Psalm 119:9-16

We are constantly under the attack of temptations that seek to draw us into a life of sin and destroy us.  It truly is warfare.  However, we do have a weapon that we can use in order to do combat in this war for our souls.  That weapon is the Word of God.  However, like any weapon, it must be used and used correctly if it is going to be helpful and make us victorious over temptation.  Nations stockpile weapons that they hope they will never use as a deterrent to war.  People carry guns for protection but hope never to have to use it knowing that just by showing the gun it will discourage a would be attacker.  The Word of God is not like one of these weapons.  Holding a Bible in our hands or having one lying open on a table in our homes will do little or nothing to protect us from temptation.  If God’s Word is going to be an effective weapon in our lives we make the following commitments.

WE MUST COMMIT TO THINKING ABOUT GOD’S WORD: Temptation happens in our minds and the battle for victory always takes place in our minds.  God’s Word must be constantly at the forefront of our minds.  There are several ways that this can happen, but if we are going to think about God’s Word we must first of all read God’s Word with careful attention.  Too often we allow our minds to wander when we are reading Scripture.  Careless reading will not fill our minds with God’s Word.  Once we have read God’s Word, we must then meditate on God’s Word and the things that we have learned.  We all have thousands of thoughts throughout the day.  Many of these thoughts are futile and can do great harm to us.  We must purpose in our hearts to intentionally review throughout the day the truths that we have learned from God’s Word.  The memorization of Scripture is another means of making sure that we are thinking of God’s Word.  The discipline of memorizing God’s Word will guarantee that we spend additional time thinking about the Scripture and it will also make the Scriptures available to us in every moment so that we can combat temptations that unexpectedly come our way.


WE MUST COMMIT TO BEING THANKFUL FOR GOD’S WORD: We must learn to look at God’s Word as our most precious possession and take great pleasure in God’s Word.  It should be a delight to spend time in God’s Word, speak to others about God’s Word and then to obey God’s Word.  Pleasure is one of the greatest motivators in our lives.  Se all seek for pleasure and will be guided by those pleasures that are most precious to us.  God’s Word must become our greatest pleasure.  When we start looking at God’s Word as a mere duty instead of a delight, we will quickly stray from it and be negligent of it.  We must learn to keep our attitude towards God’s Word in the proper perspective.  If we are truly thankful for God’s Word we will not forget it and will be quick to obey it and it, in turn, will protect us from falling into temptation.

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