Colossians 3:16 says, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching, and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

I learned that verse when I was a child. As I began meditating on it, the Holy Spirit showed me something I never noticed before. It is in two parts. The first part has to do with gathering insights from His word. The second part is worship to an audience of One.

His indwelling word acts like yeast in bread dough. It expands as we apply it to our lives. It helps us see through His perspective. John 15:7 in the Amplified says, “If you live in Me (abide vitally united to Me) and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts…”

James 1:25 says, “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it…a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” Our personal application from Scripture brings inner transformation.

I was thinking about Paul and his letter to Timothy. He was instructing him in 1 Timothy 1:1-11. Then in verses 12-16 he was recounting how the Lord’s grace enabled him to preach the gospel. As he continued, he burst into praise. Verse 17 says, “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Our heart is our belief center. God’s word, hidden in our hearts, is the source of our praise. We learn more and more about Him as we read, memorize, and meditate. 2 Peter 1:4 says that through His exceeding great and precious promises, we become “…partakers of the divine nature…”

Worship is a lifestyle ~ not an event. The Psalms are full of verses that will teach our hearts how to honor and magnify the Lord through praise. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” The experiential truths that inhabit our hearts, cause us to lift Him up through true worship.

I continued to meditate on the Lord bringing us into intimate communion with Him in the high and holy place. I don’t know about you, but the walls of my finite mind were reverberating, seeking to understand Infinite. My mind went back to Psalm 8:4. It says, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”

Moses met with the Lord in a tent that he called the tabernacle of meeting. Exodus 33:7. Verse 9 says that each time Moses went out to the tabernacle, “…the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses.”

Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Colossians 1:27 says, “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Our heart is His tabernacle. Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” The Hebrew for enthroned means: to dwell, sit, remain, abide. 

Isaiah 57:15 says, “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one.”

As I began to meditate on this verse, my mind stopped at ‘who inhabits eternity.’ I thought, ‘but wait, He dwells in me.’ The Hebrew for inhabit means: to settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, reside.

John 15:1-8 is all about abiding in the Vine. Verse 7 defines what it means to abide. The Amplified says, “If you live in Me (abide vitally united to Me)…” Isaiah 57:15 goes on to say, “…I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit…”

John 15:5 in the Amplified ends with, “…apart from Me (cut off from vital union with Me) you can do nothing.” When that truth is like wallpaper in our hearts, we will remain contrite and humble. Remember ~ God gives grace to the humble.

In 1 Timothy 2:4 Paul recorded the Lord’s heart. It says, “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” That takes us to 2 Peter 3:9. It says that He is, “…longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

1 Timothy 2:2 ends with the way we are to comport ourselves so that the gospel can be received by others. We are to live in all godliness and reverence. Ask yourself: Does my life exemplify the Lord in every aspect? Worship is a lifestyle. 

I love Psalm 25:14 in the Amplified. It says, “The secret (of the sweet, satisfying companionship) of the Lord have they who fear (revere and worship) Him, and He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.”

1 Peter 1:17 says, “And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear.” Lord, help us to please you in all our ways.

I started meditating on 1 Timothy 2:1. It says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.” Paul used the same three ways in Philippians 4:6. I wanted a working definition for the difference between the three ways. 

I looked it up in all my resources. Nothing satisfied me until I found what I wanted in Matthew Henry’s commentary. His definition resonated with my spirit. It means to come humbly before the Lord, petitioning Him to avert evil; prayers for the obtaining of good; intercession for others.

For years Ezekiel 22:30 has been my understanding for intercession. It says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

1 Timothy 2:2-3 says that we are to pray for all in authority. Why? That we may live in quiet and peace, and to have the freedom to proclaim the gospel and advance His Kingdom.

Romans 8 recorded the Holy Spirit praying for us, as well as Jesus. Verse 26 says, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

Have you ever condemned, or made derogatory remarks against yourself? Verse 34 says, “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”

Ezekiel 22:30 gives us a perfect understanding of what intercession is. It says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

Jesus heard what the Father was speaking, and He spoke it. We need to hear what the Lord is saying about our nation. Let’s make a wall and stand in the gap, because many are perishing. Oh Lord, move on hearts for revival!

I read Luke 22. I always marvel at the interchange between Jesus and Peter. Verse 31-32 says, “…Simon, Simon! Indeed, satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

In verse 34 the Lord warned Peter that he would deny Him three times. Jesus was arrested. Verse 54 says that Peter followed at a distance. In verses 57, 58, and 60 his denials were recorded. Verse 61 says, “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter…” Oh what a moment of understanding!

Verses 61-62 says, “…Then Peter remembered…So Peter went out and wept bitterly.” It seems that Peter did not take Jesus’ words about the sifting seriously. Within the same day he fell into the enemy’s sieve.

Amos 9:9 was written about Israel. Yet there is a promise that we can apply. It says, “…I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground.”

I have always been fascinated by the account in Acts 16:6-10. Paul, Silas, and Timothy were on their way to preach the gospel in Asia. Verse 6 says, “…they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit…” Next they tried to go into Bithynia. Verse 7 says, “…but the Holy Spirit did not permit them.”

They were blocked by the Holy Spirit from doing what God has called them to do ~ preach the gospel. Yet, the Lord had a specific place He wanted them to go. He revealed it in a vision to Paul.

Verse 10 says, “Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. That was the place where Paul and Silas were beaten and put into prison.

The Lord set them up for the salvation of the Philippian jailer and his household. Everything was sovereignly orchestrated by the Lord. As we are attentive and obedient to the Holy Spirit, He will lead us into the good works preordained for us to walk in. Ephesians 2:10.

Jesus set a pattern for us to follow. John 5:19 says, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.”

Jesus was walking toward Jericho with a multitude. He was attentive and alert for the voice of the blind man. The moment He heard it, He stood still. His Father had already set it up. John 15:5 reminds us that apart from Him we can do nothing.

Galatians 5:16 says to walk in the Spirit. That means we are to be attentive and alert to whatever He tells us. Sometimes it is ahead of time, but other times it is in the moment.

Here is another verse that speaks of the Lord. Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.”