Prospering at Whatever You Do: How to Plow Each Twenty-four hours into a Approval & Your Life into a Legacy

Introduction: Many years ago, a wise adult female told me to memorize Psalm 1, proverb, "Information technology is the door to the entire book of Psalms." I did memorize Psalm i, and most days quote information technology to myself. It's one of my go-to passages in life:

Blest are those who practise not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, not sit in the seat of mockers. But their delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in this Constabulary they meditate twenty-four hours and night. They will be similar copse planted by rivers of water that carry their fruit in flavour. Their leaves also volition not wither, and whatever they do shall prosper. Not so the wicked. They are the like the chaff that the air current blows abroad. Therefore the wicked will not stand up in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, simply the manner of the ungodly will perish.

BLESSED!

The beginning give-and-take of Psalm 1 is Blessed, which is as well the manner Jesus began His first recorded sermon in Matthew v. Nosotros telephone call these biblical "Blessed are" statements "beatitudes" because in the Latin the word Blessed is Beati. I've found 82 of them in the Bible. God specializes in blessing us. That give-and-take Blessed ('Ashar in Hebrew and Makarios in Greek) is like a golden sphere around us into which are poured all of God's infinite grace, gifts and goodness. This is the atmosphere of Christ-followers. Information technology'southward the climate of our souls. It means enviable, in a slap-up identify, fortunate, happy, to be congratulated.

Packed into Blessed is the kind of life described in Psalm 23. Packed into this term is John x:x, when Jesus said, I accept come that you may have life and that y'all may have information technology more abundantly. Chocked into this 1 word is Ephesians 1: Praise exist to the God and Begetter of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed the states with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Packed into this discussion is all of 2 Peter, chapter one: His divine power has given us everything nosotros demand for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who chosen us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has also given us His very great and precious promises, and so that through them yous may participate in the divine nature and escape the abuse in the globe caused by evil desires.

You tin can almost open your Bible randomly and find in verses that are an exposition of this give-and-take. That'south what Psalm 1 is about. The kind of person God blesses. And every bit y'all read through Psalm 1, you find four different emphases.

one. Our Separation (verse 1)

Blest are those who do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the fashion of sinners, not sit in the seat of mockers.

In other words, we are to separate ourselves from certain people, or, at least, alive a separate life. "Come out from among them and be dissever, says the Lord" (2 Corinthians 6:17). One evening I spoke from this poetry, and a teenager came to me afterward, quite troubled, saying, "I accept few Christians where I live. Most of the students are not Christians, and tin can I not exist their friend? Do I have to keep all of them at arm'south length?" The idea of that quite troubled her.

Here's the answer: Nosotros shouldn't sever all our friendships, merely we must brand sure they don't pull us downwards and that nosotros remain distinct. There are iv stages of separation that are critical to us. The first is in our fidelity. Jesus said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cantankerous and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). That makes u.s. different from anybody else.

2nd, we should exist divide from the world in our attitudes. The earth is oud and angry and sensual, but the Bible says, "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians v:22-23).

Third, we should be dissever in our actions. All the New Testament messages were written for one purpose. The apostles had gone through the state preaching the Gospel, but the new believers didn't know how to live as Christians. They had grown up in a pagan culture. Paul and Peter and James and John and the others wrote letters to them, telling them how they should now live. They were to be very dissimilar from the culture effectually them, and sho should we.

Fourth, nosotros have to be carve up from the world in our availability. The Bible says, "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not" (Proverbs 1:10). If a friend or family member tries to go you to exercise something that goes against your better judgment or your conscience, you need to say no.

ii. Our Meditation (Verse 2)

Poesy 1 begins with the wonderful give-and-take "blessed" and immediately tells u.s. about our separation, only poetry 2 tells us about our meditation: Merely their delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in this Police they meditate day and night.

If you lot want to be blessed, you have to written report the Book that's full of blessing. You lot have to delight in it and meditate on what it says 24-hour interval and night. David wrote Psalm 1 subsequently spending fourth dimension thinking about Joshua 1:8: This book of the Law shall non depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it twenty-four hours and night, that you lot may observe to practice according to all that is written therein. For so you volition make your way prosperous and then you volition have good success.

As I say in my book, Reclaiming the Lost Fine art of Biblical Meditation, meditation is the powerful addiction of pondering, personalizing and practicing Scripture. I honey to brainstorm quoting Scripture to myself when I awaken in the morning. Then I get up and brew a cup of coffee and sit downwards for my daily time of Bible study and prayer. I start reading where I left off the day earlier, and I try to written report and ponder and think almost every verse. I mark passages I similar. I memorize verses I come to. Afterward in the shower I train my mind to mull them over. All day I ponder them. At night, my work behind me, I open my Bible and read a comforting passage. I try to fall asleep thinking about a verse of Scripture, and if I awaken during the nighttime I've plant that quoting passages like Psalm one is a corking way to relax and go dorsum to sleep.

Those are the habits that atomic number 82 to the next verse—our maturation.

three. Our Maturation (Verse 3)

Verse iii says: They will exist similar trees planted by rivers of water that deport their fruit in season. Their leaves also will not wither, and whatever they do shall prosper.

My habitation in Roan Mount, Tennessee sits aslope Doe River, which is formed by the melting snow and clandestine springs of Roan Mountain, one of the highest elevations in the Appalachians. Sometimes it'due south terribly hot in the summer, because the valley traps the heat and humidity. But the copse forth the riverside never fade or falter because they are planted by the river, which never runs dry. In fact, I take an oil painting in my kitchen of a grove of trees leaning over Doe River not far from our home. The roots spread out through the soil and soak up the common cold mountain water and are perpetually refreshed.

According to the book of Colossians, we're to be rooted and grounded in Christ; and co-ordinate to Christ, the rivers of the Holy Spirit should be flowing within united states of america and through us. That happens as we cultivate this habit of continual separation from the globe and meditation on the Word.

This is a recurring theme in the Bible. Jeremiah 17 says, Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose conviction is in Him. They will be like trees planted by the water that sends out its roots past the stream. Information technology does not fear when oestrus comes; its leaves are always greenish. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.

One morning time at a retreat where I was speaking, I woke up thinking about this passage. I walked from my cabin to the dining hall to get some coffee. Ane of the staff came upwards to me, a 20-year-one-time named Alec. He knew my wife, Katrina, suffered from multiple sclerosis. He told me when he was seven, he was hit by a convergence of three serious infections and almost died. During his prolonged recovery he had to work hard to regain strength. His favorite biblical character is Job, he said, because Job had a lot of problem in life merely ended upwards twice equally strong at the stop of it than earlier. Alec said, "I came out of that illness twice equally strong in my body and heart. Then when I was fifteen I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. The vision in my right eye comes and goes and I have other of the classic MS symptoms. Only the Lord is helping me and I'g determined to exist twice as stiff and twice as blessed through this process." I watched him work and realized he was adamant to thrive alongside his fellow workers at the retreat center, despite his disability. That xx-year-old had developed the spiritual maturation of Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17, and information technology's a process that keeps going all our lives.

Psalm 92 says, The righteous shall flourish similar a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the business firm of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will even so comport fruit in old age, they volition stay fresh and green, proclaiming, "The Lord is upright; He is my Stone, and there is no wickedness in Him."

If we separate from the world and meditate on the Give-and-take, whatever nosotros practice will prosper—that is, we volition joyfully fulfill the programme God has laid out for united states. We will fulfill it successfully in His eyes, joyfully, and productively and by His grace. We will mature. We are not people who think in terms of failure. We may not e'er see all visible success, but the aforementioned God who knows how to plough curses into blessings also turns blessings into benefits that chemical compound from hither to eternity for His celebrity.

4. Our Destination (Verses 4-6)

And speaking of eternity, the last three verses draw our destination: Not so the wicked. They are the like the chaff that the air current blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the manner of the ungodly volition perish.

Near of us are not farmers and don't know much about chaff. But think of little $.25 of straw caught in air current. Now pic a huge scarlet tree, planted in a will-irrigated zone by a river. A potent breeze blows the devious piece of harbinger to oblivion. But the tree merely sways gracefully in the wind.

That represents the difference between a Jesus follower and those without Christ—no affair how rich or powerful or successful or big-headed they are.

Conclusion: I sometimes wonder if Jesus modeled His Sermon on the Mount after Psalm 1. Both portions of Scripture begin with the same word—blest. Both go along to depict the righteous life of a laic, and both end by contrasting 2 roads leading to different destinations. Here in Psalm 1, we're told that God watches over the highway of the righteous, simply those on the highway of the wicked will perish. Which route are you lot on? Psalm i is the foundation of the Psalms because it is foundational to the prosperity of blessings unlimited.

Ii roads converged in a wood, and I—

I took the Jesus Route, less traveled past,

And that has fabricated all the difference.

And that'southward one of the 82 references in the Bible that begin "Blessed are…"