The Necessity for Christians to Understand the Importance of Being Blessed! Part 3.

02 May 2026 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 1:1.         Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly (wicked), nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

And it’s a somewhat chilly and cloudy lazy-day Saturday on this second day of May 2026, but it’s a lazy-day Saturday nonetheless, and if you don’t have to go out, then the weather doesn’t really matter. (smile) And brother! Every day I keep seeing this frost advisory warning. What’s that about eh? Isn’t it supposed to be spring with the trees blossoming those loverly green leaves? Yes. And many of them have already done so. But I guess climate change might have something to say about that. (smile)

Anyway, we know that spring is here, and it’s only a matter of time before the whole northern clime is once again covered in beautiful green flora, because that’s the way the Lord designed it. And to help us chase away any doubts or worries we might have about anything, let’s offer up our Lazy-Day Saturday Prayer, in all sincerity and truth.

As one voice: ‘Lord, I want to be with You now. Please slow my thoughts and quiet my soul. Let my muscles relax, my breath deepen. You are here with me – Your peace and LOVE are present. I marvel to think You can’t be contained, that Your LOVE both surrounds and fills me. Thank You for this tenderness, Lord. I praise You for Your unceasing nearness. Increase my awareness of You today, that I may know You all the more. Amen!’ 

And if our heart motives were right, then as John say in his first epistle: ‘And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us:’ (1 John 5:14) And asking to become more intimate with God is surely in the Lord’s will. Then, according to John: ‘And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired (asked) of him.’ (1 John 5:15) So if we were sincere in our prayer then we know for sure that the amazing peace and calm of the Lord will soon be flowing through us on this lazy-day Saturday.

And what could be better than that eh? Only the further knowledge of being blessed when we are obedient to Him. And yesterday we stopped looking at scripture blessings at the end of the Beatitudes, but there are a couple more scriptures on ‘Blessedness’ that I would like to share. Beginning with Psalm 1, which testifies thus: ‘Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly (wicked), nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers (channels) of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.’ (Ps. 1:1-4)

Yes friends, that’s the blessedness of a man whose priority is the Lord. And he could not put it any clearer than that. Or as the scholars say: ‘In essence, the psalm is teaching that the blessed or happy man is the righteous man. The happy man avoids evil influences, deeds, and attitudes (vs. 1); he delights in God’s Word (vs.2); therefore God causes him to prosper (vs.3).’ But as the psalm continues: ‘The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.’ (Ps. 1:4-6)

Yuh see that mih bredrin; ‘the ungodly is worth no more than chaff, (vs. 4) and his destiny is judgment (vs.5). And the Lord knows the difference between the two. As the scholars say: ‘The psalm forms an appropriate introduction to the Psalter (Book of Psalms) since it sets before the reader the three characters who will figure mostly in the psalms: the righteous, the ungodly, and God.’

And finally we come to the blessings that the Lord proposed to bestow on Israel, if they  hearkened diligently to the voice of the Lord and obeyed all His commandments. Then He would set them high above all nations of the earth. All these blessings would come upon them and overtake them: ‘Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body (offspring), and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine (cattle), and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store (kneading bowl).

Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten (defeated) before thy face: they shall come against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself , as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in all his ways. And the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.’ (Deut. 28:3-10)

Oh my fellow believers that’s what the Lord promised to do for the Israelites if they obeyed His commandments and lived the way He desired. And the same applies to us today. If we live the way the Lord desires, He will bless us in all aspects of our lives. But what really amazes me is that all the talk about blessings, only takes fourteen verses, but then, those for the curses that follow if they become disobedient, run from verse fifteen to verse sixty-eight. That’s surely a lot of curses. All the blessings would disappear and they would suffer things like captivity, plagues, drought, be scattered to different places and be in constant war.

And just like the Israelites foolishly disobeyed the Lord and suffered all those negative things, likewise we are doing the same thing, thus the continual state of strife and hardship in our time. When will we wake up and realize that the Lord controls His universe, and does as He has said from time immemorial? Is it only when He completely destroys us for foolish pride and willful disobedience? I hope not, because if we continue the evil and ungodly way we’re going, that day won’t be far away. Much LOVE!

…how often must we suffer the Lord’s wrath…for being disobediently and ungodly…before we wake up and realize the truth of the situation…

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien

The Deadly Game We Play, when We Choose Sinful Living over Righteousness!

29 Nov 2024 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 1:6.       For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

And then it was Black Friday; the crazy shopping day after Thanksgiving, where all the reputed sales draw crowds of shoppers to the stores to behave like wild animals, in a mad stampede, to buy the few things that are actually marked down. The commerce people have this thing down to a science, knowing that once they get you into the store you will not leave without buying something else at regular or even marked up prices. And the sad part is that every year there are tales of violence and woe with the mad rushing and scrambling to be the first to get into the stores and grab whatever product(s) they have allegedly marked down. 

But I guess the animal mentality is still strong in our nature, and we just seem to LOVE a fight. You only have to look at the amount of fighting and strife that’s currently taking place all over our world. There are probably more places in strife than are in peace. What a crying shame! And that most appropriately brings us back to Psalm 1 that we began studying a couple of days ago. We saw how the man who meditated on God’s Word and walked in His ways prospered. 

But as the Psalm goes on to explain. ‘The ungodly are not so; but are like the chaff (husks, shells) which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the jurdgement, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.’ (Ps. 1:4-6) Oh my people, this has been the Lord’s promise from the very beginning of time! From Genesis to Revelation, His Word is filled with the eventual destruction of the ungodly, and the salvation of the righteous. What is in that we cannot understand? 

And if we want more confirmation of the destruction of the ungodly, Job says it thus: ‘How oft is the candle (lamp) of the wicked put out! And how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. God layeth up his iniquity for his children (stores up a man’s iniquity): and he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what pleasure hath he in his house (what does he care about his household) after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?’ (Job 21:17-21) 

Now that’s a very good question! And I’d like to further ask, what’s in sinful living that’s so wonderful that we are willing to give up eternity in heaven for hellfire and damnation with Satan? Yes, as the Bible says, we all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, (Rom. 3:23) and we all know that the joys of sin are short-lived and can bear many hurtful consequences. As hurtful as this scripture: ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Rom. 6:23) 

So, although we have an option to get away from a life encompassed by sin, yet we still hunger and thirst for it, instead of righteousness. We just have to look at the world and see the ungodliness that’s rampaging through it, with godliness running a far distant second place. Now that’s not right my fellow believers, for Jesus expects us, as His ambassadors here on earth to live a worthy life and speak words of truth and sincerity that will bring the unbeliever to His fold of righteousness, not allow them to wallow in the mire of Satan’s sinful kingdom. 

However, it’s obvious that we’re not doing such a great job, neither by the example our lives set, or the sincerity of our words, for it seems like more people are turning away from God every day, than are joining His ranks. It’s not a very good situation in which we find ourselves, my faithful brethren, but we have no one else to blame for our lack of successful witness than ourselves. For through, fear, comfort, compromise, or whatever reason, we have not been the light of the world and the salt of the earth that Jesus intends for us to be. 

But it’s not too late to do something about it, for we have these magnificent and powerful scriptures in our grasp. The first one comes from the words of Bruh Paul to Timothy: ‘For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of LOVE, and of a sound (disciplined) mind.’ (2 Tim. 1:7) And the next one comes from Jesus. As the disciples were pondering His remark that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, He made them to understand: ‘With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.’ (Matt. 19: 26) 

Yes my fellow saints, let’s remember that all things are possible with our great God, and that we have His Holy Spirit and power flowing through us, so it is indeed possible for us to do some serious damage to Satan’s kingdom, if we only believe and try, put our best efforts forward, in Jesus’ name. Now, let’s go to the throne of grace, through our Friday Chant, seeking divine aid to turn things around. 

Altogether: ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through this past week. You know it’s been rough…  because our many serious problems are escalating instead of improving. And it’s obvious we can’t fix them on our own, so Lord, we’re desperately crying out for your help. Oh heavenly Father, with your omnipotent help, and our trusting faith, we know that we can stand strong and steadfast and defeat the simmering unrest in our land. We therefore ask you Lord to give our leaders the wise guidance to handle these unexpected storms properly. And please help the rest of us to be responsible and to stay safe amidst all the anxiety and confusion of these ungodly times. 

We fervently pray too Lord that you’ll use the discontent and dissatisfaction in our land as a means of restoring faith in you. Return backsliders to your fold. Show them the error of their ways. And please introduce a new flock of believers, who will embrace your LOVE and compassion by the example, we, your faithful believers set. So that our sinful world can wake up and smell the coffee, wake up and smell it sweet and strong! We pray this in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! Amen!’ 

And if we expect divine aid, then we have to do what our prayer says; set better examples of Christian witness. Much LOVE!…

Though the wicked spring up like grass…and all evildoers flourish…they will be forever destroyed… (Psalm 92:7)

Hear our podcast at https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/randy-obrien