Blessed are they...

Last night we met for prayer for our upcoming Revolution 375 service and Doug, my brother-in-law, mentioned a passage of scripture that I hadn't thought about in a while. He was reading out of the Message Bible from Matthew 5:3. I love the beattitudes and enjoyed looking through the notes I had taken while listening to a very wise man, Doug Marks, speak on the topic.

Verse 3 says, "Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous - with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!" Mr. Marks brought out that the phrase poor in spirit could be said as those who have no "stash" to fall back on or to impress with. Wow - how many times do we depend on our hidden stash of past accomplishments or talents that God has given us? We pull them out when we feel insecure or when we want to make sure others know how important we really are. Or perhaps in a physical sense, we don't like to find ourselves in need of anything. We scrape and plan and hoard so we will never find ourselves in a difficult situation. But God wants us to give all that we have for others. That sometimes puts us in a difficult position financially - but God always comes through. It is a trust issue. The righteous have never been forsaken and God's seed has never begged for bread. When we truly rely on His provision and abundance in our lives, we are free to give until it hurts - and then give some more!

Verse 4 says, "Blessed and enviably happy [with a happiness produced by the experience of God's favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His matchless grace] are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted!" Again, it could be said as those who realize the true condition of their heart. I have seen people who pine away for things and loved ones lost using this scripture as an excuse for excessive mourning. That's not what it means at all! It means that we are blessed when we finally realize that we can never achieve righteousness on our own - that our hearts are too full of sin. The only remedy is Jesus Christ's shedding of blood for our attonement. Yes, we mourn over the condition of our hearts, but we are comforted by the fact that our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ and we have eternal life with Him!

Verse 5 says, "Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous - with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!" Let's say those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit - meekness is not what we think it is. People think that being meek means being a wimp. I like this definition: bridled power. We surrender our will to be led by and controlled by the Holy Spirit in all things. The scripture says we are spiritually prosperous because of this! If you find yourself struggling or feeling spiritually bankrupt, check out how much you are allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you as well as how obedient you are to His call. When we act out on our own with no care for what God says, we find ourselves in an unprotected environment, open for the attack of the enemy. We don't become doormats when we decide to operate in meekness - we simply allow the God through His Holy Spirit to "channel", for lack of a better word, that power within us in the directions He wants it to go. We are submitted to His authority and not operating in our own authority.

Finally, verse 6 says, "Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous (in that state in which the born-again child of God enjoys His favor and salvation) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God), for they shall be completely satisfied!" Those who long for God's nature and character shall not be disappointed - they shall be satisfied because they shall find it! God isn't trying to hide Himself from us. He longs for us to long for Him and His way of being and doing things right. He wants us to seek, ask, knock - and not to stop there, but to keep on seeking, asking, and knocking! When we hunger and thirst to become more like Him and to operate in His character and righteouness, we will certainly be filled to overflowing. He will not withhold good things from His children. I think that in today's society, we try to fill the hunger and thirst in our hearts with temporal/physical things like food, alcohol, relationships, sex, entertainment, etc. But God wants us to realize that when we feel that emptiness inside, it is He Who is calling to us - He longs to fill that void inside. Turn to His word when you are battling a temptation for something that will ultimately destroy you. Turn that craving around and use it to fuel your search for Jesus! It will take some hard work at first - your flesh is used to having whatever it wants when it wants it. But it will bring a satisfaction and a peace to your life.

I'll write about the remaining beattitudes tomorrow. Have a wonderful day searching for Jesus and finding out about God's character through His word.