Subject: The Way of the Godly
Scripture: Psalm 1:1-3
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;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
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.
Key words:
Blessed- blessedness, happiness
Ungodly - wicked
Scornful - to mock, talk arrogantly at
Meditate- ponders by talking to himself
(Blue Letter Bible, Hayford)
commentary:
This blessed or happy person is righteous. The only way a person can be happy and blessed is to be righteous. This describes a certain kind of person. He avoids all evil deeds, and attitudes. He delights in God’s word which causes him to prosper. (Thomas Nelson)
What this is saying to me is that I will be happy and blessed if I refuse to listen to the advice of wicked people, refuse to go where they go and refuse to do what they do. They are not of God, they belong to the devil. I will be happy and blessed if I ponder and think on God’s word day and night and hold on to His promises.
What this means is that I separate myself from satan, sin, self and the world. I stay with Jesus and Aldwin. I remain faithful and true to Christ Jesus who has saved me from the evil in this world, including myself. I live solely for the purpose of glorifying God and fulfilling my high calling in Christ.
Today, we hear women say things like “I need time with my girlfriends. Or I need time away from my husband or I need to maintain my individualism.” All of this may sound good to the itching ear, but it is from the pits of hell. If the woman wants to maintain her independence, she never should have gotten married to begin with.
Woman was made for man as God had intended from the book of Genesis. Man was not made for woman. Man came first. He is the leader. He is suppose to be the leader of the household. But today, in many household, the wife is the leader. She wears the pants. She calls the shot. She is the full-blown Jezebel in living colors. This is happening all across America, in Christian households as well as non-Christian households. The devil has perverted the order of things in the household. Man bows to wife instead wife bowing to husband. America has become OUT OF ORDER because it has bought the lie. Husbands have made their wives their idol and their wives love it. We must remember Jesus is Lord, not your wife or your husband.
“You wives must submit to your husbands’ leadership in the same way you submit to the Lord.”91 Ladies, submission to your husband is really submission to the Lord, because the Lord commands you to do it! If you cannot find it in you to submit to your husband for his sake, do it for the Lord’s sake. The Lord loves you with a perfect love. Respond to His love with subjection to your husband.
“You wives must willingly obey your husbands in everything, just as the church obeys Christ.”92 Those two words “in everything” are rather broad, aren’t they? Obedience is not to be practiced only when you feel like it, or when you wholeheartedly agree with your husband, or when he is treating you with Christ-like love, but in everything! The Bible does not condition your subjection on his love, even as it did not condition his love on your subjection. You must answer to God for your own actions, and no excuse for disobeying His Word will be accepted.
“The wives’ first responsibility is to make their husbands and their homes happy—and this takes serious thought, careful planning, and selfless attention. The dividends are rich, however, and the personal satisfactions and rewards are well worth the effort.” (Strauss)
Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
What I am to do and continue to do is listen only to the voices of Jesus and Aldwin. My allegiance is to them only and no one else. I only go places with Aldwin and never go anywhere alone. I do only what Jesus and Aldwin tell me to do, period. My place is at home with Aldwin. I choose to be solely dependent on Jesus and Aldwin. I stay with Jesus, my heavenly husband and Aldwin, my earthly husband. Even in ministry, I never minister without my husband. We work as a team. And I never minister to men unless directed to do so by Jesus or Aldwin.
He who follows the voice of God is destine to greatness and salvation. He who follows the voice of the world is destine to destruction, judgement and eternal damnation.
We have to choose our friends carefully because they have profound influence on us. Many times, it is not so obvious. When we are friends with those of the world, we start to consider their ideas, thoughts, and beliefs and we may become indifferent to God because of their influence. The friends that we should keep are those who continue to encourage us and build up our faith in Christ. They help us get closer to God. The ungodly friends are the bridges that the enemy will use to bring separation. How God judge us is on the basis of our faith and belief system in Christ Jesus. God gave His son as a sin offering to mankind. Those who believe and receive Him shall escape judgement, and the second death and have eternal life.
As we work out our salvation to obey God’s will, we are choosing to follow Christ and we are like a tree planted by the rivers of living water, which is Christ. God promises to watch and keep us. The way of God is completely opposite from the way of man. Thus, these culturally inspired beliefs of independence and self-will are from the god of this age. Our daily choices to follow God and to be obedient to His ways is an assurance of staying on the path of eternal life. The world system, the cultures, its values and beliefs is now the majority belief system. Those who choose to follow Christ is but a very small minority. We must continue to separate ourselves from the world unto the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We must spend time to read and meditate on God. In every moment , we must continue to commune with God. What do I see? What does this mean? What do I do? When we encounter a situation, we must continue to default to the word and not buy into what man says. The more we know of God, by reading and meditating and applying ourselves, the more of Him we have in us. And it will become more and more automatic to default to God instead of relying on our own understanding and defend what we think. The more we delight in following and obeying God, the more fruitful we are.
We should not be silent, submissive and compromising to the world. We must stand up and rise up in the Christ to storm the gates of hell. Therefore, our leaves shall not wither and we shall bear fruit because we are planted as trees. Because we are planted in Christ, whatever our hands find to do, we will prosper. We will never fail.
The entire Bible is all the resource we need to guide us in our daily decisions. If we continue to dwell and meditate on God’s word deep into our soul, our thinking, emotions, attitudes will be changed from the fleshly perception to the kingdom realm. Therefore, we can receive fresh revelation knowledge that is beyond human comprehension to get a solution to any problems. The wisdom of God is to delight in obeying God and in doing so, we are fruitful. Some of the fruit are love, joy, peace. If we allow the worldly influence to dominate us, to rule over us, we will have tremendous conflict and turmoil. We will have no peace.
Though we have association with the unbelievers, we must always show and tell the gospel perspective. As we illustrated with the word of God through the teaching of Jesus Christ, we were able to bring to light and open the eyes of understanding. We saw the deception and error of perceiving to follow ungodly, worldly counsel regarding a legal matter. Praise God that we have His word of truth to be able to minister and reason with. The Holy Spirit is the agency of the godhead that is imparted onto the word of God that makes the word come alive and become real, and not mere written words on a page.
The oppositions that we face is a sign that we are on the right track, especially when it comes from ungodly sources. The devil will use the mockers to rise up, but praise God we can overcome them because “greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.” We continue to go forth in the grace of Christ Jesus. And we look forward to achieving the favorable results in Christ Jesus. As Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he faced oppositions. He faced ridicule, threat of attack, compromise, slander and treachery. Yet he prevailed with God and succeeded in building the walls of Jerusalem. (The Open Bible)
The ungodly are translated as unsettled, aim at no certain end and walk by no certain rule, but are at the command of every lust and the beck of every temptation. It is open rebellion against God. they openly defy all that is sacred, scoff at religion and make fun of sin. They are indifferent to God and His holiness. Hypocrites under the guise of plausible profession may trust themselves into the congregation of the righteous. They remain undisturbed and undiscovered. However, Christ cannot be imposed upon them. They cannot stand the spirit of Christ. (Abraham)
Questions to ponder:
- Whose voice do you listen to?
- Who do you live for?
- What do you live for?
- Who are you pleasing on a daily basis? Is it the Lord Jesus or self?
- What brings you true happiness?
Conclusion:
I exist for Jesus and my husband, Aldwin. I am the Proverbs 31 wife. I live for God’s glory. Period.
Prayer:
Father God in Heaven, in the name of Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray to follow the way of righteousness. I pray to follow You, Lord Jesus, all the days of my life. I pray to forsake all others and only hold on to You, Lord Jesus and my husband, Aldwin. I pray to be faithful and true to Jesus Christ and Aldwin. I pray to be faithful in my due diligence, prayer, meditation and study. I pray to stay on the straight and narrow. I pray to work out my salvation with fear and trembling all the days of my life. I pray to be one with Jesus and Aldwin in spirit, mind, body, heart and soul. I pray to live the rest of my life to glorify Jesus. I pray to uphold the righteousness of God and to rebuke and confront evil all the days of my life.
For yours is the kingdom that I choose, and the power and the glory forever. amen
Poem:
My purpose on earth is for God and Him glorify
To follow His righteous path and in His word, abide
To walk the straight and narrow and go not astray
To live in obedience all of my days.
Byword:
If you have chosen the way of Christ, there will be no room for anything else.
Work cited
Hayford, Jack W., Spirit filled Life Bible NKJV, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991.
Blueletterbible.org, http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H835&t=KJV
Publisher, The King James study Bible, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1988
Publisher , The Open Bible Expanded Edition. Nashville: Thomas Nelson publisher,
1985.
Abraham, Kenneth A., The Matthew Henry Study Bible King James Version. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1997
Strauss, Richard, What Every Wife needs to Know, http://bible.org/seriespage/what-every-wife-needs-know
Aldwin and Wendy Naruse
The Body of Christ Jesus Fellowship
Makaha, HI USA
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