Pure part 1
"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Guys, I'm telling you, it's all about the heart. And I say it's all about the heart because I say it's all about love. We think with our heart, and we see with our heart. Because what we see is what we be. What we behold is what we become. What we magnify is what will manifest. And, according to Jesus, a pure heart is what allows us to see God. Now watch this, because for today I want us to see WHERE we can see God. Philip asked Jesus to show him the Father. Jesus said, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father..." (John 14:9). So Phillip had seen Him, but hadn't SEEN Him. And look at what those two key words in our verse in Matthew mean: "Pure" is number 2513 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Clean, clear, pure." This longing for a cleansing goes all the way back to Psalm 51:10, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." And this longing for a cleansing was fulfilled on the cross when Jesus shed His blood for us and gave us a blood bath. He created a clean (or pure) heart in us by cutting the flesh (or human effort, or surface stuff) away from our hearts and revealing the Father's heart beating with love in our chests! Ok. Now the word "see," of the phrase, "shall see." It is number 3700 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to gaze (that is, with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable)." Again, people saw Jesus but they didn't SEE Him. They didn't know what they were looking at because they were looking with carnal eyes (an unregenerated spirit, or a hard heart). Isaiah 6:9-10 says it like this, "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Let me say it like this: We have an unction from the Holy Spirit and we know all things (1 John 2:20). But we don't understand everything we know. That's why the Holy Spirit leads and guides us into all truth. We HAVE all truth, but we don't UNDERSTAND everything we have. If we look for Him (with that pure, clean heart that beats with love), we can see Him everywhere. When Jesus walked the earth He literally stood in the midst of His chosen people and they didn't see Him. Now He doesn't live in just one human body, He lives in ALL human bodies. We are ALL His body! So when we understand that truth... when we look with our heart and not with our eyes... that's when we will see God. In ourselves, and in each other. In all of creation. In everything and everybody. All the time. And, to me, that's what it means to be blessed. To live in that constant consciousness of God. That constant consciousness of LOVE. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see love!