Blessed According To Jesus

Being Blessed According To Jesus Part 1

As thanksgiving approaches I had some question come to mind? What does it mean to be blessed? Who is blessed? When are we blessed? If I had to objectively look at what the bible says about being blessed would it match with what I believe and the way I live? I want you to consider filling in this question: I am most happiest when____________________________ ! Now I wonder if you had a friend or your spouse or parents fill it in for you would your reality and their reality match or even come close? As I was thinking about this Matthew 5 came to mind and when we think of Matthew 5 and the beatitudes we normally don’t think about them in the light of how to be blessed. I think they do and I think Jesus was giving us a clear picture of how and what and when we should think about being blessed!
Some things God pressed in my heart
1. You are blessed when you realize your broken sinful nature
“They are blessed who realize their spiritual poverty, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. V3 NCV. We should consider it a blessing to realize our spiritual brokenness and sinfulness according to Jesus. Part of the why is this: Spiritual poverty leads to spiritual BIRTH. This is why it is a blessing when we realize we are poor spiritually, that we are sinners in need of Jesus. When we do, it makes us run to the cross and we are born again and inherent the kingdom of Heaven.
2. You are blessed when you suffer hardship and loss v4
“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.” V 4 Msg. Consider it a blessing when you have trials, experience pain and hurt and have death come into your life. These are times in which we are told that we are blessed. Count your trials as a BLESSING-so contrary to the way we live and what we are taught
James says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1: 2-3. I am comforted by the fact that Jesus wants me to know it’s a blessing to mourn because I am going to receive comfort. We must realize that the pain, the hurt, the trial, the cancer, the death is not the blessing, but if we mourn as though we are blessed comfort comes. The blessing of mourning is the comfort God gives. As times we act as if God s a genie in a bottle. We are so wishy-washy. God is so good and great and we want Him to be in and apart of our lives when things are going good. For many though the minute things become hard, or the minute a trial begins to brew in our lives we react as if God is a bum, or the cause, or the bad guy and we blame Him. This is why many people do not see mourning as blessings because they are not receiving comfort because they are blaming God instead of relying on Him.

3. Blessed are people who give up control of their lives v5
Jesus said “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” When I first read this I have to admit I had no clue what the word meek meant. Honestly I have not used very much in my life and I have not heard it used it much. So I looked it up in a dictionary (yes they still make those). Meek defined is “humbly patient or docile or overly submissive or compliant.” Now I know why people don’t use the word meek more often. Could it be because it does not describe traits that are very highly esteemed in America? We are told to be anything but meek yet here Jesus tells be meek and you are blessed. Be submissive and you will be blessed. The message puts it this way 5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. Now doesn’t that go against the self help growth in America? How many self-improvement books have you read? Here we see the Word of God says, be content with who you are, no more or no less. The last thing many people need is self improvement, they just need to submit their lives to the authority of God and His word. Meekness helps us receive the promises of God into our lives while here on earth. When we submit ourselves over to God and His will for our lives we begin to practice an aspect of being meek. When we do that we allow God’s plan to unfold into our lives here on earth. When we are living according to Gods plan, there will be no need for self help books in your life. God says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare2 and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. There is a great promise. God has a plan for you and this plan is for the good. Part of how we get in on God plans is when we are meek toward God. We say God I am going to be content for what you have for my life. Lord I am going to live according to your plans for my life. Lord I am giving you my life take and use it as you want. Lord I am being meek, I am going to submit my life to your authority. Listen when we do this God says we will inherit the earth. I believe this means we will inherit all the promises that God promised to give us while we were here on earth serving Him. If you read your Bible and begin to look at it from the view of seeing what God has promised, you will be amazed. We can get in on those promises when we submit our lives to Him.
4. People who seek righteousness will be blessed v6
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and xthirst yfor righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. God needs now more than ever a generation to rise up and say, “We are hungry and thirsty for what is right. We want to live our life based upon what God tells us to live on.” Being thirsty and hungry for righteousness means that we are going to call sin what it is. It means we are not going to comprise what the bible says about lifestyles. It means we are not going to ignore what the bible says about the fruit Christians should produce in their life as a believer. It means as a believer I am going to make all out war against the things that God despises and hates. When we do this we are promised to be satisfied. We need to remove the log from our eye to receive this blessing. We are really good at seeing our neighbor’s sins. We are really good at knowing what is wrong with our friend’s life and how they are sinning. But for us to receive this blessing we need to be good at seeing our sin so that we thirst and hunger for what is right. Listen this has to be based off what Gods word says. You do not thirst and hunger for righteousness based upon the rights and wrongs you want to make up and believe. People have stopped wanting to live and know what is right according to God and His Word and this is why many people are not satisfied. Here is what Jesus said. Live your life in a way in which you admit and confess your sin, make war against your sin and make it your all consuming desire to live your life according the principles laid out in the Bible and you will be satisfied. Far too many Christians want to have a foot in the world while having a foot in the church. We want to know we are going to Heaven while we live like hell here on earth. It doesn’t work that way. You want the best of both worlds and so you are miserable. You are constantly seeking that next thing or that next person that going to make you fulfilled. The American dream is a lie from satan. Americans mind set of how to be fulfilled, how to be satisfied goes something like this. As soon as I get that newer bigger house my life will be better, as soon as I get that new car I am going to feel great, as soon as a I get that new outfit I will feel good, as soon as I get that new man or woman, as soon as I get divorced and get me a new spouse then l will be satisfied, as soon as I reach retirement life is going to be great, and the list goes on and on. The things of this world will ever do is leave us helpless and hopeless, always seeking the next “thing”. This is why so many Americans need to drink, need to do drugs, need to look at porn, need to go to buffets(guilty but making war), need to have affairs, need prescription drugs, need to be in a relationship even if it is with a dirt bag, etc, etc, etc. The very thing we need is more of the Word. The fact is you and I both could stand a little more of God in our lives. We all could use a little more of living according to what is right. Jesus made is clear for us. Give me all or give me nothing. There is no room in Christian faith for half commitment; there is no room in Christian faith for wanting the world and Jesus. We all need to choose. Do we want the world or do we want Jesus? Jesus said when you get to that point of wanting me and my rightness then you will be satisfied. I don’t know about you but I am choosing satisfaction. I am choosing to go all in for Christ. Join me it’s really not hard. All it involves is giving Him EVERYTHING. All it involves is giving UP everything. All it involves is being in a constant FIGHT with your sin. All it involves is that you daily DIE to yourself and live to Christ. All it involves is total, radical commitment. That is not the picture many people are told when they are asked to become a Christian yet it what Jesus tells us. Will you be blessed according to Jesus?