Pure in heart
How blessed are those who are pure in heart, because it is they who will see God!
Mat 5:8
Every human being has an insatiable desire in his heart to see God. Even those who deny the existence God will have a bitter experience in their past of not finding God even after desperate search or being cheated by someone or some spiritual leaders who would have given them false promises of taking them to God.
Why this insatiable search for God by human beings? Where does it originate from? The Lord our Creator has deposited it in their heart even when we were created.
So that they might look for God, somehow reach for him, and find him. Of course, he is never far from any one of us.
Act 17:27
Those who search will find Him.
Mat 7:7 “…. Keep searching, and you will find.”
Psa 19:1-4 ….. The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and their expanse shows the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech nor are there words—their voice is not heard— yet their message goes out into all the world, and their words to the ends of the earth.
Even where there is no one to preach the Gospel, the sun reveals the message-i.e. the existence of God.
Rom 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse.
But many ends up in failure in the search. Either they are not able to find God
or they are deceived by satan. They get deviated in their efforts, minds get darkened, and they resort to wrong methods and reach at wrong ends.
They come to the conclusion that there is no God
Psa 14:1 Fools say to themselves, “There is no God”
Psa 14:1 ………………..” They are corrupt and commit evil deeds; not one of them practices what is good.
But blessed are those who have a pure heart; They will see God.
Prayer
Lord, Give me a pure heart so that I will be able to see you. Amen.
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31
Yes, when God is for us, nothing in the whole world can harm us as He is our protection and refuge. Chapter 8 of Romans professes about life in the Spirit. Living in Christ is a constant struggle with the world.
Jesus prayed to the Father this:
“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.
John 17:14-15
And when we choose to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we have to face a lot of difficulties. But the Lord takes good care of us and like Apostle Paul we can proclaim that we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us. We find a lot many instances in the Old Testament where the Lord fights for His people. When Joshua led the Israelites to Canaan, Jordan splits as the feet of those priests, who bore the Ark of the Covenant, touched it’s water. The presence of God worked the miracle. How the Lord broke open the formidable fort of Jericho is beyond our comprehension. How could the Israelites negotiate their way through the wilderness? Impossible was made easy for them as God was for them. Lord is telling that He carried them throughout as the eagle carries the young one on it’s wings.
Jesus said:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33
There are difficulties and problems, but the presence of God gives strength to us to be victorious,
Occupying the promised land involved warfare and total annihilation of the entire canaan tribes. It’s not through skill and arms that the Israelites defeated the powerful kings of the surrounding nations.
The Canaanites in the east and west; the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites in the hill country; and the Hivites below Hermon in the region of Mizpah, all of them came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and chariots—a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
Joshua 11:3-4
The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them, because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them, slain, over to Israel.
Joshua 11:6 .
The Lord defeated them as promised and Joshua obeyed fully the instructions given to him in this matter. We can read similar instances in the lives of David, Hezekiah and others in the Bible.
King Jehoshaphat was terrified when the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to wage war against him.
2 Chronicles 20:1
He went to the God of Heaven and said: Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
2 Chronicles 20:12
He received the answer from above, You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you.’ ”
2 Chronicles 20:17
God defeated their enemies and people rejoiced in the Lord.
It’s the same for us too. If He is for us who can be against us. Put your trust in the Lord. He will fight your battles and He will give you rest.
He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
Romans 8:32
Thanks giving:
Thank you heavenly Father for giving us your Son Jesus for our salvation. Thank you Lord for the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Help us to obey your Word and remain loyal to you always; In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Sol Salomi Kurian.