Overcoming Temptation - Psalm 119

Psalm 119: 9-16 & 30-32

9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
10 I seek you with all my heart;
do not let me stray from your commands.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
12 Praise be to you, O LORD;
teach me your decrees.
13 With my lips I recount
all the laws that come from your mouth.
14 I rejoice in following your statutes
as one rejoices in great riches.
15 I meditate on your precepts
and consider your ways.
16 I delight in your decrees;
I will not neglect your word.


30 I have chosen the way of truth;
I have set my heart on your laws.
31 I hold fast to your statutes, O LORD;
do not let me be put to shame.
32 I run in the path of your commands,
for you have set my heart free.


Sin keeps us from God and all that he wants for us. Eliminating sin in our lives only strengthens our relationship with God. How can the Bible help us with this?

What does the Psalmist mean by "I have hidden your word in my heart"? Is he referring to memorization?

How can we use the Bible in a practical sense to overcome temptation?

Can you think of any examples in scripture of people who have done this?

Reread verse 32 - "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free." How does this help the author of the passage live out verses 30 & 31?

Can you remember any situations where scripture has enabled you to overcome temptation and/or sin?

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I only covered a few verses from the deapth of this Psalm in this post, and if you'll parden me for opening another can of worms by stating this, but all of Psalm 119 is worth taking the time to study and become familiar with. In fact, at 176 verses it is the longest of all the Psalms. There are hidden trunks of knowledge lodged deep inside it. Indeed WE would do ourselves good to KNOW this Psalm, study it as if we were looking for a hidden treasure.

The more one studies it the fresher it becomes. As those who drink the Nile water like it better every time they take a draught, so does this psalm become the more full and fascinating the oftener you turn to it. It contains no idle word; the grapes of this cluster are almost to bursting full with the new wine of the kingdom. The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it. Placid on the surface as the sea of glass before the eternal throne, it yet contains within its depths an ocean of fire, and those who devoutly gaze into it shall not only see the brightness, but feel the glow of the sacred flame. It is loaded with holy sense, and is weighty as it is bulky. From: the opening of the introduction to Spurgeon’s exposition of Psalm 119 from The Treasury of David, Containing an Original Exposition of the Book of Psalms; a Collection of Illustrative extracts from the Whole Range of Literature; a Series of Homiletical Hints Upon Almost Every Verse; and Lists of Writers Upon Each Psalm 7 volumes (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1869-1885).

Well done, good and faithful servant!

Matthew 25:19 - 30

19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'


You did a good job! I am proud of you! Well done, my good and faithful servant!

WOW - Can you actually imagine God telling you that? How big is that? What more can we strive for than than for Him to tell us that? My prayer today is that God will tell me Well Done! tonight when my head hits the pillow. My prayer today is that God will tell you Well Done! tonight when your head hits the pillow. Finally, my prayer today is that God will tell us Well Done! when the race is over - Well Done! My Good And Faithful Servant!

Today let's all go out there and strive for nothing less than "Well Done!"

Tough Times

Our economy is in shambles, our country is at war, bad times are prevalent with the "experts" predicting it to get worse through the rest of this year and into next year. Just yesterday the board at the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind voted to lay 55 people off because the money to pay them just isn't available. They are being notified as I type this post. In the past two weeks 3 people that I know or that were very close to someone that I know closely have took their own lives, one of them was a preacher.

Tough Times. We are experiencing tough times. This is where the rubber hits the road. This is where our faith shines through or we cave in and lose our mind (collectively and individually). Often we here that the BIBLE is God's "handbook for life" to us. Are we sure this is true? Do we really rely on the Book for strength and guidance? People are hurting right now and no one seems to be able to ease the pain. What should we do?

Can you offer any uplifting scripture for these times? What about a story of faith?
As a Christian how do you feel about these times? Are you worried? Have you or someone close to you lost their job or been affected by our delima?

Sliding Back?

Often we hear of someone that is "backslidden" in their faith in Christ.

Is this really possible?

Is it Biblical?

How do you think Christ would handle this concept?

Have you or anyone you are close to ever experienced this? Are you in the middle of it now? What caused you to feel this way?

Your thoughts on this topic.....

Welcome To The New Cords Blog

Greetings!
Welcome to the new Cords Blog. The purpose of this blog is to stimulate discussion and prayer centered around Christian topics among members of the Cords Sunday School Class at Eastaboga Baptist Church. Our goal is that it will aid in the development of relationships between those who participate and deepen their relationship with Christ. Periodically we will post a new topic for discussion and prayer. You are encouraged to comment on these topics by clicking on the "comments" link below each topic. If you have a topic that you would like to discuss please contact us.

Participation on your part will require that you establish a Google (easiest to set up), LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, or OpenID account. If you just click on the name of the service you want to sign up for it will take you to a sign up page. All of these services except TypePad are completely free. None of them will ask you for any personal information to sign up. All you should need is a valid e-mail address so they can verify that you are not just a spammer. If you do not have any of these accounts I would recommend a Google account. You will get a free gmail.com account when you sign up. Please let me know if you have any questions or need any help getting things going.

Hard Times?

The theme for our Sunday school class this morning was "what do Christians do in the face of hard times?" The answer should be simple - Biblically speaking - we should put our whole trust in the Lord, knowing that He is in control. After a bit of discussion I think we all agreed that this is easier said than done, a lot of us bolt quickly in different directions we times get tough. Admittedly we don't trust God like we should. What does it take to get us to the point that we truely rely on God? Any ideas?

I was reading a little C.S. Lewis tonight and came upon this passage. It seemed to go along with our discussion from this morning. It encouraged me as I hope it will do the same for you. Have a good week everyone.

The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world: but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendancy. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.
(C.S. Lewis - Refreshments on the Journey)