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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for collecting daily manna), make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Thursday, February 09, 2017
Today's Passage : Subject :The Beatitudes [2] Bible Verse :Matthew 5:4 (ESV) "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." Message:
To mourn is to be in the utter grief we feel when someone whom we love dearly dies. Trying to comfort someone in that much pain is like fighting a forest fire with a bucket of water. We are helpless. It is impossible; and yet, Christ promises that He can comfort those beyond comforting.
Like each of the beatitudes, there is an immediate meaning and a deeper meaning to Matthew 4:5. Christians quickly grasp the immediate meaning, for Christ will defeat death itself. If we truly believe that our loved one has gone to a better place, that he or she has left a world of pain and sin for a world of perfect happiness, that heaven is real, our faith transforms our grief. We realize that we are not mourning for our loved one, but for ourselves. We mourn, not a permanent loss, but a separation from our loved one.
We, too, will die. And to die in true faith is to die with the conviction that we will be with those we love forever. And not just them. Even better, we will know new love, the love of God, first-hand.
Our short period of separation will be rewarded by knowing a powerful and pure love, which we have only glimpsed on earth. We drop a nickel’s worth of love into a slot machine, and suddenly fear that we have lost our nickel. But this is not a gambling device; the chance of winning is 100%. And a short while later, a billion dollars of love comes pouring out to immerse us.
As powerful as this message is, there is a deeper meaning even more powerful. “Those who mourn” does not just mean people already in grief. Christ's followers will find a new reason to lament; for they will suddenly see the sin of the world, their own sin, and the resultant death of Christ. Christ is promising to make us sadder! When we hear Christ's his message, we have a foil against which we can suddenly see the evil of the world more clearly. We cannot comprehend the darkness until we see the sunrise. Like a peasant who has known nothing in his life except filth and poverty, but then sees a great gleaming city for the first time, we will come to understand the true wretchedness of the world, and ourselves.
And we will see this perfect goodness, the body of sweet gentle loving Jesus, broken and hung on a cross to die. And then we will mourn, for we will know that it is our sin that has put him there. But in our mourning, we shall finally find true comfort; for Christ will rise again, and bring us with him into victory over death.
Meditation : Prayer : Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, let me think about these things. What I have learned and received, let me do; and the God of peace be with us all. Amen |
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