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;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night…

And whatever he does shall prosper” (Ps 1:1-3)

The climbers have found rest and peace in the house provided by the Lord of the Mountain. The same house has a room called ‘Prosperity’. We have been given the key and now it is time to enter.

In Psalm 1 the believers are given one of the greatest promises of the Bible.  Basically there are two types of men in the world: the righteous and the ungodly. The first group is made of all the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. These were former sinners but Jesus gave them His own robe of righteousness and now they are justified before God! They are the ones who receive this wonderful promise that ‘whatever they do shall prosper’. Yes, you read it correctly: WHATEVER THEY DO SHALL PROSPER!

The ungodly are the unbelievers. They do not believe in Jesus Christ. They may look like nice people, they may be religious and be moral men, but they are called ungodly or wicked because of their stand against the Lord. The easiest way to understand the word ‘ungodly’ is to see it like this: any man who lives his life, who does his things in a way different than God’s prescribed way in His Word that is an ungodly man. For example, looking for a job, starting a business, the act of dating and marriage, making friends and the rest, these all can be done God’s righteous way or the ungodly way.

To claim the promise of godly prosperity, the believer has to trust and obey the word of God. In particular, the believer has to walk, stand and sit God’s way. Then the promise of total prosperity shall be fulfilled.

The first command is to refuse ‘to walk in the counsel of the ungodly’. The word ‘walk’ means your attitude in your daily life. It also means to travel out of your comfort zone, to experience new things far away from home. God says that we should be careful with the type of counsel or advice we take in; who is our teacher, our mentor. If we say that we are believers, then we should talk, dress and behave according to God’s Word. The ungodly mentorship shall be revealed especially when we travel far away from home and all moral restrains are lost.

Practically, if you study the Word of God and wisely you apply it daily to your life, at home or in a strange land, then you shall prosper. If you carefully reject any spirit, ungodly idea or teaching that directs you to ignore your Bible, then you shall surely prosper. This is the promise of God!

The second command is to refuse to stand in the path of sinners. The word ‘stand’ means to abide in the same spot, to be established in a particular way of thinking, to refuse training and change. It is an attitude of suborn unyielding to the truth. The word ‘sinners’ means the unbelievers, the worldly, the reprobates or the ungodly. This command speaks against the attitude of insisting to keep wrong friends or business associates. God warns us against staying in an unequal yoke relationship with the ungodly. You are a believer but you enjoy ungodly friends; people who succeed in life but in a way different than God’s way.

Lastly, we are warned not to sit with the scornful. The word ‘sit’ in Hebrew means to dwell in the same house or to marry. The scornful are the mockers. These are rebellious proud people who always judge or criticize others, are openly rude and disrespectful to men better than them. Be careful, mocking is very entertaining to the flesh and very addictive.

The ungodly are most unstable. They cannot stay long in a place of peace. They cannot have a happy home and marriage. Their hopes will prove to be false, their confidence a dream cut short. They cannot be a blessing in any fellowship. They shall be restless moving from one church to another. Lastly, if they continue without repentance to the end, they shall end in hell to meet the deceptive spirits who inspired them unto error and foolishness all lifelong. May God forbid this!

In conclusion: as believers who are to live our lives God’s way, according the His Word. This is not an easy exercise, for God’s ways are very different than our ways. They are ‘high mountain’ ways of thinking (Is 55:8-9).  We are to actively search the scriptures to find not just answers to our questions, but God’s style of doing things. Our decisions should not be done by common sense or by the teaching of religious men. We are to change our habits of thinking and doing things. We are to become mature Christians, doing all things God’s way, at home or abroad.  We are to actively seek to have the mind of Christ. We are to separate from any person who likes to succeed in a way different than God’s prescribed way.

We are to acknowledge God in all our ways and He shall direct our paths and make the straight and simple (PV 3:5, 6)

Then the mighty promise of prosperity shall be fulfilled in our humble lives! In Jesus name, Amen!

In Christ I declare:

I am a child of God!

I search the scriptures daily to find God’s ways of doing things!

Whatever I do shall prosper!

In Jesus name

Amen!