Psalm 119:148 says, “My eyes are awake through the night watches, that I may meditate on Your word.” In 2016 the Lord took me through a season of meditating in the night. He would wake me up with a phrase from Scripture. I’d meditate on that in the wee hours of the morning. When I got up at 4:00 I would sit and type it all into my computer.

The result was 35 short ebooks, all written and mostly published in 7 1/2 months. Then He revealed that He wanted me to compile them into five paperbacks ~ seven chapters each. He amazingly orchestrated the 35 ebooks into one subject per book. 

I began that process, but on January 2, 2017 I had a brain injury that stopped me in my tracks ~ no computer work until 2019. Victorious Garden: true heart forgiveness was the first one. The last one, Emotional Freedom: releasing the heart, was published in 2022.

Psalm 25:14 Amplified says, “…He will show them His covenant and reveal to them its (deep, inner) meaning.” 1 Corinthians 2:10 Amplified says, “Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by and through His Spirit, for the (Holy) Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God (the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny).”

Our dedicated time of quiet with the Lord yields fruit that glorifies Him. Quiet time and abiding are synonymous ~ John 15:7-8. Fruit comes from abiding ~ being not doing.

Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.” Consistently reading through our Bible, observing to do it, and spending time with the Lord brings course correction. He leads us into experiential truth that sets us free and keeps us free.

We embrace His truth by making it our own. We do that through inculcating His word until it is part of our thinking processes. Establishing a quiet time is essential for spiritual growth.

Colossians 2:7 says, “Rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Rooted. Established. Steadfast. Immoveable. Those are fruit-words of a quiet time ~ developing a secret history with the Lord.

Embrace means wholehearted acceptance. Psalm 119:140 says, “Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.” John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me….” It is in our love relationship with the Lord through His word, that He is able to reveal Himself to us.

Psalm 25:14 says, “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

In Romans 1:18 it says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”

Here is a contrasting verse. Psalm 119:147 says, “I rise before the dawning of the morning, and cry for help; I hope in Your word.” Developing a quiet time with the Lord keeps us embracing rather than suppressing the truth ~ walking in righteousness.

I love this verse. It has been my testimony for years. My quiet time habit was established in the early 70’s. Then in 1976 I was introduced to keeping a spiritual journal. That laid a foundation for my future writings.

Suppress means to hold back. Anything that we do in our own strength will hold back (quench) the Holy Spirit’s empowerment that we need to conquer and overcome. Being an authentic and victorious follower of Christ requires absolute dependence on Him.

2 Timothy 1:9 says, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.:

In 2 Timothy 2:1 Paul instructed Timothy, yet we can make personal applications. It says, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Paul wrote that just before he was executed. He learned about God’s empowering grace through a thorn in his flesh. 2 Corinthians 12:9.

We find our strength for our trials through His empowerment ~ our flesh profits nothing. John 6:63. Romans 8:5 says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Bearing fruit for His glory ~ abiding in the Vine. John 15:5 ~ without Him we can do nothing.

Colossians 2:11-12 says, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,

buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”

2 Timothy 2:21 says, “Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.” Sanctified means set apart. In this verse the latter was referring to cleansing ourselves from folks who dishonor the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:33 says that evil company corrupts good character.

Moses took his tent outside the camp to meet with the Lord. Exodus 33:7-11. Hebrews 13:12-13 says that “…He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp…”

Romans 1:4 says, “And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” As I read this, I stopped and began singing “Nearer My God To Thee” written by Fanny Crosby. 

Here is the second verse. Consecrate me now to Thy service, Lord, by the pow-r of grace divine; let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in Thine.” Here is the crux of living in holiness…through grace losing our will by embracing His.

I just finished reading the biography of Harry Ironside. Mighty preacher. He used to struggle to be holy ~ striving to not sin in word, thought, and deed. Found out that he could not ~ neither can you nor I. Anything that we do in our flesh will fail. It is all by grace. The same grace that saved us is the grace that empowers us to walk in the Spirit.

Psalm 119:137, 138, 142, 144 all were written about the Lord and His righteousness and His word being righteous ~ interlocking oneness. Verse 137 says, “Righteous are You, O Lord…” Verse 138 says, “Your testimonies…are righteous and faithful.”

Verse 142 says, “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness…” Verse 144 says, “The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting…” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that we are the righteousness of God in Christ.

Romans 3:10 says, “…There is none righteous, no, not one…” Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” Those two verses were our state before salvation. By His grace, with no works on our part, we are clothed with His robe of righteousness in exchange for our filthy rags. 

God’s word is the embodiment of His righteous character. As we bring it into our hearts, we are transformed from the inside out ~ partakers of His nature of righteousness. 

In Ruth 1:20 Naomi charged God for her bitterness. Contrast that with Job. After all he lost in rapid succession, Job 1:22 says, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

Many times in counseling others I have heard their bitter words charging God with wrong. Asaph started to blame God. Psalm 77:4 says, “You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.” Then he began to review in his mind Who God is at all times.

Verse 10 he admitted, “…This is my anguish…” Naomi received a gift. Boaz married Ruth and she bore him a son. The women proclaimed change to Naomi. Ruth 4:15 says, “And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age…” Restorer means to turn away from one’s sin and toward God.” You are not hopeless! Your life can also be restored and nourished through His love.

When Namoi encouraged her two widow daughters-in-law to return to their homes, Ruth made a declaration. Ruth 1:16-17. She was determined. She had no idea what her destiny would be, or what the Lord had preordained for her to walk in. 

Ruth was tenacious, hard working, dedicated, and faithful. Boaz commended her, then asked the Lord to bless her. Ruth 2:10-11, “…fully reported to me…The Lord repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

Note: Deuteronomy 23:3 says, “An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever.”

The Lord used Boaz to redeem Ruth. She bore him Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David ~ whose line our Redeemer would come. Ephesians 1:7. Nothing is in vain ~ the Lord redeems it all.