Blessed's

i got up and did something i don't normally do. when my husband walked out the door, i wanted to go do my normal...turn on the news, see what's going on in the world, turn on my computer, check my email...blah blah blah, the usual. and the Holy Spirit spoke to me, i hit my knees and just asked the Lord to please lead me today to do what He would have me do, and not what i want. i think that there are times i ask Him this, but only after i have already begun to do my own will each day first...once i see it's going "my way, or what i would see as favorable for me," then i ask the Lord for His help. i've been wrong, He showed me that this morning.

so, in my prayer time that God so graciously allowed me to have, with sleeping baby in bed...i sought the Lord. He whispered in my ear, as i cried out to Him about my current and reoccurring horrific failures that plague my daily life..."blessed are they that hunger and thirst after Righteousness...," then i heard, "blessed are they that mourn...," and then, "blessed are the poor..."

following my prayer time, i sat down with my Expositor's bible and God confirmed what i had already believed God was showing me in my spirit. but i wanted to search it out a little more to be sure that this bible i was reading wasn't biased in some way. i found someone else that so eloquently expressed yet the same thing! i knew God was revealing something to me that was going to help me better understand what i've been going through.

i looked up the first one that i heard, "BLESSED ARE THEY THAT DO HUNGER AND THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS..."

"Blessed"= happy. that one is simple. the word hunger means "to suffer want," thirst is the "need for refreshing," and Righteousness is defined by the Strong's concordance to be, "the condition that is acceptable unto God."

so then i go to my trusty commentators to see if what they are saying bears witness with what God has just shown me.

to "HUNGER & THIRST AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS" is explained as "an intense desire for God's Righteousness, imputed by Christ, upon faith in His Finished Work on Calvary"...translation: we have no possible way of 'doing what is right' and seek to find the moral characteristics from some place...namely, knowledge of this brings us to the place where we realize that we need Jesus for this, because He is completely Righteous, and He gave all that He is up, for us to receive what He did and become like Him, acceptable in the sight of God.

my friend, J. Gill says that those that are hunger and thirst, they seek not the riches, honours and pleasures of this world, but after righteousness. This righteousness which is only imputed (put into us) by God the Father, and is received by faith. To 'hunger and thirst' after this, supposes a want of righteousness, which IS THE CASE OF ALL MEN. This is a righteousness that is justified in the sight of God, not men.

This means that it is only when we have reached a place in our lives where we are finally able to see through our constant failures, flaws, and the issues of our hearts that continue to resurface...that we are NOT ABLE to make this mark, we WILL NEVER MAKE THIS MARK on our own. it's like seeing ourselves dressed and adorned in these shimmering white robes from head to toe, only to look into the mirror of the Word of God and see that we've always been wearing filthy rags in the sight of our God. Self-Righteousness which stems from pride is what drives us to neglect this true view of what we ACTUALLY look like to God in ourselves.

We come to Christ and receive salvation from Christ and think that God is never going to show us any of that stuff again. That is not reality, and although IN CHRIST, we are seen in God's sight as Perfect, because Christ is Perfect...we still have this sin nature within us to contend with each day. God is constantly using the Holy Spirit to reveal flaws to us that were always there...He does that in order to bring them out, so that we will admit to Him we need His help in this area, and allow Him to do this work in us. Understand that it doesn't happen overnight, it is a processsssss, sometimes a very lonnnggggg one! that is why the Word says to "let patience have her perfect work."

By the Way, i suggest that people get a KJV bible as opposed to the Non-Inspired Version (NIV) and other such translations that paraphrase and do not use a word by word translation. when you read these other versions that are not a WORD for WORD translation, you are missing out on very important meanings to help you better understand the Word of God, therefore you are short changing yourself in study efforts and only getting PART of the whole meal, but you are paying the full price. Get ALL that God has for you, even if you don't understand with the thee's and thou's, that is why i have a link for blueletter.com on here, so that if you don;t know the meaning of a word we are studying, you can look it up. :)

Ok, getting to the good stuff now. so then i looked up the scripture, "BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN."
when i thought of this scripture, i felt the personal anguish of the constant frustrations i've been feeling, and how i have hated behaving and reacting in the fashion that i have. sickened by my actions, and desperate for the answer from God, i found that to "mourn," is NOT talking about when someone mourns the death of a loved one lost or anything like that! God is talking about those that are "grieved because of personal sinfulness." for the mourning "for sin, for our own sins, for the sin of our nature, indwelling sin, which is always working in us and is continually grieving us..." for these shall the Holy Spirit bring us comfort.

And then the Lord took me to: Rom 8:1-2, 11

Where He says, "Therefore is there now no condemnation (no guilt) to they which are IN CHRIST JESUS (refers to Rom 6:3-5 & our being Baptized into His Death, which speaks of the Crucifixion---if you haven't read my teaching on Rom 6:3-5, you need to! it will open your eyes, as it has mine on what Baptism really IS & MEANS!) Who walk not after the flesh (depending on one's own personal strength, ability, or religious efforts to overcome sin), but after the Spirit (The way of the Holy Spirit works) of Life (all life comes from Christ, but through the Holy Spirit. John 16:13-14, that we may be led into ALL Truth and not just SOME truth) in Christ Jesus (Paul refers to what Christ did at the Cross, which makes this "life" possible.) He made me free (has given me the Victory) from the Law of Sin & Death (the moral law we can never obey, but was fulfilled totally in & by Christ Jesus, that abolished death and sin at the Cross of Calvary and the power of the sin nature working in our members.)

{Almost all of the former are direct quotes of the Expositors Study Bible explanations that i have used here.} 

Now the last scripture that the Lord spoke to me, but it is the first beatitude that is mentioned in the Word. 

"BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT," could be translated, "Happy are those conscious of their moral poverty," meaning, we have no moral character that stands up to God's standard, which is Perfection within ourselves. Those that realize what they are and admit it to God are happy, and free!

J. Gill says this about it: "All mankind are spiritually poor; they have nothing to eat that is fit and proper; nor any clothes to wear, but rags; nor are they able to purchase either; they have no money to buy with; they are in debt, owe ten thousand talents and have nothing to pay; in such conditions, they are unable to help themselves.

it is these that freely acknowledge their poverty and want, bewail it, & mourn over it; being humbled for it, and broken under a sense of it, entertain low and mean thoughts of themselves. seek after the true riches, both of grace & glory. they are beggars." 

in all of these lengthy comments John Gill writes, he is accurately expressing what man really is and not how he naturally views himself. hence the reason for the picture i have at the top of the blog. we are not powerful, we don't even have a big growl...and yet how we picture OURSELVES is as a roaring, powerful and threatening lion, vicious and ready to attack if given the chance. The truth is, we are nothing but a pile of dirt carrying around Gods' breath! it's not even our own breath, He gave it to us and because He gave it, it helps keep us alive in these earth suits that we call our bodies. 

i actually wanted to talk about the second part of each of those scriptures, but i felt as though the most important part for us to realize are the first parts of them. See, when we read the Word of God, we assume that we are NOT the one that is in the circumstance we read. ie: "blessed are the poor in spirit," we think that we are only poor in spirit when life isn't going our way, but let me remind you, Adam and Eve were ALWAYS naked in the garden, but it wasn't till they sinned that they were made painfully aware of such. When we read and study the Word of God, we need to assume the lowliest position possible, because it IS our TRUE position, whether we want to admit or not. Christ is the ONLY ONE that makes us ANYTHING, ever! 

of course, God will have to reveal this to all of us in His own way, it may be painful, but it's wonderfully neccessary, because when the bleeding stops, we're glad for the injury. He says that if He doesn't correct us and chasten us, that we are like bastards and not His children. i don't know about others, but i WANT to be His kid. if i have to take a few butt-beatings along the way for Him to get my heart where He wants it, so be it.

i think we are on our way to better understanding how to do the Father's Will.