City Life Starter

Written by Aisha Darwesh

The Word

⁸ Blessed (happy, enviably fortunate, and spiritually prosperous—possessing the happiness produced by the experience of God’s favor and especially conditioned by the revelation of His grace, regardless of their outward conditions) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!

Matthew 5:8 (AMP)

⁷ But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Ephesians 4:7 (NASB)

Aisha’s Analysis

Do you want to see God?  According to Matthew 5:8, in order to do so, we must have a pure heart.

“But how is that accomplished?” one might ask.  It’s so simple, we often miss it.  We must stay connected to this amazing grace that totally envelopes and carries us from one season to the next, day in and day out for the rest of our natural lives here on earth and then on into eternity.

This grace will revolutionize your life.  The Amplified version of the above scripture says that we can be “conditioned by the revelation of His grace.”  One of the definitions for being “conditioned” is “to be made suitable for a given purpose.”

What a relief to know that not a single one of us can accomplish our God-given purpose and divine destiny without a revelation of God’s endless grace.  It certainly takes grace to live in a world where people can do you so wrong, where we can wrong each other, and worst of all, where we can wrong our Most Holy God…and still only by the power of His magnificent grace can we make it through completely innocent and uncontaminated! That’s how good God is. 

His compassion should humble us. This grace is demonstrated perfectly in the birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is grace personified.

Application

Fight to stay in love.  Fight to keep God’s commands. Fight the good fight of faith. Stay intimately connected to Christ through faith.

Don’t get burned out working in your own strength. You’ll wither up and fall away. Remember it takes God to obey God. We can’t do it without Him. 

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” 

Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

Prayer

Father God, thank You for Your great grace that plucked me out of a bottomless pit and into Your loving arms. Thank You for not letting me go. Thank You for redeeming my life. Now, I want to live it for You. Empower me to do so. In Jesus’ name, amen.