Denial is not faith.

I confess.  I have been guilty of thinking if I ignore a problem I am practicing my faith.  Ha!  I am coming to realize that denying I have a problem does not mean that the problem will go away.  Denying I am hurting does not make me stop hurting, it just delays my dealing with it.

There is a Scripture: “cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you,” which sounds so easy, yet is hard to do.  I seem to think that all the little cares in my life are meant for me to deal with, so I deny that they matter. And when I say “deal with it” it usually means set it aside as it doesn’t really matter.  But it does.  I am denying that it is a care and I am carrying it without realizing it.

I finally realize I am carrying things when I literally feel weighed down and a need to cry.  How silly that I allow myself to do this.  My Father is asking me what I have need of each time I come to Him and while I give him the “big” things in my life, I deny all the “little” cares that I have allowed to pile up because I think I can handle them. Oh, dear!   Where did I learn that from?  Not from Scripture that’s for sure.

Peter denied knowing  Christ, and in my own way I deny Him too when I don’t believe in His love for me and in His authority in my life enough to confess to Him and trust Him with every dinky thing weighing on me.  It takes faith to speak the truth.  It takes faith to tell our Father we need Him in every area of our life.  It takes faith to tell a mountain to move.  Denying the mountain is there will never budge it one inch.

I don’t want to carry things unnecessarily any longer! I will not buy into the lie any longer that if I just deny and push through an issue it will go away. I don’t want to accept pain, whether physical, mental, or emotional in my life any longer by denying their importance in prayer.  I want to show my faith in my Lord by bringing everything large and small to His throne so He can bind the strongman behind the assaults on my being.

It is not by my might nor by my power, but by His Spirit the Lord tells us.   The battle is in my thoughts and I will expose each “care” to my Father so Truth can be received and that care will be cast upon Him for He cares for me.

FUD Be Gone Pest Control

Ugh.  The little pests.  They found unseen entries and invaded my home.  As if my past infestation of weevils wasn’t bad enough, now I was dealing with the pests known as FUD.  They are nasty little buggers, annoying and hard to eliminate.  They steal your joy and rob you of peace, leaving behind sleepless nights and even upset stomachs.  You definitely want to identify their habits and find their nest so you can destroy them completely.  The treatment can seem daunting, but the thought of continuing to live with them is worse.    One treatment is often not enough as they can lie dormant waiting for the right season to hatch again.  Therefore be on constant guard watching for the aforementioned symptoms to reveal themselves so you can apply treatment immediately.

What on earth is FUD you ask?  Why, it’s Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt of course.

Recently my husband was on a journey of practicing patience.  Naturally, I was on it with him.  On the course of this journey the greatest enemy was FUD.  It would creep in and try to steal our faith and hope in what was happening and what we were certain was to come.  You see God has promised to prosper us and give us peace, but FUD is so good at making us forget the Truth.

In the world of sales, FUD is a tactic used to get customers to buy something they might not be sure they really want or need.  Insurance salesman are probably the most well-known for using FUD.  No offense to any of you salesmen out there, after all bad things really can happen, and that’s why it works.

In our Christian walks we are to trust in God’s unfailing love, yet in our flesh we know bad things can happen.  Thus FUD creeps in and begins to work its mischief.  Our thoughts begin to go down paths that are scary and disappointing.  Our heart beat quickens and our stomach churns.  We imagine the worst and begin to feel hopeless.  Then our mind suddenly snaps into survival mode and we begin to take things into our own hands as we hatch a plan to make things turn out the way we want!

At this point a still small voice says be still and know that I AM God.  Trust in me and do not fear, do not be uncertain, do not doubt my love for you or my care of you.  You are my child and I am working on your behalf.  Blessed are those who do not see and yet choose to believe.  Blessed are those who put their trust in Me and wait patiently; their strength will be renewed and they will soar.

The surest way to eliminate FUD is to think on the Truth and trust in Him.  FUD is based on “what ifs.”  Trusting is based in Who He is and was and is to come.  FUD is spoken from the source of all lies.  Trust comes by knowing the Truth and the way to hear the Truth is by knowing the Word.

It’s a lot easier to be patient when you aren’t swatting at FUDs buzzing about your head.   Don’t live with them any longer, identify them and squash them with a good dose of Truth.  If you need to be reminded what the Truth is, read your Bible, it works for more than just good reading.

“Do You Want to Get Well?”

She sits alone at her kitchen table looking out at the desolate winter landscape, feeling just as desolate in her soul.  She had been filled with hopes and dreams when young, before life took its chisel and chipped them to dust to be blown away by the wind of time.  How could she know when young and full of promise that by one choice the entire course of her life could be changed?

She returns to that day the same time each year to relive the pain.  Sometimes the memory comes unbidden in the middle of an otherwise lovely day leaving its ugly mark upon it.  Why, oh why, she wonders did she make that choice?  How long will she have to pay for it?

She has poured her life into serving others to make up for it, but still the loss is there.  She has worked hard to do her best at her job and yet no promotion fills the hole the choice created.   She has turned to men, food, and drink to salve the wound but the condemnation persists.  The voice just won’t stop; the voice that asks, “Why did you do it?”

As she stares out the window a tear rolls down her cheek clinging to her jaw, refusing to fall.  It refuses to fall just as she refuses to break.  She made a deal with herself a long time ago to be strong.  She carries this burden alone wearing it like a shroud, a shroud to cover a life she thinks is dead.  But today, another tear follows the track of the first and they splash onto her hand.  She looks down surprised as tears begin to pour unceasingly.  She feels afraid and vulnerable but can’t stop the flow.  A thought suddenly comes to her, “Pray.”  Pray?  Pray about this?  It has been so long since she has thought of God.  She can’t talk to God about her choice; or can she?  Another thing the choice took away was her belief that God would still care, would still hear her in spite of what she did.  She decides it’s worth a try:  “Oh, God! Help me!”

At this point I would like to guess that each of you reading this thought of a choice you have made in your own life and inserted into this story.  Good.  I would also venture to guess that if you knew a friend was going through something alone you would tell her she can go to God and He will forgive her, love her, and heal her in spite of her choice.  Now I ask you, if your friend is extended this grace, why wouldn’t you be extended the same?  If Jesus delivered a woman possessed by demons, can’t He or won’t He deliver you?  If Jesus forgave a woman caught in the very act of adultery and protected her from her accusers why wouldn’t He do the same for you?  Do you really question His love for you?  Do you question His ability to heal your wounds?  Do you question if He forgives ALL sins?  Forgiveness comes by His grace, not by our penance.

In John 5 (NLT) there is a story of a man who had been an invalid for 38 years.  Jesus goes to him and asks,“Do you want to get well?” ⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

Notice Jesus asked, “Do you want to get well?”  He asks us the same thing.  Often we have no one to help us reach our place of healing because in our determination to be strong we don’t ask for help!  We see others passing us by as we remain in our position as an invalid.  In God’s perfect love, grace, and mercy, He comes to us, in the place we are at, and asks, “Do you want to get well?”

If you recognize yourself at all in this story make a life-changing choice today and take all your past choices to Him and believe that He is the same Lord and Savior today as He was when He walked this earth.  Be cured at once as you believe in His unfailing love for YOU and take up your mat and walk.

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

Nothing sets demons fleeing like the Lord being magnified.  Nothing sets satan’s teeth on edge like the Lord being worshiped by His children.  Nothing causes principalities and powers to tremble like hearing the name of Jesus being worshiped in Spirit and in Truth!

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

Nothing, besides reading the Word, reminds of how great God is with the same power as worship does.  Lifting Him up in our mind does more to drown our afflictions than any drink could.  Seeing Him upon His heavenly throne and His feet upon the earth does more for our helplessness than any self-help book.

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

Nothing reminds of who He is and how great He is and all He has done like worship.  When we remember Him as our Creator, our Provider, our Redeemer, our Savior, we wonder why we are worrying.  When we remember He is our Rock and our Refuge and our Stronghold, we wonder why we doubt.  When we remember He is the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of lords and the Lord of all, we wonder why we feel afraid.  When we remember He is the One who died for us, the One who suffered unjustly for us, the One who forgives us, we begin to repent.

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

When we repent, we surrender.  When we surrender our will to His, He is in control.  When He is in control, satan isn’t.  Praise our Lord, Jesus!  When we forget who we are and focus on who He is we abide in Him and from the safety of His wing we can live life abundantly.

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

Heavenly Father we worship you, we exalt your holy name.  You alone are worthy of all our praise and worship.  You alone are perfect in all your ways.  We worship you for who you are: The Ancient of Days; the King of all kings; the Lover of our souls; our Covering; our Strength; our Fortress who we run to and are safe; The All Sufficient One; The One who conquered death, hell and the grave; our Advocate.  You are: Peace that passes all understanding; Wisdom; Knowledge; Understanding; Hope; Love.

Worship is a Weapon of Warfare.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Cor. 10:3-5).  “…worship the LORD your God; it is he who will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies” 2 Kings 17:39b.  ^“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

Blessings in Disguise

Blessings are all around us, but how often do we walk away before we discover them?  Blessings are offered, but how often do we turn them down in fear?  Blessings are forthcoming but if we aren’t expecting them it’s easy to despair.

This past Sunday afternoon my husband and I headed to a bed-and-breakfast for a much-needed get-away.  Upon our arrival we discovered our cottage was not ready and much to our dismay there was no one around nor was the emergency contact answering her phone.  We decided to find a place to hang out and wait to hear back.  Thirty minutes went by and Stephen (my husband) decided to look around to make sure a representative wasn’t somewhere on the property.  No one was found. While he was walking, I was asking God “Where are you in this?”  I was looking for the blessing because this was so completely unexpected and I was terribly disappointed and I have been on a journey of trusting God in a new way. After he returned we sat another 30 minutes then I made more calls and left new messages.  Still no word.  Finally, after two hours and darkness approaching we decided to head home since we had to travel country roads.

Thirty minutes down the road my phone rings and it’s the owner saying she is so sorry and if we come back she will refund our costs, we will still get to stay the night AND we will be given a two night stay in a cottage whenever we want to use it!  That is where the Lord was; He was working on blessing us above and beyond what we had imagined.

You see it’s easy to be near-sighted, only seeing what is right in front of us: a bad job; health problems; financial stress; injustice; a damaged marriage; disappointments. But, God remembers what He did in the past – the past victories, and He says: “forget all that – it is nothing compared to what I am going to do.  For I am about to do something new.  See, I have already begun!  Do you not see it?  I will make a pathway through the wilderness.  I will create rivers in the dry wasteland…so my chosen people can be refreshed” (Isaiah 43:18-20).

We are not promised a problem-free life on this earth, but we are told He will never leave us nor forsake us.  We are told He knows what we have need of.  We are told nothing can separate us from His love.  We are told nothing is impossible for God.  We are told when we are weak He is strong.  We are told if we seek Him we will find Him.

Whatever the mountain is that sits before you today, I remind you and myself that it is not bigger than our God.  Look at that mountain and ask the Lord “where are you in that mountain?”  And then wait for Him to show you something new.   If you trust in Him with all your heart and depend not on your own understanding and seek His will in all you do (including what to do about a mountain) He will direct your path!

He also says forget the methods your flesh is conjuring up. “It is nothing compared to what I am going to do.”  Wow!  Praise God!  It’s easy to look at problem and handle it in anger or sorrow or begin devising a plan to fix things.  Yes, we do our part (I did call the owner, and we did look around), but don’t try to be God.  Don’t limit Him to your plan or to the last method He used to get you across the river, this time it is a wilderness so He has to create a path.  As hard as it is, be patient and look to Him because it is from Him that blessings come.

No Life Will Be Lost

The ship was full of nervous passengers and sailors who were wondering if they would survive the storm.  The waves rammed the ship pushing it onto its side then heaving it toward the sky only to let it crash back down.  The rain came down so furiously it was a struggle to see the ropes or even the person beside you.  The roar of the ocean drown out the captain’s orders as the crew began heaving cargo overboard to lighten the load.  If you could have seen their faces you would recognize fear in their eyes and exhaustion in their bodies as they battled against the storm day after day.  They began to dump gear into the black water hoping it would help, but instead the storm raged on and the sky turned black and they lost all hope.  Then one man rose up and spoke, “We will be shipwrecked, but no life will be lost. Take courage, eat something to regain your strength, not a hair on your head will parish.”

In this life we face storms: big, black, overwhelming, exhausting, disheartening, discouraging, scary storms.  God is bigger.  He says, you will lose some things in this storm, but your life will be saved.

In marriages there is the storm of betrayal; God says no life will be lost.

In business there is the storm of financial ruin: God says no life will be lost.

In families there is the storm of unforgiveness: God says no life will be lost.

In friendships there is the storm of disappointment: Gos says no life will be lost.

In life there is the storm of injustice: God says no life will be lost.

In individuals there is the storm of shame: Gos says no life will be lost.

No matter your storm, God is bigger.  What the enemy means for your harm, God uses for your good and His purpose in your life.  You may lose cargo – the unnecessary things in your life, or you may lose some gear – the things you think you need but don’t really, and you may even lose your ship – something we would deem valuable in this life , but no life will be lost.

As we seek our Lord and cry out to Him to save us, He speaks to us in the midst of our storm and assures us He is in control and He will guide us it to dry land. We may not be able to see the shoreline, but it is there.  What we see as hopeless, God sees as the perfect storm to do a work in and through us for His glory.

Our hope is not in this life, but in a future with Him.  Be encouraged as you ride out your storm.

Acts 27

I Doubt It

The bank teller looked at the cold steel of the pistol and did exactly as she was asked, handing over all the money in her drawer.  The perp then ran out the door to his awaiting vehicle and sped away laughing at the ease of his crime especially since his weapon wasn’t even loaded.

The young woman prepared herself beautifully for the special evening: her hair was swept up gracefully, her dress flattered her figure, and her face radiated beauty.  She felt great!  When she arrived at the restaurant to meet her friends, one said, “Oh, why did you wear your hair up?  It is so gorgeous down, and you really look better in blue than lavender.”  The young woman no longer felt so great about herself.

The man knelt before the Lord in prayer, pouring out his heart in repentance, feeling the weight he had been carrying lift from his shoulders.   As he went about his day he thought, “It can’t be that easy.  I can’t be forgiven that easily.  God isn’t happy with me, how can he love me when I always make mistakes.”  The burden began to settle once again upon his back.

Doubt.  We all experience it and it is paralyzing.  The enemy has it easy when all he has to do is make us doubt.  He doesn’t even have to prove if his weapon is loaded he just has to make us wonder:  “Is he going to kill me?”  “Should I have worn a different dress? Does my hair look bad?” “Does God truly love me?  Has He really forgiven me?  Am I truly free of my sins?”

Peter was doing great walking on water until he doubted:³⁰ But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.³¹ Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” And in James 1 we are cautioned about doubt, being described as being double minded: ⁵If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.” Jesus taught his disciples, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen” (Matthew 21:21)

Jesus said in that last passage, “I tell you the truth.”  When we doubt, we are not focused on the truth.  In fact we don’t even wonder about the thought that made us doubt, we just accept it as truth, even thought the moment before we thought something totally different.  We need to begin doubting doubt!  We need to question the thoughts that make us worry or doubt what we know is true.

Recently I have been very intentional in asking the Lord for discernment of doubt.  I realize that it is an unloaded gun that has the power to keep me from walking fully in my faith in the Lord. By God’s grace and through the power of His Spirit,  I am determined to walk in His truth and not listen to doubt.  If you at all doubt God’s love for you, ask why.  If you at all doubt your own beauty, ask why.  If you suddenly have that sinking feeling about something that you felt confident about shortly before, then stop and ask that doubtful thought to prove that it is loaded and not just a weapon shooting blanks.  Know the Truth so well that doubt cannot find a foothold in your life.

“I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more.”

Dance Lessons

For at least a decade, my husband and I have discussed taking dance lessons.   We both grew up in the age of standing individually and gyrating on the dance floor, then when a slow song came on you held on to your partner and swayed back and forth with feet stuck to the ground.  I also grew up watching my parents Jitterbug in the living room and loved it!  Actually, I still love to watch others dancing in unison: one leading, the other following, gliding joyfully around the room.  I sit there watching with foot tapping and head bobbing, yet the only way my rhythm is usually expressed is through the Chicken Dance or the Cha Cha Slide!

Several years ago I attempted to learn the two-step.  I mean, how hard can it be, it’s only two steps!  Yet as I learned it and gained confidence with one partner, the next stepped a little differently and it frustrated me and I gave up.  Now, as my mom has said, the key is you have to just let them lead and you follow.  Ha!  That’s easier said than done!!  It’s not that I don’t trust them to follow correctly, I just don’t know what is going on down at floor level and I have trouble following if I don’t know where he is taking me: backward, forward, sideways, or a circle!

Oh, how this is the same when dancing with my Lord.  I stand before Him and accept the dance and then I step on His toes, or stumble over my feet as I take a step that is different from where He was going.  He is so patient to stop and let me rehearse the steps before continuing again, He is a master dance teacher and He knows I stink at memorizing choreography!  He also recognizes that His girls, due to the fall, have a hard time trusting men to lead them safely.  This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t follow, just that He understands our weaknesses.  He continues to lead, expecting me to follow.

Stepping on toes is also something that occurs as I dance through life with my husband.  For the most part I follow as he leads, but there are times I stop following his lead in conversation and I jump ahead to the next step, missing the step he is on, therefore tripping up the dance.  We stand there doing different dances wondering why on earth we aren’t getting anywhere, then we realize the Waltz and the Salsa don’t really mix.

I have observed older couples dancing and you can tell they have lots of experience with leading and following.  The husband knows just where to place his hand and the pressure to apply to guide his wife in the right direction and she knows what it means.  She has danced this dance before and anticipates his change in direction or tempo.  As much as he is a skillful leader, she is a masterful follower.

We are talking once again of taking dance lessons.  We want to be prepared for the day our daughters get married.  We need to know how to teach them to dance with their own partners as well as show off our own moves learned by dancing together through life, stepped on toes and all.

Ecclesiastes ^3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

Unrealistic Expectations

“You seriously wrote that?!” My friend asked incredulously after I had shared that a few years ago I wrote in a journal that an expectation I had for myself was, and I quote myself, “To NEVER disappoint anyone.”  Ha!  Wow!  Okay, be honest, how many of you have had that same expectations, even if you’ve never written it down like I did?

I fully believe the Lord led me back to that journal entry a couple of weeks ago because He knew it was time for me to conquer this issue once and for all!  The journey I have been on since then has been an interesting one to say the least.  God is so faithful to deliver us from the things that have us bound when we cry to Him to help us.

The morning that I was prompted to pick up that journal and flipped to that page was eye-opening for me.  When I read my own words I immediately thought, “What an unrealistic expectation!”  I revised the journal entry with these words, “A person being disappointed is not on your shoulders, they also have expectations and you cannot control their reactions, all you can be is you-Tricia!  Stop expecting yourself to be perfect! Be you – be free!”

Freedom!  Freedom to be me!  Freedom to fail.  Freedom to fly. Freedom to love.  Freedom to be hurt.  Freedom to make a mistake.

Now, I don’t want to get all psycho-analytical on you, but this desire to never disappoint anyone has been in me since childhood…just ask my family.   It’s not their fault, they have always loved me and accepted me unconditionally…I am the one who thought I had to perform to gain acceptance into their world.  You see, my four older siblings are a decade older than I, and in my childish logic when younger I thought if only I was older I could go out with them.  That is how it began…desiring to be something I was not and never will be–older than what I am.  How many other things have I wished I was, rather than being happy with who I am and where God placed me in my family?

So, how does all that go back to never wanting to disappoint anyone?  Well, if I couldn’t actually be older, then by golly, I’ll be perfect!  Of course I’ve never consciously thought that, but it was there.  I have faced this lie before, but have not conquered it. This time I’m mad.  This time it has to go.  No longer will I beat myself up when I make a mistake.  No longer will I worry what someone is thinking of me.  No longer will I try to prove my worth to another person.  God doesn’t make me prove my worth; so, why should I give that power to a broken human?!  I am not giving myself a license to sin, I am giving myself grace.

From this day forward, I receive and will walk in the Truth of God’s grace in my life to be me in all my imperfectness.  And I free myself from the lie that if I disappoint someone I love, they won’t love me.   I free myself from the lie that I have to be more than who I am in order to be loved, wanted, or accepted.  By God’s love, grace, and mercy I AM FREE!

Psalm 103:

⁸ The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.⁹ He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;¹⁰ he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.¹³ As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;¹⁴ for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

What is Success?

Last week, my husband and I were discussing what it means to be well-educated, which lead us to what it means to be successful.  Depending on your world-view, this is answered in very different ways.  In our culture, success is mostly defined by fame and/or fortune.  God has a much different view of success: ^“What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36.

It is easy to fall into the patterns of the world and critique ourselves according to pictures and stories of “successful” people who have often been photoshopped and edited so only the unattainable is left as our inspiration. It is also easy to critique our children’s success, or potential for success, against these same unrealistic standards.    We see our children with a natural talent and interest in something, invest time and money into their pursuit of it, and sometimes a trap is set for hanging all hopes and dreams upon that interest; when in fact, all it is, is an interest, not the end all and be all of what the Lord has for them.  We may begin our encouragement of our children in a certain area with their best interest  in mind, but somewhere along the way we begin to measure our success by theirs.

When we confuse our children’s success with our own, it is easy to place unrealistic expectations upon them, expecting them to give what they are unable to.  In their desire to please us they push themselves to limits that can bring great harm and consequences.  A young dancer is injured because she was trying to accomplish something she wasn’t created to do.  A high school football player is rushed to a hospital because he went for a tackle to prove his worth, even though his worth is not defined by what he does on that field.  A debate team participant  is found in tears because they felt like an utter failure when they froze up when it came their time to speak.

It is not that we shouldn’t encourage ourselves or our children to be all that we can be or even to pick ourselves up and try again, but we have to stop and question the motives.   Is it to gain esteem from the world, or the One who has a plan and purpose for us. I know a wonderful young lady who by this world’s standards would not be looked upon as one who is anything special, unless they are using “special” in a derogatory way.  She has a learning disability and is quite shy unless you know her very well, but she is never shy about expressing her love for her Lord and how awesome she thinks He is!  I think she is a huge success in the eyes of the One who created her for His purpose.

I leave you with Jesus’ description of the fortunate or “successful”:

Matthew 5

The Beatitudes

¹Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, ²and he began to teach them saying:
³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
⁴Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
⁵Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
⁷Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.
¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹²Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.