The Beatitudes
Kingdom Attributes
Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
July 21, 2020 • Bianca Ndlovu
We live in a world that is trying to convince us that we do not need God and that we as humans are powerful; that power comes from us alone and we are self-sufficient. You have to realise your need for Him. You have to want Him more than anything else. You have to see Him as important for daily living and make Him a priority.
Blessed Are The Meek
July 7, 2020 • Ruth Gallagher
In the Bible, the Greek word translated “meek” is praeis and refers to mildness and gentleness of spirit, or humility. The Greek understanding of the word, "meek" had to do with the breaking-in of horses, the training of animals. Imagine an untamed animal filled with passion, spirit, and energy and then imagine getting all that under control during the training process. The Greek understanding of "meek" carries with it the idea of taking all this fire, all this passion, and putting it under control. It is a breaking process.
Those Who Thirst For Righteousness
June 30, 2020 • Daniel Ndlovu
Your experience of hope and joy is based on your hunger and thirst to be perfect before God and this will fulfil you. This beatitude is telling us to hunger and thirst for something that does not come naturally to us and even with the greatest of strength we cannot achieve it. In the Bible if something is beyond your capacity God provides the way and God is the answer.
Blessed Are The Merciful
July 14, 2020 • Paul Goffin
God’s mercy is God’s goodness towards those in misery and distress. Through God’s mercy we are delivered from the consequences of sin in our lives and can start to be restored to a right relationship with God. Through His mercy God is able to work in our hearts and in our lives to heal us from the harm that sin leads us into.
Blessed Are The Pure In Heart
July 28, 2020 • Eustace Mckinnon
The heart is what you are, in the secrecy of your thoughts and feelings, when nobody knows what’s going on in your mind except for God. “What you are at the invisible root matters as much to God as what you are at the visible branch.” In other words, it is more than an “external purity of behaviour”. It is an internal purity of soul. What we learn from this Beatitude is that Jesus is concerned with our heart. It is not enough for us to clean up ourselves on the outside, yet our insides are still unclean.
Blessed Are The Peacemakers
August 4, 2020 • Nipun Ekanayake
Peace-making is a key characteristic of Jesus. Peace-making requires a change of your heart and continual effort for peace to flourish. We are called to be an instrument of Peace as Jesus Reconciled Man and God. it is our calling to reconcile man to God and peace with each other. By doing so we are continuing Jesus Work.