Glimpse of Glory on Earth – Emily's Snippets

How often we long for the Presence of God to cheer us on our way. One day, my dear husband said he saw an angel perched on his shoulder. I have learned that no matter how deep into Dementia my husband drops, The Holy Spirit is well and alive in many ways in his heart. When I pray with him during our visits, he is at peace. He often preaches while he talks. Yesterday he met his Functional Therapist…and shook her hand and told her he wanted her to know God loves her. He is living Heaven on earth. God is watching over him. What a blessing to know he is at peace.

How can we find that single-mindedness in living every moment with God? Jesus gives us the heart of living, it is in believing, trusting, and having faith in Him. And most of all living in and being in God’s love through Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave us the different ways while on earth to live in this love in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes with the ‘Blesseds’. These are the qualities that give us a picture of the character of the true people of God – together these ‘Blesseds’ give the picture of a perfect disciple of Christ. Some describe Blessed as Happy…but that is an anemic description of the ultimate joy that is achieved with each of these statements below. Each of the ‘Blesseds’ ask for a response from each of us. Each is stated with a heart description and then a promise.

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me.

12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way.

The first thing I see is that each characterization is echoed in Galatians 5:22-23.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The Holy Spirit produces this kind of Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. I notice that there are no ‘how-to’s’ in acquiring a heart of mourning, meekness, hunger, being merciful, living pure in heart, being peacemakers or being persecuted of the ‘Blesseds’. Yet we find that when we allow the Holy Spirit within us when we believe in Jesus and follow Him, the the outward layers of our heart slowly peel away and we truly become His. We become Blessed beyond measure in this world and next.

The enemies of being a true follower is self-righteousness, being judgemental and self-sufficiency – I can do this on my own! These plus arrogance and self-pride, are enemies of being humble and depending on God and God alone for even the little things of our life.

Consider the promises of being blessed. How can we compare a life of the world with idolatry, sorcery, quarrelling, anger, self ambition, dissension, division and drunkenness with the world view of love, serving and the peace and joy that comes by living with patience, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control forever with Jesus?

But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:24. How can this be? The composer of How Deep gives us poetic words of the glimpse of how this can be.

You knew darkness that I might know light – Wept great tears that mine might be dried
Stripped of glory that I might be clothed – Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own

How deep is Your love – How high and how wide is Your mercy
How deep is Your grace – Our hearts overflow with praise To You (Stephen Altrogge )

Only through the sacrifice on the cross where Jesus died, can begins in this world and see the glimpse of glory that is ours to live in…forever.

Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Ephesians 3:17-19

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