Are you filled?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
(Matthew 5:6 (NIV))

How many times have you experienced an emptiness inside of you that needed attention? Most of the time we associate this feeling with a physical hunger or a deep emotional scar.

You don’t hear of people experiencing a hunger for righteousness. Well, at least those who do experience this do not proclaim it in the same circles as those with the other hungers. This hunger is one of an eagerness to know God and His Will in all things. Many people who experience this hunger and thirst are not looking in the same places that others experiencing a hunger look. They look inward to find the place within them that God is quietly calling them to turn over to Him. They do not look outward in their search. There may be some telltale outward signs, such as changed habits, gentler disposition, etc., but this hunger is not one that longs for anything of this world.

We have turned this world over to Satan, and all dominion is his. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness reject the ways of the world and long for things that are righteous in the eyes of God. As a result, those who hunger for righteousness reflect righteousness in all that they do, for they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

Are you filled?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Do you count yourself blessed?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
(Luke 10:22-24 (NIV))

We should also count ourselves as blessed, for, through the faith of those before us, we have heard of the wondrous things that Jesus spoke of. It is true that we have not seen or heard directly, but, we have the words of Jesus and those who spent time with Him. These words teach us the things that the prophets and kings longed to hear.

What do we do with these bits of wisdom that Jesus spoke of?

Do we keep them to ourselves? Do we hear them and never use the pearls of great price that they contain? What do you do with the words that Jesus spoke?

Consider just how blessed you truly are, for you have the words of Jesus from a perspective that those who originally heard them did not have. You have the proof that He arose from the grave! All they had was faith!

Do you take the words of Jesus as seriously as you should? Do you place your faith in them?

Do you count yourself blessed?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you a visual person?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

“Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”
(John 4:48 (NIV))

Are you a visual person? Do you learn only when you see it before your own eyes?

Where is the faith in this?

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
(Hebrews 11:1 (NIV))

There are just some things that you must accept without seeing. Faith in Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior is one of those things. We do not have the good fortune of having been alive when He walked the earth. We will never see the miracles that He performed. Perhaps that is a good thing, for those who actually saw them wanted more before many of them would believe.

Where does that leave us?

We must be certain in our hope that Jesus is who He says He is. We must be certain of what we do not see. We will be blessed if we can go beyond our physical limitations and start to believe even if we do not see. We must remember what Jesus told Thomas.

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
(John 20:29 (NIV))

This world teaches us that we must see it in order to believe it. That is true of anything of this world. Faith in Jesus is not of this world. We must be sure of the hope that Jesus brings even though we may not see it.

Are you sure of your faith?

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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