Teach Me your ways, lord!

• How are you doing today? Seriously, how are you? Be honest with yourself. If you’re feeling on fire for God, fantastic - keep going! If you’re feeling miserable and highly un-revolutionary, don’t worry - help is at hand! If you’re neither on fire or miserable, don’t switch off. However we're feeling, we all need to regularly take time to recharge, refocus and allow God to speak to our hearts, minds and spirits.
  
  
• The Psalms are awesome because they catalogue a whole range of human emotions; from celebration to ranting, from dispair to joy. When we read the Psalms we find a doorway into a healthy expression of how we really feel to the God who loves us. Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm in the Bible, and is divided into several sections. Today’s weekly challenge is to spend a few minutes reading this Psalm back to God a few times, as if the Psalmist's words were your own. Make this your prayer today!
  
  
• You see, no matter how we’re feeling, these words are revolutionary. Why? Because they speak of a desire for God to help us live counter-culturally. So, with my own thoughts in brackets, let’s break its meaning down a little:
  
  
• v33 - Teach me your decrees, O Lord; I will keep them to the end.
  [I want to live your way, God, not the world’s! I want to do this til I die].
  v34 - Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.
  [Please give me an understanding mind, and I will seriously try to put your instructions into practice].
  v35 - Make me walk along the path of your commands for that is where my happiness is found.
  [Lord, please direct me to live your way, and then I know I’ll be happy - no matter what life throws at me].
  v36 - Give me an eagerness for your laws, rather than a love for money!
  [help me go against the flow of the world, Lord!]
  v37 - Turn my eyes from worthless things and give me life through your word.
  [Lord, help me focus on you and get all I need for life from reading your word!]
  v38 - Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.
  [Lord, reassure me of the great things you’ve promised all those who love you and out of respect, fear upsetting you].
  v39 - Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.
  [Help me stop doing the things that upset you; for your ways are the best ways to live].
  And finally,
  v40 - I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.
  [I long to obey your rules, Lord, so please give me a fresh start and fill me with your goodness].
  
  
• As Revolutionaries of Hope this week, take this opportunity to pray these words back to God and make them your own. We all need to keep being filled with God’s Sprit - His goodness, love and light - so that we can love and serve others in His strength, not our puny, frail human strength. So, why not make this a section of scripture that you mark in your Bible and come back to regularly, as you live a life that goes against the world’s systems and morals.