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\ / MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- http://www.heartlight.org/
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July 25, 2008
AM I BLESSED LIKE THIS?
Blessed are ..."
Matthew 5:3-10
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=mt+5:3-10&sr=1
When we first read the statements of Jesus they seem wonderfully
simple and unstartling, and they sink unobserved into our unconscious
minds. For instance, the Beatitudes seem merely mild and beautiful
precepts for all unworldly and useless people, but of very little
practical use in the stern workaday world in which we live. We soon
find, however, that the Beatitudes contain the dynamite of the Holy
Ghost. They explode, as it were, when the circumstances of our lives
cause them to do so. When the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance
one of these Beatitudes we say - 'What a startling statement that
is!' and we have to decide whether we will accept the tremendous
spiritual upheaval that will be produced in our circumstances if we
obey His words. That is the way the Spirit of God works. We do not
need to be born again to apply the Sermon on the Mount literally. The
literal interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount is child's play;
the interpretation by the Spirit of God as He applies Our Lord's
statements to our circumstances is the stern work of a saint.
The teaching of Jesus is out of all proportion to our natural way of
looking at things and it comes with astonishing discomfort to begin
with. We have slowly to form our walk and conversation on the line of
the precepts of Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit applies them to our
circumstances. The Sermon on the Mount is not a set of rules and
regulations: it is a statement of the life we will live when the Holy
Spirit is getting His way with us.
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=========================== FEATURED PRODUCT =========================
THE SECRET MESSAGE OF JESUS: UNCOVERING THE TRUTH THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING, by Brian McLaren
Unafraid of controversy or the uncomfortable gray areas of life,
McLaren's quest is to find the essential message of Jesus' life - even
if it overturns our conventional ideas, priorities, and practices.
http://shopping.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/link?253
Find more great books, CDs and videos at the Heartlight store! With
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MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers /\/\
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