Psalm 1

Blessed

Walk  -  Counsel

Stand  -  Path

Sit       -  Seat

The Walk in life is based on the decisions you take.

take up a job - marriage - move to a new place -  buy a house

And at each dot , you  have to take counsel . and decisions are made by the counsel.

Bible says , do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.

1 Kings 12

Then Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 4 “Your father made our yoke [a]heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.”5 So he said to them, “Depart for three days, then come back to me.” And the people departed.6 Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, and he said, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”7 And they spoke to him, saying, “If you will be a servant to these people today, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever.”

8 But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?”10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to this people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you make itlighter on us’—thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! 11 And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with [b]scourges!’ ”

Rehoboam rejected elders godly advice and followed wicked advice.

Many times we take shortcuts inner roads in life, but God is calling us to walk on the highway.

God says 

As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts

Isaiah 35:8

A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass over it,
But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool,
Shall not go astray.

Stand - Nor stand in the path of sinners.

Walking in the wicked counsel - one get confirmed in the way of the wicked.

Stand - A person standing is being in the firm , being decisive in what he thinks.

Sit  - Established.

V2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he [b]meditates day and night.

Delight and Duty are two contrast things.

When the work you do becomes a duty , it will be a burden, you will always be waiting when the work will be finished. I always look at the watch when it will be 5 pm in office everyday.

But whatever you do becomes delight to you, then it changes whole perspective.

For many reading the Word of God is duty for 5 mins to 15 mins.

But when it is a duty - you want to be done with it and when you dont do it you get condemned.

but when reading the Word of God is a delight - you dont know the time, even when you are not reading you dont get condemned, but your thoughts will be always be for the Word of God.

Jeremiah 15:16

16 Your words were found, and I ate them,
And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;
For I am called by Your name,
O Lord God of hosts.

V3 : Planted - established.

you will bring forth fruit.

Whatever you do will prosper. 

Some people whatever they touch, it will be disaster.

but some people whatever they take it up, it becomes a success.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the [c]rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

King Eternal

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to [e]God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

When we say Elijah - we refer to him as Prophet
When we say David - worshiper
We we say Apostle Paul - Preacher

But this particular verse that we read , Paul worshiped God.
For this morning devotion, i would like to concentrate on the depth of this verse.

In this worship, Paul talks about the attributes of God.

King Eternal
Immortal
Invisible
God who alone is wise.

For a person who saw the healing from God, when he says God you are my healer. He means it.
When a person who truly experienced forgiveness of God, for him when he says God is my savior, he means it.

Level of Worship is  to the extent of how you know God personally.

King Eternal:  Who was and who is and who is to come.

God is eternal.

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Psalms 90:2 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.90.2.NKJV

God is not bound by time.

Man is too often bound by time.

Man says I will do this thing this year, I will buy a car this year, I will buy a house thisyear , I will do business this year.

But for God, every aspect is eternal.

just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

Ephesians 1:4 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/eph.1.4.NKJV

When God sees things it is eternal.

When God called Abraham, 

He  didn't call him just for taking to Canaan, or have a son , or become a nation, but there is eternity calling.

We often too much affinity for things of the world, and a very negligent attitude regarding eternity.

When we buy a phone, what do we think ?

What are the latest features,

Does it have good camera,

Animation,

Video games.

But rarely do we think of eternal impact.

How many parents think when they buy something for their kids how this is going to impact for eternity.

One preacher said if only our eyes are stamped with eternity of heaven and hell, our lives would be different.

But apostle Paul knows when he says To King Eternal.

This man says whether I eat or drink it is for the glory of God.

How can he say that.

Paul was a great learned man.

He was like today's PhD graduate from stanford or Harvard.

He was very learned man. And he comes from tribe of Benjamin.

But he says in Philippians 3:8 

 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

Count it as all loss.

This is called vanity.

To have a perspective of eternity , you got to know about vanity of this world.

You might be a doctor or nurse or wealthy person or a beautiful person , go before the face of God and say I lay it all down at the altar.

Knowing Christ, knowing Christ.

Two people have really experienced this vanity.

Jacob 

And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are  one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”

Genesis 47:9 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/gen.47.9.NKJV

Abraham

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11:9‭-‬10 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/heb.11.9-10.NKJV

_---------+++++++++-----------+

Only wise God

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are  called.  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—

I Corinthians 1:26‭-‬28‭, ‬30 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/1co.1.26-30.NKJV

Luke 7:

Wisdom is justified by all her children.

For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’  The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  But wisdom is justified by all her children.”

Luke 7:33‭-‬35 NKJV

https://bible.com/bible/114/luk.7.33-35.NKJV

Feeding inner man

Just as the outer man is hungry and thirsty, even the inner man is also hungry and thirsty.
But rarely do we care about hunger and thirst of the inner man.

when the outer man is hungry, he is fed well. and when fed well the outer  man gets strengthened.
and when the outer man is fed with junk food , the outer man will get health issues.

Inner man gets hungry, thirsty.

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

In John 21:15, Lord Jesus said to Peter feed my lambs.
When Peter was asked about whether he loves Jesus more than these, his reply was you know that I love you.

Despite of all his failures, In the depths of his heart , Peter actually loves Jesus.
That is why can boldly tell the Lord that "You know Lord".

The Lord wants this love not only to be contained in Peter, but He wants the lambs to be fed.

This is a pastoral calling for Peter and the message is very clear.

"Feed my lambs". and Its about feeding.

lambs/sheep represent Church of God.
Feeding lambs is not about giving food, water,wine to the Church. This is not about outer man.

This is about inner man.
The Lord knows that the inner man is hungry and thirsty and needs to  be fed.

The Shepherd of the Church has the primary responsibility of feeding the Church with the Spiritual food.

But that happens on Sundays or during bible studies or prayer meetings. and we are all excited when we get that spiritual food in those meetings.

Apart from these  above mentioned meetings, how are we feeding the inner man?

Outside of Church, we are living in a corrupted world.
Many times we feed the inner man with the things of the world.

For example, some may feed  with the news. In this Smart age, media feeds the inner man with news.
porn sites are feeding the inner man of young people with hellish content.

'BREAKING NEWS' - should be the title of every gossip brought forth by the busy bodies in the Church, because they feed the inner man to have the breaking spirit in the Church.

Is our inner man feeding on what the Lord asked Peter to feed the Church with?

Many years even after becoming believer i have fed my inner man with the world.

But I have realized that because of all the junk, my inner man got weakened.

Few things that i learnt to strengthen inner man.

First and foremost thing that  inner should be strengthened is with

Holiness of God.

Only Holy Spirit of God can reveal the Holiness of God to a person.
When we take time and spend time in the presence of God, God reveals His Holiness.

When the inner man is fed with Holiness of God, there we realize our own condition.
Isaiah saw the Holiness of God and he saw what kind of man he was.

Always let there be longing to be filled with holiness of God.
The Lord said, Be Holy for I am Holy.

If we dont know and the Holiness of God how can we be holy.


Opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God. 

Many in this world wait for when the weekend will come so that they have an opportunity to go out and enjoy. To go to beach or to go on vacation ....

and most of the worlds opportunities expose people to feed on worldly things.

We see in Churches, Pastors tries to create events after events so that Church gets more and more opportunities to be exposed to the presence of God and fellowship of the Church.

But that does not stop there, even for ourselves, we need to always create opportunities for ourself to be exposed to the presence of God.

Have meditation time, Have worship time, Have fellowship time, Have sharing time.

Expose yourself to God.

Also for the families,  The head of the house should create more opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God.

for example, If the family exposes kids to gadgets, video games obviously kids are exposed and even addicted to them.

But if the head of the house creates opportunities for the kids to be exposed to the presence of God, then they will be giving an inheritance of godliness to them.

Simple example could be.

Teach some music to your children and let them play worship songs in your family time.

Create an opportunity to go out and share the gospel to some friends.

Don't yield to your children's desires, but feed their inner man in with proper food.



Meditation:

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things arenoble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Meditation is a gift of God to man to think and ponder upon something.To fix our eyes, and gaze upon.

Meditation - Not many know what meditation is.
many in the Church meditate on bad reports about others, things that are impure, things are not praise worthy.

Paul mentions here , what the inner man should be fed with.

Inner man needs Things that are

Noble
good report
virtue
praise worthy.

Never replace these with unworthy things

1 timothy 4:15
 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. 16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Meditation matters,

Paul is asking Timothy to meditate on reading, exhortation, doctrine and the gift that is given to Him.



Feed the Inner man.



Let not the inner man be fed with Junk, but through the Holy Spirit , let the inner man be strengthened by feeding with Holiness of God and things that are noble and praiseworthy.

Amen.