"Hidden Treasure"

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee." (Psalms 119:11)

 To put this verse into practice, I believe it is something that can help us defend our minds from being tempted into sin; if, that is, we actually put it into practice. There is a really good example of this being put into practice, with Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. The writer of Hebrews tells us, "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12) There is great power available to us, but that power must be used in order to be affective in overcoming temptation and sin. These are the subtle truths of how the battle is fought and won! But, like I said, it must be put to use in order to be affective! If we were to put to memory those Scriptures that help to overcome those temptation that keep causing us to sin, and then use those Scriptures when we are tempted, we might find that the Tempter, and even our own flesh, really does not yield all that much power against the word of God. We, on are own, not so much; but with the word of God stored up in our hearts, we have the weapon needed to overcome. You know, there is something I learned during a fight I had with Marianne; which I really kind of miss, the fighting and yelling; we just don't do that anymore. Anywho, my fault in the fight was that I did not want to loose the argument; when I should have surrendered my pride and given her my full attention. The things we say to each other in our heated moments, some of which are very hard to take back. I think we keep the wrong things stored up in our hearts. Instead of storing up the word of God, to be used in times of temptation, we store up bad thoughts and feelings; things that cause us to use our flesh any time we feel challenged or even tempted. A really good example of what this means, is our failures. The whole point that we failed, it lets us continue to be a failure. Instead of determining why we failed, we can't get past the fact that we failed, so it is too much to even think about, and we move on, thinking that it will all somehow work itself out. Peter had felt this after he denied Jesus, not one, but three times, just as Jesus said that he would. He tried to move on, but Jesus did not let it happen. Three times Jesus asked him, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" If we are going to hid something away, it needs to be hidden in love...

"One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?" The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"" (Luke 10:25-28) NLT