Psalm 119: Part 2 - How to Stay Pure

Hi, Victorious Living family, I'm Christi Everton-Johnson, your host of More Victorious Living. I am so glad that you're joining me today. I am just getting back from a Phoenix prison tour, and I just want to give a big shout out to all the guys at Central and also at RAST. I enjoyed my visit to Lewis Prison, and I enjoyed my visit to Perryville. Hello, ladies. It was great seeing you in person. It's so nice to see the faces on the other side of these cameras, and I look forward to getting to go into some North Carolina prisons. I think I'm headed to Craven in April, and we just always enjoy our time behind bars with you. Thank you so much for watching. Thank you for your warm and wonderful comments. Thank you for your letters that you sent in. You are a blessing to us, and I say it often, but you are fuel to my fire. Something that was really precious when I went into Central Arizona Correctional Facility there in Florence, Arizona, the men had just gotten word that Mama Eve, who is with Real Vida, had passed away. I never had the privilege of meeting her in person. Mr. Pat, who sets up our prison events, actually crossed their paths in Florida and was able to go and listen to one of the Real Vida events and meet Eve and, I believe, Jeremy after the event. I just want to honor her before I get to teaching the word. What a privilege it was for me to be in that prison when those men were honoring Eve and reflecting and having a moment of silence for her family and just honoring her. To see the love that you had for that woman really blessed me. It was such a pure love. It was the love of God. I just wanted to take a minute and honor her for the work that she has done and pray for

their ministry, Real Vida, because I know just from the comments that I hear from all of you, they are doing great, great work. I get to see them on the Pando app as well. Let's just stop a minute and just thank God for Eve and for her life and also pray for Jeremy, I believe is his name, her husband, and those that are continuing that ministry. Father, we do stop for just a minute and we say thank you for your daughter Eve. Thank you for the work of Real Vida ministry, for the heart that they have for the incarcerated. I pray, God, that you will be with her husband and her team. I pray, God, that you would bless them and that you would continue to use their ministry in the most powerful way. Thank you for the men that I got to witness behind bars, honor her life, and just speak such wonderful things about her. God, we thank you for the opportunities that we have, that both Eve had and that I get to have to go in and to meet your precious ones behind bars. I pray that our time today would be honoring to you, and Father, I thank you so much for your love for us. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so I started a series, wasn't sure if it was going to be a series, but I think it would be fun for us to go through Psalms 119 together. I did the first segment in Phoenix, Arizona. I was in my son's backyard, and it's funny, I actually jumped right back on and did a second segment, but I forgot to turn my mic on. And so, this is all y'all would have heard. Yep, no, your sound did not just go out. That was what it looked like, was me just talking away, moving my hands, and no sound in sight. So yeah, we're going to try that again. I wish, man, it felt like such a good one and powerful. The Holy Spirit was really moving, but the Holy Spirit forgot to tell me that the mic wasn't on.

So we're going to try it now from here, from my home in North Carolina. And so, welcome, and let's see what the Lord has for us today. You know, the first section of Psalms 119, we talked a lot about how to have joy and that knowing God and knowing His Word and being in God's presence brings you joy. And we learned a lot of practice. things about not compromising, about staying consistent, and learning the righteous regulations so that we could walk in victory. Well today in Psalms 119 verse 9, and I am reading from the New Living Translation, there's a question here that the writer asked. He says, how can a young person stay pure? And it's interesting because the small, we just did a small group video, and the small group video was Sheridan Korea, myself, Mr. Pat Avery, and my friend Michael Taylor, and we talked about for over an hour about how to stay pure, but the actual topic that we were talking about was titled, how to break free of those cycles. Breaking free of the cycles of incarceration, of sin, of falling, and not being able to go forward in a new path. And so the writer of Psalms 119 asked the question that we just talked about for over an hour. It's, how can a young person stay pure? We all know that there are so many temptations out in this world, whether you are in the free world on one side of the fence, or if you are incarcerated. There are so many temptations, and it's hard to stay pure. It's hard to stay pure in your thoughts. It's hard to stay pure in your actions, in your meditations, in your habits, and it is a daily fight. And that's what, you know, even Paul says, I fault the good fight. I fault the fight. Keep fighting the fight. I mean, it is a fight to try and say no to the things that want to trip us up. So how can a young person stay pure? There's an answer right here in verse 9, by obeying God's Word. By obeying God's Word. The writer says, I've tried hard to find you. Please don't let me wander from your commands. The writer here is asking God to help him walk in the way of righteousness. To walk in the way of God's Word. He knows that apart from God, he doesn't have any hope to do it. Apart from the Spirit that is within us, we are hopeless and helpless. And so, I am so grateful that there is a way that we can stay pure. And it's by

walking in the truth of God's Word. By obeying his commands. It's not, though, just about obeying the letter of the law. And we saw that. So what I'm saying is, it's not just going out and telling the truth that's going to give you eternal life. Saying no to drugs is not going to give you eternal life. It's the blood of Jesus and your faith in Jesus' sacrifice for you that is going to give you the eternal security where you know that when you pass from this world, you're going to go to heaven. So it's not your good works. But once we are saved, once we have given our life to Christ, then we want to be able to walk in purity. One thing that I have learned, and we talked about this in that small group video about breaking cycles, is that you can be saved and choose to walk after the dictates of the flesh instead of the dictates of the spirit. God has given you a new spirit. When you ask Jesus into your life, he has given you a new spirit. And as you walk with the spirit and you walk in the truth of God's Word that you've got to dive in and you've got to learn, then you're going to stay pure. You're going to ask God for help, just like the writer did. And the God that walks with you and the spirit of God that is within you will give you the strength to do what's right. The writer here says in verse 11 of Psalms 119, I have hidden your word in my heart. Why? He says, so that I may not sin against you. He hid the Word of God in his heart so that he would not sin against God. Now that takes time. That takes effort. That takes discipline. For you to go and to decide that I want to walk after the ways of God takes a decision on your end to decide, I'm not going to walk by the way of my feelings. I'm not going to walk by the way of my thoughts. I'm not going to walk by the way of the world. I'm going to walk by the dictates of the spirit of God that is in me. according to His Word. And you have to make that choice. I can't make that choice for you. The writer says, I praise you, O Lord, teach me your decree. So if you want to be pure,

if you want to walk in victory, it's going to come from, first of all, obeying God's Word. Well, first, it's having God in your heart, having the Holy Spirit within you. It is deciding I'm going to hide God's Word in my heart. I'm going to walk in obedience to God. I want to obey God more than I want that thing or that person. And then you got to be teachable. You got to say, God, I want to be taught by you. I want to learn from you. I want to know how I'm tripping up. What's stopping me? I want to know what I need to do different. Lord, would you open my eyes and my heart to this Word and teach me? That was what this writer, he was humble. He was teachable. And if you're not humble and teachable, there's no way you can stay pure. There's no way you can walk with God. Walking with God is a journey. It's a walk. Your Christian walk is a walk. It is every day deciding I'm going to get up. I'm going to walk with God. I'm going to choose his way over what I feel. I'm going to bully my flesh a little bit. I'm going to tell it no.

And I'm going to say yes to this. And so also, he says, I'm going to recite aloud all the regulations that you have given us. I have recited aloud. That means that he goes and he takes this word and then he recites it aloud. He speaks it out loud. Speaking of speaking out loud, I hear my husband here. Let me shut the door. I am at my house, so I got dogs. I've got my son, and I've got my husband. And I hear them, and they're talking about a baseball game. But yeah, if you were to hang around me, you would think that Christy is crazy. Because I do talk to myself a lot. It's the only way. I mean, in the morning, I'm like, get up. Get out of bed. Get moving. If I catch myself starting to think negative thoughts, stop thinking that way, Christy. This is the truth. When I'm walking, I'm praying. I'm talking out loud. I'm reciting God's word over my life. I'm praying the word of God. And there's power in that. Because when you speak it out loud, you're proclaiming it. You're proclaiming it over your life. You're proclaiming it to whoever's listening.

And maybe you're even proclaiming it to the enemy who's listening, Satan, who wants to kill, steal, and destroy you. And when he sees you declaring the goodness of God and declaring the regulations that I'm going to walk, as for me in my house, I'm going to choose the Lord. As for me in my house, I'm going to tell the truth. I'm going to forgive. And as you speak these things over you, then that's going to help you walk in that purity. Another thing that the writer does in this section is he rejoices in the laws. He doesn't look at the word of God as something that is going to hinder his life, or bind him up, or make him miserable. He says, I rejoice that you have given me this word. I rejoice, God, that you have given me the way to victory. How can I stay pure? How can I have victory? How can I have success? It's by walking in your word. I rejoice in your word. A lot of times we look at this, I did for a long time, and we think, that's a lot. That's a lot of rules. We look at it and we think, I don't understand it. And listen, there are things in here that I don't understand. You get me in Revelation, I don't understand it. You get me in Daniel, I don't understand it all. But that doesn't keep me from continuing to read it.

And God will show me things as I need to know. As you will see, my Bible is all highlighted. I get in the word. There's a love for this word. But I highlight, I underline. I go over here and I write it out because I know that this word has life. This word is gonna help me walk in a life pattern and have a heart that can respond to people in this world that will glorify God. So you rejoice. the laws. You don't look at the laws and think that they're there to hinder you. You rejoice in them and thank God for them. It says that he rejoiced in the laws as much as in riches. Like he wanted this just as much or more than money, fame, being known, having a big palace. It's like God says, this person says, this is the most important thing to me. Therefore, I'm going to study your commandments. I'm going to reflect on your ways. I'm going to delight in your decrees and I will not forget your word. If you look at this passage, I want to point out that there is a lot that this person, this writer, is saying that he has to do. You know, it's God that saves us. It's God that empowers us. It's God that transforms us. But it's us that have to get in God's Word and renew our mind with it. And as we renew our mind with the truth, Romans 12 says that God then makes us into a new person, a pure person. How can a young person stay pure? It's all through the Word. It's all a decision that you have to make every single day that, you know what God, I'm going to rejoice in your Word today. I'm going to speak your Word over my life. I'm going to obey your Word today. And then it says, will you help me? Don't let me wander from your command. So the writer sees that it is this, it is this dance that you do together with God. There's a move that he's going to make, that he's going to give you the strength, but there's a move that you've got to make towards him. There's a decision

every day that you have to tell your flesh to shut up and say, I'm going to go read the Word. And when you do that, you're putting the Word of God in you. And the Bible promises in John that if you will know this Word, know it by experience, when you build your life on it, it says that you will become free. You'll become free from the things that will entangle you. You will live victoriously. You will have a successful life. You will have a purpose-filled life. God will honor you when you honor his Word. When you humble yourself and you say, teach me God. When you realize you don't know it all. And I have to realize that every single day. That God, I don't understand. I'm not able to walk in this apart from you. And so I get in the Word. I study. I ask the Holy Spirit to help me. And then I reflect on it. I delight in it. And I remember it. It's so easy to forget it. It's so easy to forget God's promises to us. It's easy to forget that we're not alone. And that's why, like for example, if you're going through life and you experience something that's very difficult, then you remember the Word that you've hid in his heart. Instead of going over here into fear, because anything that's not of faith is of sin. So you're going into this fear mode. That's really sin mode. Because when you're afraid, you're going to, you're not trusting God. You're not going to be following after God. Because you're going to be reacting out of your flesh and out of fear. So when I get in those situations where I might be fearful or anxious, I will stop. And I will remember the Word. And I will remember the Word that's been hidden in my heart. So that I don't sin against God. And so that I can walk in the way of purity. And so it's a beautiful thing to hide God's Word in your heart. Because then you can think about it. It will come up out of the reservoir of the Word that's within you. And as it comes up, then you can speak it. And you can remember it. How can I not forget the Word of God? That's the last thing he says in this scripture. There's some real practical ways. It's writing it out and plastering it in front of you. I've written it on my hand before. I've put cards and stuck those cards on my mirror, on my dash of my car, on my desk. There's little pieces of paper that have the Word of God. I've got sticky notes everywhere. And I will go through those

occasionally. And if you study the Word, you'll see like one of the Jewish customs. And I recently, when I went to over a year ago to the Holy Land, I actually saw like the rabbis and some of the really the traditional Jewish people. They had little boxes that they were wearing on their forehead. They had tangible things that they were wearing to remind them of God's law. And at first you can kind of look at it and think, that's kind of weird. Like, when every time they leave the house, there is, there is, I cannot remember the name of it, but there is something that's on the wall. I have, I don't have mine here with me. I think I actually, I carried it to the office. But every time they leave a building or come into a building, they touch this little box. That inside the box is a scroll of the Shema. It's a prayer. And it's talking about remembering God's Word. And it is something tangible that they have. It's not weird. You know, at first you could be like, well, why are they wearing that? It's to, when they look in the mirror, when they're out in public, it's to remember the importance of God's Word. And so you do whatever you gots to do to remember. Whether that's a sticky note, whether that's a piece of paper, whether that's writing it somewhere for you to remember, whether that's putting a, maybe some beads or something. I mean, people have prayer beads and different things. It's not about worshiping those things, but they can be reminders to pray, reminders about certain scriptures. Do what you have to do, but it will take you doing something, otherwise we will forget. That's just the way that we are. We will forget. We will go our own way. Our flesh will lead us. It's going to take discipline. But as we live in that purity, let me tell you what happens. We experience God's presence. We experience God's purposes for our life. And the blessings of God, it's worth it. It's worth the discipline. It's worth the decision. It's worth the sacrifices. The time that you take to get in the Word of God, it's worth it. And I'm not just, listen, when I'm talking to you, I'm talking to me. I'm seeing myself right now. I can't even see you. I see myself. And this is me reminding Christi, it's worth it. It's worth it. There is life in these great pages. There is lessons in these pages. There is power in these

pages to transform us, and to lead us, and to guide us, and to comfort us, correct us, and never to condemn us, though. That's the enemy. He likes to condemn us. He likes to take this and say, see, you fell short again. But God says, get up, my brother. Get up, my sister. Get out of that thought process, and get back in my Word. And come to me, all you who are tired, all of you who are fallen, all of you who are tripping up. Just come to me. Sit with me. Get this Word in you, and I will show you things, and teach you things that you never knew. And He will do the same thing for me. So I hope this little section has been encouraging to you. I love Psalms 19. As I mentioned in our first session, it is the longest verse in the Bible, passage in the Bible. And the whole passage is about the importance of the Word. And so I think we'll have fun looking at it. We might go through all of them. We might not. We'll see how ADD Christie does with that. Sometimes I'm like, okay, I'm ready to move on to something else. But I do think it's great to start at least getting in the habit, and looking at those passages, and just see what we can learn. Well, I love you. And let me close by having a prayer for us. Father, I thank you so much for meeting with us. I thank you for technology. I thank you for the benefits of it. I thank you that we can be joined together by way of this technology. Whether my brother is sitting in a North Carolina prison, or my sister is sitting in Arizona prison, or someone's over in Oklahoma somewhere, or Florida. Lord, I thank you that because of this technology, because of this content provider even, that this place that we're on, we're able to hear your Word. And your Word, Lord, is alive. It's powerful. It's active in our lives, if we will just allow it to be. I pray for this person that's watching the video. I pray, God, for him or her to have peace today, to have a new hunger for the Word. Father, I ask that you would teach us, and guide us, and direct us, that you would help us to remember the Word, that the Holy Spirit would prompt. the Word of God in us. And Lord, give us the discipline and help us, Lord, not to succumb to our flesh,

but give us the power to walk in the Spirit. We love you, God, and we praise you. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless you, my friend, and have a wonderful day. Bye-bye. Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at Victorious Living Correspondents, P.O. Box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina, 27836, or email us at hope at vlmag.org. To view Victorious Living Magazine in its entirety, please have your chaplain contact us at 352-478-2098, or email us through our website at vlmag.org. We are happy to provide our Victorious Living Magazine free of charge, in bulk, with or without staples.