Wednesday, September 10, 2014

WOYWW: Blessed are the Poor!

 On my desk, I have my usual art materials.
You may have spotted the bottles of spices
at the top.
We are going to celebrate a good friend's birthday
and I decided we shall give her some
spa treatment. 
I will put the spices into a some sort of facial steam
which is supposed to reinvigorate her skin!

 "Blessed are you who are poor...." Luke 6:20-26

What does blessed mean?  
Partly it means that God turns His face 
towards us with divine favor. 
With all the good in Him. 
To be poor in spirit, what does that mean? 
It's not that we have no money or resources, 
because in Matthew 5:3, we read, 
"Blessed are the poor in spirit..." 
I think it means being aware 
that we are spiritually bankrupt before the Lord. 
That we have absolutely nothing 
that we can offer Him because He is awesome, 
and mighty and does not need anything from us.

 Sometimes I give talks about our business to students. 
I never fail to mention that 
God is a partner in our business, 
and we are successful because of Him. 
Prayer is always a part of the way we do business.

 After one particular talk, 
I was inordinately pleased with myself 
and sort of congratulated myself for doing a good job.  
Immediately, God took me to task 
and showed me verses from Luke 17. 

In it the master says, 
"When you have done everything 
that was assigned to you, you should say, 
'We are unworthy servants; 
we have simply done our duty."

 The Beatitudes are not about what we do. 
If we are a CEO, or a garbage collector, 
a priest or a toilet cleaner,  
that is not what is important to God. 
What is important is what we are, our character. 
Are we becoming like Jesus every day? 
Because for all our roles and duties, 
God can raise up stones to do it all better than we can! 

"WASHED...SANCTIFIED...JUSTIFIED..." 
1 Corinthians 6:11

In the Amplified and other bibles, 
we have these words, 
"made holy, washed clean, purified, 
made free, consecrated, set apart, 
hallowed, pronounced righteous, 

After a tiring day fighting 
pre-Christmas crowds in Divisoria 
or a stifling visit to the ukay ukay 
in Paradise Commonwealth, 
it is soooo refreshing, 
such a relief to have a good bath! 
You know the feeling! 
To be free of the grime that sticks to you, 
the sweat, the smell.
 It's so invigorating to have clean hair again, 

to not be sticky, to put on fresh clothes.

Are we as conscious of the grime, 
the dirt that besets our souls when we sin? 
Are we as eager to wash it away? 
Perhaps if we see our soul in a special mirror, 
we would be eager to do all we can 
to be washed in the blood of Christ, 
to be cleansed by the Holy Spirit.

Joe Focht writes, 
"There is no more confused message 
that you and I could give 
to a lost and dying world 
than to live in sin and at the same time 
to tell people about the 
transforming power of Jesus Christ. 
There isn't a more confusing thing 
we can do to our kids and the 
generation behind us, to this world.

God will not use a compromised life 
to reach a compromised world. 
God will use a life that is given over to Him, 
that is a demonstration of the message 
that through the power of Jesus Christ 
and His love He can 
transform our lives and set us free.” 




Blessings!
Patsy

11 comments:

  1. I just love the last one. The spa idea sounds like a wonderful idea. Diane #16

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  2. hullo Patsy, ah yes being before the LORD in true humility, as it says in Romans: "Serving Him with all humility of mind".. that is truly being poor in spirit because we see ourselves as He sees us, forgiven and washed in Christ's righteousness alone..
    every blessing and thanks for pointing us to our dear LORD Jesus, happy WOYWW Shaz in Oz.x #13

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  3. Great thoughts and encouragement, and your art work, as always, is lovely. Have a great week and, as Shaz said, keep pointing us to Jesus. Hugs, Chris # 34 xx

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  4. Indeed, Patsy. Being who God wants is so much more important than always rushing around doing. He loves us with an everlasting love. That will never change whether we do lots of things or not.
    Take care. God bless.
    Margaret #4

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  5. Lovely seeing how your artwork went from one stage to another with a beautiful result. Thanks for sharing your workspace today. Hope you have a great day and a lovely crafting week to come. Hazel, WOYWW #45 x

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  6. G'day there Patsy. Just dropping by for WOYWW. I haven't played for a few months but remembered today. Love the art work progress shoits Patsy. You have a good heart too
    hugs
    Annette In Oz #46

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  7. Super art as always . Spa treatment sounds good to me. Happy WOYWW Anne x #32

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  8. Such beautiful artwork. Well written too.

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  9. We'll I never thought of that...a spa in my kitchen cupboard! Mmmm, it will be lovely.

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  10. lovely drawings and thanks for the inspiration.
    In His Grip,
    robyn 22

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  11. Patsy,
    That last work of art looks like she is leaning back on those Everlasting Arms. A super read once agin my friend. Praying you have a fun day filled with love and happiness. Thank you for joining our 149th challenge at Word Art Wednesday.

    Carole Robb Bisson

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I am so glad you dropped by! You are a blessing!
:^) Patsy