Blessed Are They That Hunger & Thirst After Righteousness

 

    Matthew 5:6

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

THE SEEKERS HEART

    Psalm 63:1

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, Thou are my God; early will I seek Thee: my soul thirsts for Thee, my flesh longs for Thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.

    Psalm 107:9

For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

    Psalm 84:2

My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

EAT WHAT I'M GIVEN

    Bread of Heaven for the hungry. Living Water for the thirsty. Wine for the aching and sorrowful. Word tastes like Honey. 

    Jeremiah 15:16

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

    Psalm 119:103

How sweet are Your words to my taste--sweeter than honey in my mouth!

    Ezekiel 2:8

"And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you."

    Job 23:12

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

    Proverbs 30:8

Keep falsehood and deceitful words far from me. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the bread that is my portion.

    Psalm 16:5

The LORD is My Chosen Portion and My Cup; You have made my lot secure.

Living Water

 John 4:14

"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.”

It is not enough to believe in God, we must also believe in God's Word. For there is but one God and in Him, through Him and by Him have all people and things been created (John 1:3). On Him we are dependent for every breath of life. He supplies our every need. In Him we have no lack: He satisfies our every need (Psalm 23:1).

We must also believe God's Word is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11). As such, we should choose to surrender who we are in ourselves and follow Jesus Christ with our whole hearts and lives (Romans 12:1), not just giving Him lip service. It is not enough to say, 'I believe God exists' then turn around and say, 'the Bible is an ancient text and does not apply to me.' 

It is like saying, 'Yes, I see the fresh water, but no matter how thirsty I am I'm not going to drink it.' Sight alone isn't enough to save our souls. Many people followed Jesus during His ministry years on earth, but not many stayed following. For the words which He spoke were hard to hear and most definitely unconventional. 

Are some of us rejecting God's Word because we don't want to hear it? Yes. Are some of us ignoring God's Word because it prohibits us from having what we think of as fun? Yes. Are some of us choosing an unrighteous lifestyle because a righteous lifestyle is contrary to popular living? Yes. How do we get out of that cycle of self-destruction? Drink the water. 

Drink the Living Water which the Word of God offers to those who have received His first Gift, His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. How do we do that? We ask Him for it. We ask God for the Living Water which quenches the thirst of our souls. Living Water flows without end, constantly refreshing the one who asks for it. What is this Living Water? The Holy Spirit of God. 

It is God's Spirit which strengthens us and fills us with power (Acts 1:8; Acts 2:4) to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) in God's Word as we travel our journeys in this life on this earth. It is God's Spirit which enables the believers to speak the Truth of God's Word to the world into which He sends us. It is by this power that I speak now. I crave the Living Water which refreshes my soul and strengthens my spirit. It is this Water I drink. 

The Word tells us in Psalm 42:1-2  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? And again in Psalm 84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Are you thirsty? Come to the Water. Come to the Well.

A Place At His Table

 

Luke 22:24-30

 A dispute also arose among the disciples as to which of them would be considered the greatest.

  So Jesus declared, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them call themselves benefactors.

  But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.

  For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves.

  You are the ones who have stood by Me in My trials.

  And I bestow on you a kingdom, just as My Father has bestowed one on Me, 

  so that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Jesus speaking at the Last Supper he had with His disciples before His death and resurrection)

WHO WILL SIT AT THE LORD'S TABLE?

John 21:12

  Jesus said unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples dared ask him, Who are You? knowing that it was the Lord.

Isaiah 55:1

  “Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy grain and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost [simply accept it as a gift from God]."

Joel 2:32

  And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by the LORD.

Matthew 5:6

  "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." (Jesus speaking at the Sermon on the Mount)

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.’ ” (Jesus speaking at the Feast of the Tabernacles)

John 4:14

  "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.” (Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well)

Acts 2:21

'And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Romans 10:13

  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Revelation 22:17

  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

While there are a couple other tables (notably, Psalm 23:5) mentioned in the Bible, the table referred to here is the one being set up for the marriage supper of the Lamb and His Bride.

Luke 14:15

  When one of those reclining with Him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is everyone who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”

Revelation 19:9

  Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

I'm a "Whosoever Will". God sent out His invite through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ and I accepted His invitation. I am saved by the blood of the Lamb! And when God calls me name for the last time here on this earth, I will join Jesus and the saints who have gone before me. 

I heard God's 'call', God's invite, to Come & Dine with Him. And I R.S.V.P.'d by giving Him my heart, my spiritual heart, for Him to live in. Have you done this? Do you believe?

River Blessings

The river of life that flows out of the born again believer can only flow with the power of The Holy Spirit. For it is The Spirit of God that calls us all to salvation. 
He woos us into God's holy presence, where we realize we are sinners: unholy, unrighteous. Our hearts break with the weight of our sin and shame. When we believe in Jesus Christ for our salvation, that only He can save us from the punishment for our sins, then God forgives us and wipes away the tarnish from our souls. 

When we ask for God's Holy Spirit, we are asking for power to walk/live in, and according to, God's holy Word. The disciples could not witness of God's redeeming grace until The Holy Spirit had filled them with power to testify.
For we know that after Christ died and was buried, each went back to what he had been doing before walking with Jesus. Their understanding of His Words was not fulfilled until they had received the baptism of fire, of The Holy Ghost, upon each individually.
Even now those who only read the surface of The Word of God are not able to grasp the intent or wisdom of The Word. This only comes about through The Holy Spirit living in us, flowing through us.
The Holy Spirit guides us in God's Word. He is Wisdom. The Wisdom of God reveals God through God's Word. We need this blessed Holy Spirit to reach us, to teach us, to bring us, into God's eternal presence.
Revelation 21:17 reminds us that "..The Spirit and the bride say, Come...." That is God's Holy Spirit speaking to all who will listen:
"....And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely".

Deep Well

John 4:1-42 tells us of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well and her encounter with Jesus Christ. 
Here we focus on 10-14, their conversation at this well. 

When we first meet Jesus, it is not the water that is murky, but the veil covering our eyes that makes it difficult for us to see Jesus clearly. It is only when we believe what we are hearing, that the veil is torn from our the eyes of our heart, allowing our soul (*the mind, the will, the emotions) to view Jesus Christ clearly.

We drink that Living Water when He pours Himself into us through our belief in Him: that He Is Lord, that God sent Him to die for us, that He rose from the dead and walked out of the grave. When we believe, our thirst is quenched. 

To hunger and thirst after righteousness is to hunger and thirst of the Righteousness of God: Jesus Christ. JEHOVAH-TSIDKENU: THE LORD MY RIGHTEOUSNESS. 1 Corinthians 1:30 "But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, Who of God is made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption." 

I have that Living Water living in me. And when The Holy Spirit of God moves upon that water, The Word of God flows out of me.  John 7:38 "He that believes on Me, as The Scripture has said, 'out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'. Proverbs 18:4 "The words of a man's mouth are as deep water, And the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook." 

So, today I am giving you a cup of cold water, Living Water. I am sharing Jesus with you and inviting you to drink deeply with me.

I've Got A River of Life

Is Your Soul Dehydrated?

Is your soul dehydrated? Have you not been drinking deeply from The Lord's well? One cannot just skim The Scriptures in order to satisfy the thirst which the soul has. We must study The Word in order to understand and comprehend what it is that God is saying to us. 

On our own terms we are inadequate. We need God's Holy Spirit to reveal God Himself in His own Word that we may begin to imagine this great God we have heard of and His amazing Grace and Love towards mankind. 

John 4:14

Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;

but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Just as Jesus revealed this to the woman at the well in this section of Scripture, so it is revealed to us, as well. And just where was this well? In Christ Jesus. 

For the water that Jesus gives us is Living Water; a Well that never runs dry and always satisfies the soul, leaving it refreshed and content. 

One day soon we shall be in God's eternal presence and every promise made for that appointed time will be fulfilled.

Revelation 7:17

For The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. 

Don't just sip your Bible, take a deep, long draught.