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STUDY OF PSALM 1
Psalm 1:1
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful”.
In the beginning, God blessed the first couple Adam and Eve, in Gen 1:22 and 28 saying, “…be fruitful and multiply…,” and “…and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion…” respectively. Blessing is pronouncement of good things with the tongue upon someone who has won the heart of the giver of the blessing and it usually comes to pass. Now God’s word tells us in Psalm 1:1 that a particular man is blessed.
To begin, we were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So in every way we live, we must please Him first and heed His counsel before any other. This man is the one who does the following things;
• He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
Walking in the counsel of a person means, living your life according to the fellow’s counsel. In the case where the fellow who counsels your lifestyle is ungodly, then you will be living in sin which causes enmity with God. This means Christians are not supposed to have intimate relationships with unbelievers rather our relationship with God must become more intimate. 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” This does not mean there should be hostility between believers and unbelievers because, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:14 that, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no man can see the Lord”. The only motive behind any association with them is to win them to Christ Jesus.
Walking in ungodly counsel also means obeying demonic counsels in the form of thoughts, books, movies or even voices. In this case, we need discernment from God in order to know what is right or wrong. Studying the scriptures, meditating on them, using them to pray and obeying the instructions in them, helps us to grow spiritually in God. Therefore, God helps us to discern in thought or other sources whether the counsel being received is of God or not.
• He does not stand in the way of sinners.
Standing in the way of sinners means following the pathway of sinners. For example, one might think after being born again, there is no need to live holy because Jesus has washed past, present and future sins so they can live the life of sinners and still make it to heaven. This is a lie of the devil to deceive many born again believers to sin, displease God and eventually lose their salvation. We are told in Romans 6:1-2 that, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The whole chapter elaborates the topic of Christians still living in sin and condemns it.
• He does not sit in the seat of the scornful.
A scornful is one who mocks. The word of God tells us in Proverbs 29:8 that, “Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away wrath.” Also in 2 Kings 2:23-25, some youth decided to mock Elisha the prophet of God. Their consequence was dreadful. This clearly tells us that, scoffers, mockers and scornful men are not upright. In order to be upright in the sight of God, we have to avoid joining the scornful to mock, thinking there is nothing wrong with it. Read about the 40 youth and Elisha story (2 Kings 2:23-25) and you will know.
Now let us deeply meditate on this scripture and ask God for grace to avoid the things the blessed man in today’s scripture will avoid so that, we will also be blessed. Amen.
Psalm 1:2
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”
Delight is exceeding joy or pleasure. One is delighted in something he or she loves. David said “I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1) He rejoiced at the thought of entering God’s presence because he loved to go into the house of the Lord.
When we love the Lord, we will love His Word too. The word of God is so powerful that, even this world was created by it. Now, these same words of the Lord have been documented for us to read and be instructed, on earth here on how to live our lives in a way that is pleasing onto Him. Now we need to know God by reading His Word, meditating upon it, praying with it (using scripture to pray so we would be doing it the right way).
We need to know God by;
Reading the word of GOD.
It is very necessary to read the word of God in order to know what God has said. This gives us knowledge about God and His will. We were created to serve, praise and obey the Lord. To be able to fulfill this purpose, we have to study the word of God and have a lot of insight on God. It is very necessary to fulfill the purpose of God in our lives because if we don’t, we would not have a right standing with God and this would result in eternal damnation.
Meditate upon the word of God.
Meditation means pondering or thinking deeply about something to get a better understanding of it. Meditating the word of God is a process where the reader doesn’t just read through scripture but he or she ponders over it until it sinks deep into the heart of the reader and it becomes a part of him or her. This is what God instructed Joshua to do in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to what is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.” God gave Joshua a key to unlock the door of obedience to the word of God (meditation). Whiles meditating, we must ask for grace to obey and cancel any plan of the enemy to cause us to disobey His Word.
Pray with the word of God.
This means using the word of God to pray. When we do so, we are able to pray the right way, we also remind God of what He has said in His Word and it builds up our faith in God. How does it help us to pray right way? In James 4:3, James said to the brethren, “You ask and you do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” So in order not to pray amiss, we have to go into the word of God, where we can find Words of God through prophets and the words of Jesus Christ. This can serve as a guide to pray the right way. For example Matthew 6:9-13 contains a prayer Jesus taught His disciples after He had warned them not to pray using vain repetitions as the heathen do. Also we could use this scripture; Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”, when we pray for a need to remind God of His Word.
There are some places in the bible where people are praying for the doom of their enemies (Psalm 109) but, Jesus says in Matthew 5:44 that we should live our enemies and pray for them. So praying for the doom of enemies is bad. So some people may use the Bible to pray in a wrong way like this example in Psalm 109 because they have not studied the word thoroughly. This teaches us that we should study the word of God thoroughly to know how to pray.
In Psalm 1, the one who does the above is blessed by the Lord both spiritually and physically. Delight for the word of God is conceived from love for God and His word. It is necessary to love God and His word to be able to know God. It is necessary to delight in His word and meditate on it, and pray with it to be able to do the will of God.
Psalm 1:3
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
A tree planted by the rivers of water is always nourished because there are lots of nutrients in the super moist soil it is founded upon. This tree would always have fresh green leaves and would not suffer any form of dryness. It would have a lot of water to be used by the roots to transport the nutrients to the plant.
This is the same story for the one who delights in and meditates on the word of God. There would be an abundant supply of spiritual nourishment so much so that he or she would never run dry spiritually (living a life displeasing to God but pleasing to the enemy) but rather, the fellow would always be refreshed spiritually by the ever nourishing word of God. This is because the fellow is grounded upon the word of God which is spiritually enriched with power, wisdom, every form of nourishment and spiritual nutrients needed for every human spirit, be it babes in the spirit, mature ones in the Lord and those who are yet to know the Lord.
This fellow would bring forth such fruits in his or her season;
Fruits of the Spirit.
In Galatians 5:22-23, the Holy Spirit through Paul, mentions 9 fruits of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” These are fruits, the fellow delighted in and devoted to meditating the word of God would bear in his or her season.
Total and prompt obedience to the Word of the Lord.
As meditation, prayer (coupled with faith) for grace to obey the word of God, genuine repentance of sins and total surrender unto God is going on in the life of a fellow, God cleanses us from the sins in our life and gives us obedient spirits and hearts. Doing the will of God is a very important virtue each born again Christian believer is to bear. So this virtue of obedience becomes evident in our lives when we delight in the word of God, meditate upon it, use it to pray and surrender our lives totally to God through our love for Him.
Winning souls into God’s vineyard.
Soul winning is a very important fruit all genuinely born again believers are to bear. We have been instructed to do so, in the Bible. One typical example is Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Amen. It is a command and failure to do so would mean disobedience to God. When we preach, the wonderful work of salvation Jesus Christ performed is fulfilled in the life of the unbeliever too. Since the time Jesus died and resurrected, the good news of His salvation work has been spreading all over the world. The Holy Spirit through the work of apostles, missionaries, pastors, evangelists and teachers has caused the gospel to be heard all over the word today. But the work is not done until the time of rapture because there are still unbelievers and unreached who need the gospel. The fruit of soul-winning must be evident in our lives as truly born again believers because, God desires all men to be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Prosperity is pronounced on the wise fellow who delights in and meditates upon the word of God. This person would have both physical and spiritual riches. Physical riches would include provision of all you need by God and spiritual blessings would have to do with things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. These include; an increase in the souls he or she is winning onto God, living a life well pleasing unto God, great miracles would be performed through the fellow and now the greatest prosperity a person can ever get which is entry into the kingdom of God (eternal life).
Psalm 1:4
“The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”
Chaff is the inedible part of a plant that covers the grain and is thrown away or burnt in the fire because it is useless. Ungodly people are likened to the chaff whiles the godly are the grain. This is because after death, the ungodly are not worthy to enter the kingdom of God just as how the chaff is not worthy to be eaten and so they will be thrown into the unquenchable lake of fire just like the chaff which is normally thrown away and burnt. Matthew 3:12 says, “His winnowing fan is in His hand and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
This was the message John the Baptist gave to those who came to be baptized by him. He was speaking about Jesus Christ and made mention of a winnowing fan (God’s judgment) that would be used to separate the wheat (godly) from the chaff (ungodly).
In our verse for discussion, the Holy Spirit tells us through the pen and ink of the Psalmist that, the ungodly are not so (they are not blessed with the blessings of the righteous) but rather, they are like chaff which the wind drives away. The wind is used in winnowing because, it has the ability to separate the chaff from the grain. This wind is the judgment of the Lord rewarding the righteous and punishing the ungodly. God’s judgment will drive the wicked away into hell and cause the righteous inherit eternal life just as how the wind drives the chaff away and permits the grain to remain on the sieve.
Now we know the punishment of the ungodly and the reward of the righteous, let righteousness be our lifestyle now and forevermore. Righteousness is having a right standing with God. When sin visited mankind and mankind embraced it, we couldn’t have this right standing with God anymore as it was in the beginning. Rather, there was a separation. Sin was like a huge river that was between God and mankind. When Jesus came to pay the prize by His death on the cross, He served as a bridge over the river to all who believed in His Name and confessed Him as Lord of their life. This is the reason why all who have believed in Him have the grace to come close to God.
Now after we receive Jesus Christ, we now have a right standing with God. This doesn’t end there because the enemy, the devil who is very cunning will still try to bring sin our way to cause us to disobey God and fall into destruction. So we have to be watchful and prayerful so that we won’t fall into temptation nor fail any test or trial not will we deny Jesus Christ during any persecution.
We must live holy lives after receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour. This is because without holiness no one can see God (whether you are born again or not). Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Unbelievers are not at right standing with the Lord because they have not received Jesus Christ as Lord and have not surrendered to God so how can they live in holiness to God? Holiness means total and prompt obedience unto God.
Also those who have received Jesus are now at right standing with God. But the moment they begin to live in sin, they are being unholy and Hebrews 12:14 tells us, “…and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” If you haven’t received Jesus Christ as Lord and haven’t surrendered your life to Him, I advise you to do so now because death or rapture can occur at any time and without doing so, you wouldn’t be able to see God but rather the fate of the chaff would be your fate. So now without any more delay, pray a prayer from your heart, telling Jesus that, you admit you are a sinner and without Him you won’t be saved. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, He came to die for our sins and God raised Him from the dead. Now believe in your heart that He is Lord and Saviour and invite Him to come and dwell in your life now and forevermore.
If you have just done so, may God bless you and continue to keep you so you will not depart from His way. Please join a true Bible believing Holy Spirit filled church (a church that will teach you the will of God and ways to obey them and not secular issues), read the bible always, meditate on it, pray the word of God, ask God in faith for grace to obey and finally obey the commands in them. Friends, the Holy Spirit was given to believers to direct us to do the will of God. You are not alone; God is with you to help you in all your ways. Just surrender totally to Him and put His will first not yours and obey Him and it will be well with you.
As born again believers still drowning in the pool of sin, let us repent of our sins and surrender totally to God and liberate ourselves to Him. We must read the word of God, meditate upon the word of God, pray the word of God, ask God for grace in faith to obey and finally obey the commandments of God. Our lives must be devoted to doing the will of God and He will be pleased with us. Amen.
Let us endeavor to live in righteousness (always have a right standing with God) and in holiness (obeying the commands of God totally and promptly) because, the winnowing fan is in the hand of Jesus and He will drive away the chaff (punish the ungodly) and cause the grain to remain (cause the righteous to inherit eternal life). Heaven is not a place anyone should miss; don’t miss it.
Psalm 1:5
“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”
The Day of Judgment is the day the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. They will be sent to the lake of fire.
(2 Peter 2:9, “Then Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the Day of Judgment”).
Psalm 1:6
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
The Lord sees our hearts, knows our secret sins and knows us more than we know ourselves because, He is all-knowing and He created us. Let us therefore pray that God will direct us unto His path so we will be righteous in His sight.
Beloved, let us seek God and fear Him diligently now that we are here on earth. The bible says in Revelations 20:15 that, “And anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© claim_all_all_Jesus
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful”.
In the beginning, God blessed the first couple Adam and Eve, in Gen 1:22 and 28 saying, “…be fruitful and multiply…,” and “…and replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion…” respectively. Blessing is pronouncement of good things with the tongue upon someone who has won the heart of the giver of the blessing and it usually comes to pass. Now God’s word tells us in Psalm 1:1 that a particular man is blessed.
To begin, we were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. So in every way we live, we must please Him first and heed His counsel before any other. This man is the one who does the following things;
• He does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
Walking in the counsel of a person means, living your life according to the fellow’s counsel. In the case where the fellow who counsels your lifestyle is ungodly, then you will be living in sin which causes enmity with God. This means Christians are not supposed to have intimate relationships with unbelievers rather our relationship with God must become more intimate. 2 Corinthians 6:14, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?” This does not mean there should be hostility between believers and unbelievers because, the Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:14 that, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness without which no man can see the Lord”. The only motive behind any association with them is to win them to Christ Jesus.
Walking in ungodly counsel also means obeying demonic counsels in the form of thoughts, books, movies or even voices. In this case, we need discernment from God in order to know what is right or wrong. Studying the scriptures, meditating on them, using them to pray and obeying the instructions in them, helps us to grow spiritually in God. Therefore, God helps us to discern in thought or other sources whether the counsel being received is of God or not.
• He does not stand in the way of sinners.
Standing in the way of sinners means following the pathway of sinners. For example, one might think after being born again, there is no need to live holy because Jesus has washed past, present and future sins so they can live the life of sinners and still make it to heaven. This is a lie of the devil to deceive many born again believers to sin, displease God and eventually lose their salvation. We are told in Romans 6:1-2 that, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” The whole chapter elaborates the topic of Christians still living in sin and condemns it.
• He does not sit in the seat of the scornful.
A scornful is one who mocks. The word of God tells us in Proverbs 29:8 that, “Scoffers set a city aflame, but wise men turn away wrath.” Also in 2 Kings 2:23-25, some youth decided to mock Elisha the prophet of God. Their consequence was dreadful. This clearly tells us that, scoffers, mockers and scornful men are not upright. In order to be upright in the sight of God, we have to avoid joining the scornful to mock, thinking there is nothing wrong with it. Read about the 40 youth and Elisha story (2 Kings 2:23-25) and you will know.
Now let us deeply meditate on this scripture and ask God for grace to avoid the things the blessed man in today’s scripture will avoid so that, we will also be blessed. Amen.
Psalm 1:2
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.”
Delight is exceeding joy or pleasure. One is delighted in something he or she loves. David said “I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1) He rejoiced at the thought of entering God’s presence because he loved to go into the house of the Lord.
When we love the Lord, we will love His Word too. The word of God is so powerful that, even this world was created by it. Now, these same words of the Lord have been documented for us to read and be instructed, on earth here on how to live our lives in a way that is pleasing onto Him. Now we need to know God by reading His Word, meditating upon it, praying with it (using scripture to pray so we would be doing it the right way).
We need to know God by;
Reading the word of GOD.
It is very necessary to read the word of God in order to know what God has said. This gives us knowledge about God and His will. We were created to serve, praise and obey the Lord. To be able to fulfill this purpose, we have to study the word of God and have a lot of insight on God. It is very necessary to fulfill the purpose of God in our lives because if we don’t, we would not have a right standing with God and this would result in eternal damnation.
Meditate upon the word of God.
Meditation means pondering or thinking deeply about something to get a better understanding of it. Meditating the word of God is a process where the reader doesn’t just read through scripture but he or she ponders over it until it sinks deep into the heart of the reader and it becomes a part of him or her. This is what God instructed Joshua to do in Joshua 1:8, “This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to what is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.” God gave Joshua a key to unlock the door of obedience to the word of God (meditation). Whiles meditating, we must ask for grace to obey and cancel any plan of the enemy to cause us to disobey His Word.
Pray with the word of God.
This means using the word of God to pray. When we do so, we are able to pray the right way, we also remind God of what He has said in His Word and it builds up our faith in God. How does it help us to pray right way? In James 4:3, James said to the brethren, “You ask and you do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” So in order not to pray amiss, we have to go into the word of God, where we can find Words of God through prophets and the words of Jesus Christ. This can serve as a guide to pray the right way. For example Matthew 6:9-13 contains a prayer Jesus taught His disciples after He had warned them not to pray using vain repetitions as the heathen do. Also we could use this scripture; Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”, when we pray for a need to remind God of His Word.
There are some places in the bible where people are praying for the doom of their enemies (Psalm 109) but, Jesus says in Matthew 5:44 that we should live our enemies and pray for them. So praying for the doom of enemies is bad. So some people may use the Bible to pray in a wrong way like this example in Psalm 109 because they have not studied the word thoroughly. This teaches us that we should study the word of God thoroughly to know how to pray.
In Psalm 1, the one who does the above is blessed by the Lord both spiritually and physically. Delight for the word of God is conceived from love for God and His word. It is necessary to love God and His word to be able to know God. It is necessary to delight in His word and meditate on it, and pray with it to be able to do the will of God.
Psalm 1:3
“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
A tree planted by the rivers of water is always nourished because there are lots of nutrients in the super moist soil it is founded upon. This tree would always have fresh green leaves and would not suffer any form of dryness. It would have a lot of water to be used by the roots to transport the nutrients to the plant.
This is the same story for the one who delights in and meditates on the word of God. There would be an abundant supply of spiritual nourishment so much so that he or she would never run dry spiritually (living a life displeasing to God but pleasing to the enemy) but rather, the fellow would always be refreshed spiritually by the ever nourishing word of God. This is because the fellow is grounded upon the word of God which is spiritually enriched with power, wisdom, every form of nourishment and spiritual nutrients needed for every human spirit, be it babes in the spirit, mature ones in the Lord and those who are yet to know the Lord.
This fellow would bring forth such fruits in his or her season;
Fruits of the Spirit.
In Galatians 5:22-23, the Holy Spirit through Paul, mentions 9 fruits of the Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” These are fruits, the fellow delighted in and devoted to meditating the word of God would bear in his or her season.
Total and prompt obedience to the Word of the Lord.
As meditation, prayer (coupled with faith) for grace to obey the word of God, genuine repentance of sins and total surrender unto God is going on in the life of a fellow, God cleanses us from the sins in our life and gives us obedient spirits and hearts. Doing the will of God is a very important virtue each born again Christian believer is to bear. So this virtue of obedience becomes evident in our lives when we delight in the word of God, meditate upon it, use it to pray and surrender our lives totally to God through our love for Him.
Winning souls into God’s vineyard.
Soul winning is a very important fruit all genuinely born again believers are to bear. We have been instructed to do so, in the Bible. One typical example is Mark 16:15, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Amen. It is a command and failure to do so would mean disobedience to God. When we preach, the wonderful work of salvation Jesus Christ performed is fulfilled in the life of the unbeliever too. Since the time Jesus died and resurrected, the good news of His salvation work has been spreading all over the world. The Holy Spirit through the work of apostles, missionaries, pastors, evangelists and teachers has caused the gospel to be heard all over the word today. But the work is not done until the time of rapture because there are still unbelievers and unreached who need the gospel. The fruit of soul-winning must be evident in our lives as truly born again believers because, God desires all men to be saved. 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Prosperity is pronounced on the wise fellow who delights in and meditates upon the word of God. This person would have both physical and spiritual riches. Physical riches would include provision of all you need by God and spiritual blessings would have to do with things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. These include; an increase in the souls he or she is winning onto God, living a life well pleasing unto God, great miracles would be performed through the fellow and now the greatest prosperity a person can ever get which is entry into the kingdom of God (eternal life).
Psalm 1:4
“The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.”
Chaff is the inedible part of a plant that covers the grain and is thrown away or burnt in the fire because it is useless. Ungodly people are likened to the chaff whiles the godly are the grain. This is because after death, the ungodly are not worthy to enter the kingdom of God just as how the chaff is not worthy to be eaten and so they will be thrown into the unquenchable lake of fire just like the chaff which is normally thrown away and burnt. Matthew 3:12 says, “His winnowing fan is in His hand and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
This was the message John the Baptist gave to those who came to be baptized by him. He was speaking about Jesus Christ and made mention of a winnowing fan (God’s judgment) that would be used to separate the wheat (godly) from the chaff (ungodly).
In our verse for discussion, the Holy Spirit tells us through the pen and ink of the Psalmist that, the ungodly are not so (they are not blessed with the blessings of the righteous) but rather, they are like chaff which the wind drives away. The wind is used in winnowing because, it has the ability to separate the chaff from the grain. This wind is the judgment of the Lord rewarding the righteous and punishing the ungodly. God’s judgment will drive the wicked away into hell and cause the righteous inherit eternal life just as how the wind drives the chaff away and permits the grain to remain on the sieve.
Now we know the punishment of the ungodly and the reward of the righteous, let righteousness be our lifestyle now and forevermore. Righteousness is having a right standing with God. When sin visited mankind and mankind embraced it, we couldn’t have this right standing with God anymore as it was in the beginning. Rather, there was a separation. Sin was like a huge river that was between God and mankind. When Jesus came to pay the prize by His death on the cross, He served as a bridge over the river to all who believed in His Name and confessed Him as Lord of their life. This is the reason why all who have believed in Him have the grace to come close to God.
Now after we receive Jesus Christ, we now have a right standing with God. This doesn’t end there because the enemy, the devil who is very cunning will still try to bring sin our way to cause us to disobey God and fall into destruction. So we have to be watchful and prayerful so that we won’t fall into temptation nor fail any test or trial not will we deny Jesus Christ during any persecution.
We must live holy lives after receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Saviour. This is because without holiness no one can see God (whether you are born again or not). Hebrews 12:14 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” Unbelievers are not at right standing with the Lord because they have not received Jesus Christ as Lord and have not surrendered to God so how can they live in holiness to God? Holiness means total and prompt obedience unto God.
Also those who have received Jesus are now at right standing with God. But the moment they begin to live in sin, they are being unholy and Hebrews 12:14 tells us, “…and holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” If you haven’t received Jesus Christ as Lord and haven’t surrendered your life to Him, I advise you to do so now because death or rapture can occur at any time and without doing so, you wouldn’t be able to see God but rather the fate of the chaff would be your fate. So now without any more delay, pray a prayer from your heart, telling Jesus that, you admit you are a sinner and without Him you won’t be saved. Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, He came to die for our sins and God raised Him from the dead. Now believe in your heart that He is Lord and Saviour and invite Him to come and dwell in your life now and forevermore.
If you have just done so, may God bless you and continue to keep you so you will not depart from His way. Please join a true Bible believing Holy Spirit filled church (a church that will teach you the will of God and ways to obey them and not secular issues), read the bible always, meditate on it, pray the word of God, ask God in faith for grace to obey and finally obey the commands in them. Friends, the Holy Spirit was given to believers to direct us to do the will of God. You are not alone; God is with you to help you in all your ways. Just surrender totally to Him and put His will first not yours and obey Him and it will be well with you.
As born again believers still drowning in the pool of sin, let us repent of our sins and surrender totally to God and liberate ourselves to Him. We must read the word of God, meditate upon the word of God, pray the word of God, ask God for grace in faith to obey and finally obey the commandments of God. Our lives must be devoted to doing the will of God and He will be pleased with us. Amen.
Let us endeavor to live in righteousness (always have a right standing with God) and in holiness (obeying the commands of God totally and promptly) because, the winnowing fan is in the hand of Jesus and He will drive away the chaff (punish the ungodly) and cause the grain to remain (cause the righteous to inherit eternal life). Heaven is not a place anyone should miss; don’t miss it.
Psalm 1:5
“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.”
The Day of Judgment is the day the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished. They will be sent to the lake of fire.
(2 Peter 2:9, “Then Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the Day of Judgment”).
Psalm 1:6
“For the Lord knows the way of the righteous but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
The Lord sees our hearts, knows our secret sins and knows us more than we know ourselves because, He is all-knowing and He created us. Let us therefore pray that God will direct us unto His path so we will be righteous in His sight.
Beloved, let us seek God and fear Him diligently now that we are here on earth. The bible says in Revelations 20:15 that, “And anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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