Mathew 5:4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted’. I would like to share the burden the Lord has put in my heart for the Church. We see in Mathew 5:3, ‘3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’ We are not supposed to mourn for the things of this world but for the sin in our heart. We need to recognize that; we are poor in heart and cling to God. When we do this sincerely, God will take us to a new realm where we can see God much better. Each believer has different levels of spiritual progress. For some drinking alcohol or smoking is considered as sin, for others, not being like Christ in all areas of their life is considered as sin. Is there a sincere cry in our heart, about the lusts in our flesh, about seeking honor of men, about Un-Christlike nature in us – Are we sincerely repenting? God will comfort through His Holy Spirit. As we walk with God daily, He will reveal our Un-Christlike nature in us.
In Luke 5:12, ‘12 While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 13 And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them’. We see the leper wants to be cleansed completely of his sickness, sin. Here, leprosy is sin. In Leviticus 14:1-6, ‘Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. 5 The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. 6 As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water. 7 He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the live bird go free over the open field.’ We see how the leper’s treatment was carried out. This is a symbol were Jesus is slain for our sins. In old testament, the leper was going through a lot of isolation. There is a deep cry in leper’s heart to be healed. If we don’t come to God with a humble heart, then, our spiritual leprosy will not be healed.
In Luke 5:14, ‘14 And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them’. We see Jesus cleansing the leper. In our hidden life also, we should become free like this leper. In Luke 23:26-28, ‘When they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus. 27 And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were mourning and lamenting Him. 28 But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children’. We see Jesus asking them to weep for their own sins and their own children. Do we have the similar burden for the spiritual wellbeing of our children? Let us cry out for our Children to be saved.
In Deuteronomy 11:18-21, ‘“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 19 You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth’. We see Moses emphasizing the importance of God’s word to Israelites. We need do the same with our children, every day. Strengthen our children in their faith in Lord Jesus Christ. We see a promise from Him in Deuteronomy 11:22,23, ‘ 22 For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you’. Let us also pray and fast for our Children. Jesus was calling His disciples, to a higher level. This should be our desire too – to come closer to God day by day.
In Luke 19:46, ‘saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.”’ We see Jesus was weeping when Gods name was being dishonored. Jesus wants to keep the church clean. We need to weep as Jesus did in this aspect also. In Hebrews 13:17, ‘17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.’ As we see how, we need to watch over the souls in the Church. In 1 Timothy 3:5, ‘but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?’, and in 2 Corinthians 7:5-16, ‘For even when we came into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted on every side: conflicts without, fears within. 6 But God, who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more. 8 For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. 13 For this reason we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. 14 For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. 15 His affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. 16 I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.’
We see Paul’s burden and how he was comforted by the coming of Titus. We need to cling to God in all areas of our life and have a godly sorrow and not a worldly sorrow for our sins and repent, then God can deliver us. In this way, if we repent first and ask our children also to repent, then we can grow in our Lord. May God bless us to be overcomers.
