Good morning. Good morning.
This is a brand new podcast and we are
going to look at the book of Psalms.
And I'm going to show you how
to meditate on God's holy word,
just in case you don't know how,
or maybe you need a refresher.
Cause I know I wish someone
had walked me through on this,
but I will say this,
the number one thing that's going to
help you understand God's holy word is to
read his holy word and you
need to get a good Bible.
I have several translations. I
love reading God's holy word.
And the reason why I love to get
different translations is because the
original language of the Bible,
the original text was in Greek and Hebrew,
and then it was translated into Latin
and then possibly some other languages.
And then down to English,
English is a dead language,
meaning it's not really elegant language
that is used to translate into other
languages per se. So that's why it's
good to get multiple translations,
but I am using the it's called the
new international version Bible
and it is the NIV leadership Bible and
it's reader to leader in 15 minutes a
day. I love this Bible so far.
It has been really wonderful.
It gives great insight.
I also like how it gives timelines because
I like historical data because I love
documentaries. And so we'll go ahead and
start, start with the book of Psalms.
And I start with the book
of Psalms because it is one
of my favorite books ever
since I was a little girl and it's one
of the easiest books to understand God's
love. And it's just very comforting
because you know, the book is Psalms,
but they're also written in
a form of a song as an S N O
S O N G S.
And it's one of those
things that somewhat,
sometimes these are written in
kind of a, a melody type fashion.
And other times it's
written more poetically.
And other times it's written
just in a kind loving manner,
but not necessarily to
stringed instruments, because
sometimes all these songs,
it will say to be song a certain way,
or you have well, like for
example, in Psalm eight,
it says for the director of
music, according to get it,
and I'm not sure if that's how
it's supposed to pronounce that.
Cause I haven't seen that before, but, um,
says that that is probably a
musical term and it says a Psalm of
David.
So a lot of these were
written to comfort the heart.
And I think this is something
that we could all use,
whether whether you
believe in God, God or not,
I think this is a great way to comfort
your heart and to give you hope in your
life. If you do believe in God, you know,
for sure use this along
with your prayer life.
And sometimes what I would do
when I would get home from church.
Like if I didn't take communion
at church, I would come home,
read a couple of readings from the holy
word of God and then take communion.
You know, you can incorporate
God's holy word into your life.
So let's take a look at
the first song. It said,
bless it as the one who does not walk
and step with the wicked or stand in the
way that sinners take or sit
in the company of mockers.
But whose delight is in the law of the
Lord and who meditates on his law day and
night, 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. So the wicked,
they are like chaff that
the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in
the judgment nor centers in the assembly
of the righteous for the Lord watches
over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked
leads to destruction.
So here's how I look at a Psalm like that.
I look at it line by line or verse by
verse or first thing I do is I sit and
meditate. You know, what is
this song? Speaking to me?
W what is God trying to tell me
through this song? So over the years,
the holy spirit has guided me in different
things through this particular song,
because every time I read God's
holy word, I learned something new.
That's what I love about this book.
It is wonderful because it's it's,
even though it's a book it's
not dead, it is a living,
breathing document and Testament of
God's holy covenant with us, his word,
his promises, and his love for
us. So it's living and breathing.
It's still live. And you know
that because of how God loves you.
So let's take a look here. It says,
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
right there.
The first thing I thought of was to
be careful who you keep company with.
And I remember when I was in high school,
there were some people that, you know,
they may have seemed funny, but they
were not good people to be around.
They just had a very kind of
disturbing, twisted sense of humor,
like so much so that it wasn't even
funny at times. But I just thought,
you know, is that really who I want
to be around? And those teenagers,
they got into really weird forms of
trouble. And I was like, you know,
I don't want to be associated
with people like that.
Like if they can't act normal, then
I don't want to be around that.
And you're probably thinking,
well, they're teenagers. Well,
I think a lot of adults give permission
to teenagers to act however they want
when they shouldn't. Um,
teenagers are still minors in the,
in the eyes of the law.
And what some teenagers need to know
is that there are some laws that if you
break, you will be tried as an adult.
So it's important that you be careful
who you hang around, who you listen to.
And if you have children, if you
have teenagers, you are the adult.
And it's important that you
train them in the right way.
That doesn't mean get a Bible and
Joseph beat them over the head with it.
It means just day by day step-by-step,
you know, train and then character,
character building, um, attributes that
is really important for young people.
And it says,
but whose delight is in the wall of the
Lord and who meditates on his law day
and night. Now, some people might read
that literally and think that, oh,
you've got to lock yourself in your room
and read your Bible all day every day,
and like never leave your house
and not be a part of society.
That's not what that is talking about.
When it's talking about taking
delight in the law of the Lord,
that means you're taking delight
in his protection of you.
He guards and protects you. And it
really comes down to that. You know,
that your heavenly father is good
and true, and that he loves you.
The next part is meditating on his law
day night. Well, that, like I just said,
it doesn't mean just only reading his
word and never reading anything else.
What that's talking about is knowing God's
holy word and having it in your heart
and knowing and believing in the
goodness of God. Because for example,
when I'm going for walks, I walk anywhere
from three to maybe five miles a day,
and that's not including the running
that I do because I'm training for a
marathon, but there are a lot of times
that when I'm walking or running,
I meditate on God's holy word in my heart,
or I'm praying to God because you don't
have to be kneeling by your bed to pray.
You don't have to,
you'll make a huge amount of
outward signs of prayer to pray
if anything,
that's the direct opposite of what we're
supposed supposed to do when we pray.
And we really want to have a one-on-one
and it's a serious one-on-one with God,
we're supposed to go
to like a prayer room,
or you can go to your upper room as
it says in the Bible and you know,
or your closet, and just meditate and
be alone with God and talk to him,
have a serious conversation
with them. You know,
a good relationship is
one that is not haughty,
meaning you're not doing
it just to be seen.
So it's important that your prayer life
be private. That doesn't mean that it,
Hey, if you're out and about, and you
need to stop and pray for a moment,
then for sure, stop and pray.
But the most common way that I am
praying is I'm praying while I'm cooking
breakfast. You know, it's just
a silent prayer within my heart.
I'm not making a big to-do.
Yes. I'm scrambling eggs. Yes.
I'm baking bread and toasting
toast and having bacon.
And other times I'm, I'm praying
while I'm driving. And it's just a,
just a soft prayer within my
heart. It's not some big to do.
I don't always have music
on while I'm praying.
I don't always have a particular prayer
music or prayer song because I love all
different kinds of music.
Like I've tried to do the whole prayer
music thing and just listen to one type.
And it just, it drives me nuts because I
want to listen to everything, you know,
as long as it's not
extremely vulgar, you know,
I like all different kinds of music.
So I don't pigeonhole myself into one
way of thinking or one way of praying
another way that I pray as I pray
while I'm walking. And I love that.
Cause it's, you know, people just say,
oh, well, I, I don't, I don't pray.
I meditate. Well, technically
prayer is a form of meditation.
And if you're meditating,
you need to make sure that you're
meditating on the right things.
And the right things are everything
that is good and holy and true,
and that come from God. So,
because I look at it this way,
God will always lead you in the right.
Like I've learned over the years to
not rely on my own thinking. You know,
I need to rely on God.
And it took me a long time to understand
that because I thought, well, you know,
I'm an adult.
I'm supposed to know how to live my
life and do those kinds of things.
That's not what that's talking about.
Yes. God wants us to be full grown adults.
You know, not act like little toddlers
or we'll toddlers or little kids,
but what it means to completely
rely on God is that you rely on God
in that stage of life.
Like when I was a child,
if I was to completely rely on God, I
would be looking to him for food, water,
and shelter all the time.
But when I was a child,
my parents were helping to provide
that. So then when I became a teenager,
which mind you, my relationship with God
was not very good for many, many years,
probably the first 20 to 30 years
of my life. It was very tumultuous.
It was not the best. I would
have moments of happiness,
but I'm closer to God now that ever
have been, and I'm 37 years old.
And I'm very thankful for that. And so,
um, you know, when you're a teenager,
you might be relying on God to
help you pass the test. You know,
things like that. When you
get into college, you know,
you might rely on God to get you home
safely because you were drinking too much,
which more than likely the Lord will
try and tell you don't drink and drive
and don't ever drink like that. Again,
you know, in college you might be having,
God help you with, um, your, your test
and to help you graduate. You know,
when you get out of college, you know,
your next assignment might be to get
a job, you know, a good full-time job.
So you might go to God and ask him
for help to help you get a really good
full-time job. And then you have,
maybe you might want to get married.
So you would go to God, ask
you, or you might go to God,
ask him to help you find a spouse because
I have dated for years and years and
years, I'm not married. I do
want to get married someday.
I just haven't found the right guy yet.
So what I learned took me a long
time to realize this was go to God,
but that request, because he can find
me the right man, the right man, that's,
that's just for me. And that,
you know, will have a wonderful,
loving relationship and a
wonderful, very blessed marriage.
And when I say super blessed, it,
I don't mean like being super religious
and that we're just going to sit and
read our Bibles all day. I actually
don't want that at all. Um,
I do read my Bible and I hope that
whoever I'm married, you know,
likes to read a Bible,
but, you know, I would,
I would be open to marrying someone
that's either atheist or agnostic at this
point in my life because Christians,
at least the ones I've been around,
sometimes they can be really extreme and
I don't always enjoy being around them.
Like they kind of Christians that I
enjoy being around are ones that are not
Bible thumpers. They're not
there to shame and blame.
And I've learned just from my working
experience as a business consultant,
that the number one people that I
enjoy being around or people that are
atheists or agnostics,
because they're not religious,
they're not brow beating you.
I think Christianity, you know,
it is a wonderful religion. And I
do believe it is the one true faith.
What I don't like is when Christians take
it to the extreme and they use it as a
way to condemn people when
that's not our job, you know,
we're supposed to bring people to Christ,
not push them away. And I've learned,
you know, I really just want peace
in my life. And you know, there,
there are times that I meet really
good Christian men. And then it's like,
it's like, once we start
dating, it just goes south.
It just doesn't go very well.
It's like this pressure to do things
a certain way. And I'm like, no,
like you just need to get to know each
other. You need to date. And you know,
if you meet the right person and you know,
within like a week or two or a month
that, you know, you want to be together,
then by all means get married.
That's a wonderful thing.
I don't have these rules
that, Hey, you have to be,
you have to date for four months.
You have to date for a year.
Then you have to be engaged for a
year. Like, I think that's stupid.
If you know, you've met the right person,
just go for it. I mean, God loves you.
He's guarding you and
protecting you. Like,
I think what really bogs
down Christianity are,
all these unwritten rules that we
put on ourselves and we put on other
people. And I think that
pushes people away. Well,
that's not what God says to do.
He says to focus on him and
when you meditate on his law,
then you're not going to be consumed
with all these other laws and all these
other regulations. And you know, you're,
you're not going to be concerned
with other people think about you.
And God was very clear about
that. Even in the book of Psalms,
this actually goes back to Genesis of
God's love for us and how he doesn't want
us to view ourselves the way
that other people view us.
He wants us to view
ourselves as he views us.
And that's out of love and kindness
as a loving father loves his children.
So you,
you have to be mindful of not
taking things to the extreme.
And so I have since gone to a new
church where things are not extreme,
you know, they do believe
in God's holy word,
but they're not there to
brow beat you. Cause I,
I really looked for a good church.
I mean, I really scoped it out,
went to different churches, looked online.
I wanted to see what they actually
practice what they say and do.
And it does what they say and do
match up with God's holy word,
because I've been to churches that were
just too strict. I couldn't stand it.
It was, there were some
churches that were so strict.
There was like a Colt and some of them
were practicing a call. And I was like,
well, I'm not staying
here for sure. So, um,
let's go on to the rest of the song.
It says that person is like a
tree planted by streams of water.
That verses verse three in
this, in the first song.
And what I love about
that is that it says,
notice this is that person is like
a tree planted by streams of water.
It doesn't say a forest is
planted near a stream of water.
It doesn't say a community is
planted near a stream of water.
It says that person is like a
tree planted by streams of water.
It's very individual. So you, God
wants us to be very individualistic.
I think sometimes where
people get confused with
within Christianity and within
any religion is that, you know,
when you come together as a
community or a collective,
that doesn't mean you lose
your individuality. You know,
God made you for a reason. He made you
an individual because he loves you.
He doesn't want you to
sell off for any reason.
He doesn't want you to
change because of people.
He wants you to change because of him
because people are not God and they
don't know your heart, they don't
know your soul, but God does. So he,
he very specifically speaks
to us on an individual basis,
even though we come together and worship
as a community and have fellowship
are first and foremost, you know,
responsibility as a person is
to have fellowship with God.
And then you take that next baby step
and you have fellowship with other
believers and you keep growing in
your face that way. You're, you know,
religion, doesn't start with
people. It starts with God.
And I think one of the biggest mistakes
that Christianity makes is it puts
too big of an emphasis on people and not
a big enough emphasis on God, because,
you know, without God,
we don't have a religion,
so we need God in our lives. So you,
if it's one of those things that you
really shouldn't put the cart before the
horse, otherwise you're
not going to go anywhere.
So let's go on to the next verse. It says,
which yields its fruit in season and whose
leaf does not wither whatever they do
prospers.
So the way I look at
that is you have fruit,
different types of fruit in your life
that will, that will our word, this,
that will bloom. And
they will. How word this.
There's some of the things I, I say,
you basically have different fruits that
you will yield in different seasons of
your life as you grow, not
only just in your faith,
but as you grow in maturity as an adult.
So whatever you know made you happy as
a 20 year old is probably not going to
bring you happiness as a 40
year old or a 60 year old.
So some people get really frustrated
with that and they don't understand that.
You know,
we are continuously growing and changing
as individual and as a person and it is
enriching our soul and the way that it,
it enriches our soul is that
we are not staying stagnant.
We are continuing to grow closer to God.
And the way that you grow closer to
God is that you change as a person
and that you, you long to see
him. You long to be closer to God,
but as you grow older, you
long to be closer to him, um,
in a different way, if that makes sense.
But then it goes on to say not
so the wicked they're like chaff,
that the wind blows away. I've
learned that wicked people,
evil people, not very good people, bad
people, however you want to word it.
Cause there are different types of
evil and there's different types of bad
people. Not all bad. People are evil.
Some bad people are good people.
They just make extremely bad decisions.
But there are some people that they
really are evil and wicked right down to
their core because they
choose to be that way.
But what it's talking about here
is that the wicked, you know,
basically God's not going to put up
with really bad behavior like that,
even though he loves
his children. You know,
our heavenly father is just
that he's, he's a father.
He's going to discipline his children
one way or another and you know,
whatever actions we take,
they need to be good and true
because I've learned this.
It's mostly from working with,
with people both good and bad.
What I've learned is that good people
stand the test of time that people do not.
And the reason for that is because bad
people, their intentions are not good.
They have character flaws. And instead
of working on the character flaws,
they expect other people to just
accept them as who they are and not,
and not a good person.
And unfortunately that doesn't stand the
test of time in terms of goodness and
holiness and it doesn't lead to a
better life. That's what it means.
When you know, evil,
wicked people will not be able to stand
in front of God and they will not last
because their endeavors
are not true. And holy.
So if you're going to have an endeavor,
make sure it's true and holy that way,
number one, you can draw
closer to God. Number two,
you can have a really good
life. And number three,
you can be prosperous in
everything that you do.
And plus also the Lord
will guard and protect you.
So that's part of God's
covenant with us. It says,
therefore the wicked will not stand in
the judgment nor centers in the assembly
of the righteous.
What that tells me if that last verse
nor centers in the assembly of the
righteous I've learned over the years,
it's very difficult for me to
be around a bunch of bad people.
And I'll give you an example.
Like there was one time, um,
I was going into a business meeting and
I could just tell there was a funky vibe
in the room. And by
the end of the meeting,
I realized why I was uncomfortable is
because every other person in that room
was not a good person. They were
just saying really grotesque things.
And this was a professional
business meeting. This was
not like at a frat house.
You know, this wasn't like
at a barbecue. You know,
this is a very professional
business meeting, excuse me.
And these people were not behaving
in a very professional way.
And we're talking about
money and finances,
and we're talking about the future of
the company. And I just kind of realized,
okay, this is not where I
need to be in my career.
And also I don't want to make friends
with people like this because he used
associate with is who you become.
So you need to be careful who
you have in assembly with you,
who are you associating with? And that
there, there are times that, you know,
you have to talk to people, be around
people that you don't like or don't know,
but you don't have to
let them into your life.
You don't have to make them
a part of your lifestyle.
You don't have to let them in your house.
You don't have to have
lunch with them. You know,
you need to be careful who you
associate with because again,
whoever you associate with is who you
become. So if you want a better life,
you know, say for example,
you want to be rich. Well,
you need to start being
around wealthy people.
You need to learn what
they did to get rich.
You need to learn how to
manage your money. You know,
if you want to be a better
professor at a university,
you need to be around really talented
professionals or maybe really talented
motivational speakers,
or maybe you need to get involved
in speech and debate classes,
things like that. You
need to be around who you,
who you want to emulate or someone
that can mentor you and who you want
to be in terms of being successful in
your career and in your life. You know,
like for example, when, uh,
when medical students are
going through medical school,
they pick what type of
internship they want to do.
And then they go intern
there. Why? Because they want
to be like that. You know,
if a surgeon, if they, um, if the medical
student wants to become a surgeon,
they're not going to do an
internship at a dermatology clinic,
they're going to do their internship,
probably at a surgery
center or a hospital,
because that's where they need to be.
It's the same thing in our faith and also
our careers, wherever you want to be.
That's where you need to
figure out how to get there.
And you need to be around like-minded
people like people that support you,
people that love you, people that care
about you care about your welfare.
They're not there to bring
your, to bring you down.
They're there to lift you up.
And that's especially important when you
have tough trials and hardships in your
life.
Like you can be doing the job that you've
always loved and that you've always
wanted, but that doesn't mean other other
stuff won't happen to you. You know,
maybe, you know, your wife leaves you
or your girlfriend leaves you, or,
um, or maybe, you know, you get
in a car wreck or maybe, you know,
you get sued and you lose
your house. You know,
there's all these different scenarios
that can happen, but you know,
you still have the really good job per se,
but there might be other bad
things that happen in your life.
So you really need to treasure those
moments when you're around good time,
people that are like-minded,
you're just like you.
So that way that will help cushion
the blow of hardships in your life.
And it will help get you through
to the next level of happiness.
And it will get you to the next level
of success in your career, you know,
cause don't ever go backwards, always
go forward. Always, always, always.
And example of that, I've used
in my life is when I lost my job,
there was a company merger and I
got, let go. I was not happy about,
but you know, I kind of read
the writing on the wall,
but so instead of just taking any job,
like I knew what money I
was making at the time.
And so I was not going to take a job that
I was going to get paid less because I
did not want to be desperate for work.
So what I did was not only did I apply
to jobs that were at the same income
level, but I applied to jobs that
were double or triple my income.
That's how you need to handle a job
loss. And that situation, you know,
if you're working as a corporate
accountant or something,
you know, do not take a job where
you're a day, laborer, nothing,
he gets day labor, but your
skill sets are different.
And whenever you take a
job that is not within your
skillset and below your skill set.
And I don't mean that in
an arrogant or pompous way,
whatever job you take after you get,
let go pretty much defines
where you're going next.
So if you change, you know, industries,
make sure it's the right industry
you want to go into, you know,
if you're having to take a job because
it's lower pay, make sure it's temporary,
make sure, you know, you
let your employer know, Hey,
I need this job because I need to
support my family while I'm here.
I will do the best I can.
But I just want you to know,
I do need to make more money to
better support myself and my family.
So I will need to go to interviews,
you know, during the week, you know,
maybe once or twice a week, but I'll give
you a heads up. But in that meantime,
I will give you everything I have in
terms of my, my best work. And you know,
you know, maybe this job will
work out and I'll get promoted,
but this is what I'm looking
at. I've done that in the past.
And every employer I've said that to
you has completely understood where I'm
coming from because most people understand
what it's like to have a financial
hardship. And when you lose your job,
you at least need something
coming in to pay the bills.
It doesn't mean you're
going to stay there,
but you at least need something that's
going to help you move on in the right
direction in your life.
So then it goes on to say for the Lord
watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked
leads to destruction.
What I love about that verse is it says
the Lord watches over the way of the
righteous,
because when you realize who your heavenly
father is and who you are in Christ,
Jesus, you are guarded and
protected all the days of your life.
That doesn't mean you won't have slings
and arrows coming at you in terms of
hardship,
but it does mean that the Lord watches
over you and he will help you get through
anything and everything. Because for
the longest time when I was younger,
I thought that meant that
I would never suffer. Well,
that's not realistic at all in life.
But what it means is that whatever
you go through, God is there for you.
And sometimes the hardships I've had
my life have always led to something
better. That doesn't mean that God set
us up for failure. Not by any means.
God doesn't want destruction. Our life,
he doesn't with death disease hardship,
or, you know, lack of
money. Not he doesn't,
he's not the purpose that he's not
the person that orchestrates that,
that that's not what God does.
God is a very loving father.
He gives us free will in this world,
which also gives free will
for some bad things to happen.
But they're not from God because
everything that comes from God is good and
holy. And when I'd learned
to look at the good things,
because I was always focusing on the
bad, I was like, why is this happening?
You know, this is ridiculous. You
know, why can't my life get better?
And so once I focused on the good
things, focused on what I have,
what I currently have and what I want,
then things got tremendously better.
I wasn't focusing on the bad. I
wasn't focusing on the hardship.
Then I realized how,
how much I actually was blessed and that
I don't need to worry about anything.
So when you focus on the good, that
doesn't mean you're ignoring the hardship.
It means you're dealing with the
hardship in a very positive, good manner.
And you're going to push through it a lot
quicker than if you were focusing just
on the, on the bad events in
life. And I'll give an example.
If all you're ever doing is
watching the news and you know,
letting your brain take in all this
horrible, horrific news every day,
every day, all day, multiple times a day,
what kind of mindset
are you going to have?
And what kind of life are you
going to have? What kind of.
Conversations are you
going to have with people?
You're not going to be a
very positive individual.
You're not going to have very positive
conversations and more than likely,
you're not going to be a very positive
person to work with or to go out with.
So flip that coin, change your life.
Stop watching the news all the
time. I'll look at it this way.
If a catastrophe happens, I will get
a text on my phone. Other than that,
I don't ever turn on the TV unless it's
to watch something that I want to watch
from like back in the day from like
10 or 20 years ago. Like I just,
I don't watch a lot of current stuff
because sometimes it's just too negative
and I want to focus on the good,
because I want good things in my life.
But so that is the end of this lovely
podcast. I pray that you have enjoyed it.
Um, if you would like to submit feedback
or have a question or concern, or,
you know, you just want to, you know,
have a prayer request or something,
be sure to email me, there's
a link on my podcast website.
You can send that to me directly.
So until next time I pray that you have
a wonderful week and I pray that you're
very happy and blessed and everything
that you do. Amen. Bye-bye.