Day 1, Week 1

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying: (Mat 5:1-2 NKJ)

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4-7 NKJ)

At the outset of the Beatitudes, Jesus opens up the conversation by stating the obvious, ‘before I can fill you, you have to empty yourself.  You wouldn’t consider pouring a choice wine into a bottle of old stale wine or placing a new loaf of bread in with a dry, moldy loaf.  You would throw out the old and receive the new, so it is with us. There is nothing in our old selves worth keeping, let us empty ourselves so that we might receive the blessings of the Kingdom.

So you ask, ‘do I have to be perfectly clean before I can receive?’ No, you just have to commit to the process.  It goes something like this:

“God, I want you to change me, mold me and make me into the person you want me to be.  Touch my mind and remove the stinking thinking, help me to be open to learning new things. Touch my heart, my hurts, and my pain.  Keep me from ministering out of my dysfunction and let me draw from you.  Touch my soul. Restore the image of yourself in me, and help me to see your image in others.  Let your love become my love; your compassion becomes my compassion and your mercy my mercy.” Amen!