A DIFFERENT WAY

Lord, You are my shield, my strength, my portion, my deliverer, my shelter, my strong tower, my very present help in time of need. Thank You.



Good morning! My name is Charlotte and I am writing to help us give our first thoughts to the Lord.

In Luke the 6th chapter, verse 19 it says this: And all the people were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say,

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.

But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either.

Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

Jesus came with a different way for the people. The rich had it over the poor. When the rich would give their tithes, trumpets would sound so that everybody would know that they had given. Remember, the little lady that brought her pennies and no trumpet sounded. Jesus said she was more blessed than any of the rich that gave. You see, when we do things for men's approval, men's approval is our reward. I am a real fanatic about this as I want my reward to come from God when He says 'You did good.

Jesus spoke to the poor, the hungry, and the weeping. In that crowd of people that day there were probably many, many who were poor, who were hungry and weeping. This spoke not only to their physical needs but their spiritual needs. He spoke to lift your heads because things would be better. What He spoke to them of was instead of being poor, they would have the kingdom of God.

Having no money is a blessing sometimes. The Bible says that money is root of all evil - even sometimes the lack of money is the root of evil. But, when you have no money and the kingdom of Heaven is yours, you have faith in God that everything is going to be all right. You look to God rather than money or some other source for your help in time of need.

He promises the hungry that they will be fed. He proves this when He fed them with the lunch of a little boy in the crowd. This also speaks of spiritual hunger. When we seek God, He will be found. He gives water that we never thirst again.

He speaks of those who weep will laugh. God takes our burdens, when we give them to Him, and gives us peace in their place. The Word says to 'Cast all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you.'

That old song says 'Oh, what peace we often forfeit, Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.'

This scripture tells us that when we are persecuted for His name sake, to leap for joy and be glad. That is hard to do sometimes, but I do know that when you do something for God and God only, there is persecution. I have sang for years and I know that when I sing and say what God give me to sing and say, the enemy will attack me after it is over. And after the years of this happening, I expect it so that I know I did what God wanted me to do and I'm happy because that is what I wanted to happen.

He gives us in this scripture a whole different way of living. To turn the other cheek when others do you wrong, to love your enemies, to bless those who curse you.

This means when someone curses you in traffic - bless them back.

You know, I am going to start doing this at my work. We have a real problem with ugly people calling in and cursing us. I'm going to bless them when they curse me and just see what happens.

It also says to pray for those who mistreat you. My way sometimes is to get all offended and think bad thoughts about them. This says to pray for those who mistreat you. Return good for evil. This is certainly against our nature.

This says to give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. I guess this means that my umbrella that someone took at my job, I'm to stop looking for it because it says do not demand it back.

Jesus brought a whole new way of living - even for us today that follow Him faithfully.

Lord, help us to know your Word and to know how we are supposed to react when adversity comes our way. Help us to live as You lived and taught us to live and remind us Lord when we don't get it right. In Your name we pray, Amen. (it is done)

Have a great day today!

Charlotte