God Our Teacher

Psalms 25:8-9 (NIV)

⁸Good and upright is the LORD;

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

⁹He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them his way.

God is our Teacher, for He alone is good and upright.  He alone is the source of truth, righteousness and holy living.  Today, in the new testament, the Holy Spirit, who indwells every true believer, is the One who teaches us, enlightens our hearts concerning God's Word.  As the verse above says "He instructs sinners in His ways".
A sinner is someone who has realized that he/she has gone astray from his/her Shepherd, that he/she has transgressed and done what is wrong in God's sight.  Not everyone will admit this.  This is why a sinner saved by grace recognizes that only God is good and upright, and that he/she is in need of His instruction to walk in His ways.

Psalms 25:4-5 (NIV)

⁴Show me your ways, O LORD,

teach me your paths;

⁵guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my Savior,

and my hope is in you all day long.

But God is not a teacher who stands in front of a class teaching students who are not listening to Him.  He teaches those who are humble.  A sinner saved by grace has a heart that is humble, that realizes that he/she needs a Teacher to tell them what is right.  And contrary to what we may think, this is not a natural state of our heart.  We are rebels by nature.  We are all teenagers in heart who think that we already know what we need, what is right, and so our tendency is to follow our own heart, our own ways.
This is why God will only teach those who humble themselves before Him, who acknowledge their nothingness with regards to life, and to what is right, and listen to Him.

James 1:21 (NIV)
²¹Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

What a blessing to have a good and upright God who graciously teaches us His ways.  And what an important attitude for us to have humble hearts truly listening, learning and applying what our God teaches us.

Running in God's path

Psalms 119:32 (NIV)

³²I run in the path of your commands,

for you have set my heart free.

Have you ever brought your child to a mall, or an open park, and watch him run as if he had been set free from the four walls of your house?  Or maybe you've seen other children doing that, running around enjoying the free space that he has in a mall or a park.  That is so natural for a kid who has been couped up in a house for days, or being in a classroom for days, and then set free to run in an open space.  He feels he can run as fast as he can, as far as he can, anywhere he wants to go!

That seems like what the writer of Psalm 119 is describing.  He wrote "I run in the paths of your commands".  He did not describe obedience to God's commands as crawling, or struggling, or even walking.  He was running.  And why not?  The second half of the verse says "for you have set my heart free!".
Does this describe how we walk in God's commands everyday?  There are some people who call themselves Christian, and yet continue to be rebellious of God's commands.  If ever they do obey, it is with hesitance, and even resistance.  The obedience is seen in their actions, but in their hearts it was a struggle.  They seem to be crawling in the path of God's commands.

A true believer is running in God's path.  Why?  He or she knows that he/she has been set free!
John 8:34 (NIV)
³⁴Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
John 8:36 (NIV)
³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

We were slaves to sin, imprisoned in the desires of our sinful nature, not able to walk according to God's command.  We would try, but we would eventually fail.
Christ's death on the cross set us free from the hold of sin over our life.  If you believe that, you are now free from the hold that sin has over your mind and body, and you can now obey God by the power of the Holy Spirit who indwells you!
Now that you are free, you can run in the paths of God's commands.  It becomes a joy, a desire in our hearts.  That doesn't mean there is no struggle -yes, the battle will still be there between our flesh and the new desires of our heart, but the joy of following God and His commands remains.
Look what the apostle John says:
1 John 5:3 (NIV)
³This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,

His commands are not burdensome.  They are, in fact, a joy to the heart of a Christian.
All, of course, by His grace and strength.

Buy Wisdom

Proverbs 4:5-7 (NIV)

⁵Get wisdom, get understanding;

do not forget my words or swerve from them.

⁶Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;

love her, and she will watch over you.

⁷Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom.

Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

When we see somthing that we want, that we need, there is no hesitation - we will get it at all cost.  If we don't get it right away we never forget about it, and our mind doesn't rest until we buy it.  and even if it costs so much, sometimes even all that we have, we will spend for it.  That's the power of desire.

What about wisdom?  Or to be more specific - what about the wisdom of the Lord, or from the Lord? Is it something that our hearts tell us that we need, that we want everyday?  This is what Solomon was telling his son - get wisdom.  There should be no hesitation whatsoever.  He wasn't to forget it, or forsake it.  And even if it cost all that he had, Solomon told him to get it.

How much are we willing to spend to get the wisdom of the Lord?  Are we willing to spend some extra pesos to buy a bible?  Or maybe a book by a Christian author that we know will encourage us and help us in our walk with God?
How much more gas are we willing to spend to go to a Sunday worship service, or a bible study, or a small group?  How much are we willing to spend for taxi or jeepney fare just to go?
How much of our time are we willing to spare for that fellowship with other believers, or that seminar that will build us up?

It's really all about realizing that the wisdom of God is something that we cannot live without.  More than any other gadget, product or commodity the world offers.  More than the time we spend with loved ones, friends, restaurants, enjoyment.
It's about how important our heart is compared to what our bodies look for.

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

²³Above all else, guard your heart, 

for it is the wellspring of life.

Above all else...guard your heart with the wisdom of the Lord.

God Does What Pleases Him

Psalms 115:3 (NIV)
³Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases him.

Two important things to understand about our God.
First, our God is in heaven.  He is high and above all things, above all of us.  He is not of the world.  In fact, He is the Creator of the world!  That's why His ways are not like our ways, and His thoughts are not like our thoughts.  He is not worldly in His thinking, His analysis, and His basis of making decisions, or guiding and planning our lives.  He is in heaven.

Many of us make the mistake of bringing our thoughts, our analysis and our understanding of life, of what we need, of what is best of us to God, and expect Him to answer in the way we understand things.  He is in heaven.
When our Lord Jesus taught His disciples to pray it began with "our Father in heaven...".  Always remember this when we pray.

Second, He does whatever pleases Him.
God does not exist to please us - This is one of the most deceptive teachings that we find today.  Many preachers today make it look like God exists to grant what we desire, to make us feel good in this life, to make all our desires come to pass.  They make Him like a genie.  Rub the lamp in the right way and out he comes to grant our wishes.  That is not the God who reveals Himself in His Word.
He does whatever pleases Him.  Why?  Because God is holy, He alone is righteous, He alone is pure and true.  We are sinful, and our hearts are prone to wander away from Him, and seek only what we want.
This is why not all our fleshly desires are granted.  It's what He desires, what pleases Him that He accomplishes in our life.

This is why there are so many things that happen in our life that we don't understand - trials, hardships, problems, etc.  Now, this does not mean that God is pleased with trials and hardships...no.  What pleases God is what happens in our hearts that glorify His name.  What pleases God is that no matter what circumstance we go through it is He whom we seek, who we trust in.
James 1:2-4 (NIV)
²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

But it's not just trials.  It's also about blessings.  Every blessing that God brings to our life is that which pleases Him.  And He knows exactly what to bless us with, so that we do not put our trust in the blessing, and at the same time He gives what we can enjoy.
1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
¹⁷Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

This is what pleases God - no matter what blessing we receive, our hope is in Him, and not in the blessing itself.

And as we continually worship Him, meditate on His Word, our minds are renewed so that we understand what His will is.
Romans 12:2 (NIV)
²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God's will is good for us, it is pleasing to Him, and perfect...for it is His will.
God is in heaven, and He does what pleases Him.

Keeping in Step with the Spirit

Galatians 5:16 (NIV)
¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
Galatians 5:25 (NIV)
²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

There is a constant war in our hearts between the Spirit, who indwells or lives in every believer in Christ, and the old desires of our sinful nature.  Being a Christian does not mean that our sinful nature has been totally eradicated.  In Christ our sins have been forgiven, having been justified by faith.  But our sinful nature still exists.  That's why by God's grace He indwells us, through the third person of the Trinity - the Holy Spirit.  We become a temple of the Holy Spirit.  And His work is to remind us of the teachings of Christ, guide us through His Word, and empower us so that we may overcome the battles we have against our flesh.
One of the first evidences that we have truly been born again is the realization of the acts of the flesh, and the working of the Spirit in us.  This is found also in Galatians 5:
Galatians 5:19-23 (NIV)
¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

This is when the warfare begins.  As we live by the Spirit, surrendering to what He is working in us, bringing out His fruit in our lives, we crucify or put to death the acts of our flesh, or sinful nature, that still lingers in us.  This is a day by day, minute by minute, even moment by moment act of warfare.  Any slight detour from our awareness of the working of the Spirit gives our flesh the chance to come out of its shell, and pop up its ugly head in our lives.

That's why Paul encourages us - ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Keep in step.  This reminds me of my ROTC days in college where, as reserve soldiers in training, we were to march in cadence with the command of the officer - left, right, left.  All soldiers would walk in unison with the shout of the commanding officer, and we would walk in step with him.
That's what it means to keep in step with the Spirit.  Everyday, every moment, the Spirit is moving in our hearts, teaching us, guiding us, empowering us, to obey His working in us.  Everytime we take a wrong step, every time we do not keep in step with the Spirit, the opportunity for our sinful nature to come out increases.

Listen to the Spirit's marching commands every moment.  At the beginning of the day He may be calling you to pray, to read God's Word, worship and meditate.  And then as you go through the day He will always be there to guide you to live the right life, say the right words, react to various situations and circumstances.  He will keep you away from temptation, strengthen you when you are in the midst of it.  He will bring righteousness, moving us to obey His every Word.