Psalms 1:1-3 – “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.

Not only do God’s blueprints for blessing call us to be separated from the world but they also call us to be:

• Saturated with the Word.

Verse 2 says “but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” This call goes beyond just delving into God’s word, it involves delighting in it, so let me ask you, do you see studying scripture as a duty or as a delight. Scripture is where we get to spend time with God, it’s where we meet with Him and meditate on Him. Colossians 3:16 tells us to: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly.” This involves more than just studying scripture it involves saturating yourself with scripture. Success involves more than just staying away from the world it involves spending time in the Word with God. It’s a call to fill your life with the Father, so what is it that fills your thoughts, attitudes and conversations, is it God’s will or worldly ways and wants? The word “dwell” means to reside, to live with or do life with. It is more than just reading the word its letting it reside in your life so that it reigns over your life. Philippians 4:8 tells us: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Are you letting Christ and His Word conform you and have control in your life? What are you dwelling on is it the Word or worry? Many of us may glace at God’s Word but we go no further, this is a call to dig deep and to dwell and do life with the Lord. It’s the call to meditation, which is when we move from reading to regurgitating, mediate involves mulling it over. Meditation moves us from leaving scripture to just sitting on the surface to letting it sink in. Meditation involves hearing, reflecting and readjusting our entire lifestyle in obedience to God’s perfect will. This means that we have to deal with the distractions that want to draw us away from spending time with God. Are you making time to meditate on God’s Word? This is more than just getting into the word it’s about letting the word get into us. In reference to the bible D.L. Moody once said, “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book” The bible is one of our greatest assets in the battle, but it will only protect if we are proactively picking it up. Are you saturating yourself with the Word or just sipping on it? Reading God’s Word is more than just hearing the Word its hiding it in your heart. How hungry are you for His Word?  Look God doesn’t expect us to be scholars, but He does expect us to school ourselves with His Word. 2 Timothy 2:15 tells us “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” How are you handling God’s holy Word, are you holding onto His Word or hardly handling it? Are you being careful or being a klutz? We are called to be workmen who know our tools and who use them correctly. Not only are we called to be separated from the world and saturated with the Word but we must also be:

• Situated by the Waters

Verse 3 says, “That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers” It’s the water of the Word that keeps us from withering. A lack of water leads to weakness, we become dehydrated and our bodies become out of balance making our ability to function falter and eventually fail. Without water we will die within a week but when we sink our roots into the source of life not only will we become satisfied but we will become successful. The bible tells us to be planted by the steams of water. Planted has a permanent quality to it, the idea here is that we don’t depart or deviate from the source. Many find themselves living dry lives because they are trying to do life in the desert, devoid of life sustaining water. Where are you planted, where are you putting down roots, and what are you relying on? Are you living close to the source, connected to Christ or are you separated from the source? When we are planted by the source we will be productive, “which yields its fruit in season.” We all want to be productive, yet some of us are trying to do life far from the Father and expecting to bear fruit. Galatians 6:22-23 tells us that, “the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control” Where you are planted determines what you produce. Not only will we produce but we will be prosperous, “whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers.” There is something within every one of us that desires to prosper and be successful but our success is not determined by self but the source. Success is not based on our circumstances or our situation but on the source. Its not the weather it’s the Word that determines success. What about you are you well-watered or weary? How many of us are doing life dangerously dehydrated, trying to walk through this world without drinking from the Word? Are discouraged and dry, are you doing life in the desert, detached from God then stop and come back to the source. In John 7:38 it says that at the climax of the festival “Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.” Lasting life starts with the Savior at salvation but is sustained as we stay close to the source.  What about you are you staying or straying? We need to run to the Redeemer or we will run dry. Are you living life separated from the world, saturated with the word and situated by the water of His Spirit? If you are weary and worn then return to Jesus let Him restorer and rebuild your life. It’s not about reading the Word it’s about rehydrating your life with the Word, don’t settle for a stale life saturate yourself with the source.

Psalms 1:1-3

“Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. 

God longs to lavish His blessings on us, He desires to give us good things but there are times when He has to withhold His blessing because of our bad attitudes and actions. God doesn’t bless bad behavior, when we are being brats and bruisers, when we are selfish and self-centered, when we are argumentative and arrogant, when we are prideful or pouting, God withholds His blessing from us. But when we live lives of love and operate in obedience God is pleased and pours out His blessing. Do you believe that God wants to bless? If you do then you need to not only study God’s blueprint for blessing but seek to live it out. God’s blueprint for blessed starts with a call to be:

• Separated from the world

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” Scripture starts with the call for us to separate ourselves from the sinful society in which we live. Now this is not a call to be a hermit, this is a call to be holy. We are to be in the world but not of the world. Many make the mistake of believing that if they hole up and hide away from the world that they will be walking out the Word. Moving to a monastery, becoming a monk, and cutting yourself of from culture is not the cure.  Seclusion doesn’t solve the problem of sin and it doesn’t necessarily draw us closer to the Savior. While we may avoid the wickedness of this world we can’t hide from our own heart. Also God’s plan is bigger than just not walking in wickedness it involves walking out our witness, and while we are walled off from the world it’s hard to walk out the Word of God. In truth this is not a call to cut ourselves off, but to be careful not to get carried away by the culture. While Jesus went away into the wilderness away from the world to fast and seek God at the start of His ministry, and although He continued throughout His life to practice seeking the Father through silence and solitude, the vast majority of His time was spent in constant contact with the culture. Jesus was surrounded by society yet did not sin, he touched and taught, he helped and healed, he served and set the example of how to live life. His disciples followed in His footsteps doing the same, and after they returned from a tour of ministry, teaching truth to the masses Jesus called them to come away Mark 6:31, “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” The bible tells us that they had been so busy helping and serving others they had not even had time to eat. Because they had been so surrounded and saturated with people that Jesus told them to depart to a deserted place and get their rest. They planned to take a brake but scripture says “many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.” When they stepped out of the boat they were surrounded by people, so how did Christ handle the crowds, what did He do, did He tell them to leave and insist on being by Himself? No, he didn’t respond by retreating by being a recluse, instead it says He was, “moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.” His disciples were also in constant contact with people, preaching, teaching, and like the Savior they they were surrounding by society as they served. Only when the Apostle John was placed in exile at the end of his life was he isolated from others. When Jesus was asked which were the greatest commandments He said, “love your neighbor as yourself.” So here is the question, how can you love your neighbors if you cut yourself off from the culture and hide from humanity? If you are never in the presence of other people how do you put Christ’s teaching into practice? When you consider Christ’s statement that loving your neighbor is one of the two “great commandments,” you realize that hiding away is not the answer. Monastic life may minimize the wickedness of the world and even make parts of life easier but it doesn’t mesh with the whole of God’s plan. We are not called to hide from humanity but to live holy lives that are sold out and separated to the Savior in the midst of the culture. This is not a call to cower and hide from the culture but a command to not conform to the culture. Romans 12:2 tells us “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” As Christians we are called to confront the culture with compassionate truth not to conform to it and become tangled up. We are called to be transformists, not conformists. So let me ask you are you a thermostats or a thermometer, one reads the temperature the other changes it. It’s here as the Word warns us about our walk that we see the seriousness of where we sit and where we stand. We are called to live lives separated from sin, in 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul wrote “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of pure heart.” When Paul talks about evil desires, he is talking about the worldly wants that entice and entangle. These are the temptations that tie us up and prevent us from living in the light. So let me ask you what is your greatest worldly want? Is it fame, or fortune, fornication, are you that which is pure or putrid? You can’t love and live for the Lord while you are lusting after the things of this world.  I John 2:15-17 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” Now don’t get me wrong there is anything wrong with having things as long as things don’t have us. For instance there is nothing wrong with money as long as it doesn’t become our master. Cash is not the problem control is, it’s when cash starts to control our lives instead of Christ. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and Money.” Money can be a wonderful servant but it’s a lousy master and it will be one or the other in your life. This idea of our character being corrupted doesn’t just apply to possessions but also to people, I Corinthians 15:33 says, “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” Some people will build you up while others will tear and take you down. When we choose to walk in wickedness with people of corrupt character they will rub off and ruin you. It becomes a question of influence, are they influencing me to conform to Christ or the culture? If you truly want God’s blessings then you need to seek to separate yourself from the world. What steps do you need to take to separate yourself from the world?