“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.“– Psalm 119:9

The question is revealing. Notice the psalmist doesn’t say, “Why should a young man cleanse his way?” Neither does he ask, “Should a young man cleanse his way?”

He has already moved past the point that so many young people struggle with, which is to question authority and wonder why mental, emotional, and physical purity is so important. He knows that he is sinful and foolish before a holy God. He is not questioning the need to cleanse his way, but instead is now pursuing the best means to accomplish this.

And how is it to be done? By taking heed to—by internalizing and personalizing—the Word of God. On one hand this may be disappointing, if you hoped for a more entertaining, less demanding solution. Nothing less than an unblinking gaze into the mirror of God’s Word will show you the genuine flaws in your character and mindset.

On the other hand, it is greatly encouraging. The solution for which you seek is readily available! You do not have to climb to the top of a mountain in Tibet, or have a certain social or religious pedigree, or attain some academic status in order to know and understand how to purify your life and please God.

The solution is simple, but it is not easy. Take heed to, study hard, God’s Word, the Bible. Make his wisdom your own, and live by it. – Baptist Bible Hour

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 3:13-14

Having met John Bisagno and even fished with him after he retired, I took great interest in this story told by Frank Cox. “Upon his retirement John Bisagno, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas preached a dynamic sermon. During his sermon he shared a burden about people who start well, but who do not finish well. When Bisagno finished his college days, he and all the young men who were graduating and entering the ministry decided they were going to pray for one another throughout their ministry. Each passed around their Bibles and every man wrote his name and created a prayer list. Bisagno said over the years he would hear of one of his friends who had dropped out of the ministry for various reasons. He would take his Bible, open to the front flap where their names were written, and with a pen he would scratch through the name. When he retired from active pastorate of First Baptist Houston, of the original 24 names there were only two names beside Bisagno’s left in the ministry.”

What a sad story! It is heart -breaking to see so many fail to finish the work God has called them to do. And, after more than half a century in the ministry I’ve seen it happen over and over. I’m not just talking about preachers. God has a plan for each of us and He expects us to fulfill it. To do so we must press on regardless of the cost, circumstances, or consequences. It is that important! To do so we must ever keep looking unto Jesus (Heb. 12:2-3).

Perhaps you are discouraged and tempted to quit or perhaps your pace has slackened to a crawl, or perhaps you have already fallen and it looks like it’s over, or maybe you’ve already wasted precious years. Regardless of where you are in life it is not too late to finish well. The same God who called you will help you. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13). I pray that you, and we all, will come to the end of our journey being able to say as Paul did in 2 Tim. 4:6-7 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” It might be too late to do what you could have done, but it isn’t too late to do what you should. With God’s help you can rise out of the ashes of failure and live a fruitful life doing something of eternal value. God is able! Are you willing? – HDS

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346 

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.” – Job 23:8-11

In 1856, Charles Spurgeon was one of the best-known and popular preachers in England with his church filled to overflowing week after week. When the church needed to build a larger building, they temporarily moved to the Surrey Gardens Music Hall during construction. On the first Sunday at Surrey Gardens, the crowd that gathered was estimated at 14,000 which far exceeded the building’s capacity. Early in the service, someone shouted “Fire!” and the panicked crowd rushed for the exits. Eight people were trampled to death in the chaos. Spurgeon, who was just twenty-five years old, carried that grief with him for the rest of his life. He later confided to friends that he sometimes burst into tears for no apparent reason. On the wall of Spurgeon’s bedroom was a plaque with Isaiah 48:10 on it: “Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.”

Things do not always go the way we want them to. There is pain, suffering, sickness, betrayal, tears, and heartache in every life. Many times these trials are outside of our control, and sometimes, they are even caused by other people. But faith looks at those events through the lens of trust in God’s overall plan for our lives. Such trials can be part of the purifying process by which God makes us more like His Son. But if we become bitter or lose our faith in Him, the benefit of the trial will be lost. Every affliction and trial God allows in our lives is meant for our good and His glory.- Daily in the Word

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” – Hebrews 4:12

An article in Senior Living tells the following story that tells us a lot about why so many fail. A minister was out one day visiting the home of one of his church members. The lady of the house welcomed him in, and began trying to impress him with how devout her family was by pointing out the large Bible on the bookshelf.

“We have a real reverence and respect for God’s Word in this house,” she told the minister. And as she was talking, her five-year-old son walked in the room, overhearing part of the conversation.

He interrupted, saying, “Mommy, I didn’t know that book was God’s. We should probably just send it back to Him because we never read it anyway.”

So many Bibles in homes these days serve no other purpose than to sit on the shelf and collect dust. Few people really read God’s Word. And even worse, many mistakenly believe that having a Bible on the shelf accounts for some kind of spirituality.

An unopened Bible is as useless as no Bible at all. So be sure to open God’s Word regularly. It won’t transform your life just sitting on the shelf!

Ask God to help you stay consistent in His Word so it can transform your life. 

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346

“And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.” – John 10:41-42

The people were inclined to disparage the life of John the Baptist because he performed no miracle. But surely his whole life was a miracle; from first to last it vibrated with Divine power. This is still the mistake of men. They allege that the age of miracles has passed. If they admit that such prodigies may possibly have happened once, they insist that the world has outgrown them, and that in its maturity mankind has put them away as childish things!

No miracles! But last summer God made the handfuls of grain, which the farmers cast on the fields, sufficient to feed all the populations of the world as easily as He made five barley loaves suffice for more than five thousand persons! No miracles! But last autumn He changed the dews of night and the showers of morning into the fruits that rejoice the heart of man, as once in Cana He turned the water drawn from the stone jars into the blushing wine! No miracles! but next spring, from tiny seeds and dead-looking bulbs, He will clothe the world with beauty and colour and perfume.

Many who will read these lines seem powerless to work miracles. For them the monotony of the commonplace, the grey sky of uneventful routine seems the predestined lot. But let all such take heart! The real greatness of life is within their reach, if they will only claim it by the grace of God. Do not try to do a great thing, or you may waste all your life waiting for the opportunity which may never come. But since little things are always claiming your attention, do them as they come from a great motive, for the glory of God and to do good to men. No such action, however trivial, goes without the swift recognition and the ultimate recompense of Christ. All life is so interesting, but we need eyes to see and hearts to understand! Dare to be yourself–a simple, humble, sincere follower of Jesus, and it may be said also of you: “He or she did no miracle, but by life and word spoke true things about Jesus Christ, which we have tested for ourselves. Indeed, they led us to believe in Christ for ourselves.”- F. B. Meyer

Teach me, my God and King,

In all things Thee to see,

And what I do in anything,

To do it as for Thee.

A servant with this clause

Makes drudgery divine!

Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,

Makes that and th’action fine. AMEN

David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346