“Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God”
(Matthew 5:8)

Pinocchio is known for his nose growing when he tells a lie. Pinocchio is confronted when he is locked in a bird cage, he is asked why he did not go to school that day. He starts by saying a small lie suddenly his nose gets bigger and bigger while he continues to add on more lies. We are not like Pinocchio are noses do not grow when we lie but, are actions are determined by our hearts.

Our actions and heart are connected and contribute to how we live our lives. Jesus does not challenge us to change our actions in this verse. Often, we try and change our behavior thinking that alone will change us however, our heart must be changed first for a real change to take place. Our heart shows us what we desire. If we truly desire to donate to charity, the desire must be in our heart first. When we give and the desire is not in our hearts, we feel the sting of every dollar leaving our account. We continue to talk about what that money could have been used for instead. We watch the money leave our account with pain and not joy that it is going to benefit a good cause. The heart must first be changed for true behavior to be changed. Jesus wants our hearts to genuinely desire things that are pleasing to Him.

When we desire things that are pleasing to Jesus it reflects in our lives, and we produce things that are pleasing to Him. If we desire honesty, we learn to tell the truth even when it is hard or can affect us and our relationships. It leads us not to tell lies even if it would be easier. To know what Jesus’ desires we must first desire a relationship with Him. When we commit to follow Jesus, he begins a transformation within our hearts. This transformation changes what we care about and our desires.
 
Heavenly Father, purify my heart from wrong desires and selfishness. Help me to have pure intentions each day.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy
(Matthew 5:7)
 
Many sports have mercy rules in Little League Baseball the game will end if the winning team is ahead by 15 runs after three innings or 10 runs after four innings. In grade school basketball there is a mercy rule of once there is a 35- point differential during the third quarter a continuous running clock will be maintained. Both sports mercy rules are about showing sympathy and compassion to another team and end the game early. Those who are shown compassion and sympathy will show compassion and sympathy towards others. The compassion must not only be on the inside a desire to help but, put into action. Mercy costs us something and the other person nothing.

Mercy comes from a heart that has felt spiritual bankruptcy. The heart comes to grieve the wrong that has been done and eagerly cries out to the Lord for God’s mercy to satisfy us with the righteousness that we need. God sees our need that our spiritual life is bankrupt and deserves justice for the wrong that we have done however, God shows mercy to us by sending his son to die for us.

​We can all show mercy to others when we see someone who has not eaten, we can give them something to eat, when we see someone who is mourning, we can sit and comfort them, we can assist a coworker that has wronged you in the past. These all cost you something from time, resources, and money however, it benefits the other person. Those who are compassionate towards others will be shown compassion.
           
Heavenly Father, thank you for showing compassion towards us help us to become more understanding and sympathetic towards others.
           
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)  
 
There are only a few people who are not hungry: the dead, the sick, and those who just ate. When we are hungry, we look for ways to quench our hunger and thirst. Hunger is a sign that we need something. When we feel hungry or thirsty our bodies are signaling to us that it needs nourishment. Here hunger is not from food for our physical bodies but, a hunger for something else. Some people are hungry for respect, love, power, or even money. This is not the hunger that satisfies people but, instead it leaves people craving for more. This hunger pertains to our spiritual health a hunger for righteousness is a hunger for something deeper than the world cannot offer.

A hunger for righteousness comes from knowing God. By knowing God, we know what he desires and what he dislikes we can look around at the world at all the injustice and develop a deep craving to do the next right thing. It does not involve just wishing that everything would be made right. This involves a deep soul-searching and understanding of seeing what is going wrong in the world from taking care of the environment, fair treatment of individuals, and education. By knowing God, we recognize our need for God’s grace and strive to live a life in a worthy manner.

There are practical steps that we can take by doing the next right thing we can recycle, treat people fairly, volunteer, donate, and even raise awareness. There will be a day when our hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. The world can feel overwhelming at times with all the injustices, evil, and pain don’t lose hope for one day there will be no more injustices.
 
Heavenly Father, the world seems overwhelming with all the injustices that are happening help us to do the next right thing to help take care of our neighbors, friends, and those we care about.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins

This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
 
Little children are amazing they have no problem asking if a friend can take their tongue and lick their elbow or why questions. I am not sure who even tells a child “You need to ask why” but they somehow just get to the point of asking why regarding various subjects in life. They are confident in coming to any person and asking. It is the same for us today we can be confident when come before God in prayer. We can become confident because we know that God is faithful and desires to take care of his children. As we continue to walk a faith journey with him, we become more confident in our prayers and what we are asking for from him. 

Often, in our prayers we only list out the situation but forget that we must ask God. He wants us to make our requests. Our requests are not just desires that we want. God is not a genie granting wishes of the things that we desire for he knows some of the items that we desire in life is not good for our relationships, health, or who he has made us to be. We are to ask according to his will which can be difficult.
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Asking according to God’s will makes us first have to step back and reconnect our heart to God. From spending time with him we get to know what he truly desires and wants for us. It changes how we pray we go from praying for a certain amount of money to praying to learn to steward our money better. God’s will is written throughout scripture if you are unsure seek guidance from a pastor. God earnestly desires to hear from all of us for he loves all of us. When we ask according to his will our prayers become bold.
 
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the gift of prayer and you hear our prayers and answer them according to your will. Lord help me to not just list my situation to you but ask you for what I need according to your will.
 
Walking with you,
Stacy Watkins