Matthew 5:8

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

#6 RELATE AS A FRIEND-To relate as a friend is to develop relationships where there is trust and love! Where there is trust and love, there is affirmation. Don't relate to others as friends for their approval. You don't want to give anyone that much power. You only seek approval from your Creator-your Higher Power. With friends, you must seek affirmation.

In the Proverbs it says "the king's friend is pure in heart." Pure in heart means to be loyal, trustworthy-one who can be counted on at all times-a safe person to have in your court.

The discipline here is to determine not to be a Lone Ranger in living your life. You need friends around you and you must be the one who has this discipline as an initiative on your life. But note how it must emerge out of your mourning over that which keeps you from God. Friendship begins in your heart!

REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES--RELATE AS A FRIEND The pre-requisite for relate as a friend is reframe your weaknesses! If you want to be more effective relating as a friend, you must check out how well you reframe your weaknesses. How is the mourning going? You can't be a good friend unless you have a lifestyle of being sensitive to your own weaknesses.

There are two critical cautions at this point: First, don't relate to another who is not into proper mourning! If you try to be a friend to a person who isn't sensitive to his weaknesses and therefore in denial, you may be in big trouble. Solomon warned that if you relate to a fool, you will end up living as a fool, too.

When a person hasn't reckoned with his/her weaknesses, he tends to want to point out yours in a condemnatory fashion.

Second, don't relate to another person without reframing your weaknesses! I have played the part of a fool on too many occasions. I have allowed people to use me to gain credibility that they lacked, allowed people to use me to pay for their own guilt by pointing out my failures, allowed wreckage to remain at the side of life's road, and allowed my naiveté to bring condemnation down upon me.

Without proper mourning you waste your sorrows and troubles, because without proper mourning there is no comfort and joy-satisfaction. And, without that satisfaction, you will find it very difficult to relate as a friend.

Everyone is in desperate need of the dynamic of friendship. Without a friendship you die. Life flows through it and death reigns without it!

How are you doing in developing this discipline? Make sure to live your life with trusted and loving friends. A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and sings it back to you when you've forgotten the words. But there's one more dynamic I'd like to suggest. Turn your friends into "walking partners" as you walk your walk with Jesus. Learn to discuss and do things in the name of Jesus in that relationship. This will deepen any friendship into a life partnership!

Matthew 5:7

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

The first 4 beatitudes were about your relationship before God. The second 4 are internal qualities about our relationship with others. Each one extends out of another. Here is a visual of how this relationship works.

POOR IN SPIRIT MERCIFUL MOURNING PURE IN HEART MEEKNESS PEACEMAKER HUNGER & THIRST REJOICE & BE GLAD WHEN FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS PERSECUTED FOR RT

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. The discipline here is #5 REACH OUT WITH COMPASSION-To reach out with compassion is to treat everyone with grace and mercy! This means to identify with others' needs or plight in life in a compassionate way. Insert yourself into their shoes as best you can. Search for how you might best assist them. Initiate a positive effect toward the people in the world around you. Remember, whatever energy you give out, you receive it back at that very moment! It's an interesting principle of life. When you give out something to another person, you receive it by the very act of giving it away!

Reaching out with compassion is a source of healing for those you touch and for yourself, so that everyone gets better! Don't forget, this is not just an action toward another person; it's an attitude!

There is no way you will be able to REACH OUT WITH COMPASSION without the dimension of REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY.

For each of the attitudes or disciplines in the second list (INNER SELF TOWARD OTHERS) there is a corresponding attitude in the first list (INNER SELF). The INNER SELF attitudes are actually pre-requisites for the INNER SELF TOWARD OTHERS attitudes.

Therefore, in order for you to be able to reach out with compassion you will do well to reaffirm your poverty. In other words, if you want to check out how you can reach out with compassion more effectively, start with reaffirming your poverty. This makes so much sense when you think about it! It's very difficult to show compassion to another person, when you are filled with pride and haughtiness. On the other hand, when you are a person who has a right evaluation of your self, God and others, you are freed up to be able to show genuine compassion to others! When you have received grace from God, it's much easier to give out mercy!

Is it difficult for you to show mercy to other people? Then check out being "poor in spirit." If you have an understanding of your wickedness and wonder-your poverty before God-that it is a right evaluation of yourself before God, then you are able to offer mercy to another. If you are so caught up in yourself, then you won't find it easy to extend mercy to another person at all. BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL FOR THEY WILL RECEIVE MERCY.

Matthew 5:6

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

We are making our way through the book of Matthew and more specifically we are going through the beatitudes. Each of these beatitudes is really a discipline. Here's how it works:

#1-REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY-To have a right evaluation of yourself before God-your wickedness (making it possible to do almost anything, any time) and your wonder (you are not as bad as you could be, since you are created in the image of the God of gods). 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

#2-REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES-To reframe your wickedness means to develop a sensitivity to that which keeps you from being and doing all that you were created to be and to do. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

#3-RENEW YOUR CONFIDENCE-To renew your confidence means is to develop a quiet, controlled strength. 5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

#4-REFOCUS YOUR HEART 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

To refocus your heart is to develop a passion for filling up the hole in your soul! Everybody is passionately seeking inner satisfaction. Note the progression of the first four attitudes. The first three speak primarily of that which is lacking within you and how you need to handle it. This fourth attitude or discipline is a kind of hungering and thirsting for what you want in your innermost being. This is that total satisfaction I was referencing before.

"Righteousness" is right living. It's walking consistently with God's standard. Jesus was the Righteous One Who walked most consistently with God's standard. In a very real sense, there is no other standard in the world. God's standard for living life is the only one you were created to follow. All other standards are not standards at all, but scattered attempts to live life without God. Many of these attempts are couched in what we know as RELIGION-religious systems of do's and don'ts to avoid going to hell. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness has nothing to do with a religious system whether Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish or even Christian. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness rests in a personal relationship with the Righteous One-Jesus, Himself. This sort of relationship is not a plan for avoiding hell, but it says "I've been to hell and don't want to return." It's a relationship with Jesus-walking with Jesus every day-JESUS PLUS NOTHING!

NOTE what happens if you hunger and thirst this way "for they who hunger and thirst for the Righteous One will be satisfied." The term "satisfied" is used to describe the fattening up of cattle-to fill them up so that they have no more wants. Do you want to find satisfaction in your soul? Then you must practice hungering and thirsting for Jesus everyday! It's the only possible way to this kind of serenity and satisfaction. This is what I mean by refocusing your heart!

I'll expand on it later, but here is an illustration of how your discontent works in your favor, if you allow it. The power of discontent provides the opportunity to refocus your heart! I see this power released as you take three positive steps:

First, picture yourself as created by the Creator! Although I've mentioned this earlier and probably will reference it again, you must not ignore this as one of the most powerful ingredients for your success. When you recognize your Creator, you avoid the temptation to play like you're God. This tends to keep you on track with who you really are and who you aren't. (This is the core of reaffirm your poverty.)

Second, process the pain with the hope of something better to come! The underlying attitude here is: All of the pain and disappointment will pass and are worth it, if I can get more inner satisfaction and growth for having experienced them. (This is the core of reframe your weaknesses.)

Third, practice the presence of your Creator in your life! This means to enjoy every day of your life from a different perspective-on a higher plane. It's living with your Creator as your partner in everything you do. There is a sense of accountability here that can't be achieved any other way. I have often taught with positive affirmation in the corporate marketplace that if you attempt to live your life without your Creator, you don't have prayer!

It's only when sensing your emptiness that you have access to spiritual fullness. These are the quiet cravings-the hungering and thirsting-for spiritual things, for the inner satisfaction of your soul! When you hunger and thirst for something, you want it and will do most anything to satisfy these desires. Hungering and thirsting is not simply making it a higher priority or something you feel you really ought to do, but to hunger and thirst as if this is a life-sustenance issue!

Refocus your heart! On every flight you are instructed to put on your oxygen mask before helping those children alongside you. Part of the refocusing of your heart is just that-putting on your oxygen mask every day-talking to Jesus, listening to Him and seeking to please Him with your life throughout the day. Maybe you need to ask the simple question: "Jesus, what do you have for me to do today?"

Matthew 5:5

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

We are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew and specifically we are into the 3rd beatitude. The first two beatitudes we turned into disciplines.

#1-REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY--To have a right evaluation of yourself before God-your wickedness (making it possible to do almost anything, any time) and your wonder (you are not as bad as you could be, since you are created in the image of the God of gods). 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

#2-REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES--To reframe your wickedness means to develop a sensitivity to that which keeps you from being and doing all that you were created to be and to do. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

#3-RENEW YOUR CONFIDENCE 5 Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

To renew your confidence means to develop a quiet, controlled strength. This discipline or attitude continues the progression. First, reaffirm your poverty (a right evaluation of your self, God, and others), then reframe your weaknesses (a sensitivity to that which keeps you from being and doing what you were created to be and to do), and now comes the renewing of your confidence-the renewal of your inner strength. In other words, once you see clearly who you really are, you are ready for growth. Then, if you are able to mourn over that which can keep you from growing, you actually graduate through this pile of problems. Now, you can't remain under the pile of mourning; you must gain inner strength as you emerge from the pile.

If you just learn how to mourn and remain there, you will be content to wallow in your weaknesses. Many people seem to enjoy suffering like this. They find a new friend in depression or loss or a sickness. They find that people seem to care more for them when they're wallowing in a problem, so they take that problem on as their identity-sort of a badge of courage. Don't wallow in your sorrows! Mourn them! Recognize them! See them for what they are! And grow through it!

Another way to look at the progression is: First, suffer the loss or problem with great sorrow! Second, see the passing nature of the situation! Third, stand on the promise of something better to come through it all!

To renew your confidence is to focus on the product of what you can learn in the midst of your struggles. "Gentle" is the word for meekness. Meekness is not weakness! It's developing a quiet, controlled inner strength or confidence that can only come from God's inside operation on your life. This is why we continue to speak of transformation or regeneration! It's an inside job by Jesus, Himself in a person's life. You recognize your desperate need, you mourn over it, inviting the Lord to do His work in your life. He does His work in your heart and creates a wonderful inner confidence-an inner strength that empowers you to start over!

It's learning to grow for it-no matter how rough or how tough life can be! Again, I say, it's not what happens to you, but how you handle what happens to you that matters most. Renew your confidence and live your life-inside out!

The struggle here in renewing your confidence is to be diligent to find your inner strength in His work and not your own. Are you sensitive to God's transformation in your heart? Are you aware of His continued work every day in and through you? This is the basis of meekness!

Matthew 5:4

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. 2 He opened His mouth and began to teach them, saying, 3 ``Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 ``Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5 ``Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

6 ``Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Remember, we started with "poor in spirit"-to REAFFIRM YOUR POVERTY. to have a right evaluation of yourself before God-your wickedness (making it possible to do almost anything, any time) and your wonder (you are not as bad as you could be, since you are created in the image of the God of gods). Now, we come to the second beatitude-"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

#2 REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES To REFRAME YOUR WEAKNESSES means to develop a sensitivity to that which keeps you from being and doing all that you were created to be and to do. This discipline or attitude builds right on top of the first-reaffirm your poverty. Once you have a right evaluation of your self, God, and others, you must be sensitive to anything that might pull you down or pull you away from being and doing what's right.

I see this as a mourning process. Learn to mourn over your weaknesses. I view weaknesses in two ways. First, your inner vulnerabilities that make you prone to fall apart or to do foolish things. Second, the trials you face when you suffer loss or when you are in the midst of your various problems.

You reframe your weaknesses by mourning-genuine mourning. By the way, when you mourn, you must feel the pain. Moan and groan over it! Feel it! Don't deny your feelings about it! The pain is for real, so really feel it! If you mourn properly, you'll discover something of a surprise on the other end. You will find a sense of comfort and inner joy.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, you don't need to look for problems and troubles-either generated by you or delivered to you. They have already been scheduled for your endurance! One of the primary growth factors in life is developing your muscle of endurance. When you reframe your weaknesses, you set yourself up for greater growth! So, don't waste your sorrows, reframe them!

What is it that keeps you from walking with Jesus? What keeps you drifting away from what you know you really want with respect to your faithfulness to Him? List it out and actually MOURN. There's something about identifying it and saying it that helps to push it out of your way!