I Will Praise You With An Upright Heart
Only In The Spirit
PSALM 119:1-8
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; They walk in His ways. You have commanded us To keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed To keep Your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed, When I look into all Your commandments. I will praise You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly!”
Psalms 119:1-8 NKJV
https://www.bible.com/114/psa.119.1-8.nkjv
Chapter 119, has 176 verses, likely written by Ezra as a repetitive meditation on the beauty and instruction of God’s word, possibly after the Temple was rebuilt (EZRA 6:14-15).
This chapter is both the longest psalm and chapter in the bible.
Most verses give a reason to love God’s word, coupled with an example and effect.
Indeed, this chapter is filled with 176 good reasons to love God’s word and we need every single one of them. Furthermore, one would be hard pressed to find any other bible passage that teaches more about God’s instruction than this chapter.
It was designed to be sung so it could be memorised and applied to the hearts and minds of the Israelites and God’s people throughout all generations.
This psalm has 22 carefully constructed sections, each corresponding to a different letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and each verse beginning with the letter of its section.
Obedience to God’s word, coupled with the desire to seek Him and repent, leads to freedom, joy, peace, and contentment.
One cannot compromise with evil, only walk in His ways and keep His commandments, continuously praising God with a thankful heart.
Indeed, we must enter His presence (gates) with praise and thanksgiving (PSALM 100).
But the truth is, one cannot walk right in his own strength, we need the power and leading of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, ““If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:15-18 NKJV
My beloved, because of our sinful nature, inherited from Adam and Eve, we cannot keep the Law or do anything good in our own strength; our flesh will always lead us into sin.
But because of what Christ has done, and the in-dwelling Holy Spirit, we are cleansed by His blood and led in His righteousness.
No longer do we walk in our own righteousness , for we have none, but in the righteousness of Christ.
But we must put our old man to death and not submit to the sinful desires of the flesh.
We must make every effort to remain obedient to the indwelling Holy Spirit, presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord, not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of the mind.
It is then that we shall come to understand what is “that good” and acceptable and perfect will of God (ROMANS 12:1-2).
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Galatians 5:16-26 NKJV
God has made a way where their was no way, but it is by no means easy.
temptations will come by the cravings of the flesh, often encouraged by whispers of the devil; particularly if one is demonised.
My beloved , don’t be mistaken, no one is exempt, and many believers are demonised in today’s world because sin let’s the devil in. Not just the our own sin, but the sin of our ancestors ( ROMANS 5:12-19).
But even if one isn’t, the devil and his demons can whisper and oppress.
If allowed, they will make your life a misery.
“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
James 4:7, 10 NKJV
My beloved, we cannot be saved by good works or abilities.
The truth is, we humans can do nothing that good in our own strength, but in Christ, nothing is impossible for us who are led by the Spirit (MATHEW 19:26).
Since Christ paid our debt of sin with His own blood and made us His chosen vessels (ACTS 9:15-16), “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Romans 8:1-11 NKJV
Again I tell you all, ““Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.”
Jeremiah 17:7-10 NKJV
All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.
