Essential Character of Heavenly Citizens See Matthew 5:3-12 Unless we understand what the bottom line values of our life are, we'll never really be able to deal with our emotions. We will live consistently only through a deeply understood and defined sense of Biblical values. Believers will function on a higher level of anointing and power if we learn to live Kingdom principles day by day. We must know two things: what we're living for and what we'd die for. Our values are the basis on which we set our priorities. Probably no generation has needed to align itself with God's value system more than ours today. Truth is eternal and has great reward in lives lived accordingly. The Beatitudes are not a list of commands. They are rather an enumeration of the blessings that result from living in a right relationship with God and obeying His word. These are not assignments for us to go and do. Christianity is not just performance. We are changed as we surrender to God and His Word. He causes us to be changed progressively into the image of Christ. Personal safety, personal comfort, personal enjoyment and personal fulfillment are not to be our priority. Seek the Kingdom of God first and these things will be added, for God has pledged Himself with covenant faithfulness. As we submit ourselves to God and His frame work of values, we become people with heavenly direction--people who make decisions not based on the expediency of the moment or on emotions, but upon God values system. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10). "May your rule be fully established in my heart. May a heavenly expression come forth in us." Because of Calvary, Pastor Jay T. Francis 4/13