2026-09-04 | ✝️ Would You Still Follow Jesus If It Cost You Everything? | Psalm 119 Devotional (7-Step QT)
7-Step QT Notes
1. 🙏 Quiet Time
Pause.
Take a deep breath.
Ask God to help you hear his Word clearly and remain faithful when pressure, fear, or rejection makes obedience difficult.
2. 📅 September 4, 2026
Today’s passage reminds us:
God’s Word gives us hope and life in times of suffering, and true blessing is found in remembering his Word and obeying it without delay.
3. ✝️ Psalm 119:49-64
The psalmist asks God to remember the word that gave him hope. In affliction and ridicule, God’s promise gives him life and comfort, so he does not turn from the law. Declaring the LORD his portion, he examines his ways and quickly turns to God’s testimonies. Though trapped by the wicked, he remembers the law, praises God at midnight, joins those who fear him, and asks to be taught.
4. 📖 Key Verse
Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law (v. 61).
5. 📝 Reflection
My wife and I once went on an outreach trip to Japan with a children’s ministry organization in which we serve together. We partnered with a local church to hold a Vacation Bible School, walked through neighborhoods to share the gospel, and served the local believers and congregation. We also visited sites where Japanese Christians had been martyred, guided by a missionary serving in the area. Although I already knew something about their history, personally standing at those sites made the tragedy feel overwhelmingly painful and heartbreaking.
The Christian gospel was first introduced to Japan in earnest in 1549. During the Warring States period, the gospel spread throughout various regions of Japan, and many people embraced the Christian faith. Persecution, however, began during the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the Edo period began, the shogunate regarded Christianity as a foreign religion that could threaten political order and national stability. It therefore strengthened its nationwide prohibition and suppression of Christianity. As a result, believers endured crucifixion, burning, beheading, and even severe forms of torture involving water and exposure to the cold.
At the Okago martyrdom site, which our ministry team visited, there were more than three hundred steps commemorating over three hundred believers who were martyred during the Edo period. At Daitenba, where suspected Christians were examined, the painful history of efumi also remains. People were ordered to step on an image of Jesus to demonstrate that they had renounced their faith. Those who refused and were consequently identified as Christians were reportedly executed by crucifixion, beheading, or other means. As we reflected on the tears and blood shed by those who remained faithful, we earnestly prayed for Japan, where evangelical Christians still make up only about 0.4 percent of the population.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you rejoice today that you are a child of God? Do you rejoice that the whole earth is filled with God’s steadfast love? If so, be quick to obey the Lord’s commandments today, and do not delay. Let us boldly confess that neither persecution nor death can keep us from remaining faithful. And like the psalmist, may you be able to confess, “This is the blessing I enjoy: I have lived by keeping your precepts” (v. 56).
6. 💬 What does this passage speak to you today?
- What pressure, fear, or desire is tempting me to compromise my faith?
- Is there something God has already told me to do that I have continued to delay?
- How has God’s Word given me hope, comfort, or strength during a difficult season?
- How can I pray for and encourage Christians who experience persecution because of their faith?
- What is one specific act of obedience I can take today?
7. 🙏 Prayer
Our heavenly Father, thank You for giving me hope, comfort, and life through Your Word.
Forgive me for the times I have delayed obedience because I was afraid of rejection, discomfort, or sacrifice.
Strengthen Christians who suffer because of their faith, and let the gospel continue to spread throughout Japan and around the world.
May my life confess that knowing You, walking with You, and keeping Your Word are true blessings.
Amen.
Scriptures
📖 (Psalm 119:49-64, ESV).
49 Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
50 This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
51 The insolent utterly deride me,
but I do not turn away from your law.
52 When I think of your rules from of old,
I take comfort, O LORD.
53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,
who forsake your law.
54 Your statutes have been my songs
in the house of my sojourning.
55 I remember your name in the night, O LORD,
and keep your law.
56 This blessing has fallen to me,
that I have kept your precepts.
57 The LORD is my portion;
I promise to keep your words.
58 I entreat your favor with all my heart;
be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 When I think on my ways,
I turn my feet to your testimonies;
60 I hasten and do not delay
to keep your commandments.
61 Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,
I do not forget your law.
62 At midnight I rise to praise you,
because of your righteous rules.
63 I am a companion of all who fear you,
of those who keep your precepts.
64 The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love;
teach me your statutes!
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