There are eight power-attitudes of God that Jesus wants you submitting to. The list is found in Matthew 5:3-12; they are poor in spirit, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, being pure in heart, being a peacemaker, and being willing to be persecuted for Jesus. The reason they all start with blessed are is because these power-attitudes bring great blessings. Each individual power-attitude has its own special, eternal blessing that comes out of it. However, even though these blessings bring incredible eternal results, they are all achieved through your time here on earth; YOU NEED THEM NOW!

In Matthew chapters five through seven, Jesus preached a sermon while sitting on a mountainside. The first thing He presented was eight power-attitudes of God; if they are missing, that will keep you from being able to hear, understand, and live those things He presented in that sermon and in the Bible. Without them, you will be distracted, uninterested, lack comprehension, and even resist hearing Jesus and the Bible’s truths for life. Your attitudes are your doors that allow some things in and keep others out of you. With these power-attitudes of God, you will be able to open the doors of your heart to start RECEIVING the powerful, wonderful, and eternal things God has to offer.

Mat 5:3 (NIV) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. What if you have a know-it-all attitude? Everything you think you already know keeps you from learning things from Jesus. But, if you have the attitude of a young child who knows they need to learn a lot of things, that opens you to being taught by Jesus. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3 (NIV): “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Why? You can’t learn the truths of Jesus unless you listen to them, understand them, learn how to apply them, and are willing to submit to them. Having God’s power-attitude of being poor in spirit helps you BE WILLING or opens the door to the wonderful truths of God. Once that happens you get blessed with the kingdom of heaven belonging to you.

Mat 5:4 (NIV) Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. You have given your heart the instructions to help you avoid pain as much as is possible. If you yield to God’s power-attitude of mourning, it will cause you to think about some things that make you sad. Mourning will probably cause you to feel guilt, regret, remorse, and a need to repent. If you have done or are doing things that are hurting you, you need to be made aware of them. But, your heart knows that as you go over these things with God through mourning, you will experience some painful emotions. So, it resists you joining God and thinking about them.

Mourning is a healing process for your heart; repression is a procedure your heart uses to bury painful issues. Your heart has repressed a lot of painful issues. That repression or burying process has created heart wounds, walls, and negative reactions that are hurting you and your relationships with others. If you will go ahead and let Jesus work with you about these painful issues, He will bring healing to your heart. Some of these painful issues are things you thought, felt, said, or did that were wrong, bad, or evil. Mouring, in these cases, will consist of you repenting by telling Jesus that you are sorry. You will feel bad about them, see that they were wrong, then allow your heart to mourn, grieve, and ask Jesus for forgiveness and healing for them. Once that happens you will be comforted.

Mat 5:5 (NIV) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. If you have a plumbing problem in your house and you don’t know anything about plumbing, if you are properly meek, you will call a plumber and not try to solve the problem yourself. Meekness is when you need to get a professional, a teacher, a mentor, or someone who knows more than you do to help you with an issue. In this case, it is being meek enough to allow God to be the leader, mentor, professional, Lord, God, and final authority in your life. Once that happens, you will inherit the earth. Your success in life will excel to an incredible level.

Mat 5:6 (NIV) Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. God has labeled ALL those things as sins that will eventually hurt you and those around you. He has labeled ALL those things as righteousness that will eventually work out as good for you and those around you. If you are craving, desiring, wanting, or hungering and thirsting for sin, then you are pursuing things that will EVENTUALLY hurt you and those around you. But, if you are craving, desiring, wanting, or hungering and thirsting for righteousness, then you are pursuing things that will EVENTUALLY bless you and those around you. Once that happens you will be filled with all those things that will bless you.

Mat 5:7 (NIV) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. The ONLY way you can be merciful to someone is to not do something to them that they deserve being punished or held accountable for. Jesus said in Luke 6:27-28 (NIV) “But I tell you who hear Me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Once you start doing that, YOU will be shown mercy. Once mercy starts flowing into you and your life, you will DESERVE a lot of bad things happening to you. BUT, they won’t BECAUSE you know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).

Mat 5:8 (NIV) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. As Jesus works on helping you submit your emotions, your attitudes, and your character to Him, your heart gets cleansed of those emotions, attitudes, and character that are harmful to you and others. Jesus is using the previous course and this course to purify your heart. Once that happens you will see God in some very special ways.

Mat 5:9 (NIV) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. As you submit to these power-attitudes of God, you will learn from Jesus and the Bible how to have peace in your own heart. That will train you and empower you to pass this peace on to those around you. You will be able to help people who are fighting, arguing, competing, and hurting one another. Once that happens you will be called a son of God.

Mat 5:10-12 (NIV) Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. As you start to share Jesus’ Biblical principles, you will be talking to people who are ignoring them, breaking them, disagreeing with them, and some will even hate them. Jesus’ principles are the right way to treat yourself and others; but, there are those who want to hurt others. They want to cheat them, take advantage of them, sell them things they don’t need, and take things from them by lying to them. These people will persecute you. But, once that happens, yours is the kingdom of heaven. And, also great is your reward in heaven.

For every power-attitude in this list, there is a human attitude that resists and blocks it off. We all have attitudes about those things around us. All our attitudes aren’t evil; they are just not good for us and those around us. For example, if we have a know-it-all attitude, it may help us with self-confidece and self-esteem. But, a know-it-all attitude will keep us from Jesus’ knowledge, foreknowledge of the future, understanding, and wisdom. That will cause you to make decisions and take actions without adequate information. Submitting to God’s power-attitudes means you would have to be willing to trade your attitudes for His attitudes. BUT, if you consider the benefits, blessings, and miracles that will come from God’s power-attitudes, you will be willing to make the trade. Pray that Jesus will give you the DESIRE to receive these power-attitudes into you.