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    How To Be Blessed By Christ
    How To Be Blessed By Christ
    How To Be Blessed By Christ
    Ebook68 pages50 minutes

    How To Be Blessed By Christ

    By John Lowstreet

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    About this ebook

    Here are excerpts from "How to be Blessed by Christ", by John Lowstreet. This book of essays emphasizes the beatitudes because they are at the heart of basic Christianity. Christ placed them up front in His famous Sermon on the Mount. There is a sample reading from each essay.

    The Poor in Spirit
    “Poor in spirit is an attitude toward other people, not a broken down condition. People who are poor in spirit are happy to see other people do well, instead of competitively wanting to be first and best.”

    Those Who Mourn
    “God wants us blessed. It is not the issues that are so important to Him; He can handle all issues, small and great. It is we ourselves who are important to Him. If we will mourn, He will comfort.”

    The Meek
    “Who are the meek? The meek are people who do not try to avenge themselves, but instead refer the righteousness of their cause to the throne of God. Meek people are people who trust God's justice.”
    Those Who Yearn
    “Christ is saying in this beatitude to be hungry for what is right. When the world we live in presents a challenge to us, the test is whether or not we will do what is right. Will you take the high road or the shortcut?”
    The Merciful
    “Part of the essence of God being God is the choice of whether or not to be merciful to someone. Only God has that choice. No one else has the right to choose to play God by choosing to be unmerciful.”
    The Pure in Heart
    “Why do some people look at the sky at night and see God, while others look at the sky at night and only see the night? It is because God is not seen with the eyes; He is seen with the heart. In this beatitude, the King is legislating a blessing on those who have pure hearts.”
    Peacemakers
    “Conversely, we are not given the title, "Sons of God" in perpetuity, because of one occasion of making some peace. God's mercies are new every morning. Every day we decide to be a peacemaker is a day of fresh blessing as a Son or Daughter of God.”

    The Persecuted
    “As people live out and activate the other beatitudes in their daily lives, the blessings that will come to them will be resented. But the cruelty of envy is counteracted by the grace of God. The blessing of this beatitude is the antidote to the venom of the world.”

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJohn Lowstreet
    Release dateFeb 1, 2013
    ISBN9781301971886
    How To Be Blessed By Christ
    Author

    John Lowstreet

    John Lowstreet's first book is about the beatitudes, because in them Christ has made a plain declaration of what He expects of us. Christ is not complicated. He is profound, however. John has spent his life trying to know God personally and to more deeply undertand God. His one quest is to have more experiences with God. John studied the Bible to find God, and as he found Him, grew to love Him. His writings and poems reflect deeply held convictions about the character of God and the importance of Jesus Christ.

    Read more from John Lowstreet

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      Book preview

      How To Be Blessed By Christ - John Lowstreet

      How To Be Blessed By Christ

      John Lowstreet

      Essays On The Beatitudes

      ~~~~~

      Copyright 2012 John Lowstreet

      Smashwords Edition

      Scripture taken from the New King James Version.

      Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

      Used by permission. All rights reserved.

      ~~~~~

      Also by John Lowstreet, available at ebook retailers:

      In Cadenced Thought (a collection of twenty-five poems)

      ~~~~~

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ~~~~~

      To my wife who is so much a part of Christ’s blessing to me.

      This book is written for anyone seeking the blessing of Christ.

      He wants you blessed, and so do I.

      ~~~~~

      Table of Contents

      Preliminary Essays

      The Path of Blessing

      Finding Your Place in the Kingdom

      The Blessing of Father God

      The Yoke of Christ in the Beatitudes

      The Beatitudes

      The Poor in Spirit

      Those Who Mourn

      The Meek

      Those Who Yearn

      The Merciful

      The Pure in Heart

      Peacemakers

      The Persecuted

      Closing Thoughts

      Rahab’s Cord

      Prayer for Our Salvation

      Being Blessed by Visions

      About the Author

      ~~~~~

      Preliminary Essays

      ~~~~~

      The Path of Blessing

      Christ redeemed us that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith,

      Galatians chapter three and verse fourteen.

      Abraham, two thousand years before Christ, discovered how to be blessed by God. God made Abraham personally successful. God also blessed Abraham by speaking historic promises to him. God had Abraham's faith proven through difficult tests, and Abraham believed God each time. There is a way to be blessed by God, and Abraham found that path. It is the path of blessing others.

      The path of blessing that Abraham walked can be summarized in God’s own words to Abraham. First, I will bless you. That is, God's general benevolence comes with special grace to an individual. Secondly, you shall be a blessing. Thus, God's grace flows out from that individual to all around. Thirdly, I will multiply you. God's blessing on that individual contributes to the great stream of His general benevolence to everyone. God's blessing on each of us is related to His purpose and plan for each one of us, but His blessing on us also relates to our particular place in the plan God has for all humanity. Christ’s blessing on you makes you significant.

      For our individual life to become so great a blessing requires greater power than is possessed by any single person. Human capacity to receive God's blessing is too limited to accommodate the very large multiplication of blessing which He intends to accomplish through each one of us. We must have Christ’s Holy Spirit to empower God's dream for us. As Abraham’s blessing comes into our life, and as we begin to cooperate with God’s plan, then everything necessary to accomplish that plan also comes into our life through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that person in the Triune God who is present with us to conform us each to Christ, and who also works in us as a group to accomplish God’s great purpose in Christ of redemption for this planet.

      Our theme verse above tells us that all nations are allowed to walk Abraham's path. God told Abraham from the start that the blessing was for everyone. This is stated in Genesis chapter twelve, verse three, And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. It is God's desire to bless everybody in all nations. By bringing His blessing through one man, God ensured that His blessing is available to any other one man. It is clear that God intends to bless the entire planet one

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