One of my brothers favorite verses is "You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. (Jer 29:13)" this came up as I was reading through Matthew 5-13. I know he like journaling in a physical book, and though I gave him a One Step Closer Bible, I have a feeling he won't use it. So I purchased a NLT journaling and note-taking Bible for him.
I was stuck by the idea of people being "the salt of earth", that "lost its flavor. (Matt 5:13). We often talk about the spirit we are born with, verse the Holy Spirit we receive when we are born again (John 3). The big idea from Matthew 5:1-12 is God blesses characteristics of people with promises. These characteristics represent how we view ourselves in relationship with Him. Am I poor and realize my need for him? If so then do I mourn (salty tears) and receive His comfort? Humbly receive my inheritance (rule and subdue the whole earth Gen 1:28)? Hunger and thirst (salt) for justice NLT/righteousness NIV, [those who actively seek right standing with God] AMP. This hunger and thirst is "SATISFIED"
If you're satisfied, you're contented, and you don't need anything more. You're not overjoyed, but you're not complaining either. When something is satisfied, the requirements have been met and nothing more needs to be done. When you pay back the money you owe on a loan, you have satisfied the debt. You sleep well but also wake up energized.
This progresses in our lives to be merciful and in doing so we are shown mercy. With a pure heart we will see God. We work for peace and are called his children and we're persecuted unjustly as we follow Jesus, actively seeking right standing with God. This is the way of the prophets.
Discovering Matt 5:6
Psalm 42:1-2: For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. / My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
Isaiah 55:1-2: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you without money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost! / Why spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of foods.
John 4:13-14: Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. / But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 6:35: Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst.
Revelation 7:16-17: ‘Never again will they hunger, and never will they thirst; nor will the sun beat down upon them, nor any scorching heat.’ / For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. ‘He will lead them to springs of living water,’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”
Psalm 63:1: A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You; my soul thirsts for You. My body yearns for You in a dry and weary land without water.
Isaiah 44:3: For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.
John 7:37-38: On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. / Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”
Amos 8:11: Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Psalm 107:9: For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Isaiah 61:1-3: The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, / to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, / to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
Luke 1:53: He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.
1 Peter 2:2-3: Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, / now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Philippians 3:9-10: and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith. / I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death,
Romans 3:21-22: But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. / And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Alleluia, you have saved me - so much better your way, Alleluia!
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