me from one of the Psalms this week that I have made my prayer to God:
Psalm 84:10: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
I prayed that back to the Lord in prayer, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I heard the word “Done!” I just want to serve my Lord wherever he has me.
Harper's Bible Dictionary: “Doorkeepers, people who guard access to important or restricted places. Doorkeepers were appointed in the Temple as ‘keepers of the threshold’ to collect money from the people (2 Kings 22:4).”
Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon: Doorkeeper, “To stand at or guard the threshold.”
The New Bible Dictionary: Threshold, “it refers to the single gateway in the outer wall (of the temple).”
Encarta Thesaurus: Threshold: entrance; entry; beginning; verge; brink; inception.
Encarta Dictionary: Threshold: “Starting point – the point at which something begins or changes.”
Watchman: “guard – somebody, especially a man, employed to patrol or guard buildings or an area.” (Encarta Dictionary)
So, both a “doorkeeper” and a “watchman” serve as “guards” of a particular area. A “doorkeeper” is specifically assigned to guard the threshold to the temple. The “threshold” is the single gateway in the outer wall of the temple. It is the point of entry into the temple. It is the point at which something begins or changes.
So, then, what is the temple? Is it a building made by human hands? Or is it something else today? When we say we are going to “church”, do we think of a building or a group of people with whom we are meeting who share a common belief in Jesus Christ? Can “the church” meet anywhere? Is there a specific number of people required for it to be considered “church”? What is “the house of the Lord?”
The Temple
Matthew 18:20 (NASB): "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."
Acts 17:24: The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
I Corinthians 3:16-17: Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
I Corinthians 6:19-20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
II Corinthians 6:15-17: What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
Ephesians 2:19-22: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
My Understanding: The Lord has been taking me through some trials lately, but God is good! Praise His Holy Name!! I thank Him for the trials, because they have been for my good – to bring correction, instruction, encouragement, hope, healing, mercy, forgiveness, repentance, etc. into my heart and life. It is good to be in the presence of the Lord.
The Lord has been teaching me much about seeking his face, about trusting him with and in all things, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
The Lord is again impressing upon my heart the calling he has placed upon my life in being a “watchman” in the house of the Lord. He said that we are all in the same boat and we all have the same captain, but we have different oars, i.e. different gifts and assignments. One is not above the other. We are all on the same team – His team!
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!
- Thy guiding grace afford
- Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight
- Lead me with heavenly light
- When I am sad at heart
- When earthly joys depart
- In hours of loneliness
- In times of dire distress
- In failure or success
- When doubts and fears arise
- When storms o’erspread the skies
- Shine through the cloud and rain, through sorrow, toil and pain
- Make Thou my path way plain
- Long as my life shall last
- Where’er my lot be cast
- Until the race is run,
- Until the journey’s done,
- Until the crown is won
- Teach me Thy way
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Psalm 118:24:
This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalm 73:26,28:
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
Psalm 75:
We give thanks to you, O God,
we give thanks, for your Name is near;
men tell of your wonderful deeds.
2 You say, "I choose the appointed time;
it is I who judge uprightly.
3 When the earth and all its people quake,
it is I who hold its pillars firm.
Selah
4 To the arrogant I say, 'Boast no more,'
and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horns.
5 Do not lift your horns against heaven;
do not speak with outstretched neck.' "
6 No one from the east or the west
or from the desert can exalt a man.
7 But it is God who judges:
He brings one down, he exalts another.
8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup
full of foaming wine mixed with spices;
he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth
drink it down to its very dregs.
9 As for me, I will declare this forever;
I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
10 I will cut off the horns of all the wicked,
but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.
Thank you, Jesus, for these words. There is a quote that stood out to me from one of the Psalms this week that I have made my prayer to God:
Psalm 84:10: Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
I prayed that back to the Lord in prayer, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, I heard the word “Done!” I just want to serve my Lord wherever he has me.
Harper's Bible Dictionary: “Doorkeepers, people who guard access to important or restricted places. Doorkeepers were appointed in the Temple as ‘keepers of the threshold’ to collect money from the people (2 Kings 22:4).”
Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon: Doorkeeper, “To stand at or guard the threshold.”
The New Bible Dictionary: Threshold, “it refers to the single gateway in the outer wall (of the temple).”
Encarta Thesaurus: Threshold: entrance; entry; beginning; verge; brink; inception.
Encarta Dictionary: Threshold: “Starting point – the point at which something begins or changes.”
Watchman: “guard – somebody, especially a man, employed to patrol or guard buildings or an area.” (Encarta Dictionary)
So, both a “doorkeeper” and a “watchman” serve as “guards” of a particular area. A “doorkeeper” is specifically assigned to guard the threshold to the temple. The “threshold” is the single gateway in the outer wall of the temple. It is the point of entry into the temple. It is the point at which something begins or changes.
So, then, what is the temple? Is it a building made by human hands? Or is it something else today? When we say we are going to “church”, do we think of a building or a group of people with whom we are meeting who share a common belief in Jesus Christ? Can “the church” meet anywhere? Is there a specific number of people required for it to be considered “church”? What is “the house of the Lord?”
The Temple
Matthew 18:20 (NASB): "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."
Acts 17:24: The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
I Corinthians 3:16-17: Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
I Corinthians 6:19-20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
II Corinthians 6:15-17: What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
"Therefore come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you."
Ephesians 2:19-22: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
My Understanding: The Lord has been taking me through some trials lately, but God is good! Praise His Holy Name!! I thank Him for the trials, because they have been for my good – to bring correction, instruction, encouragement, hope, healing, mercy, forgiveness, repentance, etc. into my heart and life. It is good to be in the presence of the Lord.
The Lord has been teaching me much about seeking his face, about trusting him with and in all things, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
The Lord is again impressing upon my heart the calling he has placed upon my life in being a “watchman” in the house of the Lord. He said that we are all in the same boat and we all have the same captain, but we have different oars, i.e. different gifts and assignments. One is not above the other. We are all on the same team – His team!
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!
