{"id":18828,"date":"2014-04-01T00:55:56","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T04:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18828"},"modified":"2014-04-01T01:05:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-01T05:05:54","slug":"18828","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/01\/18828\/","title":{"rendered":"Hunger and Thirst"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the\u00a0Seeking Him<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 5\u2014the Beatitudes. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are\u2026\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 \u00a0 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! \u00a0Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions along with us. \u00a0We pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be prepare your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u00a0\u271e \u2665<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Blessed (happy) are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness <\/span><\/strong>
\n(justice) for they will be filled (satisfied). <\/span><\/strong>
\nMatthew 5:6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Happy and blessed…yes, happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, to be envied)
\nare the people whose God is the Lord!
\nPsalm 144:15<\/p>\n

I enjoy verse mapping. I find it helps me dig deeper to understand the meaning of a particular Scripture. So I versed mapped Matthew 5:6 and this is what I found.<\/p>\n

The Scriptures above point the way to happiness. \u00a0Happiness hides when we seek it. \u00a0 When pursued it cannot be found. \u00a0True happiness is only found when we chase after God wholeheartedly…passionately seeking Him. \u00a0Passion that is illustrated in Psalms 42:1-2:<\/p>\n

As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God.
\nMy inner self thirsts for God, for the living God.<\/p>\n

This type of hunger and thirst is a longing so intense that it cannot be satisfied by just a bite or a sip. \u00a0It is a deep craving for more\u2014wanting all of it instead of just a piece or a snack.<\/p>\n

So what is it we are to seek so intently? \u00a0To be right with God…to be delivered from the bondage of sin…to be completely forgiven\u2014past, present and future. We are seeking justification\u2014to be pardoned of all our sins. \u00a0Easton’s Bible Dictionary states: “Justification declares that all the claims of the Law are satisfied in respect of the justified. \u00a0The Law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense.” \u00a0A full and complete pardon. \u00a0The slate is wiped clean and we are given a fresh start.<\/p>\n

So where does this righteousness, this justification, come from? \u00a0It is not of our own doing. \u00a0We cannot<\/em> achieve righteousness on our own.<\/p>\n

Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.
\nBut people are counted as righteous, not because of their work,
\nbut because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.
\nRomans 4:3, 5<\/p>\n

Only through faith can we be made righteous. \u00a0Then we are filled with God’s holiness and literally saturated with happiness. \u00a0We are filled with His love and satisfied by His grace.<\/p>\n

The Scriptures tell us the righteous will prosper and receive blessing from the Lord. \u00a0Hosea 10:12 confirms this: \u00a0\u201cSow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love.\u201d \u00a0Blessings abound when we seek His righteousness, causing us to seek Him even more.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 * \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0~\u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0*<\/span><\/h4>\n

Lord, thank You for Your many blessings. \u00a0I am so grateful that You are easy to find when I seek You. \u00a0Thank You for satisfying my longings for You. \u00a0Deepen those longings so I continually seek Your righteousness, Your justice so I can be made complete in You. \u00a0Amen, so be it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have now entered the season of Lent. \u00a0For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[127,5889,3367,1287,425,5955,5784,1624,5956,5957,3174],"class_list":["post-18828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-hunger-and-thirst","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-56","tag-psalms-421-2","tag-romans-43-and-5","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s39pHp-18828","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18828"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18828\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18832,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18828\/revisions\/18832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}