21 Days of Prayer

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

The Greek word for blessed is the word eulogia which means grace or happy. As a Christian, the concept of blessings is fundamental to our faith. We hear the word “blessing” used frequently in prayers, songs, and conversations, but do we truly understand what it means to be blessed?

The psalmist writes.“For You bless the righteous, O Lord; You cover him with favor as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12). King David writes, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:1-3). The Hebrew word for blessing is “barak,” which means to kneel or to praise. It is often used in the context of a superior bestowing a blessing upon a subordinate. In the Old Testament, we see God blessing His people through His covenant with Abraham and the promises He made to him and his descendants. It is often used to praise God, as they often did in the temple. When was the last time you knelt to praise and worship God in your times of prayer?? Today would be a great day to kneel in your prayer closet. Dr. M. Kelly writes, “The Bible is full of blessings, both from God to His people and from people to one another. The concept of blessing is rooted in the Old Testament, where God promised to bless His chosen people, the Israelites. In the New Testament, we see Jesus Himself blessing people and teaching His followers about the importance of blessings.” Listen, to be blessed by God means to receive His favor, provision, and protection. It means to experience His love and grace in our lives and to have a relationship with Him. Being blessed by God does not necessarily mean that we will be free from trials or tribulations, but it does mean that we can trust in His faithfulness and goodness even in the midst of difficult circumstances. Pray for God to close the gap between your circumstances and His faithfulness.

“One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, and he began to teach.” (Matthew 5:1-2 )

We live in a world full of interruptions and distractions. In fact I’ve started and stopped the writing of this devotional too many times to count. My phone, my computer, and the stuff of life keep pulling me away from this quiet place and it’s seems hard for me to focus. Not everything that’s pulling me away is a bad thing; it’s just a distraction.

I have a granddaughter who gets pretty focused on whatever she’s into at the moment. Sometimes she is riveted on “Daniel Tiger” or a parent approved Disney movie. Sometimes she’s lost in some type of play acting and if I want to get her attention it requires me to do something that will break her attention and invite her in to hear what I need to say. I can speak her name over and over, and she just doesn’t seem to hear me, but I’ve found that if I touch her arm and squat down so we are eye to eye, that she’ll move away from whatever is “holding” her and listen to what I’ve got to say. It’s in these moments that I have discovered, I have the capacity to truly communicate with her in a way she’ll really listen. Jesus sat down. Hundreds around him needed healing and restoration, and our Rabbi sat down. And when he sat down, everyone around him sat down, because after seeing what he’d done (miracles), they really wanted to know what He had to say. It’s almost like he knew that the people would really hear and pay attention to what he had to say, if he got eye to eye with them.

Worship is defined as the feeling or expression of reverence, and you know every morning I wake up and begin revering something by giving my attention to it. Jackie Hill Perry says, “Every day we awake to worship. The one worshipped isn’t always the same though.
Sometimes we build an altar and offer sacrifices to a different god than the One that made heaven and earth!” Is your gaze this morning moving towards your to do list, or the television, or whatever you’re carrying, or some distraction? The one that made heaven and earth is sitting down and ready to talk to you, eye to eye!! For 21 days we are challenging you to chose Jesus, your Rabbi as the object of your worship and attention. You’ll have to Chose to sit because the distractions will be shouting and pulling at you! But remember this… “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose”. The very thing he’ll ask you to do, he’ll give you the desire and power to do. So right now I’m telling the distractions and misplaced affections they’ll have to take a seat somewhere else. I ready to listen to the Lord!

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (Matthew 5:3)

What does it mean to be poor? Let me go a step farther, what does it mean to be poor in spirit? Someone has said, “In short, poverty of spirit is an emptying of self so that God can fill us with life and love. Our prayer helps us grow in spiritual poverty and freedom. Christ is the model of spiritual poverty. Christ also lived in actual or material poverty, with a lack of material goods. The Bible says, “That He had nowhere to lay his head.” He lived as a foreigner in His own creation, but they did not recognize Him. Jesus lived a life of obscurity. He did not present the way of salvation in His Sermon on the Mount, but described the required conduct of a person that is in a right relationship with God. The very heart of the nation needed to change its perspective, from being selfishly self-focused to becoming graciously God-focused. How is that going for you this morning, are you more self-focused on your own circumstances or God focused on His faithfulness in your life? This is the challenge for our 21 days of prayer, to be emptied of ourselves so that God can fill us with His life and love. Listen, the Pharisees taught a self-righteousness that depended on external factors, where strict adherence to rules and regulations determined a false righteousness based on human standards, which was and always will be, unacceptable to God. But Christ taught of a godly righteousness that depended on an inner purity of heart and humility of spirit; a heart that is in a right relationship with God.

But godly righteousness requires a correct and honest attitude towards oneself that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that we are incapable of pleasing God through our own attempts but need to be empowered by Him to live a life that is pleasing to the Father. What pleases God, an empty heart waiting to be filled with His presence. What pleases God, a humble heart waiting to be filled with His faithfulness. What pleases God, a broken heart waiting to be filled with His love. Pray for God to fill your empty heart all day today with His love and mercy. There can never be filling without an emptying. Lean on Jesus today.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)

What is the kingdom of heaven? Who holds the keys to the door of the kingdom of heaven? David declares that “the Lord is King forever and ever, that His kingdom is everlasting, and that His dominion endures throughout all generations” (Ps. 145:13). The kingdom of heaven is an Old Testament phrase to describe God’s power and authority. The kingdom of heaven includes everyone who professes to acknowledge God.

John McArthur describes, “The kingdom has two aspects, the outer and the inner, both of which are spoken of in the gospels. Those aspects are evident as one moves through Matthew. In the broadest sense, the kingdom includes everyone who professes to acknowledge God. Jesus’ parable of the sower represents the kingdom as including both genuine and superficial believers (Matt. 13:3–23), and in His following parable (vv. 24–30) as including both wheat (true believers) and tares (false believers). That is the outer kingdom, the one we can see but cannot accurately evaluate ourselves, because we cannot know people’s hearts. The other kingdom is the inner, the kingdom that includes only true believers, only those who, as John the Baptist proclaimed, repent and are converted. God rules over both aspects of the kingdom, and He will one day finally separate the superficial from the real. Meanwhile He al lows the pretenders to identify themselves outwardly with His kingdom.” Listen, only the poor in spirit inherit the kingdom of heaven. John Calvin said, “We must make the invisible kingdom visible in our midst. Just as the angel’s announcement to Joseph declared Jesus’ primary purpose to be to save His people from their sins, so the first announcement of the kingdom (delivered by John the Baptist) is associated with repentance and confession of sin.” The keys to the door of the kingdom is locked for those who have no need for God, but it is wide open for those who know have confessed their sins and professed their faith in the King of the kingdom. Pray for a heart of poverty. Pray for a heart of brokenness over your sins. Pray for the joy of the kingdom of
heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

Spiritual mourning follows naturally from becoming poor in spirit. Being poor in spirit will lead you to spiritual mourning. When you see you do not have what it takes, you will mourn over your sins, and you will mourn over your lack of righteousness.

What does this passage in scripture teach us about mourning? How does it relate to the second pillar of the beatitudes, “Blessed are they who mourn?” Let’s unpack the definition of mourning, what Jesus teaches us about mourning in the earthly sense and how his preaching calls us to mourn in a deeper spiritual sense. Mourning is defined as an outward expression of grief. It also connotes a state of great sadness or grieving. We mourn in response to the loss of something, or more commonly, some one. We mourn for our own losses, but we may also mourn from a place of compassion for what others have lost. The deeper meaning of “blessed are they who mourn” finds its roots in the Garden of Eden. In the typical sense of mourning, we envision grieving the loss of lives, hopes and dreams. In the deeper, more spiritual definition of this pillar of the Beatitudes, God is calling us to mourn the very state of our fallen nature. Jesus calls us to actively mourn the loss of union with him, which was severed at the fall of man when sin entered the world. He calls us to mourn our sins, as they are the very acts that distance us from him. In this mourning of our sins, we realize our intense need for God and his mercy. We recognize our flaws and how we are desperate for the love of God to mend our sinfulness. In our mourning, we must always remember the words of St. Paul, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” (Romans 8:18). We are desperate for God’s mercy. We are desperate for God’s loving kindness. Pray for mercy that leads to a mourning over your sins today. Satan knows your name but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name.

God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)

What does it mean to be comforted in your grieving? How do you receive comfort when you are mourning? What does it look like?

First, God knows. The psalmist David said, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). God knows the depth of your grief. He doesn’t run from the grief. He draws near to the grief and brokenness of our sin. In fact, He wraps us up in the love and grace of His Son for those who put their trust in Him. God does all the heavy lifting. He saves the crushed in spirit. God’s comfort is the strengthening assurance of His sovereign goodness in the midst of our mourning over our sin. Second, God cares. The psalmist David writes, “My flesh and my heart fail: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). When we fall short of God’s perfect standard, He becomes our only source of strength. God cares when we fall. In fact, He cares more for us, than we care for ourselves. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. God’s comfort is His strength. Don’t miss the comfort of His love in the midst of your grief. Don’t miss the comfort of His mercy in the midst of mourning over your sins. John wrote, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (I John 1:9). Finally, God comforts. In the Bible, the primary idea in the word comfort is “to come alongside to give aid in time of need.” God knows your need. God cares about your need. God sends the Holy Spirit to come alongside to give you comfort in your time of mourning. Paul said, “God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others” (2 Corinthians 1:3). Keep faith alive, put your hope in the living God. Pray for hope to be unleashed at NewLIfe Gathering in these 21 days of prayer.

When you hear the word, “meek”, do you automatically associate it with the word, “weak”? I think I do. In the self-exalting, super hero, Lone Ranger, do it yourself kind of culture I’m living in, I don’t equate meekness with anything positive I’m looking to emulate. I’ll bet most of us would agree. But let me be clear, meekness is NOT weakness. In fact it’s the opposite. Meekness is power under control. The greatest example that ever lived of power under control was Jesus. Philippians 2 tells us, “Though he was God, he (Jesus) did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born of a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminals death on a cross”.

Many translations use the words, gentle and lowly in the place of the word “meek”. Did you know there’s one spot in scripture where Jesus describes his very nature; and uses the words “gentle” and “lowly” to describe himself. Mighty, powerful, holy; those are the words I’d use to describe Jesus. But he chose gentle and lowly! Ask the Lord what he might be asking you to lay aside to let meekness become real in your heart and life!

What do you hunger and thirst for today? How do you satisfy your hunger pains and quench your thirst? Eating is typically the best thing for satisfying hunger. Drinking lots of water is the best thing for quenching your thirst. What does it look like to hunger and thirst for the righteousness of Christ? It’s the greatest blessing to be hungry and thirsty for Jesus; to hunger after the bread of life, to thirst for living water. The psalmist wrote, “They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle” (Psalm 107:5). David cried out to God in Psalm 63, “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory”. Just like we have physical cravings for food, God gives us spiritual cravings for spiritual food. When we are thirsty we drink water to keep us from getting dehydrated, but God provides wells of living water to quench our spiritual thirst for Him. The spiritual food is God’s Word. The wells of living water is the work of the Holy Spirit. When was the last time you were hungry and thirsty for more of God’s righteousness? John Piper writes in his book, Hunger for God, “The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world”. Unfortunately, I’ve been filling up on the junk food of this world. I keep drinking from the wrong wells of this world. I need Jesus! I need His righteousness! I want to be filled with His righteousness! Let’s make it happen Newlife today! Allow God to fill you today with the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Clara T. Williams wrote in 1875 a hymn, Satisfied,
“All my life I had a longing
For a drink from some clear spring,
That I hoped would quench the burning
Of the thirst I felt within.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! I have found Him
Whom my soul so long has craved!
Jesus satisfies my longings,
Through His blood I now am saved.
Feeding on the husks around me,
Till my strength was almost gone,
Longed my soul for something better,
Only still to hunger on.
Poor I was, and sought for riches,
Something that would satisfy,
But the dust I gathered round me
Only mocked my soul’s sad cry.
Well of water, ever springing,
Bread of life so rich and free,
Untold wealth that never faileth,
My Redeemer is to me. “

May God give you His righteousness and fill you with the wells of HIs mercy and grace. Take time today to meditate on this hymn of faith. Hallelujah, I have found Him and He has satisfied all my longings. God is good all the time.

Pastor Craig Groeschel of Life Church writes, “If a person is convicted of a crime, there’s a slight chance he will face a kind of judge who will show him a little mercy. Maybe reduce his sentence by a few years. That’s not a lot of mercy. It’s a little mercy, and the truth is, when it comes to humans, mercy is hard to come by. Not so with God. His mercy is like a huge bucket of water filled to the rim so that if you bumped into it, it would spill all over you. His mercy is so great that he doesn’t just forgive us when we fail, but he erases any record of our failure. He doesn’t just reduce our sentence -eternal punishment- he eliminates it and sets us free”. Mercy. That is the gospel. The whole of it in one word. God has given us more mercy than we could ever deserve. The mercy ships are on the shores of your life today. It’s time to be full of mercy. Our community needs Christ followers who are full of the mercy of God.

What is mercy? What does mercy look like for you? Mercy is what moves us toward God, while justice makes us tremble in his sight. RC Sproul wrote, “We are puzzled and bewildered whenever we see suffering in this world because we have become accustomed to the mercy and the long-suffering of God. Amazing grace is no longer amazing to us. The moment we think we deserve mercy a little alarm bell should go off in our head because we are not talking about mercy anymore but justice”. Mercy can never be earned. Its very necessity is evoked by unworthiness, else there would be no need for it. Because we have sinned, we need mercy, not because we have obeyed. The only qualification for mercy is suffering. The Bible is chocked-full of verses that describe our Creator as a God of mercy. “The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in loving kindness. The Lord is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:8-9). The Bible describes His mercy as “great” (1 Pet. 1:3), “abundant” (Psalm 86:15), “tender” (Lk. 1:78) and “everlasting” (Psalm 103:17). God is forever extending mercy to His children and even to those who blaspheme His name (Psalm. 145:14-16; cf. Mt. 5:45; Lk. 6:35; Ac.14:17; 17:25). We should thus not be surprised that the Bible calls God the “Father of mercies” (2 Cor. 1:3).

The word pure means “not mixed or adulterated with any other substance or material”. I like that definition of pure but really like this definition of pure, “free of any contamination.” It is pure and simple that God blesses the pure in heart. How can a heart be made pure? As you continually surrender to the Spirit, asking him to make God’s will your will, to help you obey, and to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), you also will grow to be pure in heart as you will also receive the promise to see God.

The psalmist asks for guidance in Psalm 139:23. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Through prayer, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts, revealing sinful thoughts and behavior to us. When these things are brought to mind, we can confess them, knowing we will receive God’s forgiveness. David continued with these thoughts, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). God cares about what we put in our minds and hearts. He provides the safeguards of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to help us
have a pure heart. David the shepherd continues, “Who may stand in His holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not set his mind on what is false, and who has not sworn deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation” (Psalm 24:3-5). Take time today to meditate on these verses and simply ask for God to bring His purity into your heart. God is pure and holy.

Someone has said, “Sight is a function of the eyes, but vision is a function of the heart”. Jesus gave eyes to the blind, but vision in the hearts of His disciples. The vision of Jesus gave sight to the blind. He has the power to bring light to those who are living in the darkness. We live in the darkness of our sin as King Solomon reminds us, “the heart is deceitful above all things.” Darkness is choosing to live in the deceitfulness of our hearts. Jesus came to make things right. Eugene Peterson wrote in The Message, “you’re blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and heart—put right. God and God alone can make it right in your heart and mind through the finished work of Christ on the cross. When you get right with God on the inside, then you can see Jesus on the outside. Vision is all about God. God puts purity in our souls, so we can see Him with all of our hearts. God wants your eyes on Him. When your eyes are on Him, your perspective on life is radically changed. You see things with His eyes. You see the things that He sees. You see broken hearts that need His love. You see prodigals who need His mercy. You see your own desperate need of grace. John Piper writes, “We are so bombarded by human tragedies of poverty and crime and abuse and neglect and war and the manifold injustices of man to man, that we are tempted to agree with the world that it is useless pie in the sky by and by to be concerned with whether the soul will ever see God. But this is the greatest of all tragedies — that in seeking to relieve the temporal miseries of man we set aside
the centrality of God. But Jesus comes to us this morning and says, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” not first because they change society, but first because they will see God. Seeing God is the great goal of being pure. Abandon that goal and human culture collapses into ruin.” It’s time NewLIfe to get our inside world right, so we can see God in the outside world. Pray for eyes to see Jesus and Him alone in your life today. Pray for clean hands and pure hearts.

Peace is missing in our culture. We are missing peace because we are void of peacemakers. We lack peacemakers because our restless hearts remain restless. We avoid conflict at all costs therefore God’s peace has eluded our restless souls. We are desperate for God. We are desperate for peace. We are desperate for peacemakers. Peacemakers in the Bible would step between two warring parties. The peacemaker initiates reconciliation when others have wronged them. The peacemaker is quick to repent when they have wronged others. In a world where we have been discipled to avoid conflict, peacemaking takes a commitment to move toward it. Jesus was a peacemaker. A peacemaker is someone who brings peace to others. Jesus helped people feel peace by serving and healing them. Jesus said to His disciples, “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Matt Chandler writes, “A peacemaker is one who promotes God’s peace. As Christians, we are to seek peace for ourselves and the watching world. This practically looks like putting our own selfish desires aside and seeking the well-being of others. Jesus calls His disciples to serve the needy, love our enemies, and lay up treasures in Heaven. A peacemaker creates an environment of peace in the community even when it provides no gain to you. As Christ followers, we’re called to care for the spiritual needs of people seeking to create shalom (peace) for each person we encounter. Practically speaking, this can look like serving under the bridges, caring for an elderly neighbor, forgiving a friend who hurt you deeply, or fostering kids who need a home. Whatever the need is in your community, we are to emulate the peace of God by pursuing His peace on behalf of the people around us.” Pray for peace. Pray for God’s peace to be unleashed in your heart. Pray for God to make peace in your heart, so you can rise up and be a peacemaker for His glory. We need peacemakers to keep the peace in
our families, neighborhoods, schools and communities. The apostle Paul said to the church of Philippi, “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me-practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

We’ve all experienced surprises, or times when something wasn’t quite what we expected. I once took a big bite out of what I thought was a chicken salad sandwich only to discover it was cucumber. Ugh! And I do NOT like cucumbers. Read through the first four books of the New Testament and you’ll see that the disciples of Jesus found that this meeting the messiah and the“following Jesus” invitation wasn’t anything like they expected. In fact a first glance through this sermon on the mount may cause you to desire to “put on” certain behaviors like trying to act gentle and lowly. But being meek, poor, and mourning translates spiritually to recognizing a need for God and mourning over your sinfulness. The meek demonstrate a surrendered life and strength by demonstrating power under the control of the Holy Spirit. In fact, precept ministries calls these first 9 verses examples of character, with Jesus discussing behavior beginning in verse 13 where we are called to be salt and light, through chapter 7. Peace happens when there is no discord between you and another person. Peace also happens when you have that unshakable, unexplainable assurance that God is in control. To have peace with God means that there’s nothing-no sin, no guilt, no condemnation that separates you from him. The Amplified version of this passage translates “Blessed (enjoying enviable happiness, spiritually prosperous-with life, joy, and satisfaction in God’s favor and satisfaction, regardless of outward conditions) are the makers and maintainers of peace, for they shall become the sons of God. Why his sons, his children? Because, like we may look, sound, or have mannerisms similar to our biological fathers; we too carry the look and sound, form, shape and hope of our Father in heaven.

Do you need His peace this morning? You can’t “keep” peace if you don’t have it. Do you know His peace? Are you an image bearer when it comes to peace? Take it to the Lord today and ask Him to implant His peace so that you can be a peace bearer wherever He leads! “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

We don’t usually put the words blessed and persecuted in the same sentence, at least not in the West. The word persecuted means pain. We don’t like pain, especially from people who don’t like us and we don’t like them. This pain comes as a result of righteousness. In other words, this pain comes as a result of following the Righteous One. Jesus warned His believers, ” ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). Christians around the world are experiencing severe persecution. The consequences for professing faith in Jesus Christ range from stereotyping and marginalization in the West to enslavement and martyrdom in parts of the East. As unwelcome as it may be, persecution is never surprising for a Christ follower. In fact, it is to be worn as a badge of honor. Listen to Jesus’ words, “blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness”. The apostle Paul, a persecuted believer in ancient Rome wrote, ”We are hard–pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8–10).

Anonymous church leader from Central China, in response to escalating government persecution, writes, “We are constantly on edge, but our faith has grown and we are more determined than ever to see Christians in the area stand strong and not compromise their faith in Jesus.” The purpose of the persecution is the deepening of our faith in Christ. The blessing of being persecuted because of righteousness is standing strong in spite of the consequences. I don’t pray for persecution, but a faith to stay the course for the righteousness of Christ. Pray for your brothers and sisters around the world that are facing persecution today.

Paul David Tripp says, “If you’re God’s child, the gospel isn’t just an aspect of your life, it IS your life; that is, it is the window through which you look at everything.” The gospel redefines how we look at our whole story, how we think about the meaning of life, how we understand the human struggle, where we get our identity, where we look for peace and security, what we consider in life to be dangerous, and what we see as successful living.” As a believer nothing in our lives is unchanged by the gospel. However, sometimes we celebrate the salvation that comes from the good news of the gospel, but when it comes to help with relationships, marriage, money, addictions, and how we see our problems and our world; we have “spiritual amnesia”. We run to Google or Amazon for the latest self help article or book for information, and forget that because of Jesus, “we have everything we need for life and Godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). You think that there is something you need that you have not yet found, when in fact you have already been given everything you need to be what you’re supposed to be and do what you’re supposed to do in the place where the sovereign King of the universe has placed you! John Piper states, “Christianity stands at odds with the world’s mindset. Where the world looks for purpose, security, meaning and identity is in direct contrast to what the gospel says.” The Gatestone Institute calls it “The never ending pandemic”. Today, over 360 million believers are suffering high levels of violence and persecution because of their faith in Jesus Christ. In a report quoted by the World Watch List, on average around the world every 1 in 7 Christians (that’s 14%) suffer persecution. They are the worthy recipients of the kingdom of heaven. Oh sweet NewLife family, the greatest persecution I might face today for living out the gospel is “sticking out” a little bit among my coworkers and friends. In second Timothy, Paul says, “Indeed all who desire to live a godly life will be persecuted.” There is a tension between the message and the way of life for believers and followers of Jesus, and the nature and ways of the world that denies Christ as Lord. So today I’m asking myself a few questions… have I allowed the truth of the gospel (the good news that by the blood of Jesus and by His grace I have been redeemed and restored into a right relationship with the Lord) to permeate into every area of my heart and life? Do I desire righteousness enough to risk being persecuted? Does my life show that I desire righteousness? Does my life demonstrate that it’s at odds with the mindset of the world? I’m praying for the persecuted church worldwide. Along with you, I’m praying that I’ll become bolder with my faith and that the truth of the gospel will wash through our hearts all day today.

We all want to go to heaven. We all want the crown of heaven. We all want the security of the kingdom. We just don’t want the pain of persecution to be the ticket into the kingdom of heaven. In other words, this isn’t what I signed up for as a Christian. I want to avoid the pain at all costs. The fact of the matter, the message of the Gospel stands in opposition of the world’s mindset. It’s not if persecution comes, but when it comes don’t be surprised. Paul wrote, “In deed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12). There is no godly life in Christ without the pain of persecution. It’s the persecution that leads to the kingdom of heaven. So if the kingdom of heaven is so valuable, why doesn’t everybody do everything they can to be a part of it? I think it’s because value is often in the eye of the beholder. What has value and what doesn’t is really up to personal interpretation. What some people think is valuable has no value at all to others. D.A. Carson writes, “The kingdom of heaven is worth infinitely more than the cost of discipleship, and those who know where the treasure lies joyfully abandon everything else to secure it.” John Piper writes, “If you’re not in the kingdom of God, that doesn’t mean you’re free, you’re just in the kingdom of darkness and you’re under another sovereign, and that sovereign is Satan and you’re a slave to sin. Everybody lives in a kingdom. You just live in the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of light, the kingdom of Satan, or the kingdom of the Savior. You live in a kingdom. You are subject to the authority and the power of the enemy of your soul, or you are subject to the authority and power of the Savior of your soul. You are either in the kingdom that ends up in hell, or the kingdom that ends up in heaven. You’re either a slave to sin, or a servant of righteousness”. Listen, the kingdom of heaven is not for the well-meaning but rather for the desperate. Pray for God to give you a desperate heart for His righteousness. Pray for the righteousness of Christ to secure your place in the kingdom of heaven, it’s worth it!

You know I have heard a dozen sermons on this passage and read it a good many times, but I’ve never noticed one thing about it…see if you find it too…

Salt was an extremely important commodity during the time this sermon was preached from the hillside. Salt was so valuable during Jesus’ time that Roman soldiers were frequently paid their wages in salt. In fact, from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought after commodities in human history. Salt serves two main purposes. It seasons and it preserves. Salt is valuable and useful, even today. But what was true 2,000 plus years ago is true today. There might be a salt shaker on your table at home, but salt is never the meal. It’s there to flavor the meal. It doesn’t exist for itself. Now salt is made up of a number of chemical compounds, but what it is mostly, what makes it salty, what makes it useful, is sodium chloride, which is very stable and will keep its usefulness for years. But if salt is contaminated, watered down, or dissolved; the sodium chloride is dissolved and removed. It loses it’s “saltiness”.

You know the thing I’ve never noticed in this verse? It is the two words…”You Are”. Prior to this in the sermon on the mount, Jesus says “Blessed are you When…”. But he tells us here…we already Are. There are no “three steps to being salt”. There’s no formula to me being salt. There’s no me putting pressure on myself to be salt. I am already salt. Jesus tells us so, right here, in this sermon. So when I walk into a room, because I am an image bearer of the one who redeemed me, I am the salt of the earth!
So how do we lose our saltiness? In Psalm 101 David challenges himself and determines, “I will set no worthless thing before my eyes”. That’s how we lose it. We forget to determine. We fail to decide. We allow contamination or things that water down our faith into our salt shakers. Jesus must increase. I must decrease. I am the salt, but I am not the food. Jesus is the food. We’re just salt shakers walking into places that need seasoning and preserving.

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine. This little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine. Let it shine all the time let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna’ let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna’ let it shine. Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna’ let it shine. Let it shine all the time let it shine. Won’t let Satan, Whoof it out! I’m gonna’ let it shine. No, Won’t let Satan, Whoof it out! I’m gonna’ let it shine. Won’t let Satan, Whoof it out! I’m gonna’ let it shine. Let it shine all the time let it shine” (un known).

Sometimes the simplest of ideas can be the most profound. This is the case with this simple little children’s song written from the teachings of Christ. As Christians we are to be lights in the world. But, what exactly does that mean? First, did you know that light chases away the darkness? Jesus calls you the light of the world. In a dark room, a flicker of light will always
chase the darkness. However big or small, light is a great chaser of darkness. Secondly, the disciples dispelled the darkness of the world. Jesus said, let your shine light before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is heaven”. The command is simple. Let your light shine. Let your light shine before others so they may see your good works. The disciples were poking holes in the darkness for all the world to see. God is good. God works in the hearts of His disciples to do good works for His glory. Finally, the gathering cannot be hid when it is fulfilling the the great commission. It’s hard to hide the light. In fact, Jesus told His disciples, “A city on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house”. The mission of the light is to illuminate. Darkness is unable to illuminate the light. You need light. We need to be children of the light. We need homes of light. We need communities of light. We need cities of light. Pray for wisdom to discern the light from the darkness in these next several days. Please God, allow NewLife to become a beacon of light so that they may see your good works and give glory to you and to you alone! Go give them Heaven!