- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
- Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they should see God.
- But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
- Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
- Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
- Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
- Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day
- Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
The heart is deceitful
Recently I was led by the Spirit to see my heart’s condition and it’s so surprise to know I was deceived by my heart all the time, for I can’t see the blessings in the sermon on the mount have to be sought for. Our Savior has paid with his own blood to make these available for all. How precious and profound are these blessings! It’s beyond words can describe. And I am learning how to examine myself by looking at the response to Jesus’ word. The ultimate Sermon On The Mount can be a mirror to view our own heart.
Kingdom and Righteousness of God
The Beatitudes gave us some of the most important blessings. (Matthew 5:3 NIV) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. This is the blessing everybody needs, but not all who read this verse will have it. Ever since reading the Bible, I know this is important, but somehow it did not occurred to me that I must tell the Lord I definitely want this and asking Him to teach me and guide me on how to receive this blessing so that I will never miss it. Don’t know what’s in my heart that causing me overlooked such important teaching.
(Matthew 5:6) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. These blessings are so important Jesus explicitly instructed us to pray and ask for them (Matthew 6:33) But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And now I can see He promised everyone who seeks can get them, in (Matthew 7:7) “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Maybe my heart was not fixed on his righteousness, so I missed. Although these verses are so clear and simple, not in parables. Others have also overlooked this, and thus rarely being filled with the Spirit.
Let us go to Jesus and hear His teaching again:
The Beatitudes
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
Now pause for a moment, don’t just read His words like a story book, after each chapter we want to know what’s next, as some kind of entertainment or for knowledge only. No, we need to follow the Lord’s living word to guide our prayer and heart, He said in (Matthew 7:24) Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and practices them, I will compare him to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock; Remember always asking guidance of the Spirit on how to practice them. In this case we can follow a few verse in psalms 5 and 25 and pray, and this should be our habit in reading scriptures.
(Psalms 5:1-3 NIV) Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing. Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray. In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation. I want to get the blessing of pure heart and humble spirit, O Lord, according to your will. (Psalms 25:4-5) Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.
When meditating on these words all the day, I can see God’s children are deceived by their own heart into believing they already have, more or less, some of the blessings, and no need to seek more. Due to frequent thinking about earthly things, many fell into Satan’s trap without knowing it. We have no idea how many blessings have been stolen by the enemies, that’s why some are suffering sickness and stress unnecessarily. For many years I read the Bible with similar approach, although I did gain more knowledge as my prayers are mainly for knowing the truth. But I didn’t realize I missed the important truth that brings life, that is obedience in practice His Word.
Jesus warned the lukewarm, He said in (Revelation 3:17) You say, “I am rich. I have become wealthy. I don’t need anything.” Yet you don’t realize that you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. This is so typical among self-professing believers today, some may think “I have got the kingdom of heaven and righteousness already, I will surely meet with Jesus when rapture comes”. But the fact is not many are spiritually matured and ready, for we don’t know how to listen to His voice clearly and so embraced many man-made doctrines and opinions. Just as the scripture says, in (Galatians 1:6) I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ to follow a different gospel. Therefore, we have to pay more attention on the Scriptures.
Disciples and the world
Now go to the teaching on difference between His disciples and the world, (Matthew 5:13-16 ISV)
“You are the salt of the world. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty again? It’s good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by people. You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.
People don’t light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
The Lord declared in this passage, the only purpose for anyone to be saved is to be the salt and light of the world — doing good works, otherwise it’s good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled on by people . This is a very serious warning and calling the disciples to imitate Him, to be Christ like, and the call is speaking in a way that others may not see it.
This is the will of God that is written, (1 Peter 2:15 NIV) For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. To some people “God’s will” is just another verse, no big deal. Because they think they already have the assurance of salvation, and not very likely to seek the Lord for further instruction on how to carry it out. Perhaps, we all go through this stage in our spiritual walk, once getting more serious about Jesus’ lordship authority in our life we will seek Him and obey Him.
However, more people seems prefer to hear something like “faith alone” and “salvation without works”, rather than doing good. I suppose to tremble at His Word, and seek the Lord to see if I fulfilled “ that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven“. But I am still learning how to fear the Lord. The body of Christ desperately need pure heart and poor in spirit, need to be filled with the Spirit to do the will of God. Then, the salt will not lose its taste and be thrown out. I have to confess being too casual about the scripture, (Romans 2:24 NIV) As it is written: “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” Let’s repent and asking for mercy, so that we can become the true light. Now follow psalms 123, 143 and pray;
To you I lift up my eyes, O you that dwell in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden to the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait on the LORD our God, until that he have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
(Psalms 143:7-12)
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for I do trust in You; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto You.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I flee to You to hide me.
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground of uprightness.
O LORD, for Your name’s sake quicken me; in Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am Your servant.
For you have only one teacher, the Christ
“Cause me to know the way in which I should walk” and “Teach me to do Your will” are the key prayer request in psalms 143 that we need to learn. Those who are serious about doing God’s will in His way would ask the Lord to “Teach me to do Your will”. After reading the scripture I am not used to seek the Lord for further instruction on how to practice it, but always try to do it my way. It’s very easy to mistake our will as God’s will, or our plan as God’s plan. To be the salt and light of the world is not possible by ourselves, it has to be taught by God, not by man, as it is from God, and we should always pray for it. If anyone doesn’t have real desire to pray something like that, he is deceived.
Jesus said, (Matthew 23:8-11) “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are brothers. And don’t call anyone on earth ‘Father,’ for you have only one Father, the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘Teachers,’ for you have only one teacher, the Christ! The person who is greatest among you must be your servant. Beware, some people do not believe this word, they like to be called scholars, theologians or teachers. They will not obey what was written; (1 Peter 4:11 KJV) If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Apostle Paul wrote (1 Corinthians 11:1 NIV) Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. Have I followed? I dare not say yes, and many sheep failed as well, they are deceived by the self (like me) due to reluctance in taking up their cross and denying the self. However, some will wake up after war and collapsing of economy. Now, let’s pray psalms 80 and 119; (Pay attention to the request in the following short prayer, “Cause Your face to shine” and “Make Your face shine” repeated 4 times. How important is this verse!)
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel; You Who lead Joseph like a flock; You Who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth.
Stir up Your strength before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, and come, save us.
Restore us O God, and cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved!
O LORD God of hosts, how long will You be angry against the prayer of Your people?
You feed them with the bread of tears, and give them tears to drink in great measure.
You make us a source of strife to our neighbors; and our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us O God of hosts, and cause Your face to shine; and we shall be saved.
You have brought a vine out of Egypt; You have cast out the nations and planted it.
You cleared a place before it, and caused it to take deep root; and it filled the land.
The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the mighty cedars with its boughs.
It sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the river.
Why have You broken down its hedges, so that all those who pass by the way pluck her?
The boar out of the wood ravages it, and the wild beast of the field feeds on it.
Return, we beseech You, O God of hosts; look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine,
And the vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and the branch that You make strong for Yourself.
It is burned with fire and cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance.
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the Son of man Whom You have made strong for Yourself.
So we will not turn back from You; make us live, and we will call upon Your name.
Restore us, O LORD God of Hosts; cause Your face to shine, and we shall be saved.
(Psalms 119:105-112)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.
I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word.
Accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws.
Though I constantly take my life in my hands, I will not forget your law.
The wicked have set a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
My heart is set on keeping your decrees to the very end.
(119:129-136)
Your statutes are wonderful; therefore I obey them.
The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.
Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.
Direct my footsteps according to your word; let no sin rule over me.
Redeem me from the oppression of men, that I may obey your precepts.
Make your face shine upon your servant and teach me your decrees.
Streams of tears flow from my eyes, for your law is not obeyed.
Amen.