Mornings With Jesus

Lesson 6 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God

This takes what we learned in lesson 4 and ramps it up a notch! When we walk with the Lord for some time, over time, we begin to mature and grow in Him. 

That is not to say that we aren’t all prone to fits and spells of immature behavior and elementary thinking however, but rather our lives should be consistently shining for Jesus, especially if we are daily seeking Him and daily seeking to be like Him!

Once maturity begins to show up in our lives, the Lord begins to deal with us on a whole different level, our motives!

Many of us, by now have learned to abstain from the basic things like stealing, cussing, crude joke-telling, adultery, and the like (Again that is not to say we can’t or won’t partake in any of these things but have learned more and more to keep away) and are now beginning to realize that things like gossip, doing things to be seen, or thinking bad toward others, is just as dangerous as drinking or smoking. 

In other words, our character and integrity are now being challenged. 

Those things that can’t be seen.

Character and integrity are oftentimes grown when no one is watching. The things that we do in secret, when no one is watching will either prepare us or keep us from the public light. 

In other words, God won’t want to give us a bigger, broader platform to share with others if we are living in secret sin behind closed doors! 

Not only this but also harboring wrong motives, even though small at first glance will show up in big ways down the road!

What is the answer? Allowing God to wash over us daily and purge away what He wants! Also not being in a big rush to get things done or to do our agendas will give God and us the time to make a more polished product!

Listen, God can do in a moment, what we cannot in a lifetime!

Keep showing up, keep allowing Him to wash over and burn away the gook and grime, the ultimate goal here again being to be more like Jesus, and we will never arrive this side of glory so always be willing to go through the refiner’s fire, trusting that God’s intentions are always good! He is who He says He is, and He will do what He says He will do! Allow Him! This is a true earmark of Christian maturity!

Think about the payoff, to see God!

To have an intimacy level with Him, like never before. To hear Him more clearly. 

To see others' needs more clearly. To be trusted to share the gospel with others. To pray for others. 

These are the benefits that await the pure in heart, that await those who are willing to go past a surface-level relationship with the Lord. 

A good way to remind ourselves of what God has done for us and in us may seem super simple, but it is meant to be, we just need to remind ourselves!

Here is a helpful tip:

- Write it down (What has the Lord done for you or in you recently?)
- Share with a close friend or family member
- Revisit past entries, perhaps on a monthly or weekly basis

Writing things down and also sharing these things will help remind you of the goodness of God in your life, but it will also help encourage others! Then when you encourage others, you will be encouraged because you encouraged them and thus will also position yourself to receive from the Lord because you have given out what you have been freely given, the law of sowing and reaping put into practice!

Isn’t serving the Lord fun and super simple at the same time?

It really is mostly a matter of simply trusting and obeying teemed with courage and humility, and the Lord provides all of that for us!

We are never alone, nor are we meant to do it alone. 

God is with us always yes, but also remember that whatever you are currently walking through someone else is also and they may not have the same hope you have or else someone else already has come through it and you can glean from them…

Christianity is not meant to be lived in isolation. People and relationships are what the Lord is all about and this may take a whomping heap of mercy both for you to exhibit for others and especially for others to exhibit toward you!

So, always remember where the Lord found you and always extend that same level of grace toward others.

We are living in a world literally hell-bent on forsaking God, the last thing we need is to forsake each other by being unmerciful and forgetting, “If not but by the grace of God, there go I!”

Lesson 5 – Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy


We humans are an interesting bunch! We tend to forget so easily and when it comes to our walks with the Lord, it is no different. 

Many Christians, especially those who have been saved for quite some time have forgotten where they came from, where God found them! 

And even new believers, in a zeal to share Jesus with others, oftentimes overlook the fact that salvation is a gift and work of God alone, it is not something that can be forced upon someone.

God is a gentleman and He alone has the power to woo people to Him and to convict of sin. He stands at the door and knocks, and it is up to us to open the door! 

It is up to us who are already born again to be like Jesus, to exhibit His behavior and likeness to them by serving and showcasing the love of God, living out what we have been learning from a daily walk with Him!

However, how many times do we forget, trying to trudge ahead, doing things our way forgetting the absolute train wrecks we used to be and still are if not but for the grace of God!

Therefore, it is imperative that we continue to revisit the gospel often! The good news of the gospel is not just for the unsaved, it is for us all, to remember the goodness of God, to remind ourselves of this one powerful truth: “If not for the grace of God, there go I”

This is why communion is important, as oft as we do this, we remember what Jesus did for us on that cruel cross!

With a healthy measure of humility teemed with thankfulness on a daily basis it will help keep us walking in mercy toward others and in turn, will open us up to receive continued mercy!

We were made new, but that doesn’t mean we will never sin or make mistakes, it simply means that we have the ability to not do those things with the help and power of the Lord.

Be encouraged, it is a lifelong journey, and again the key is to want to be closer to God each day, by taking small steps!

To hunger and thirst for righteousness.

We can be as close to God as we want to be, and He does and will order and direct our steps in the right direction!

The more we hunger and thirst for Him, the more He will fill us, and the closer we are to Him, the more we will live holy on accident than we ever could on purpose! 

In other words, Christianity isn’t about adhering to stringent rules and man-made directives but rather walking in love toward God and man and when we do this, Jesus says we have fulfilled the two greatest commands, to love God and love people!

The Holy Spirit is faithful, He will show you things to wean out of your life as you walk daily with Him, AND He will give you the strength and courage to do it!

The ultimate goal here is to become more like Jesus and be encouraged once more, it is a lifelong journey!

So how can we keep our hunger and thirst levels high? 

How can we be like the Psalmist who penned so eloquently, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.” (Psalm 42:1)

Herein lies a simple, but powerful principle, whatever we feed will grow!

For example, if one is trying to kickstart their metabolism, they would need to eat more food.

Why?

Because if you starve your body of food and necessary nutrients, it is going to naturally try and hoard all the energy it can, slowing down your metabolism and thus reserving as much energy stores as possible. 

But should you begin to feed the body with nutrients and food, it will slowly begin to say, “Hey I actually have a surplus and can begin to expend some energy!” Thus, your metabolism will slowly begin to chug back to life.

In our journeys as believers, the worse thing we can do is fail to feed our spirits and souls with the Word. When we do this, we are in essence starving ourselves. 

Jesus was all the time, getting alone with the Father, praying, studying the Word. When He was tempted in the wilderness, He didn’t have to look up the verses in the Bible to combat the enemy, He was already full of the Word and ready!

We too must remain ready at all times to give an account for the Hope we have, and this means feeding on the Word daily!

This will, in essence, raise our spiritual metabolisms where the more we know, the more we know we need to know and the more we will seek God more!

There is a law at work here, we reap what we sow, and if we aren’t consistently sowing the Word into our lives, we cannot reap the benefits, nor should we expect to.

Ignorance is bliss may be something the world teaches but it is not a kingdom principle. 

Again, this will take humility. 
Pride says, “I know that. I’ve heard that.” Or “That isn’t for me.” Humility sits on the edge of its seat with fork in one hand and knife in the other, “Feed Me!” 

When we have that kind of gusto and passion for the Word, God has promised to fill our cups to overflowing! This will not only cause us to be blessed but also all those we come in contact with!

Lesson 4 – Blessed are they which hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

Ignorance is not bliss! The more Word we have on the inside, the more equipped we will be to stand against the enemy's wiles! 

In essence, we can be as close to God as we want to be! 

A true sign of spiritual maturity and growth is wanting to live in holiness, is wanting to learn more, growing, and being mature.

After all the Bible says, be holy, for I am holy. 

Think about it in simple terms for a moment. Perhaps there is a mentor, parent, or role model in your life that you really look up to. Don’t you want to make them proud? Don’t you want to do the things that you know they like in order to show them how much you love and honor them? 

Think about the small girl who wants to be like her mommy or the boy who follows his daddy around doing and saying the same things. We all want to be valued and appreciated and it is only natural to want to be like the people in our lives we really value and look up to. 

In the same manner, God has graciously adopted us into His family! Given us a new heart and a new name and we should want to be close to Him, to be like Him!

However, the desire to want to be holy, to be like God, or to want to go upstream in a culture that is constantly screaming at us to go the other way, is not always what believers want to do.

The propensity to grow weary is a real thing, thus why Paul encourages us in Galatians not to grow weary in well doing. (See Galatians 6:9)

The good news is this: We don’t have to do things to get Him to like us, love us, or accept us! He already does! Also, we don’t have to try and be more righteous or holy apart from Him. We can’t. He did all the work on the cross and we will never be more holy than we already are in Him. But we can still grow closer to Him each day, tossing aside things that keep us from growing closer to Him and walking in love toward others. 

Just as before, serving God comes with a caveat and this is it: It is a get-to, not a have-to. We don’t serve Him to get Him to accept us or love us. He will never love us more than He already does. He is love. He will never accept us more than He already has, Jesus made that possible.

Also, we shouldn’t try to serve out of guilt, from a place of condemnation, or as a means of trying to exert the world’s system in the church. (doing things for selfish gain, to be seen, or for promotion.)

The simple way to keep out of any ditches when it comes to serving is this: Just keep seeking the Lord daily and walk in the steps He has presented for you.

He will lead you in steps, not giant leaps, and He isn’t going to make you feel guilty or twist your arm, making you do things. 
Just remember this simple principle: bloom where you are planted. Use the gifts, talents, and abilities He has given you to make a difference in the lives of those around you first, at school, work, or in a small circle at church. 

Don’t be in a hurry to be seen, be noticed, or do things for any other reason other than from a heart bursting with love and appreciation for the Lord. 

If at any time, you notice that you may not be doing something for the right reasons, don’t be afraid to pull back, reset your priorities, and seek the Lord on the matter!

He wants to be found and after all, our main goal as a believer is to build a relationship with Him anyhow. 

Remember God has given each of us gifts, talents, and abilities and we can either use them for His glory, to encourage others or for our own selfish reasons. The former takes humility and courage, but the payoff always far outweighs the price of admission!

Be meek! Put others first! 

The very image of Jesus hanging on a cruel cross, taking our punishment for our sin upon Himself, when He did no wrong scream His love for us and His meekness toward us!

Blessed are the meek, those who put others’ needs above their own. 

Let’s be honest for a moment. It is our natural tendency to want to be first, go first, be seen, get picked, be the one in the light, and so forth. It is our natural tendency to be selfish and self-centered. Therefore, it is going to take courage and humility for us to purposefully seek to go against the natural flow. 

But thanks be to God, we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength. (See Philippians 4:13)

Rest assured this is definitely something He strengthens us for, to serve others. So far, we have dealt with two quite personal subjects, recognizing our need for Jesus and lamenting over sin on a personal level. Now is the point at which we begin to step outside of ourselves and do what God does so well, love people!

Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 20:28, “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

This is what Jesus taught us to do as well.

And it takes courage to do this, especially in a world that wants to be served but not do the serving themselves. 

Sadly, we live in a society that teaches us, whatever makes you happy or makes you feel good, then do it because we only have this moment to live. 

But this is counter-productive to what the Bible teaches.

In actuality, life is connected, and we are all going to live forever, either in the presence of God or apart from Him.

The things we do today will directly affect our tomorrow and could very well affect our and others’ eternities as well.

Listen, you matter!

Jesus paid for you with His precious blood. And He didn’t just do it, so you could be forgiven, but also so you could play a vital role in the fulfillment of His plan on the earth. He didn’t have to do any of that, but He chose it. Because He so loves you!

The qualifications for growth in His company we have learned so far?

To be poor in spirit, to mourn over sin, and to put others first.

Left to our devices, we would all fail and have failed at these, but thanks be to God who not only forgives and frees us, but also gives us the strength, gifts, ability, and desire to do so much more than we can think, ask, or imagine!

This is an interesting one because when hearing the word meek, perhaps the word “weak” also comes to mind, but this just isn’t the case. 

Meek, in simple terms, means to yield. To yield to others’ needs even when you could very well look the other way or charge ahead and be first. 

Think about a yield sign for a moment. When approaching a yield sign, what does it mean? It means that we should give the right away to the vehicles in the other lane of traffic before pulling out onto the road ourselves. In other words, put others first. 

This is counter-intuitive to much of what our culture teaches us. We learn very early on that if we want or need something, we need to get out there and make it happen! We need to exert our presence, pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and make moves or make excuses! It really doesn’t matter who we have to step on or past or what ladders we need to climb, just as long, as we get it done! 

And while this may seem okay in certain situations, it really isn’t what Jesus taught or exhibited at all - He said the greatest among you is the greatest servant! Yielding is not weak, but rather it takes much courage, and it means that you trust God enough to know that even should you yield to Him or others, He is going to take care of you! We don’t need to try and skip to the front of the line or make ourselves known to Him, He sees us, and He loves us anyway, flaws and all!

Listen, God’s ways are oftentimes completely opposite to what the world teaches us.

For example, in the kingdom of God, the way up is down, to be first, you must be last, and in order to truly live, you must die first!

 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. (Isaiah 55:8,9)

However, this doesn’t mean God doesn’t want His ways to be our ways or His thoughts to be our thoughts, and that is awesome news for us as believers!

He isn’t selfish and He isn’t a hoarder. He longs to show Himself mighty on the behalf of His children, working in and through them.

This starts with us wanting to receive from Him and humbling ourselves to do just that.

This is also a good time to mention a few of the main differences between conviction and condemnation as well. 

One of the Holy Spirit’s goals is to convict us of sin and point us to Jesus always. But what the world does, religion does, and sadly even sometimes other believers do is try and use condemnation to change us.

Romans 8:1,2 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

To keep this simple, this is what condemnation looks like:

-       It tries to make us feel bad without giving us any real hope or answers

-       It deals with outward things and takes an outside-in approach

-       Leaves the person feeling defeated

-       Leads to little if any change, and it is usually short-lived relying on stringent adherence to rules, creeds, or religious tenets

Conviction from the Holy Spirit:

-       Takes an inside-out approach

-       Always leads to the Answer, Jesus

-       Brings about true and lasting positive change

-       Makes the person feel bad about the sin, but leaves them with Hope, and a sense of who they are and could be in Christ

True Biblical Mourning over sin is not something we do only when giving our lives to the Lord, but rather it is something that we continually come back to in various ways and at various times and always accompanies the Holy Spirit conviction and a wonderful reminder of who Jesus is, what He has done for us, and what He longs to do in us and through us! It is a beautiful reminder of just how much God so loves us!

Paul talked about this in Romans 6, about how we shouldn’t try and misuse or misappropriate the grace of God by thinking it gives us the right to keep on sinning.

By no means, in truth, the grace of God is not a license to sin, but rather the power of God to overcome sin.

At this point, our plea should be: “Father, help me love the things you love and hate the things you hate.”

You see, God loves people, but He hates sin.

He loves people, but He hates pride, and so should we.

It is important to note at this point that mourning over sin and various sins will come in different stages for the believer. 

For example, One believer may be convicted heavily about lying or gossiping, while another believer may be convicted of telling dirty jokes. Now all of these things, when taken at face value are not good things and could certainly be considered sinful, but we must always remember that unless the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, there isn’t going to be any true change. 

In other words, it is not our job to go about fault-finding or telling people what we think they should or shouldn’t be working on, or what we believe to be the most deplorable sins in their lives.

Each of us must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling and walk in the amount of light the Lord is currently giving us. 

Know this, as we mature in the Lord, we may get victory over some of the more visible and outward sins like stealing or cussing but then Holy Spirit will then begin dealing with us with things like motives, thoughts, the things that are less visible to others and even to us oftentimes. 

We will never outgrow the Holy Spirit’s conviction nor will we ever come close to perfection on this side of glory, the ultimate goal being to be more and more like Jesus every day. 

I want to end today’s encouragement with a verse found in 1 John 1:7 

Keeping this scripture verse in mind, it will help us stay on the right track, with a proper view of sin and a love for others! 

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” NKJV