{"id":19137,"date":"2014-04-17T00:30:39","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T04:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19137"},"modified":"2014-04-17T00:28:18","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T04:28:18","slug":"19137","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/17\/19137\/","title":{"rendered":"A Single-Minded Loyalty"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 <\/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 are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew 5:8\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think I\u2019ve mentioned this before but, just in case I haven\u2019t, I want to reiterate that I love my Study Bible. \u00a0I\u2019ve always liked studying, and love to learn, but when it comes to the Bible, I seem to grasp ideas better when they are outlined for me, when I can see the meaning of words, and when other Scriptures are listed as additional references.<\/p>\n

When I was studying this week\u2019s Beatitude, a sentence stood out to me\u2014 \u201csingle-minded loyalty to God.\u201d \u00a0Typically when one sees the term \u201cpure<\/em><\/span>\u201d the words “innocent, unsullied, good, and perfect” may come to mind. \u00a0So to be honest, when these words were not used in the description of this particular Beatitude, I was surprised. \u00a0This verse was a reminder that God doesn\u2019t ask for or require perfection to ensure that we will one day bask in His glory, and He doesn\u2019t ask that we have an impeccable life record. \u00a0No, He asks that we focus on Him…that we live each day for Him…that we display a single-minded loyalty to Him.<\/p>\n

Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
\nOr who may stand in His holy place?
\nHe who has clean hands and a pure heart,
\nWho has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
\nNor sworn deceitfully.
\nPsalms 24:3-4<\/p>\n

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
\nHebrews 12:14<\/p>\n

These three verses help to define what a pure heart should look like: single-minded, loyal, peaceful. \u00a0These are all traits that are attainable, and they are traits we can display. \u00a0God never gives us impossible tasks. \u00a0He never asks more of us than He knows we can give. \u00a0And He KNOWS we can give Him a pure heart. \u00a0One day we will see His face. \u00a0One day the act of possessing a pure heart will have rewards beyond measure.<\/p>\n

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

Let\u2019s Pray<\/strong><\/span>: Lord, create in us a pure heart. \u00a0Lord, to see Your face, that is our goal, to bask in Your holiness, to be in Your presence. \u00a0I pray that each and every one of us focus on having single-minded loyalty to You in all we do, in all we say, and in every action we take. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name we pray, amen.<\/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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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":[127,3367,1287,425,2246,5784,662,6106,6107,6108,3174,1075],"class_list":["post-19137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-beatitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-hebrews-1214","tag-jesus-speaking","tag-matthew-58","tag-psalms-243-4","tag-pure-hearts","tag-pursue-peace","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-tonya-ellison","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-19137","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19137","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19137"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19140,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19137\/revisions\/19140"}],"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=19137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}