Kingdom Living Part 1 - Beatitude Over Attitude
After concluding our journey through Psalm 23, we begin a new series exploring the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
In this episode, Diana introduces the Beatitudes from Matthew 5, the opening words of Jesus’ most famous sermon. At first glance, these blessings seem almost backward: blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and those who endure persecution.
But Jesus is revealing something deeper.
The Beatitudes show us what life looks like for citizens of God’s kingdom. They call us beyond surface-level religion and into a transformed heart shaped by humility, mercy, peace, and trust in God.
Through personal testimony and biblical insight, Diana shares how learning to trust God’s Word—and allowing the Holy Spirit to reshape our hearts—can lead us from frustration, anxiety, and wounded attitudes into the peace Jesus promised.
If you’ve ever struggled to understand how God’s blessings work in real life, this episode will help you discover why choosing Beatitudes over attitudes leads to a life anchored in God’s kingdom.
Diana’s Notes
Series: Kingdom Living Part 1
Hello Everyone! Welcome to Heartfelt Conversations With Diana! As we begin our series on Kingdom Living! Today, we are talking about Beatitudes over Attitudes -
Before we begin today, I want to share a little exciting news with you. Behind the scenes, we’ve been working on our very first devotional book called “21 Days of Knowing God by His Names.”
There was a season in my life when everything felt like a mess, and I needed God to be the big, all-powerful God I believed He was deep in my heart. As I stepped out in faith and began reading His Word for myself again, I discovered something I could trust:
God truly is everything His Word says He is.
Scripture reveals many names for God—each one describing His character and the many ways He cares for His people.
21 Days of Knowing God by His Names is a devotional journal designed to help you personally discover the goodness, strength, faithfulness, and God’s radical love for you every single day, whether you are good or naughty or downright cranky! Lol God loves us. Period.
We’ll share more about the upcoming release in the weeks ahead, but I wanted you to know that this project was created with you in mind—so that you can grow bold, confident, and secure in the life Jesus came to give you.
But let’s pick up our conversation for today.
Last time, I shared a link to the message: The Sermon on the Mount, from Pastor Alexa. Those notes were on the episode: His Goodness & Mercy Are Chasing You.
So what exactly is the Sermon on the Mount? The Sermon on the Mount is the most famous teaching ever delivered. It represents Jesus' foundational instruction on what life in God's kingdom looks like.
As you study the kingdom of God, I think you will discover that it challenges us to think opposite to what we may think or feel personally. In fact, God’s kingdom tends to be as countercultural today as the day Jesus delivered this sermon on a hillside in Galilee.
Jesus was with His disciples, and a large crowd had gathered from across the region. Matthew tells us that people came from all around the surrounding areas (Matthew 4:25).
They had seen His miracles and heard His message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Now, on this mountain, Jesus laid out what our citizenship in God’s kingdom actually requires.
Jesus opens with what is known as the “beautitudes”. The beatitudes are blessings that Jesus recounts to the crowds.
Let’s read them in
Matthew 5: 1-10: (NLT)
The Sermon on the Mount
1One day, as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them.
(This is Jesus speaking.)
The Beatitudes
3“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
For the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
6God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they will be satisfied.
7God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
9God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
10God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
There are 8 of them, listed in verses 3-10, verse 11 picks up with a ninth one as Jesus goes on to teach -
Matthew 5:11-12:
11“God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you.
Did you hear what I did? So I am blessed when it feels like I am poor, broke, broken, kicked around like a football, meek, take it in the chin kind of person who seeks peace, AND I am supposed to be happy about it on top! Is this a joke!
Well, until you learn to think in the way God truly structured us to be, then, yes! It can 100% feel and seem like a cruel, psychotic joke!
But, when like me, you turn off what you have been programmed to believe by false teaching or no teaching, or your heart has been damaged by the past and learn to get into the word of God yourself, it is called the bible, and you personally, open up that book and ask God to reveal Himself to you, to help you understand His word, His ways, you will be lost and confused and try to reason the bible out with your analytical brain, rather than your true self which is your spirit, the wonderful masterpiece of a person you are, whom God planted in the womb. He knew you long before you were ever born.
By learning to be led by the Holy Spirit guiding your spirit, helping you heal your soul from all of the wounded feelings and emotions and mental anguish you have had to deal with; maybe your whole life, and He recovers you from a dead life and breaths new life into the dead one and you get into the word everyday, it is your miracle healing power!
God’s Living Word will help guide you as you draw closer to Him, stop fighting Him, and just free-fall into His arms, rip the bandaid off, so to speak!
You just have to let Him be God, and you just learn to follow. I promise you, it won’t be long before your worst day following Jesus is better than your best day you ever had without Him.
He will supply everything you need. But you must trust Him for the supply!
He will leave you up to your own arrogance if you are convinced you can do it better than Him. I know. He allowed me to wallow around in my own prideful misery until the pain was so bad, I yelled out to Him in anger! I was actually so full of myself, I lambasted God for my misery, and do you know what happened?
My life, from that day on, began to turn around from a life I ran from to a life I am so grateful for.
God did not strike me or smite me. He embraced me.
I felt as though I was being held in His comforting arms. I felt loved. I felt safe. I felt like I was going to be okay for the very first time since October 11, 1983.
Now, I am determined to enjoy my life, come what may, every single day. This is my day that my God gave to me to enjoy, and I am not going to ruin my own day by feeling sorry for myself or by being rude to other people because they don’t seem to possess any good manners. Or simply because I have an out-of-control attitude problem!
A broken attitude can be fixed! I am living proof! It is not easy, I will tell you straight up. It has taken me a lot of reliance upon God. But he has been so gentle, so kind, and so loving the whole way!
I’m not going to lose my peace of mind because my supervisor made a bad decision, and I can’t change it. Do I get all upset and storm around and ruin everyone else's day around me because I disagree with my boss, or my spouse, or a co-worker, a complete stranger, it doesn't really matter - the point is the beatitudes to me is a vital part of this journey we are all on and they teach us to trust God and not our attitudes.
Beatitudes over attitudes!! Lol
Here are what I see as the main takeaways from the Beatitudes that Jesus taught and is teaching us over 2 thousand years later
Humility - Apart from God and the grace He supplies to us, on our own, we are all spiritually bankrupt.
“No tickee, No laundry.”
Probably not many people know the reference from the movie The Departed, but there is a scene where a couple of characters are discussing illegal activities. The movie is all about crime and corruption, and the measures that people find themselves taking just to make a buck. Greed, pride, and following the things of this world can lead us away from all the blessings of God’s kingdom, but Jesus left with us the Holy Spirit, who will help us not lose our direction if we allow Him to.
My moral compass was damaged from wear and tear, so to speak. I am so grateful that as I learned to trust the Word and not the world, the benefit I gained was a healthy and whole perspective so that I could see clearly.
2. Mercy
Once God began softening my heart and I began trusting my safety and security in Him, I didn’t see people as a threat to my life anymore, and it was a whole lot easier to be merciful towards others. I have been kicked around enough to have some pretty thick skin, but with the thick skin came a hard heart. Now I am learning that a thick skin centered around Jesus can actually be a positive thing. You would be amazed at how much stress you relieve from your life when you stop allowing yourself to be offended by everything and everyone. God wants us to be merciful and kind, but not so sensitive that we become thin-skinned people who get upset about everything that disrupts our routine.
If you haven’t noticed, life is constantly changing, and if we are not developing, growing, exploring, and adventuring out from our self-protective shell, then one day we wake up and realize that our whole life has passed by.
Make lots of memories! Get out and do stuff! Sometimes alone is good, but enjoy your fellow peeps! God gave us community for a reason.
Encouraging one another through the hard days is just one benefit.
3. PeaceMakers
Then, as I mentioned, once we learn to find out who we are in Christ, know our “who from our do” as Joyce Meyer taught me, meaning none of our works is ever good enough to be good enough for God.
Don’t be all Debbie Downer and go around with your head hanging in shame, but also don’t go around like Snot-Nose Suzie with your attitude all turned on, thinking you are too good to be standing in line with the people around you.
Once you humble yourself and know who you are in Christ, then you are able to do more than you ever dreamed possible, and other people will not annoy you as much as they once did! LOL
Seriously, though, there were a lot of people whom I could have walked around having no mercy on because they were just awful people. But in Christ, with Him correcting my perspective off of this world and onto who I am in Him, who I am as a citizen now of heaven, I can conduct myself in a much more peaceful way because I know Who made my day. I know who gave me this day to enjoy. I know whose child I am, so I don’t have to cop an attitude. I take refuge and comfort in the Beatitudes.
I am going to share a verse that has been my guiding light lately. We all go through stuff, and when I found myself walking through a very difficult valley, I wanted God to remove me from it. If I didn’t get a quick enough solution from God, then in the past my MO would have been to manufacture, manipulate, create, make my own way out of the mess or discomfort or issue I found myself feeling trapped in.
But I didn’t want to keep making rash decisions based on my emotions, so I asked God for help and for answers, His help, His answers, because I didn’t want to make the situation worse.
Like I would in the past. And God so graciously and wisely gave me a simple, easy verse that I could stand on.
God knows me, He knows my past, and when I pray, I always ask Him now for a verse to go with my prayer so that I can stand on His word in my weak times.
It might be instant, it might be a couple of days, but when I read the Word He has specifically for me in that time, I know it. It is like a magnet awakens in my heart, and it just pulls me into that verse, and I know it is His response to me.
Here is a verse God gave to me, and maybe it will strengthen, equip, and encourage you if you are walking through anything right now.
Isaiah 26:3: (NLT)
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!
Can you use some peace in your life right now? Then remember two simple things
Trust God
Fix your thoughts on Him
The perfect peace that is referenced in this scripture is Shalom Shalom
Which, in God’s economy, in His kingdom, equates to wholeness, well-being, and complete tranquility that comes only from trusting God.
Get this! It is not the absence of conflict but rather a state of being
Because it is a promise from God, that if we will simply learn to trust in Him, He will supply us with perfect peace. Shalom, shalom.
4. Righteousness
Righteousness is just a fancy word describing that our moral integrity as a Christian needs to be in alignment with God and His Kingdom laws. We are not to follow after man's ways, but God’s ways. And it is not in what we do that gives us right standing with God, the Blood of Jesus is why we can be right with God, but, when we receive Jesus as our Savior and our hearts are genuine and pure in motive to follow Him, then we don’t want to follow man’s ways, it is our true desire to daily check our moral integrity against the Word of God and correct our steps if we slip back into a bad habit of our own way of thinking.
Now, just because we are learning to live by God’s kingdom laws doesn’t mean we refuse to obey man’s laws; it means that if we apply Humility, and Mercy, and keep Peace because we have peace in whose we are, then, our perspective will be healthy and our moral compass will be or is becoming parallel to God’s.
We trust in Him, in God, to work things out.
Our part is to just keep learning and growing and walking and following Jesus, living out holy lives that are empowered by the help of the Holy Spirit.
Last but not least, in the lessons we can take away from the attitudes of the “Beatitudes is -
5. Endurance
Does anyone remember Hebrews 10:36 ( my first Life lesson verse God gave me for my journey)
Well, if you don’t hear it, here it is -
Hebrews 10:36: (AMP) For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised.
Sometimes what we need is a little determination, a little endurance, and some tenacity. A little internal nudge to keep on keeping on. Never quit, but always expect God at any moment to bring us the answers we need. Not want, but need.
We place all of our hope, confidence, and trust in Him. The One True Living God. It is so simple and so hard! Right!!?? LOL
As we wrap up our time together today, let’s walk through 3 key takeaways from Pastor Alexa’s message
#1) The Kingdom & A Surprise Invitation
We discover through the message Jesus delivered - The Sermon On The Mount, that the Kingdom of God isn’t just for the rich or powerful, but it is for all of us! Following Jesus isn’t exclusive, but it’s more than simple inclusion; it is an invitation to lordship. Anyone can call on His name, but it means laying down our way and taking up His - the way of the Kingdom.
#2) The Kingdom & Real Righteousness
Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom of God isn’t about behavior modification - it is about a heart that is transformed (or dramatically changed) and a life renewed from the inside out. His teachings guide us in loving God fully, receiving His love, and loving others in a way that reflects His heart.
I truly do not believe without God transforming my heart because I allowed Him to help me when I laid down my self-important will, and made a definitive choice to believe and follow, without doubting Him. I have plenty of doubts, but I have witnessed so many changes in me, and a difference in my panics and anxieties from post traumatic syndrome, I know first hand that I can trust in God as my Father, as my Savior, as my Advocate, as the I AM Who I AM, The Father of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the God of the Ancient Ages is indeed alive and living in me!
Alrighty then! Lol
#3 The Kingdom & The Decision Demanded
Jesus ends His most famous sermon, with His most famous teachings, with three calls to action. He makes clear that there are two paths to take. We can take the path of -
Truth to believe or ignore
And two different foundations to build our lives on. We can build our lives on the
Foundation of Sand or the Rock
Building on the rock means hearing and obeying the teachings of Jesus.
Or, we can hear the truth, hear His words, and choose to ignore them, disobey them.
Those are our choices, and every person must answer them for themselves.
Matthew 7:24 - : (NLT) “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.
Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.
But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
We are going to go through storms and struggles and disappointments and sorrow and betrayals, but let me tell you from personal experience, ain’t nobody gonna love you like Jesus! No one! It is impossible! And I can promise you that if you follow Him completely, one day, you will find yourself saying the very same thing! Try me and see if it isn’t true! LOL
So with that! Let’s wrap up today by including a link to Pastor Amiq’s message as we continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount
And you can check out today’s notes on -heartfeltconversations.com
Next week, we will continue our Sermon on the Mount series with Part Two:
Salt & Light! Living As Kingdom Influencers
This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it! Psalms 118:24:(NLT)
See ya next time on Heartfelt Conversations with Diana!
Need a Church Home: Join us at VFC, tell them Diana invited you! 🙂
Thirst Quenchers
Songs to Inspire You:
Phil Wickham - What An Awesome God (Official Music Video)
King of Kings (Live) - Hillsong Worship
Foundational Encouraging Verses:
Isaiah 42:16: God’s Word Translation
I will lead the blind on unfamiliar roads. I will lead them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light in front of them. I will make rough places smooth. These are the things I will do for them, and I will never abandon them.
Isaiah 54:10: Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken, nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”
Psalm 119:105: Your word is a light unto our path and a light unto our feet.
Isaiah 54:17: But in that coming day, no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the LORD; their vindication will come from me. I, the LORD, have spoken!
Isaiah 52:12: (EASY) But you will not have to hurry and run away. No, the Lord, Israel's God, will keep you safe. He will lead you at the front, and He will be your guard at the back.
Matthew 7:11:Soifyouwho areevilknow howto givegoodgiftstoyourchildren,how muchmorewillyourFatherinheavengivegood thingsto thosewho askHim!
1 Peter 2:23 tells us - When He was insulted, He did not answer back with an insult; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but placed His hopes in God, the righteous Judge.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
1 Peter 2:12 says, “Live such good lives among the pagans that… they may see your good deeds and glorify God.”
The New Living Translation reads it this way: Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20: "I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Now choose life."
Luke 6:37“Forgive, and you will be forgiven”.
Matthew 6:14: If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
Romans 8:31 in the AMP Bible tells us: What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be [successful] against us?
Psalm 65:11: You crown the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with abundance.
Psalm 32:8: The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.
Proverbs 15:3: The Lord sees everything, whether good or bad.
1 Peter 5:7: Cast all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.
Additional Resources:
Steven Furtick:Triggered Taking Back Your Mind in the Age of Anxiety
Beth Jones: Getting a Grip on the Basics is a great resource to help you get the basics of how vital you are to God and how good He desires to be to you
https://www.thebasicsuniversity.com
Joyce Meyer: The Mind is a Battlefield - https://joycemeyer.org
Prayer of Salvation
Jesus has given salvation, healing, and countless benefits to all who call upon His name. These benefits can be yours if you receive Him into your heart by saying this prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come to You admitting that I am a sinner. Right now, I choose to turn away from sin, and I ask You to cleanse me of all unrighteousness. I believe that Jesus rose again from the dead so that I may be justified and made righteous through faith in Him. I call upon the name of Jesus Christ to be the Savior and Lord of my life. Jesus, I choose to follow You, and I ask that You fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit. I declare right now that I am a born-again child of God. I am free from sin and full of the righteousness of God. I am saved in Jesus’ name. Amen.
This prayer and the comment above were taken out of the book:
Secrets to Powerful Prayer - Discovering the Languages of the Heart
By Lynne Hammond and Patsy Cameneti
If you have just received Jesus as your Savior, please write Lynne Hammond Ministries at:
PO Box 29469
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55429-2946
Or, email one of the ministries listed on the Additional Resources Tab and let them know that you are a brand-new Christian and need some direction on the next steps for your new life in Christ.
Or email us here at Heartfelt Conversations with Diana, and we will forward your information to you.
Congratulations if you are a brand new Christian or if you have Returned Home! Welcome!!! Get in God’s Word and get it into you.