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Posts tagged with: Holy
Feb 7, 2012    |       3 comments

HYDRATE — WINNING FROM THE INSIDE 4 (Mt.5:6) “Righteousness”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6

DRINK IT IN:
Have you ever been out on a walk or a drive and you pass through the invisible waves of Bar B Que aroma floating out of someone’s back yard? It catches your attention immediately. I think it might be my favorite smell on the planet. Its almost torturous to smell such an aroma when I’m hungry. The smell nearly causes my mouth to water and my stomach to growl. When there is ample food available, I think one of the greatest feelings is when my stomach growls and I know that I am getting ready to eat something delicious. I just love to eat! You too?

Another powerful feeling is the desire called thirst. I grew up on a farm in Kansas and I remember the couple of times that I ran out of water to drink while out driving the farm tractor on those hot summer days. I was never in trouble of becoming dehydrated, but I remember the desire of thirst growing intensely when I had to wait for a couple of hours for my dad to drive out to the field to check on me. He would always have an insulated container with ice cold water in it. When he would arrive on the field I remember the strong to desire of wanting to get my hands on that ice cold water. Thirst is a powerful desire.

So it makes sense when Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”

Jesus said things like, “Man cannot live on bread alone.” He also said in John 4:34, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.”

I wish I could give you some quick formula that would help you increase in your hunger and thirst for God. There is no quick formula. Its something that we grow into. Did you notice that these first four phrases, that Jesus mentions in His very first sermon that are recorded in Matthew 5, show a PROCESS of maturity.

The first step is being “poor in spirit.” This means being totally dependent on God. The next progression that Jesus mentions is being a person that “mourns.” This means recognizing that the world is not what God meant for it to be and it actually saddens you and causes you to long for what Heaven is. The third progression towards spiritual maturity is living a life of “meekness.” This means that we don’t focus on our own lives very much because we are serving others. When we are growing in these areas of our lives, then what is actually happening, is God is helping us to be in constant Hunger and Thirst for Him…which causes us to want to please Him and we know that righteousness is a key element in pleasing God.

“Blessed are those who Hunger and Thirst for righteousness for they will be filled.”

When you hunger for Chocolate…what do you constantly focus on? Chocolate.
When you thirst…what do you constantly focus on? Your favorite beverage.

Hunger or thirst are actually focus! What we focus on is what we give our priorities to. Our priorities are what we commit to. What we commit to, is what we become.

You and I will become what we are committed to.

If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, then we focus on living right. When we focus on living right, then we do right. When we do right, then we make a strong impact on the circles of influence around us. When we have a strong impact on those around us, then we are living a life of purpose and significance. Living a life of purpose and significance is fulfilling. If we are fulfilled, then our lives are full.

Jesus says…”you will be filled…if you hunger and thirst for righteousness.” He’s not saying anything profound here. He’s speaking common sense.

Its not that Jesus sends some magical blessing down upon us when we hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is simply saying…we will become what we are committed to. What you hunger and thirst for you focus on. What you focus on, you become.

SWEAT IT OUT:

So, here is the deal. If you are frustrated with where your life is headed, isn’t it fair for me to ask you to inspect where your hunger and thirst is? Where is your focus?

If you struggle in determining where your focus is, then I want to share with you a short-cut to help you determine the undeniable truth as to where your focus is.

Do a quick peak at your CALENDAR. What are you spending a major portion of your life doing? You might say “work.” That’s okay. Work is a blessing from God. I’m not asking you to make God the “First” priority in your life…I’m asking you to make God the “Center” of everything you do. There is a difference in First and Center. If God is first in your life, then every time you go to work you are going to feel like you are letting God down because you are focused on work. So, the solution is to make God the center of your life and then no matter where you go or what you do, God is always in your central focus. Make sense? So, again, what are you spending a major portion of your time doing?

Another quick short-cut to help you determine where you focus is, is to take a look at your Bank Account expenditures. I’m not asking you to do this to make you feel guilty, I’m simply asking you to measure where you spend a majority of your money. It will help you understand where your priorities are. I do challenge you to set aside and give to God a minimum of 10% of all your income. This is something that God asks of every one of us. It is a part of hungering and thirsting for righteousness. This kind of generosity is good for you. That’s why God asks us to give it. Your giving not only helps you stay selfless, but also helps meet the needs of many that Jesus commands us to help. You should give this tithe/10% to a ministry that is clearly focusing on Hungering and Thirsting for righteousness.

Are you a part of a local church that focus’ on teaching and learning the Word of God and pushes you to serve others using your strengths and talents? Keep looking until you find the right fit. When you do, jump on board fully.

Take a few moments to rate yourself in how you are doing with the first 4 phrases of Matthew 5. Use a scale of 1 to 10 to show how you are doing in each one. Is one weaker than the others? Focus a little more on that one weaker one. Keep growing in the ones you are doing well in. You should be pretty balanced with each one. They should all be a strong and growing reality in our lives.

Focusing on the key elements I mentioned above are a critical factor in living a fulfilling life.
I hope you will commit to moving forward in all of these starting now.
Make your day today one of hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Jan 30, 2012    |      Comments Off on Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #12”

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #12”

“I am Thirsty.” — JC
John 19:28

Again, Jesus could have never physically tweeted this message out on His own. His hands were nailed down. If Jesus had the new iPhone 4S He could have used the text to speech feature or just had Siri take care of the Tweet on His behalf. I’m going to guess Jesus would have used technology to His advantage if He had had it back in His day. I don’t want to have too much fun with this thought because it is such a serious moment in Jesus life.

When Jesus sends this message out…I think He literally dies in the next 1 to 2 minutes after saying one more thing. His last statement/tweet will be covered in tomorrow’s blog post.

So what did He mean with this message. “I am thirsty.” The simplest idea is just what it is. He was just stating a fact. He was dehydrated. He had been through a living Hell in the last 18 hours. Sheer humiliation, degradation and torture. A simple drink might have given Him just a bit of comfort. But I don’t think this is what Jesus meant by saying “I am thirsty.” Jesus is all knowing…He knew He was a minute or 2 away from death and that a literal drink of water would have been worthless.

Another idea is that Jesus was so focused on the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament that He was fulfilling another prophecy to help others down the road be able validate Him as Messiah by how many prophecies about the Messiah Jesus actually fulfilled. By the way, there are more than 300 prophecies that were written about a coming Messiah thousands of years before Jesus ever walked the earth. Jesus fulfilled everyone of them. One of those prophecies is found in Psalm 69:21 “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” So when Jesus says, “I am Thirsty,” you can read the rest of the story, the soldiers actually offered him a drink that had vinegar in it. So, this could be a reason why Jesus sent out the message of “I am thirsty.” Just a little way to prove He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
But I think I have a better idea.

Remember the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well? If you do not, you can read the whole story in John Chapter 4 of the Bible. There is a critical thing Jesus says to this Samaritan woman on that hot day. I’ll put some of the story right here, but to read the whole story just read John 4.

JOHN 4:7-15 is as follows…(I removed some sections that aren’t pertinent to my point to save space)
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

This story reveals a lot about Jesus. He had such a confidence about Him, but was never arrogant. He was very direct, but never offended secure people. The woman at the well must have been secure, she sure pushed back on Jesus. It seems like this back and forth banter between the two had a bit of intensity to it. (I would have loved to have been there to witness this conversation.)

Anyway…Jesus basically is saying to the woman. “I am living water.” Accept what I want to give you and you will never THIRST again. Jesus was saying…as other passages in the Bible say…that He is the ultimate way to fulfillment. What is true fulfillment? To be close to God the Father.

Think about it…if you are really close with God the Father. He is in your presence every moment of every day. What do you lack? Nothing. For in the closeness of God, you recognize that nothing else satisfies. God is the ultimate fulfillment. Be tight with God and you will “thirst” for nothing.

So Jesus is hanging on the cross. This is his 6th of 8 tweets that He sends FROM THE CROSS. Tweet #11 that we covered yesterday said, “My God, My God, why have you ABANDONED me?”

So in real time…as Jesus tweets, “I am Thirsty,” it was only moments after He cried out the question of why God abandoned Him.

For the very first time in Jesus’ existence (Jesus has always existed, He was NOT created…Jesus has been with God in eternity for ever.) So…for the very first time EVER…Jesus finds Himself away from His Father…utterly alone. Jesus says to the woman at the well, if you are close to the Father, you will never thirst again!”

So…all alone…on the Cross…carrying the sins of everyone including yours and mine…seconds from Death…difficult to breath…the only way He could truly communicate what He was experiencing was to say, “I am Thirsty.” (If you don’t understand why Jesus was all alone because God HAD to abandon Him, go back to “RT@JesusChrist #11…I explain it there.)

Another passage in the Scripture comes to mind as I think about a lack of God and thirst being the same thing. Psalm 41:1-2 says this, “As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God.”

Are you Thirsty?

Is it fair for me to say that when you have times of coveting (wanting what others have) you are thirsting for something deeper than stuff? When you find yourself wanting a bunch of things, consumed by materialism, keeping up with the Jones’, greed, etc…is it possible you have drifted from God and are “thirsty?” When you find yourself grasping and fighting for attention, love, positional power…I think its because you have drifted from God and you acting out of being “thirsty.” The solution is in Jesus Christ and drawing close to Him, remembering what He did for you, remembering that the Lord is the one who defines you and fulfills you. Not things of this world. Don’t confuse your thirst.

What have you found yourself day dreaming about lately? Day dreaming about something is not necessarily wrong. But what if you start placing your hopes and happiness based off of things you want. (If I only had “_________________” THEN I would be happy.)

If you have been thinking that lately about things other than God…You may as well be saying, “I am thirsty.”

So what is the answer?
Do you need to get close to God again or for the first time?
Do you need to commit to a local Christian church where you are taught the Word of God and challenged to be Holy?
Do you need to start reading God’s Word on a daily basis? (God’s Word is The Holy Bible…only.)
Is there a habit/sin that is keeping God from drawing close to you because your sin is keeping you away from Him? (Read 1 John 1:9)
Can you think of anything right now that you need to change to be more like Jesus Christ?

Make a commitment today to change it. Tell somebody you trust that you are going to change. Choose to be Holy. Nobody else will make this change for you.
If you need to, I hope you will make the change. If you do not make the change…You might spend the rest of your life…

THIRSTY.
How may I help you?

Jan 27, 2012    |      1 comment

Retweeting Jesus “RT@JesusChrist #9”


“I assure you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” –JC
Luke 23:43

For just a moment I considered not using this statement for this “Retweeting Jesus” Blog series. I thought to myself, “what a strange tweet that would be to receive.” I thought to myself, “Jesus wouldn’t Tweet this out for the public to read…He was just talking to one of the criminals on the cross next to Himself.”

But then I got to thinking…resulting in what is written below…

This could be a Tweet that He sent out! “I assure you, today you will join me in Paradise.”

At first I thought about this retweet at just a surface level. I thought about how Jesus wouldn’t want to Tweet this for all the public to read, because it sounds like a false promise to some or maybe even many of the recipients. He wouldn’t want to assure someone on accident about Paradise/Heaven and give them some kind of false hope about their eternal home. Right?

But here’s the deal. In this series, and with combined thinking about Jesus and His Twitter followers…there wouldn’t be any accidental false promises being received by anyone who actually received the Tweet. Because anybody who receives the New Tweet that He would have sent would be a “Follower.” To receive a Tweet Message from Jesus means that you ARE a follower of Jesus.

The Bible is clear. To be a Follower of Jesus you must be someone who does the will of the Father. I blogged about this in RT@JesusChrist #6.

If Twitter were a real thing back in Jesus’ day someone wouldn’t be able to search for “JesusChrist” and then just click follow for the heck of it. In this one case…there would be special circumstances. Jesus is the Son of God, the King of Kings, the eternal Judge, the Lord of Lords. To follow Him, you must do what He says. Jesus was clear about this when He was a real man walking around in what we call the Middle East or Mediterranean area today. Here is a reminder of the some of the things He said…

“Why do you call me Lord, when you don’t do what I say?” Luke 6:46
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father.” Matthew 7:21

Jesus’ brother seemed to unknowingly write a “Twitter Rule about Jesus.” James wrote “Do not merely listen to the Word of God and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” James 1:19. If I could rewrite that statement (Just pretending…I have no desire to change God’s Word) for the purpose of making it an official Twitter rule about clicking the “Follow” button of Jesus on Twitter…it would look like this. As you click the “Follow” button to follow JesusChrist and thus receive His Tweets, a window would pop up saying this. “If you click the follow button you are stating that you are a true follower of Jesus Christ. A true follower of Jesus Christ does not just receive His Tweets only, a true follower of Jesus Does what Jesus Tweets…If you accept this reality then please check the box and click “Follow Jesus.” You will receive a confirmation that says, “Following Jesus.”

For fun I almost want to add to the sentence above….”Jesus will then literally move into your heart and soul and go with you everywhere you go, He will be “watching.” (Insert haunting laugh here.)

No faking being a follower of Jesus Christ. We can’t fake the King out.

So…this Retweet. “I assure you today, you will be with me in Paradise.”

There’s no false promise in this Tweet. But you ask, “What if I don’t die today? Then how could I join Him in Paradise TODAY?”

Jesus said, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done, on EARTH as it is in Heaven.”

If you don’t die today and thus can’t LITERALLY join Jesus in Paradise/Heaven today. Jesus’ assurance of joining Him in Paradise today, still stands true. Jesus lives in you and is asking you to bring paradise on earth. (Thy Kingdom…that is paradise…come on earth as it is in Heaven.)

“I assure you today, you will join me in Paradise.”

What are elements of Paradise? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control…among many other wonderful things.

Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Love? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Joy? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person peace?Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Patience? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Kindness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Goodness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person Faithfulness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Gentleness? Can you, TODAY, choose to be a person of Self-Control?

Jesus lives in you. He says He will be with you always. If you choose today to live the qualities of Paradise/Heaven, then you literally bring Heaven to Earth. You literally bring God’s will and His Kingdom on Earth and live it out TODAY.

You agree that Jesus is and will be at work on earth all day today right? So if you choose to join Him today in His work and His ways, then you will be with Jesus today…doing the things of paradise.

“I assure you, Today you will be with me in Paradise!”

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