From: "Beverly French" <frenchb@vcss.k12.ca.us>
To: "Heritage" <Gheritage.GA@verizon.net>
Subject: Home Again and Wishing You Joyous Greetings
Date: Sunday, May 05, 2002 7:52 AM

"How blessed is the one whom Thou dost choose, and bring near to Thee.,
 To dwell in Thy courts.
 We will be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house,
 Thy holy temple."  Psalm 65:4

This verse was on my heart all the while I was on vacation and I share it
with you today.  We who belong to the Lord are blessed, chosen, have access
and are satisfied!  To have that truth sink deep in your innermost being can
do nothing else but fill each one with such overwhelming joy.  The mighty
God of all creation has personally chosen each one of us who believe.  And
further He desires that we dwell in His house -- in His very presence.  How
can one adequately state the awesomeness of such grace?!

The word blessed here is translated as: happy,  fortunate and to be envied.
The Psalms have many verses regarding God's blessings and many of the
verses start with, "How blessed is the man who..." or "...the one who..."
"...does not walk in the counsel of the wicked..." 1:1
"...has made the Lord his trust."  40:4
"...considers the helpless..."  41:1
"...fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments."  1112:1
There are many others in the Psalms and I see each as a guide to walking in
continued blessing.  (Be sure to check the other Books of the Old Testament
as well.)

The New Testament has a great many references to God's blessings and starts
right out in Matthew 5 with the Beatitudes in Jesus' own words.  One verse
that leaped out at me was Jesus' pronouncement in Matthew 11:6
"And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over (taking offense at) Me."
Jesus is truth and to stumble over truth is to fall into unbelief and there
is no blessing in unbelief!

Those blessed have their focus on God and His word not on man as we see
in Luke 11:27-28 when Jesus is addressing the crowd,
"And it came about while He said these things, one of the women in the
crowd raised her voice, and said to Him, 'Blessed is the womb that bore
You, and the breasts at which You nursed.'"
"But He said, 'On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God,
and observe it.'"

Here it seems to me that Jesus Himself is confirming the words of Elizabeth
in Luke 11:42, when she greeted Mary,
"And she cried out with a loud voice, and said 'Blessed among women are
you..."
Notice she says "among women" not above women or anyone else.  Yes,
Mary was chosen of God to carry and give birth to Jesus, precious in God's
sight and greatly blessed.  As you read Vs. 46-55 you see that Mary's focus
is on the Lord and she exalts Him and Him alone.

The truth is:
"For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus."  1 Timothy 2:6  And blessed is the one "who does not stumble"
over Him.

With grateful hearts we thank and worship our Lord who deserves all the
honor and all the glory!  Amen.