BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - SUNDAY IN THE SON

IN JESUS' SERMON ON THE MOUNT, HE SPOKE BEATITUDE #4,
as recorded in Matthew 5:6:
   

"Blessed are those who 

hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they shall be satisfied."

Since Jesus is "our righteousness",

we hunger and thirst for Him!

 As you listen to this song, consider:  "You are what you eat!"

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - KETCHUP AND MUSTARD SATURDAY

It's a Ketchup (Catch-up) and Mustard (Must Do) Saturday! 

When a ketchup bottle gets squeezed, ketchup comes out.

When a mustard bottle gets squeezed, mustard comes out.

When a christian gets squeezed, what should come out?

A summer Saturday reminder of what this life is all about!

It's summer!  It's hot! 

I saw today, on FB, that one of my friends was experiencing 110+ degrees.

How does summer heat effect you?

Are you exhausted?

Dehydrated?

There's a lot of water coming down outside.

I just heard, on the news,

that this month has already made the record, for our state,

for the most rain in any month - ever.

What about drinking water?

There may be plenty coming down,

but are you getting plenty inside of you each day?

How much do you need?

Since our children were little,

I worked hard to keep the family hydrated

with pure water.

Each person had his/her own water bottle

in the door of the refrigerator.

I do the same, now, for the 3 of us still at home...





 along with plenty of water bottles to take with us when we are on the go.  

What makes water pure?

Actually, "pure water" is a term usually used

to refer to water that is just water- with no other materials dissolved in it.

Most water has some materials like salt or minerals dissolved in it,

so obtaining truly "pure" water (Just H20) is rare.

There are different rules of thumb about keeping hydrated.

The one that I believe to make the most sense and

have tried to adhere to is:

Everyday,

drink half of your weight in water.

This rule applies, as long as you weigh 240 lbs. or less.

Typically, on an "average day" no one needs to

drink more than 120 ounces.

So, if you weigh...

100 lbs.? Then, drink a minimum of 50 ounces of water.

150 lbs.?  Then, drink a minimum of 75 ounces of water.

240 lbs. or more?  Then, drink a minimum of 120 ounces.

Is it possible that you've been feeling physically BLAH

because you are not getting enough H20 each day?

***************************************************************

What about spiritually?

Are you getting enough water?

Are you getting the right kind of water?

Like oblivious little children chugging household cleaning liquids,

we consume the devil’s drinks of:

fear...

 distrusting God...

 worry...

pride...

impatience..

gossip...

lies...

We must replace the junk drinking with pure LIVING WATER. 

When we get squeezed, shouldn't it be pure LIVING WATER that come out?

Consider Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman in John 4:

 

^7 "There *came a woman of Samaria to draw water.

Jesus *said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

 ⁸ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹ Therefore the Samaritan woman *said to Him, “

How is it that You, being a Jew,

ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?”

(For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to her,

“If you knew the gift of God,

and who it is who says to you,

‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him,

and He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ She said to Him,

“Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep;

where then do You get that living water?

¹² You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You,

who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”

¹³ Jesus answered and said to her,

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst;

but the water that I will give him will

become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

ARE YOU MEETING THE NEEDS

OF YOUR SPIRITUAL THIRST

BY FILLING UP ON JESUS AND HIS TEACHINGS?

A great way is to join us here each day.

It's transforming!

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FRIDAY

When our third child was about 18 months old, he was growing really rapidly.  One night, I heard a noise in our kitchen.  I got out of bed and tiptoed toward the noise.  I did not expect to see what I saw.  Caleb was hanging from a top cabinet handle by one hand.  He had made a staircase with the lower drawers to get up to the countertop.  He was a child on a mission.  He was hungry and thirsty and had flipped out of his crib with one goal in mind... fill his stomach. 

Do you have a spiritual hunger and thirst for Jesus that spurs you on?   That drives you to daily search for spiritual food? 

BLESSED! OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - TRANSFORMING THURSDAY

Have you ever said things like...

• I'm really hungry for some chocolate!
• I'm craving ice cream today!
• I could eat this whole bag of chips!

It's hard to admit it, but most of us have.

We need to train ourselves to hunger for an apple, a healthy salad, or whatever is the best thing for us to eat.  We need to train ourselves to thirst for pure water instead of all those sugary liquids we consume.

Jesus says that we will be blessed and satisfied (filled up) when we hunger and thirst for righteousness (Jesus).  Have you made it a habit to daily:

• study Jesus?
• meditate on His words?
• contemplate how He lived His days?
• continually thank Him for what He has done for you?
• follow His lead in continually living out the beatitudes?  His sermon on the mount?

I have some women in my life who are spiritual rock stars.  Each one of them carves out time in their days to:

• study Jesus!
• meditate on His words!
• contemplate how He lived His days!
•  thank Him for what He has done for them!

You can begin training yourself to hunger and thirst for righteousness by studying, meditating on, and following Jesus' lead in living out:

• His beatitudes! 
• His entire sermon on the mount!

Please join us here each (most) days,

seeking to be filled/satisfied,

as we hunger and thirst for JESUS:

A - Alpha and Omega

B - Blessed One; Beloved; Bright morning star

C - Creator; Counselor; Cornerstone

D - Deliverer

E - Emmanuel (God with us)

F - Faithful Friend

G - God's anointed

H - High Priest

I - I AM

J - Joy

K - King of kings and LORD of lords

L - Light; Lion; Lamb

M - Master; Majesty; Messiah

N - Name above all names

O - Our righteousness

P - Prince of peace

Q - Quieter of the winds and waves

R - Righteousness

S - Savior

T - Truth

U - Unfailing love

V - Victorious warrior; Vine; Valiant One

W - Way; Word; Wisdom

X - eXample; eXellent one; eXact representation of God

Y - Yahweh

Z - Zion's glory

"BLESSED" means OH, THE JOY!

"Oh, the JOY for those who hunger and thirst for Righteousness..."

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Matthew 6:31-34
"Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

John 16:7-9
"But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹ concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me..."


1 Corinthians 1:30
     "...Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness... 

 
1 John 1:9
     "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - GRATITUESDAY

I am thankful when things "turn out right".  Aren't you?  Life is so hard... there are many things that get in the way AND so many choices.

This past weekend I was honored to visit Rochester, Minnesota for the second time in a month.  Rochester is the home of the world renowned Mayo Clinic.  They describe themselves on their website in this way:

Mayo Clinic, St. Mary's Hospital and Rochester Methodist Hospital form the largest integrated medical center in the world, providing comprehensive diagnosis and treatment in virtually all medical and surgical specialties. More than 350,000 patients from all walks of life seek answers at Mayo Clinic each year.

Daily, people make the choice to come to Mayo Clinic to help get things that have gone wrong with their bodies made "right" .  Sunday, after worship services at the Rochester church of Christ, I visited with a few women who have been and are being blessed by the services offered at Mayo Clinic.

• One woman, who lives in Rochester, said that her body did not work "the right way" from an early age.  Many years of her young life revolved around the grand mal seizures that controlled her body.  This made life very hard.  She never knew when her body would "malfunction" and cause her to have a seizure.  Then, 10 years ago, a stimulator was implanted in her body.  For the last 10 years that same stimulator has done it's job and allowed her body to function in "the right way", with no seizures.  She kept pointing up to the heavens and saying, "It is only God who got me through and has made this turn out like it has."
• Another woman, I visited with, is at the Mayo (from out of state) because her heart has not worked in the right way for a while.  She is scheduled to have major heart surgery on July 9th to get her heart to once again work in "the right way". 
• A young woman, from a southern state, has a disorder that causes her body to continually create tumors.  She is currently a visitor at Rochester seeking treatment for this debilitating challenge.  If only her body would work in an orderly manner, in the way God designed it... "the right way"... but it doesn't.... so, she is at Mayo seeking help for her body to go from disorder to order... from tumor-ridden to tumor free. 

   
.All three of these women have experienced the desire, determination, perseverance, focus, craving, and seeking for their bodies to work "the right way".  They have made the choices to do what it takes to make things go right.  It has not and is not an easy path, but they are thankful just the same.

As I thought about the many people who had come to the Mayo, just that week, pursuing help to make things "right" for their bodies, I couldn't help but ask "What about spiritual healing?"

Do we, as a people experience the desire, determination, perseverance, focus, craving, and seeking for our souls/spirits to work "the right way"?  There are so many choices out there!

In Matthew 5, Jesus speaks the 4th Be-attitude,

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTeousness,

for they will be filled."

What is RIGHTeousness?  Webster's definition is:

1. morally upright without guilt or sin
2. in accordance with virtue or morality
3. morally justifiable
4. Christ-likeness

If the Bible says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", then how can I be righteous if I have sinned.  Isn't righteousness "without guilt or sin"?


Aha!  Maybe the better question is, "WHO is RIGHTeousness?"

1 Corinthians 1:30, speaks of Jesus in this way,

"He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made:

•  our wisdom
•  our righteousness and
•  sanctification and
•  redemption..."

Thank You, God, that when my desire, determination, perseverance, focus, craving, and seeking turn to "hungering and thirsting for righteousness" ... that means that I am hungering and thirsting for Jesus!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO

HUNGER AND THIRST FOR JESUS....

So grateful today, Jesus,

that You are our Righteousness! 

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS - SUNDAY IN THE SON and MEDITATION MONDAY

Today, we begin looking at the fourth beatitude, with some musical edification connecting us to the first four beatitudes.

**************

IN JESUS' SERMON ON THE MOUNT, HE SPOKE BEATITUDE #4,
as recorded in Matthew 5:6:
   

"Blessed are those who 

hunger and thirst for righteousness, 

for they shall be satisfied."

AFTER THE PEOPLE REALIZED THAT JESUS HAD WALKED ON THE WATER, THE NEXT DAY THEY FOUND HIM IN CAPERNAUM.  JESUS said to them, as recorded in John 6:35:

"I am the bread of life; 

he who comes to Me will not hunger, 

and he who believes in Me will never thirst.'"

I encourage you to spend some time on this Sunday in the Son or tomorrow on Meditation Monday to consider/connect to  the first 4 beatitudes of Jesus via the following 4 songs.  May they bless you on your transformational journey!


BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT...

FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO MOURN, 

FOR THEY WILL BE COMFORTED.

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK,

FOR THEY WILL INHERIT THE EARTH!

BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO 

HUNGER AND THIRST FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS, 

FOR THEY WILL BE FILLED.

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK - KETCHUP AND MUSTARD SATURDAY

It's a Ketchup (catch-up) and Mustard (Must Do) Saturday! 

When a ketchup bottle gets squeezed, ketchup comes out.

When a mustard bottle gets squeezed, mustard comes out.

When a christian gets squeezed, what should come out?

A Saturday reminder of what this life is all about!

It's the second day of summer.  School is most probably out.  Summer vacation may be around the corner.  Some families are headed to church camp.   It's often a time of transition for families.  Whatever your situation, you might find yourself getting a little squeezed with the stress of all the coming and going... the lack of a "normal" routine.  

As we work our way through the beatitudes (Matthew 5), let's remember that these are "attitudes of the heart"... the heart of Jesus.  When you and I get squeezed, what comes out of us?  It should be the attitudes of Jesus!

1.  "It's not about me; it's about Jesus!"   (Poor in spirit)
2.  "I'm so sorry!"  (Mourning over sin)
3.  "God is in control!"  (Meekness: submission to the reign and rule of God in my life)

2 Corinthians 4:6-16

"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”  made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.

But we have this Treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 

• We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; 
• perplexed, but not in despair; 
• persecuted, but not abandoned; 
• struck down, but not destroyed. 

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.  For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”  Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the One who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead   will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to Himself.  All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore, we do not lose heart..."

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK... FAMILY FELLOWSHIP FRIDAY

Have you ever talked with your children about sheep and their dependent relationship with the Shepherd?  I saw this picture and realized the wonderful decision to put sheep with this verse.  Sheep depend on their Shepherd! Sheep follow the Shepherd.  They allow the Shepherd to be in control.  What about you?

 

 If you and I put the 23rd Psalm to practice in our lives and teach our children to do the same, 

we will get a grasp of what meek is... 

and life will go well for us on the earth. 

What does the Shepherd do?

It's over on the left side!

What should our response be to the Shepherd?  

It's over on the right side! 

"The Lord is my shepherd,

                                                                                                                               I shall not want.

 

² He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside quiet waters. 

He restores my soul;

He guides me in paths of righteousness

For His name's sake.

  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil,

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You have anointed my head with oil.

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me

all the days of my life

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever."

 ^{BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!}

 

 

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK... TRANSFORMING THURSDAY...

Where are you on your journey to let God lead you?  

Is this concept of "power under control" one that is hard for you?  

Do you want to rush things along?  

Are you impatient? 
                     Impatient with others?  
                                         Impatient with your hubby?  

               Impatient with your children? 

                                                                                              Impatient with yourself?  

                          Impatient with God?

Blessed are the meek... 

                    for they let God be in control... 

they understand that transformation takes time... 

                                             transformation takes patience... 

transformation is patient...

Love God!  Be patient with God!

Love yourself!  Be patient with yourself!

Love others as yourself! 

Be patient with your neighbors beginning with your hubby and kids!

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!

BLESSED ARE THE MEEK - WOMEN IN THE WORD WEDNESDAY

Are you letting God lead?  

Are you allowing Him to be in control of your life?  

Consider  ISAIAH 61:

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
    because the Lord has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim freedom for the captives
    and release from darkness for the prisoners,

 
² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor
    and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,

 
³     and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes,
the oil of JOY
    instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
    a planting of the Lord
    for the display of His splendor.

 

⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
    that have been devastated for generations."

BLESSED!  OH, THE JOY!