He who (part 1)

There are certain things in the Bible that always catch my attention. One of those things is when I find a portion of scripture that promises if you do a certain something, then a certain blessing will always follow. I'll be sharing some scriptures like this that I find and title each one "He who".

The first 'He who' I'll share comes from Psalm 1.

He who...

1) Does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers
2) Delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on God's Law day in night

Is promised...

1) to be like a tree planted by streams of water and whose leaves will not wither
2) to yield their fruit in season and everything they do will prosper

How do we do these things. When I think about it, a few examples come to mind. Not walking in the counsel of the wicked means not choosing foolishness over sound wisdom. Sometime we are just sitting and waiting for a good reason that appears intellectually sound to give us an excuse not to abide by aged old wisdom, and we choose things that are plain foolishness because we feel that we have found an excuse.

Not standing in the way of sinners means not loudly or quietly supporting the deeds of wickedness. How often do we stand for things that we say we can't stand. Watching shows that you say you are just watching and analyzing isn't helping in getting it off the air, in fact it helps to keep it on because you are adding to it's viewer rating. When you go watch that bad movie, your dollars support it.

Not sitting in the seat of mockers means not accepting the praise of men for things that break the heart of God. It may sound good when someone says good about you, but I would hesitate to receive it when it comes out of comparison and a mocking or putting down of someone else, especially if it is a leader. David was a great example of this, when the crowd cheered 'Saul has slain his thousands but David his tens of thousands', David never used that as a reason to set himself up as king. David did not exalt himself because of those comments, in fact he esteemed Saul higher than himself, saying that Saul was God's anointed and shouldn't be touched. Be weary when someone is giving a compliment in this way, do not endorse the mocking of God's chosen leader, disguised in a compliment to you.

These are just examples and are not meant to entirely explain what this verse means by walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, or sitting in the seat of mockers. But what the Bible tells us is that if we want the blessings then we must avoid these traps.

In my next blog, i will talk more about meditating on God's word day and night and the blessings that follow, because that deserves it's very own section.

Until then


Love you all

Salvation and Strength

2008 is here and the hope of New beginnings has captivated just about everyone. I am excited about 2008, and I'm believing for great things to happen, not only in my life but the lives of friends and family around me. When Pastor Ron read from 2 Peter 1 in church last week, I was provoked to keep from being ineffective and unproductive in my knowledge of Jesus. I don't want those loved ones around me to be this way either.

In that scripture, Peter encourages us to possess faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, love in increasing measure so that we don't fall to that fate. That tells me that we can not be satisfied with the measure we had yesterday. Rather we must desire and hotly pursue increase in each of these areas in our lives.

I pray in 2008, each of us will make a decision to be filled with God's spirit in increasing measure. Identify the main area of your life that hinders you from pursuing God wholeheartedly and find scripture and accountability to wage war against those things.

The Bible tells us blessed is the man who meditates on God's word day and night. Many times, myself, I will try to effort my way into righteousness or try to do good works to make up for areas where I mess up. But in Isaiah chapter 30, I read that in repentance and rest is my salvation and in quietness and trust is my strength. When I mess up I should repent and stop doing that thing not try to find something else to make up for it. So that is my new year commitment, to do my best to do it God's way... meditate on and live according to his word, and repent to realign myself according to it.

If this encourages you, then I hope you too will make a commitment to grow in the Lord this year.


Love you all