4.14.2012 BLESSING

what is it to be truly BLESSED? what would it look like if you observed it in another? would it be...let's see..that i would be obedient to God continually..to be more realistic..to be obedient would be the highest desire of my heart,

LOVE, THAT IS, OBEDIENCE TO YOU LORD would largely determine what i would do everyday and how i would do it...and when i realized i was not to run back quickly to You forsaking my sin...againandagainandagain all day long if need be...coming back to obey You. i would
matthew 22.37- 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. this is the great and foremost commandment'.

LOVE OTHER PEOPLE (true, heart felt..not fake)
matthew 22.38-'the second is like it, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself'.'

DELIGHT IN PERSECUTION that came to me ON ACCOUNT OF YOU LORD
matthew 5.12-'rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you'.

CONQUER EVIL
hebrews 11.32f-'and what more shall i say? for time will fail me if i tell of gideon, brak, samson, jephthah, of david and samuel and the prophets, who by faith
conquered kingdoms
performed acts of righteousness
obtained promises
shut the mouths of lions
quenched the power of fire
escaped the edge of the sword
from weakness were made strong
became mighty in war
put foreign armies to flifght
women received back their dead by resurrection

OR ENDURE EVIL (having already conquered it within)
hebrews 11.35f..and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection
and others experienced mockings
and scourgings
yes, also chains
and imprisonment.
they were stoned
they were sawn in two
they were tempted
they were put to death with the sword
they went about in sheepskins
in goatskins
being destitute
afflicted
ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worth)
wandering in deserts
and mountains
and caves
and holes in the ground.
and all these, having gained approval through their faith,
DID NOT RECEIVE WHAT WAS PROMISED.

God has created marriage, foods and many other good things to be shared in by those who know the truth (I timothy 4.3-4), but can we not forgo them as Jesus did while He was here?

I timothy 6.8f-'and if we have food and covering with these we shall
BE CONTENT, SO AS TO

BECOME FREE TO DEVOTE yourself to AND
FOCUS THE MOST POSSIBLE time, talent, energy and effort
TO PROMOTE GOD'S KINGDOM ON EARTH, around us and within us.
-matthew 6.33-'but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you'.
-seeing the widow put two small copper coins into the temple treasury Jesus said to His disciples, 'truly I say to you, this poor widow PUT IN MORE than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, OUT OF HER POVERTY, PUT IN ALL SHE OWNED, ALL SHE HAD TO LIVE ON. mark 12.43-4
-I timothy 6.9-'(we shall be content. BUT THOSE WHO WANT TO GET RICH (ie. have more than food and covering)
fall into temptation
and a snare
and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction'.
-I timothy 6.17-'instruct those who ARE RICH IN THIS PRESENT WORLD not to be conceited
or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but
(fix their hope) on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.
instruct them
TO DO GOOD
TO BE RICH IN GOOD WORKS
TO BE GENEROUS and
READY TO SHARE, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, SO THAT THEY MAY TAKE HOLD OF THAT WHICH IS LIFE INDEED'.
-matthew 6.19f-'DO NOT LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES ON EARTH
where moth and rust destroy and
where thieves break in and steal.
but LAY UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN
where neither moth nor rust destroys and
where thieves do not break in or steal.
for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
the lamp of the body is the eye
if therefore your eye is clear (margin 'healthy')
your whole body will be full of light.
but if your eye is bad,
your whole body will be full of darkness.
if therefore the light that is in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness!

for this reason i say to you,
DO NOT BE ANXIOUS
for your life, as to what you shall eat,
or what you shall drink
nor for your body, as to what you shall put on.
is not life more than food
and the body than clothing?

LOOK AT the birds of the air, that
they do not sow, neither
do they reap,
nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
are you not worth much more than they?

and which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span?

and why are you anxious about clothing?
OBSERVE how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,
yet i say to you