Excerpt from Psalm 119: Thy Word is a Lamp unto My Feet

By: Deborah H. Bateman

I Have Chosen the Way of Truth

Lesson 4
Psalm 119:25-32

This portion of Scripture in Psalm 119 starts with the Hebrew letter DALETH, which is the fourth letter in the Hebrew alphabet and represents the number 4. It also represents the letter D and means doorway. Hebrew letters not only represent a letter, they represent a word, and a number.

The Psalmist admits that his soul clings to this earth, but asks God to restore him to God's word. He declares his ways and asks God to teach him the statutes of God. He wants to understand God's precepts, so he can talk of His wondrous works. The Psalmist says his soul melts with heaviness and asks God to strengthen him with God'sword. He requests of God to take the habit of lying away from him and help him to walk in the truth of God's word. He has studied the laws of God and wants to walk in the light of them. He asks God to enlarge his heart so he can run in the way of God's commandments. Have you ever had a habit that you knew was against the will of God? The Psalmist had a habit of lying. We should take his example and when we know we are doing something against God's will in our lives ask Him to forgive us and help us to walk in His way. Daily Bible Scripture: Psalm 119:25-32 25 DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

26 I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
30 I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
31 I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.
32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

Things to Think About:

• Do you desire to understand God's precepts?
• Do you like to talk about the wondrous works of God?
• Have you ever had a problem with lying as the Psalmist did?
• Do you choose the way of truth?

Prayer of the Day:

Dear Heavenly Father,We thank You for this Scripture in Psalm 119, where the Psalmist reminds us to walk in the truth of Your word. Help us to desire to know and live in the truth. Keep us from choosing the way of lying. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

*gnosticteachings.org/courses/alphabet-of-kabbalah/716-daleth.html

Bio for Deborah H. Bateman

Deborah H. Bateman is a Christian author, publisher, blogger, and website designer. She is the founder of Christian Daily Resources a Christian online ministry, dedicated to “Sharing God’s Word.” She enjoys studying the Bible and sharing it with others. She wrote this book to share with you the importance of hiding God’s Word in your heart. You can connect with Deborah on her author blog at http://DeborahHBateman.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/DeborahHBateman
Twitter: http://twitter.com/DebBat

Psalm 119: Thy Word is a Lamp unto My Feet is available on Amazon

Unexpected Love - Book Review

Unexpected Love by Julie Zine Coleman is a unique book. Ms. Coleman starts each chapter with a conversation from Scripture where Jesus was talking to a woman, and then she re-tells the story in her own words. After that, she takes readers deeper. The middle portion of each chapter is something that you might expect to read if you were a seminary student studying biblical history - jam-packed with facts, but not much spiritual food. She remedies the lack of spiritual nourishment in the end of the chapter with sections titled: For Today's Woman, Food For Thought, and Journaling.

My favorite chapter in this book was the last one. While I don't relate all that well to Mary Magdalene, I did relate to the "For Today's Woman" section of the chapter  - that tended to be my favorite section consistently throughout the book - though I enjoyed the journaling sections as well.

Overall, I wouldn't count this as a must read book, but I did get a little bit out of it. The introduction was amazing and I wish the rest of the book was up to par with it - that would have made this book a must have for every Christian woman.

* I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: 1000 Days

1,000 Days by Jonathan Falwell was described on Amazon as:

An opportunity to meet Jesus Christ like never before.

Have you ever thought that when Jesus Christ came to earth more than two thousand years ago, he could have simply given us salvation—period!—and never done another single thing? Jesus Christ could have chosen to be born of a virgin, live for 33 years in relative obscurity, die on the cross, be buried, and rise from the dead three days later, and still give us the opportunity for salvation without doing any of the things we read about in the gospels.

Yet there was more.

For three years—roughly 1,000 days—Jesus served in public ministry while on earth. He didn’t need to do this ministry, yet he did anyway, and that’s the key for us. This intentionality implies that there is a lot of information in Scripture that we need to grapple with. We need to understand what Jesus said and did during his 1,000-day public ministry, so we can apply his teachings to our lives today.

What makes these 1000 days of Christ so vitally important?

Jesus’ public ministry was to help us understand what true love is all about—both for God and for other people. When we love God and others first, the rest of life falls into place: our possessions, our ambitions, our hopes and our dreams. Jesus modeled everything he taught, and his invitation is to make his mission our mission too

That being said, I was expecting a book about the ministry of Christ (that the author claims wasn't even needed), but that's not what this book was at all. It talked about a lot of things, but was most certainly not about his 1,000 days of ministry.

The author claims that Jesus didn't NEED to minister while here on earth... well, He didn't need to die for us either. In fact, if He hadn't ministered while on earth, then He wouldn't have been the promised Messiah. He needed those 1,000 days to fulfill the prophesies about Him, but also to show us His love and how He wants us to live. I won't be recommending this book, even though it sounded like it would bring me to a deeper understanding of Christ, that was far from what I got out of it. 

*I did receive my copy free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. 

Guest Post from Deborah Heal

Unclaimed Legacy by Deborah Heal

Abby’s weird computer program is working again. And it comes in handy when they agree to help the Old Dears next door with their family tree. Except Abby and John learn more about one of the ladies’ ancestors than they ever wanted to know. Convicted in 1871 of murder and arson, Reuben Buchanan is a blight on the family’s reputation. But was he really guilty? Abby and John get inside the mind of a murderer to find out. But while they’re rummaging around in the Old Dears’ family history, they discover the truth of God’s promise to bless a thousand generations … and a legacy waiting to be reclaimed.

Unclaimed Legacy is rated 4.25 Stars on Amazon:

“Wow! Unclaimed Legacy is an absolutely fantastic book.”

“This book is beautifully written and extraordinarily fun and exciting to read.”

“This one easily rates a 5 out of 5 stars for me…and I hope it will work its way to the top of the best seller lists for young adults.”

See all the Amazon reviews here.

If you thought the reviews of Unclaimed Legacy (book two) sounded good but you never got around to buying it for your Kindle, good news! Procrastination pays off. Unclaimed Legacy will be

Free for Kindle January 12-16.

But wait! If you order in the next 20 minutes… Just kidding. But I do have a special deal to go along with the upcoming free Kindle days. Order book one in the trilogy, Time and Again from my website for a limited time for only $9.99 (includes shipping). I’ll send your signed copy right out so you can read it before you get book two. Go here to order.

Still not sure? Click here to read chapter one of Time and Again.  

Re-dedication

A friend of mine's favorite devotional book is Jesus Calling by Sarah Young, and she was excited to share when it went on sale at the end of January. Based on her high recommendation of it (that I've been hearing for years now), I took advantage of the opportunity to get it for the temporary low price. And I have to admit, I knew nothing about this book other than it was a devotional book that she loved... that's it. Now that I've started reading it, it's one of those devotional books that's written as if God is speaking directly to you - I normally chafe at those, but this one is different. It might be because I took the time to read Sarah's introduction, or it might be that her words are just the first truly inspired ones I have ever read, I'm not sure. She acknowledges that Scripture is far more inspired than these devotions, that she believes were from God speaking to her during her quiet times - and so far, I think she's right on target. The three that I've read so far have touched me exactly where I needed them. God is definitely using them in my life! They're short, simple, and cut right to the core.

God has used them to show me that during 2012 I drifted. I let life get in the way of my relationship with Him. He wasn't my number 1. It's not that I didn't want Him to be, I just struggled with priorities. I struggled with making the eternally important a priority over the earthly important - when if I would have taken the time to think about it, the two should be the same. I'm ashamed to admit that I pushed ministry aside for money - and we all know that you can't serve both God and money. I've been stressed to the max about everything on my to-do list. I have clients wanting to know when I'm going to complete their jobs, I'm surrounded by boxes from my move, and my family wants me to stop working and spend time with them. So what was today's devotion about? Being refreshed by God's peace because He is our burden-bearer. I don't know if that's a lesson that you needed at the start of this new year, but it's most certainly one that I needed.

I don't know how I'm going to get my life in order, it's a little too much to comprehend at the moment, but God knows. So today I'm laying my burdens at His feet. There's a lot of them, but He can handle them much better than I can, and I'm going to bask in His peace. In the secret of His quiet place, I'll wait for Him. I'm re-dedicating my life to Christ. I'm surrendering my goals, my priorities, and myself to Him, and Him alone.