VollieFireman

What a great answer, and wonderful insight. You have raised some points that I did not even consider. Where I live, Southern United States (Arkansas), most people here are Christian, and know what it means (although they do not act like it). Our worldly attitude gets in our way most of the time.

We should rejoice because despite what is happening to us, we know what our reward will be. Recall the story of the Jewish man who prayed everyday at Auswitch. He prayed for thanksgiving. When asked what he was thanking God for, he replied

What a difficult question to answer. As a sinful people, we do not have a pure heart. Nor will we have a pure heart, because we will always sin. However, as we grow older and learn more, we can start to have a more pure heart. As was stated, doing God

A desire for righteousness is at odds with the world because the world only wants for itself. It does not care who or what is right, just as long as they get their way. The world view is to look out for one

The sort of meekness (or gentleness) is contrasted in today

It is necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty because you know that you cannot live on this earth alone. One must be in relation with God the Father before they can be in relation with each other. Knowing that our spirit is weak means that we will always be dependent on God and not of worldly things. The kind of mourning that is necessary is to our sin. It should break our hearts, as it does the Father

First, I decided to reply to the question prior to reading other postings. To me, this allows me to formulate my own answer. From past experience, I found that I will follow what others say, especially when I am not a topic expert. To that end, here are my answers. The two parts of each