{"id":18400,"date":"2014-03-09T01:00:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-09T06:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18400"},"modified":"2014-03-09T01:38:09","modified_gmt":"2014-03-09T06:38:09","slug":"blessed-poor-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/09\/blessed-poor-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

We have now entered the season of Lent. For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in light of His Words. \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

During this season, here on the Seeking Him Devotional blog, we have chosen to focus our devotionals on Jesus\u2019 instructions and admonition communicated in Matthew chapter 6\u2014the Beatitudes. Jesus said, \u201cBlessed are…\u201d and He went on to give instruction as to how to be \u201cblessed.\u201d To be \u2018blessed\u2019 is to \u2018be happy, or to be envied.\u2019 Truly for the Christian, we ARE blessed\u2014oh, how very blessed we are! Those who observe our lives should clearly be able to tell that we ARE blessed\u2014and that we KNOW it! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

Please consider Jesus\u2019 instructions, and we pray that our words will encourage you and spur you on to be preparing your hearts for the joyous celebration of His Resurrection! \u271e \u2665<\/p>\n

\n<\/blockquote>\n

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.<\/strong>
\nMatthew 5:3<\/strong><\/p>\n

This verse is one of the beatitudes which Jesus delivered as part of the so-called \u201cSermon on the Mount.\u201d \u00a0This sermon is recorded in Matthew\u2019s Gospel, chapters 5-7.<\/p>\n

The word \u201cblessed\u201d here also means \u201chappy\u201d (Greek: makarios<\/em>). \u00a0Each one of the Beatitudes starts with this affirmation that those who fulfill the description are blessed, or have a sense of deep joy and satisfaction (or, at least, they should). \u00a0To all appearances, these people should not be happy at all\u2014they are \u2018poor in spirit\u2019\u2014and should, in fact, be angry and upset. \u00a0But Jesus is pointing to a deeper joy<\/em> <\/strong>that comes from being one of His people while enduring these situations (note in verse 2 that Jesus is addressing \u201cHis disciples\u201d).<\/p>\n

I think Jesus is drawing a parallel here between being physically <\/em>poor<\/span> and being spiritually<\/em> poor<\/span>. \u00a0The physically poor<\/em> have no resources at all. \u00a0They don\u2019t have a kingdom, perhaps even barely have a place to call home, and, some food on the table. Dire economic circumstances are not usually a time for joy and celebration. \u00a0Likewise, spiritual poverty<\/em> means that you have nothing spiritually of any worth. You have nothing to offer God that would make Him consider you worthy of His attention, or of His blessing.<\/p>\n

But Jesus says that those who are in this spiritual condition\u00a0ARE<\/strong> recipients of the \u201cKingdom of Heaven.\u201d \u00a0This is like saying that the physically poor actually own an entire realm\u2014riches, land, and titles beyond comprehension. \u00a0I think by this He intends that those who are lacking in spiritual resources actually have at their disposal all the resources of Heaven. \u00a0Their spiritual cup actually overflows, and they should feel rich.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think that\u2019s ALL that is meant. \u00a0From other places where Jesus talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, I believe this is shorthand for the Church<\/em>: a realm occupied by those who trust in Christ; one that is as yet invisible, but will one day be revealed.<\/p>\n

I think we should also consider \u201cpoor in spirit\u201d to be the condition that Jesus looks for in those who would come to Him. Not only are Jesus\u2019 followers those who lack spiritual worth in themselves, but they then are completely reliant upon God for their spiritual well-being. Because we recognize our spiritual poverty, we look to Christ to fulfill our needs. We lean on Him alone to supply us with all that makes us worthy to receive the riches of the blessings of God\u2019s Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Those who are in Christ, and are \u201cpoor in spirit\u201d should rejoice, therefore, that we have a Savior and Redeemer through whom we have peace with God, and by whom we are spiritually worthy to stand in the presence of God and take our place in His Kingdom.<\/p>\n

* ~ \u2665\u00a0~ \u271e\u00a0~ \u2665~ *<\/span><\/p>\n

Blessed Father, we thank You for You speak to us in a way we cannot comprehend. You are a Faithful God. Bless us as we continue meditating on Your word. In Jesus\u2019 name, Amen!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have now entered the season of Lent. For many Christians, Lent is taken as a time of preparation for the celebration of Easter where God miraculously redeemed mankind by resurrecting His Son from the dead. It is also a time to consider what Jesus said and did; and how we should be living in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[3188,127,5761,3367,1287,425,2355,1624,3174],"class_list":["post-18400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-ann-mwafulirwa","tag-beatitudes","tag-blessed-attitudes","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-jesus-said","tag-matthew-56","tag-seeking-him-devotional","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4MM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18400"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18404,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18400\/revisions\/18404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}