Psalm 119

Psalm 119

I have spent these past few week dwelling in Psalm 119. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It's like fresh rain coming down on a dry and weary land. Life giving. I have spent time both reading the pages and listening to it on audio Bible. I have found such a love of listening to the Word audibly speaking to me. Reading and listening to it in different versions brings a fresh word every time.

I want to put every verse here for you to read, instead I'm hopeful this will point you to spend time in it yourself, so here are just a few. And this song, I Will Exalt keeps ringing in my heart, mind, and spirit as I've been dwelling on these words.

The Psalmist uses different terms for the law or the Word of God: law, statutes, ways, precepts, decrees, commands, laws, ordinances, word, path, promise, utterance. Every verse except verse 90, 122, and 132 mentions at least on of these terms.


Read it. Study it. Discuss it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Live it. Teach it. 

119:1-2 "Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and see him with all their heart." 

119:9 "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word."

119:18 "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." My hearts prayer every moment I'm reading, dwelling, thinking on the Word.

119:29-32 "Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law. I have chosen the way of truth; I have set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, O Lord; do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free."!

119:33 "Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end." 

119:34-38 "Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statues and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word."

119:54 "Your decrees are the theme of my song."

119:89,91 "Your word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens...Your laws endure to this day, for all things serve you."

119:103-104 "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth; I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path."

119:88,93,116,149,154 "Preserve my life according to your love...I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life...Sustain me according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed...preserve my life, O Lord, according to your laws...defend my cause and redeem me; preserve my life according to your promise.

119: 111 "Your statues are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart."

119:114 "You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word."

119:130 "The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

119:165 "Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble."

Posted in: on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 0 comments

a challenge and a reminder for gratitude and eucharistic living

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. 2 Chronicles 16:34

We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. Psalm 75:1


November, the month of giving thanks.
...it's the month of thanks and I have chosen to begin an intentional journey of cultivating a heart of gratitude. I'm going through the book One Thousand Gifts and have started my own list.




1,000 gifts may sound daunting to list, but I challenge you to start a day at a time. List 7 things a day, for 7 days you are thankful for and see as gifts. Be specific. There is power in naming something.

I will give thanks to the Lord will all my heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1


I have a great little booklet to carry around in your wallet or purse to keep with you always to write things down as they come to mind during the day. You can do your own list or if you want this here is the link to the booklet PDF to print and fold (there's a trick so I can show you)


The Lord is my strength and my shield; in Him my heart trust, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.  Psalm 28:7

I have started my list. Here I will make my list of a thousand gifts and things from the book as I'm reading it. Watch a heart of gratitude and thankfulness grow, your perspective change, and your affection and gratitude for Christ grow, for He is our greatest gift!


But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. Psalm 79:13


And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them...Luke 22:19

he gave thanks in the original greek is Eucharisteo, this word contains the greek word for grace, charis  and chara means joy. Eucharisteo - thanksgiving - always precedes the miracle.

Eucharisteo...thanksgiving, grace, and joy living. Eucharistic living, that's what I want to cultivate in my heart and life.

"The brave who focus on all things good and all things beautiful and all things true, even in the small, who give thanks for it and discover joy even in the here and now, they are the change agents who bring fullest Light to all the world. When we lay the soil of our hard lives open to the rain of grace and let joy penetrate our cracked and dry places, let joy soak into our broken skin and deep crevices, life grows." p.58


and whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the same of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17

We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. Revelation 11:17

Posted in: on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 1 comments

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