Psalm 119: 11 states: “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” God has made this provision available to those who are His own. Every believer, who has a Bible, has the opportunity to walk in the light of His Word and has the promise that it will help him or her not to sin against God. We can walk sure footed on the rough ground.
How can this be – that if I have His Word hidden in my heart, “that I might not sin against God"?
Psalm 119: 1-16 sheds great light on this concept: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep your statutes! Then I would not be ashamed, when I look into all Your commandments! I will praise You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteousness judgments. I will keep Your statutes; Oh, do not forsake me utterly!”
"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wonder from Your commandments! Your Word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, o Lord! Teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of Your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, as much
as in all riches. I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statutes, I will not forget Your word.”
As I said, “How can this be” --- that if we have His Word hidden in our hearts, we will not sin against
Him? And on top of not sinning, we get a bonus! We will be blessed! Verse 2 says: “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with a whole heart! They also do no iniquity; they walk in His ways.” See verses 2 and 3 in The Amplified version: “Blessed, happy, fortunate [to be envied] are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart. Yes, they do no unrighteousness --- no willful wandering from His precepts; they walk in His ways.” So --- when we keep His ways, we are better equipped to refrain from doing iniquities or unrighteous things. This is talking about sin. Having His Word established in our hearts and spirits will strengthen us to stand against the temptation to sin. We will recognize temptation when it comes and we will have the desire and strength, or we could say, the grace, to say “No” to it. This is power that comes with having Word wisdom and understanding, as well as having the Holy Spirit living inside of us.
The psalmist refers to “those who keep His testimonies … .” How does one know the testimonies to keep but by knowing His Word?!
The Apostle, John, implies this principle in I John 2: 14, where he writes, “I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.” It seems here that there is a connection between overcoming Satan and having God’s Word on the inside. This wicked one wants us to fail in our ability to resist evil so he sets traps for us along the way. Having God’s Word inside us means that the appropriate knowledge and understanding, in our spirit, is ready to rise up to give us the where-with-all to overcome any trap the wicked one can put in our path. It will clearly benefit us to have that path illuminated by God’s Word as have ourselves empowered by His Word. “Thank you, Lord, that we do not have to sin! We are no longer compelled to fall in to its snare. Thank You for giving us the capability to live and walk above sin. In Jesus Name, we are grateful. Amen.”
In prayer to the Father, Jesus Himself, said: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” John 17: 17. This one verse speaks great victory to the believer as well as substantiates my many declarations that “God’s Word is Truth.” Getting the truths of God, His Word, truly into the soul and spirit, will sanctify the believer, making him holy and giving him the power to live above sin.
The word “sanctify,” Strongs #37, is the Greek word “hagiazo,” pronounced “hag-ee-ad’-zo,” meaning “to make holy, ie. purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate; -- hallow, be holy, sanctify.” “Venerate” describes having feeling of great respect or to revere. In the New Testament the word, “sanctify,” “describes a manifestation of life produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit.” Spirit Filled Life Bible, WW, P. 1595. I love that! ---- “... the word ‘sanctify’ describes a manifestation of life produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit.” Say that in your own words. You might say something like: “One who is sanctified lives like Jesus is in them ----in their real life.”
This passage, in John’s gospel, is part of Jesus’ prayer for His disciples and for all believers. Many
even call this “The Lord’s Prayer.” Keeping in mind that our Lord is our own great and perfect
intercessor, let us read His prayer in it’s entirety: John 17: 1 – 26: “After saying this, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the time is here. Give your Son glory so that your Son can give you glory. After all, you've given him authority over all humanity so that he can give eternal life to all those you gave to him. This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. On earth I have given you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do. Now, Father, give me glory in your presence with
the glory I had with you before the world existed. I made your name known to the people you gave me. They are from this world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They did what you told them. Now they know that everything you gave me came from you, because I gave them the message that you gave me. They have accepted this message, and they know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I'm not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine. I have been given glory by the people you have given me. I won't be in the world much longer, but they are in the world, and I'm coming back to you. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me, so that their unity may be like ours. While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me. I watched over them, and none of them, except one person, became lost. So Scripture came true. But now, Father, I'm coming back to you. I say these things while I'm still in the world so that they will have the same joy that I have. I have given them your message. But the world has hated them because they don't belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one. They don't belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth. I have sent them into the world the same way you sent me into the world. I'm dedicating myself to this holy work I'm doing for them so that they, too, will use the truth to be holy. I'm not praying only for them. I'm also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me, to be where I am. I want them to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. Righteous Father, the world didn't know you. Yet, I knew you, and these disciples have known that you sent me. I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will be in them.’ ” American Standard Version
I am humbled and so very encouraged to know that my Lord prayed this prayer for me ---- for all of us who are His. “Thank you, wonderful Savior!”
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