Jesus' disciples gathered around him, 2 and he taught them:
3 God blesses those people
who depend only on him.
They belong to the kingdom
of heaven!
4 God blesses those people
who grieve.
They will find comfort!
5 God blesses those people
who are humble.
The earth will belong
to them!
6 God blesses those people
who want to obey him
more than to eat or drink.
They will be given
what they want!
7 God blesses those people
who are merciful.
They will be treated
with mercy!
8 God blesses those people
whose hearts are pure.
They will see him!
9 God blesses those people
who make peace.
They will be called
his children!
10 God blesses those people
who are treated badly
for doing right.
They belong to the kingdom
of heaven.
11 God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. 12 Be happy and excited! You will have a great reward in heaven. People did these same things to the prophets who lived long ago. Matthew 5:1-12
If you want to be blessed by God, or to receive blessings, you must be dependent on God, mourn for others, humble, obedient to God, merciful to those who wronged you, or learn to forgive others, pure in heart, or unblemished by sin, you strive for peace and not fighting with others, and you do what is right even when you are treated badly, and lastly you must do everything for the Lord even when you are insulted, persecuted, accused of lies.
Who can do all of these? Only the Lord Jesus Christ can accomplish all this! If we have the Lord in our hearts, if we surrender to Him, only then we are truly be blessed with the help of the Holy Spirit. We Christians must stay in union with Him, day after day, moment by moment.
We receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 What He commands is that we believe in his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as Christ commanded us. 24 Those who obey God's commands live in union with God and God lives in union with them. And because of the Spirit that God has given us we know that God lives in union with us. 1 John 3:22-24
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