Our committed walk with the Lord Psalms 1:1-6, reads, "Blessed
is the man that doesn't (1) Walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor is (2) Standing in the way of sinners, nor is (3)
Sitting in the seat of the scornful. However, his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in the law of the Lord, he meditates
both day and night. Because of this, he will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth his fruit in
his season; his leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he does shall prosper. The ungodly will not be the same, but they
are like the chaff, which the wind drives away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the
congregation of the righteous. The Lord knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." Let's
discover the meaning of these verses.
Blessed means, you have come to the realization
that without a vital nourishing life in Christ, nothing else will ever satisfy your longing for satisfaction. Our desire must
be to walk in obedience after accepting Christ and becoming born again to what is stated in Mathew 6:33 where Jesus says.
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you."
Having a blessed heart is further defined in James 3:17 when James says. "Our way of reasoning will be
like God's wisdom and reasoning. First, it will be pure and not religious. It will be loving and searching for peace,
considerate and gentle. It will listen to reason meaning hungry for truth rather than always trying to prove your own point
of view. You will be a ready listener and able to identify yourself with other peoples searching for God. You will have a
very giving spirit of support with incites of wisdom or finances, depending on the need. You will be straightforward no lies,
non-judgmental, but patient and unafraid. The outcome of this attitude produces; freedom from doubt, being double minded (always
not sure, having many opinions) and not being genuine."
Now all this definition
of blessed only represents us being a hearer and a learner of the word of God because; we are to meditate and mix our thoughts
with the Holy Ghost's thoughts. To mature we must become doers of the word to maintain this attitude or heart condition.
The beginning of doing does not start with witnessing, going to church, giving or preaching and so on. Now although this is
the end result, we first have to spend time daily and learn what our righteous position is in Christ Jesus. Also we will want
to have some real fellowship by gathering and visiting each other in our homes and share our everyday experiences in the market
place with people and pray one for another. This fellowship strengthens our resolve, so we don't feel like we are alone
or like lost sheep. This represents a healthy attitude and the only kind of heart preparation that can receive and participate
with God's nature.
Scripture tells us to come into God's light and allow
the Holy Spirit to appraise what our real attitudes and feelings are about Him. If we are honest with ourselves, and come
to the conclusion that, we have not come into the light or don't want to come into the light to have our feelings exposed,
the alternative is, we fall into these next three categories that this scripture points out. There is no middle ground with
God. Your either for Him or have become scattered.
When we become scattered,
we hinder our marriage vows to Christ that we made to Him the day we were saved and, we lose our intimate fellowship by not
walking in the inner circle with Him. We become double minded in our decision-making and rather then walking in total obedience
to our Fathers will, we are deceived by the devil and we do not participate in our allotted share of our inheritance given
to us by God. I said we do not participate in our share of our inheritance, given to us by God; we do not lose our salvation
and go to hell as it is being preached in many assemblies. If it's only being preached in one assembly; that world be
to much.
James 2:24-26 states. "A man is proved to be guiltless and blameless
in God's sight and pronounced by God to have a blessed spirit, because he operates by what God alone is telling him of
how He looks at us, who are born again people." We are to believe what the Holy Spirit says about us not what a man thinks
in his own mind and reasoning apart from the Spirit of God. There is no value in our pursuit of God if we are not walking
in total nakedness in His sight and allowing Him to move in our life as He freely wills.
Let's
now define these three categories that these scriptures point out. 1. Walking, 2 Standing and 3 Sitting. These are verbs and
action words. God always intended for us to walk in these action words with Him. The question is who are you walking, standing
and sitting with, God or the devil? So if we fall into these categories and are actively participating in this type of life
style contrary to God's will, it is because we are not hungering after God and He is not our first love. This makes us
ignorant of interpreting the word of God and we are participating in these three categories unaware of our bondages. We are
more then fortunate that God has such mercy and grace on us as He shows us our self-centered ways. Why people want to walk
contrary to God's will has always been beyond my comprehension. The only answer I can come up with, they have no clue
on how much they are really loved by the Lord.
(1.) Walking in the counsel of
the ungodly. The word for walking, in the Hebrew, is episkeeptomai: It means to visit, inspect and make a choice. You will
notice that this is a three-step process. If we are not walking with the Lord, then what we are doing is concealing our true
intentions from Him by lying to our self. In turn, we are counseling ourselves and making deliberations or deciding to do
our own thing and trying to make God into our image of what we think Christianity is. When we walk like this, God says that
we are un-god like and deceiving ourselves, or living in denial. It does not mean we are unsaved and we do not know Jesus
as Savior. It means, we have never made Jesus Lord over our lives and we are functioning as unsaved people and still children
messing our diaper.
Rather than us walking prudently or wisely to avoid error
and follow God's reasonable course of action in all things, we function in false religious unconscious ideas of God's
ways because; we are being influenced and being mesmerized by a false understanding of God's way of thinking. The longer
we live like this, the greater hold this delusion takes control in our lives. We become chained in our inner soul and addicted
to un-god like thoughts and behavior. Rather than us being molded into the image and nature of God, we become more addicted
to the devils manipulation and abuse. Therefore, we see that we are functioning in a relationship within ourselves of making
false assumptions on our permanent position in Jesus Christ.
2.) Standing in the
way of sinners. The word for standing in the Hebrew is mad: It means to live, make a home and be employed or be steadfast
and firm. Now these are good qualities if you're standing with the Lord by being employed, firm, and steadfast and making
our home in Him. However, this scripture says that your standing is with sinners or you see yourself as a sinner. The word
sinners is defined in the Hebrew as a child of God abusing himself because; he is not able to function in his total allotment
from God because; he feels guilty, is living in a lack of self worth and not perceiving them self as pure and innocent, as
God sees them in His sight. This is described from scripture as, us living with a shame-based nature. So we see here that
we don't become like this because, we are hanging out with people who give us this attitude. We hang out with other people
who have this same poor self-image that we have, because birds of a feather flock together. This self-image exists within
us.
Where it says that we are standing in the way of sinner's means, we are
functioning in the same shame based nature we received from Adam's fallen nature in the Garden of Eden. This word way
means, participating in a certain course of action. We are participating and being manipulated by a spirit of sin and because
of our ignorance of God's ways; we are standing firm in lack and spiritual poverty. Now standing firm in ways that are
false concepts rather than God ways, is a serious and dangerous business. We reap terrible consequences with this kind of
behavior.
(3.) Sitting in the seat of the scornful. In the Hebrew, the word for
sitting is yashab: It means a person can be ambushed by a demonic spirit that visits you on a regular basis and you set up
house with a haunting hidden relationship On the other hand; you can have live your life hidden in Christ Jesus and make a
marriage of peace with Him. What spirit is visiting you on a daily basis? When a person is scornful it means; they are being
looted, by confessing un god like principles or being being poor mouthed. If our relationship is not hidden in Christ, then
our goods, loves and healthy life experiences are being stolen or looted by the devil. Poor mouthed people curse them self
and they give the devil permission to steal from them.
Instead of us speaking
God‘s precepts of abundant life, we replace this with backbiting gossip, foolish jesting and un-god like cursing. This
happens because; the word of God has not been sown deep in our mind and heart where the issues of life are form and acted
upon. We don't confess what God says because we don't know His word. What we actually do is spit on Christ, mock and
make light of the fact of Him dying on the cross for us. We actually throw His love sacrifice away. We need to be aware of
what kind of seat we are sitting in. The word seat means either a condition that can be very costly or a seat that is very
valuable. It depends on who you are sitting or living in a marriage with.
This
scripture goes on to say that after we realize and understand that we need to have our intentions to hunger and thirst after
the Lord. We will begin to delight in the law of the Lord. Delight, in the Hebrew, is chephets: It means being inclined to
and having a desire above all things. As we begin to participate in this exchange with the Holy Spirit, there is pleasure
and desire that grows and grows and we become totally consumed with our relationship with Him.
The word for law in the Hebrew is torah: It means a statute, to teach, or to point out. The laws of the Lord
are precepts, which are a prescribed rule of thinking which in turn shows up in our character. All of this teaching has to
come from a foundation of us understanding and becoming deep rooted in the love of God. We can't do anything to earn His
affection because it is given to us freely with out any force being put on us that goes against our will. You will not expose
yourself to someone whom you do not trust. It is only as we allow this desire and delight to grow, that we will open our hearts
to the Lord. This happens because; we are experiencing His grace, which is His (unearned favor). This is what makes us aware
of the great love that He has for us.
1 John 4:18-19 says, "There is no
fear in love." If we have a full-grown concept of love, we will be able to cast off a feeling that God is going to let
us perish, because we think we have failed Him in some area and this gives us anxiety and annoying thoughts. We learn to love
Him because; we are learning how to allow Him to love us."
This scripture
goes on to say that, we need to meditate in God's word night and day. The word for meditates is hagah: It means to murmur
in pleasure or anger, to mirror, reflect, or to study. The word for night is laylah: meaning seasons of adversity or to fold
back. The word for day is yowmam: meaning to be passionate, perpetual, and continuing at all times. Let's simplify and
put this all together.
The Holy Spirit is trying to tell us that, He wants to
talk to us at all times. We have to put this as top priority in our life because, the word night means that, we are constantly
experiencing adversity in the world that we are living in and it also means that we are dumb or silent in confessing God's
truths, only because of our ignorance of His word. This process of seeking God has to be us allowing God to fold back the
hidden agendas of our heart and expose those areas that makes us miss His perfect will.
It
is a constant flushing and flowing of His Spirit going through us daily as we allow the Holy Spirit to weave His presence
through our thought life and soul.
As He is flushing out our misunderstanding
of His ways, He begins to give us a revelation of His will and a warning to us of impending danger with hope. This is why
it is so important to have a blessed heart understanding, because it makes you recognize that without interacting with Him
in this manner, there is no hope for mankind. When we mirror with someone, we learn how to walk naked in our soul before God,
totally transparent and unashamed. This then allows God to mirror and expose His nakedness and true feelings to us. It takes
time to learn how to grow in this freedom before Him. When this process takes place, a deep rooted assurance wells up in us
and we know, He will never forsake us.
In Isaiah 1:18, it says, "we should
come to God and spend time reasoning with Him; if we will to do this, He will take our sin consciecness or faulty thinking
away and persuade us that His way of thinking is better. In turn, our soul will become as white as wool." In other words,
He will clean up our thinking and make us walk in victory and a rest will guard our heart.
The
definition of meditate is murmuring either in pleasure or anger. It depends how long you have been sowing bad seeds of thinking
in your life. It's like us wearing the same old dirty clothes and over a period of time, these clothes have become too
small and begin to grow into our skin. When we come to God, it's His intention to take these old clothes off and give
us a Kingly Robe. (A healthy self-image as He sees us.) When we allow Him to take these old cloths off, some of the contaminated
skin comes with it. This is painful, but necessary. This will make us murmur in anger as this process is going on.
That's why we must constantly pursue Him, because the whole idea of growing up is us living in
a constant attitude and physical characteristics of changing to be like Him. We want to be constantly bathing and changing
on a regular basis in our soul, meaning our thoughts, will and emotions, so we don't have to live in this pain and soulish
fleshly skin condition.
Romans 12:2, tells us, " to not be conformed to
this worlds way of thinking, but to be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of our minds, by having new ideas with
a new attitude so that we can prove for ourselves what is the good and perfect will of God." This word for renewal in
the Greek is ana-kainoo: meaning repairing, cleaning, reinvigorating and to make like new. The prefix of this word is ana:
meaning with intense repetition. This change and renovating going on between the Holy Spirit and us has to be with passion
and a great love between two people. The thing that we really need is an echoing in our spiritual ears daily from the Lord.
! I love YOU!
Isaiah 28:29 tells us that," the counsel of the Lord is excellent
in wisdom and this wisdom has the power to produce whatever God intends to accomplish in our lives." God is able in the
addictions and needs that we have in our lives to deliver, fulfill and maintain us in all things. When we walk in obedience
according to this life style, the scripture goes on to tell us that we will reap the following consequences. We will be like
a tree planted by the rivers of water that will bring forth our fruit in its season.
The
word for tree is ates: It means to make firm. It also means among other things, a staff. A staff represents an emblem of authority.
The word for planted, is shatha: meaning to transplant. When one is transplanted, we are removed from one condition or place
and changed to another condition or place. The word for rivers is peleg: meaning a rill or a channel of water as irrigation.
The word for water is mayim: meaning semen, course or spring. This word for semen is the sperm containing fluid of male animals.
In addition, it is the male reproductive and fertilizing fluid that carries the genetic material normal for its species. Genetics
are characteristics we pick up from our parents.
We see here that it says that
we were transplanted into a different arena than the arena where we first were planted in when coming out of our mother's
womb. In 1Col:13, Paul tells us that, "God the Father has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the dominion or control
of darkness and has transformed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love." Our transformation was our entire nature
and characteristics in our life were changed when we became born again.
This
word darkness means a shadow, like a living being, that makes our thought life unclear, and makes us live in a state of confusion
that constantly hinders our reasoning power. This arena or atmosphere is the spirit shadow of the devil that influences and
keeps us away from the abundant life and presence of the Lord.
Psalms 23, which
is one of the most quoted psalms says, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil. For you are with me; your rod and staff comfort me." God's rod is a word of correction and direction and His
staff is the sustenance like a child nursing from a mother's breast.
In the book of John, among other places,
Jesus tells us to live in this new revelation He is giving us of His kingdom. He says if we do this, this atmosphere or shadow
of darkness that exits will never overtake us and we will never again be dominated by it. Therefore, we will no longer be
drifters going in and out of the light. We need to be totally saturated with His light or life and the revelation of His presence
and thoughts.
This verse goes on to give us a further example in laymen terms, of being planted by the rivers
of living water, which is the only way God could explain what took place when we were born spiritually in to His family. If
we understand reproduction from a physical sense, then we can understand this concept of water being the living force of God's
spiritual sperm, which we received when we became born again.
Paul the Apostle,
in his second letter to the Corinthian church writes this in 11Cor. 5:16-17, "Before we became born again and adopted
into God's family, we knew Jesus only as a man of legend who did good works from strictly a human point of view. But since
we now have been grafted into Christ, we have become a new creature or a new person and our old way of thinking about Him
and life has completely changed." The word grafted in modern language meaning, a living tissue implanted into the same
or different organism.
When we became born again, we were implanted with the
life of God Himself and received the genetic characteristics of God and He became our Father. Unless we really get this understanding
deep into our heart and soul, we will never be anchored and forever settled on how united we are with Christ. When we do not
commit our lives fully to God and make Him Lord over our lives, we become under nourished and we do not grow strong in our
spiritual understanding and deep rooted like this tree, firm and walking in authority. The Holy Spirit daily becomes the lifeline
of nourishment we need to grow strong in God. You may say as example, that He is the permanent umbilical cord that is forever
connected to us that nourishes our spirit. I believe the body of Christ has taken the Holy Spirit for granted and really doesn't
understand that, He is a (PERSON) and God Himself.
Jesus gave up his life on the
cross to deliver us from our sinful nature and He is the only mediator that bridges the gap between God the Father and ourselves.
However, it's the Holy Spirits power and direction that feeds our spirit and brings us from childhood to our adulthood
in Christ. We must interact with Him now that the sperm of God has transformed us into His children. We need to now grow up
and let God's characteristics begin to manifest themselves in our lives. This word season does not represent different
seasons like spring, summer, fall and winter.
It represents a constant and continuous
season of favor, blessing and friendship in Christ.
As this is taking place in
our lives, this will bring forth his fruit in season. The word for bring forth is Nathan: It means to give, add to, pour out,
or to yield to God with no restrictions in our thought life or actions. The word for fruit is periy: meaning a disbursement
of rewards or an increase. The word for season is eth: meaning now, continual, forever and world with out end. This life style
and commitment alone will allow this outcome to take place.
The scripture goes
on to say that our leaf shall not wither and whatsoever we do shall prosper. The word for leaf is aleh: It means a growing
process and being raised up. The word for withers is nabel: meaning to fail, faint, act foolishly or come to nothing. The
word for whatsoever is iskowl: meaning, whole or complete and perfect. The word for prospers, is tsalach: meaning to push
forward or to break out. What a perfect example of a tree that is planted in rich soil and as the rain falls on it, you can
see the blooms or buds breaking forth and bearing fruit with no effort just enjoying the rain and sun.
A tree grows
with no striving and effort. Think on this statement for a while, it will give you an overwhelming peace and security.
In Matthew chapter 6:33, Jesus says that, "we should hunger and thirst after Him or inquire
of Him and ask Him how we are to function in His kingdom by allowing Christ to live again in us as He did in Jesus."
If we learn to live like this, all of our needs physical and emotional will be met. He goes on to say, do not worry about
your future. We are always going to have challenges and things to be conquered on our every day travels. So He says be like
the tree and realize that you are planted in me and let me take on the responsibility to cause you to grow strong and straight.
Now this sounds too good to be true to some. The reason for this is because, they have spent all their lives trying to compete
for some standard, and live in a survival mode mentality. They were taught that, God helps those who help themselves. Too
many Christians today are working at staying saved and do not enjoy smelling the flowers along the way. If this is you, please
rest from all your tiring works.
The scripture goes on to say, that the un-god
like will not be the same, but they are like the chaff, which the wind drives away. The word for chaff is mowts: meaning to
blow away or to be oppressed and be extorted. The word for wind is ruwach: meaning a breathe, spiritual being or a life force.
The word for drives is nadaph: meaning, to scatter or to be tossed back and forth. The word for away is cuwth: meaning, to
prick with mental pain, to be seduced and provoked and be trashed. This is a perfect example made very clear that, if we are
not being anchored in our life with Christ, there is another spirit at work driving us and we will be scattered, trashed,
seduced and oppressed. The day we made Jesus our savior, we received all of the wealth and fullness of everything God has.
Everything He owns, we now own.
In Ephesians 3:19, Paul, the Apostles says, "we
should be interacting with the Lord and through this experience; we will be feeling His love that is beyond our human understanding.
By having this relationship with Him, we will be overflowing with the fullness of God."
A person experiencing fullness has abundance and is crammed full. Now if we really understand and believe
this principle, then we can better appreciate the meaning of this other life force or wind that is tossing us from here to
there, which is causing us mental and emotional pain. In turn, we are being seduced and not all of our inheritance that Jesus
has already given us is being used, enjoyed and appreciated.
Let's not be
afraid to admit that the devil is a very real enemy that will steal everything God has given us. That's why God says,
"you're either for me or you have been scattered." God doesn't take back His inheritance as some Christians
think. Because we are ignorant and doing our own thing, we allow the devil to trash and steal all of the gifts God has given
us.
The remainder of our base scripture reads like this. Therefore, the ungodly
or those that are un-god like shall not stand in the judgment, or sinners in the congregation of the righteous. The Lord knows
the way of the righteous: but the way of the un-god like shall perish. Let's define some terms and then put it all together.
We understand that if we're un-god like, we are functioning in a relationship contrary to Matthew 5:6, where Jesus tells
us, " blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness for they will be filled."
A judgment is a verdict, or code of conduct, either favorable or unfavorable. A sinner us one that
feels guilty, misses the mark or allotment and living in a lack of self worth. A congregation is an assembly, family, testimony
or a witness. Righteous is a person being pure and clean. When some one knows; they function with spirit of recognition are
teachable and having perception. We said earlier that, way was a course of action and a way of perceiving one self. People
perishing are those set apart from God's love and mercy and are unfriendly or against.
Over these many years
of seeking the Lord for myself, I have heard some of the most condemning interpretation from pulpits on the meaning of this
verse that at one time I believed. It has been interpreted that, the backslidden people of God along with the unsaved will
all go to hell. A person does not go to hell for his sins nor does he go to heaven for his good works. The only foundation
that entitles you to heaven and not hell is, have you made Jesus the Savior of your life and asked Him to come into your heart?
Simply put, have you asked Him to take over your life and become your best friend? The moment we committed our life to Christ;
we were immediately ushered into the kingdom of God and received a down payment of our total inheritance.
Because this basic foundation of truth has not been laid in our hearts and minds, it's no wonder
that this scripture has been interpreted with this condemning interpretation. In reality, it has been interpreted by a spirit
of law and not by His grace or (the undeserved favor, which God has, gives us.) With this being said, let's now lay a
good foundation and interpret the remainder of this verse as God intended. It says that the un-god like or those that are
not hungering and thirsting after God, have made a decision through their ignorance or on purpose, to stand firm and fast
in their un-god like counseling of themselves.
They have the opinion of themselves
as being guilty and of missing the mark and therefore have low self-esteem and do not see themselves as righteous. Meaning,
cleansed and in a right standing with God. Remember, if you have a blessed spirit, you see yourself as God sees you, with
a white robe on and without sin. Now, because of this false concept that we have of ourselves, the judgment that we fall under
is an unfavorable condition and we do not have the ability to function in God's total abundance for our lives.
Revelations 5:10 and 11Corinthians 5:20 tells us that, "God has made us kings and priests and
we are to exercise authority and rule on this earth as His ambassadors." If we are in this un-god like unfavorable condition,
we cannot participate with other healthy growing Christian. In turn, we cannot enjoy fellowship and all the other benefits
of joy, thankfulness, with a testimony of freedom and deliverance from a former life style that has kept us as slaves.
We are not even talking about the new and neat understanding that God gives us daily of the great
love He has for us as we are having fellowship with Him. I have heard from too many Christian over the years telling me that
being a Christian is boring. It's obvious to me, they don't hang out with the same Lord that I do. When we live in
this condition, it stops the Lord from teaching us His ways or course of action in our lives and we become disassociated from
the rest of the body of Christ. Let me point out again that this happens because,
We
do not see or recognize as He does that, we are innocent and pure in His sight.
If
you're having fellowship or attending a church service and they are always teaching on behavior and constantly pointing
out your deficiencies, you won't have a chance of ever understanding the love of the Lord. This scripture ends up saying
that we are perishing or our relationship with the Lord is estranged or unfriendly because we have withdrawn and will not
live our lives in His presence. With this attitude, we stop Him from coming to our aid at all times.
Who in their right mind and understanding on what I have said in this article would want to walk, stand or
sit and be planted in any other place than this new life that God has given us.
An
uncommitted heart will never be able to receive the deep truths of God.
Only
perseverance and a discipline to seek after God in our own daily travels through the market places of life will produce the
real life of Christ in us. The continual theme for our lives has to be us having a passion and a focused goal of allowing
God to interact His total and all surrounding love into our lives. If we learn to walk in this inner circle with God, we then
won't be so easily deceived with false interpretations of scripture. Through my communication with people, I find that
they have to begin to allow the Holy Spirit to use an eraser and erase the false interpretation of God's word that they're
using to govern their lives, and allow the Holy Spirit to re-teach them the truth of how God really loves them.
Learning about God's love should be an unending and the most rewarding experience that anchors
our being. God's love as we surrender to it will cause us to walk in peace and safety with a trust that supersedes our
own human reasoning. It is my honest prayer that you seriously consider what you have just read and allow yourself to say
as King David the Psalmist said, in Psalms139:23-24. "Search me thoroughly O God and know my heart. Try me and let me
know my true thoughts and see if there is any troublesome or hurtful way in me, and lead me in your way of understanding."