*BLESSED*
*
DEFINITION *
Praiseworthy; consecrated; sacred; sanctified; invoke God’s favor upon;
made happy, fortunate or prosperous.
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*SCRIPTURE*
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians
1:3.
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*KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE*
Every person that lived before Christ died on the cross were to live under
the Old Testament law based on the Ten Commandments. The purpose of the law
was to show God’s people, specifically the Children of Israel, the way to
practical holiness and to reveal to them God’s nature and His plan for how
they should live. The law was designed to protect all of us from the evils
of the world by defining sin.
And when Christ came into the world He fulfilled the law by taking upon
Himself the penalty of the sins of all who believe in Him. During Christ’s
earthly ministry, He gave us His promise of the BLESSED HOPE of His return
to get those of us that have put our trust in Him.
This BLESSED HOPE is the most uplifting aspect of our knowing Jesus as our
Savior. Every believer that has accepted Jesus as their Savior looks for
the BLESSED HOPE of His coming again to take us with Him. This BLESSED HOPE
is prophesied many times. In fact, for every prophecy recorded in the Bible
concerning the first coming of Christ, there are eight prophecies on His
second coming, which is our BLESSED HOPE.
To make sure that we understand that Jesus was coming again, the second
time, there are 2,163 references in the scriptures. God fulfills all of His
promises so all of us as believers can look forward to that special day
with great assurance — no doubt at all.
In Matthew five we read the words of Jesus as He preached the now famous
sermon known as the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon Jesus said, blessed
are the poor in spirit, blessed are those that mourn, blessed are the meek,
blessed are the hungry, blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in
heart, blessed are the peacemakers, and blessed are the persecuted.
Jesus, in this sermon, was describing the traits he wanted in His
followers. Jesus said that those who lived out these traits would be
blessed. He knew what He was asking because He lived out these traits in
His life while on this earth. Today He blesses us when we follow His
examples and make it our goal to become more like Him.
It is written in James 1:17 that every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow of turning. Because of this we should give praise to
God for all the ways He has blessed us as we look forward to that BLESSED
HOPE of spending eternity with Jesus.
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*LEARNING*
Our memory verse for this week is found in Colossians 3:13.
Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a
complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do.
*
PRAYER*
Help me to count my blessings every day. Thank You for the way You have
blessed my life and the lives of my family. Help me to be a blessing to
others today. Thank You for the assurance we have in the scriptures of the
BLESSED HOPE of Your coming again to establish us in Your glorious Kingdom.