Do we have these blessings?

If so, we will see the glory of Jesus.

Jesus said (Matthew 5:3-12) you are blessed – IF – you recognize your poverty and need and helplessness – you repent of your sin - you are self-controlled and patient – your spiritual appetite always hungers for holiness – you are merciful and kind whether or not it is deserved – your heart is pure and seeking God, not diluted by other interests or desires – you make peace in people and places that have not known peace – your life so exalts Jesus that His enemies revile and  persecute you.  Anyone who consistently lives such a life will have great reward in heaven.

For believers (1 Corinthians 2:10-13, 1 Corinthians 2:16) God has unveiled by the Holy Spirit hidden things that we would otherwise, never know.  The Holy Spirit searches out the deep things of God and the Devine counsels so that we be committed to obedience.

The wonderful Holy Spirit enables us to comprehend and appreciate the lavish gifts and blessings freely given to us by God.  Then the Holy Spirit empowers us to communicate these Truths, to make known the good news of the Gospel of salvation to others.  Because of His Incarnate Deity within us, we have the (1 Corinthians 2:16) mind of Christ and therefore we hold the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His loving heart.

If I want the blessings of the Sermon on the Mount, I must yield completely to the control of the Holy Spirit so that the life I live will be the Sermon on the Mount.  (Oswald Chambers) “Purity is too deep for me to get at naturally but the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself is purity.  The Sermon on the Mount is not a list of rules and regulations but the life we will live when the Holy Spirit is getting His way with us”.  Taking up my cross (Luke 14:27) is not a burden for me to carry, it means death – dying to myself, my flesh and my old life.  It is the beginning, the doorway to my new victorious resurrection life in Jesus.

Read again Matthew (chapters 5,6,7) and we will see God’s goal for our lives.  Growing continually toward (Matthew 5:4-8) the perfection and maturity of godly character.  To trust (Matthew 6:33) God so completely that worry is a stranger to us.  To have our priorities in right order so that holiness and the kingdom of God are our chief concerns.  To hear (Matthew 7:24) and obey God’s Word at all times and in all circumstances.

No Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21) is of private interpretation.  (Dr. Swindoll) “The verses of scripture do not stand individually on their own as the complete Truth.  All Scripture is corroborated and confirmed by all Scripture throughout the whole Bible”.  Never take a single verse or section of the Bible and make it your authority.  That can lead to error.  No Scripture will be contradicted by another Scripture but all together will make, explain and flesh out the truth for our understanding and protection against false teachers.  All Scripture agrees with all Scripture and is the truth and revelation of Jesus.  The Bible is the only source for all the world of absolute, unchanging, living and Truth.  It is the God-breathed Word of God and is forever alive with the breath of God.  Someone has well said that false teachers use our vocabulary but do not use our dictionary.  So, root yourself deeply, enrich yourself abundantly, protect yourself fully in the reliable time-honoured living Word of Almighty God.

I am determined to obey the Lord.  Because of the daily spiritual nourishment of God’s holy Word, I have no desire to ever disobey Him.  Light obeyed always brings more light.  Don’t fight against AI (artificial intelligence), whatever that represents in your life, if there is (Joshua 7:1-5) sin in your life or if you are expecting God’s blessing on your own plans to do your own thing, but have not asked the Lord to reveal His plan and His will. (Dr. Stanley) “God’s will is always best and we cannot improve on it.”  There are no accidents in God’s plan.  It is absolute folly to disobey our Sovereign Omniscient God Who loves us (Oswald Chambers) “If we cannot look the darkest, blackest fact full in the face without damaging God’s character, we do not yet know Him”.

If we truly know the Lord our God and truly love Him, we will exult in the incomprehensible perfection of beauty and magnificence of His holy character which is far beyond all the things that we cannot and don’t need to understand.  It’s not important that we understand all our circumstances and know the reason for them but it is vitally essential that our top priority (Philippians 3:10) is knowing God at ever-deepening levels of intimacy with Him.

God is absolutely, totally, completely Sovereign and He can use anything He chooses in His dealings and His purposes.  He used (Numbers 22:28) a donkey in His dealings with greed.  He used (1 Chronicles 21:1) Satan in His dealings with pride.  Even more startling, He used a Moabite (Ruth 4:17) to be the mother of Obed, the grandmother of Jesse and the great-grandmother of David who was the king of Israel and the ancestor of Jesus Christ!  Pause to wonder and worship!  How could we ever doubt Him, our God Who uses and weaves together all the threads of all time through all the centuries to build, complete, accomplish in exact detail His holy purposes.  Nothing is ever out of His Sovereign control.

Now I see Him.  Just now I see Him walking the turbulent waters of the sea, the sea of my life – and – I know that everything over my head is under His feet.  It makes no difference whether it is a raging tempest or calm as a mill pond.  We live in the Milky Way galaxy and scientists tell us that between two and a half billion and probable 2 trillion galaxies exist in our universe.  This incomprehensible Creator is the loving imminent God Who (Malachi 3:16) condescends to listen to the earthlings He has redeemed.  (Oswald Chambers) “God wants to turn our times of prayer into mountains of transfiguration”. Will we let Him?  That is where we will see the glory of Jesus.

I thank God for the wonder, the miracle and the mystery of unbroken communion with Him by continual worshiping intercession.

Related Articles