Blessed
are the poor in spirit,
For
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew
5:1 (NIV)
What does Jesus mean when He says this?
I know a woman and two of her sisters who are poor by the
standards of society, but I have heard of this Christian woman going out of her
way to help others who had less. I also witnessed this same Christian woman
console one of her sisters at a memorial service for one of their brothers.
I read of a Christian speaker and author tell of preparing
to speak at a writer’s conference as he recovered from cancer treatment. He
sent up a prayer to God saying, “Lord, I can’t do this.” The answer he received
was simply, “You can’t, but now I can.”
As I compose this essay, I am reminded of times when I
have ventured out ahead of the LORD and then got into trouble. Was that being
poor in spirit? Definitely not.
Being poor in spirit simply means that we realize that we
can’t do anything without the LORD guiding us.
As we await the time for re-opening our local church,
some of us are hearing from different sources of information giving us conflicting
dates. Some of us have decided we need to leave that decision up to the LORD.
How many times have we felt that we were in control and
could do something without the LORD’s guidance? I know I have thought this and
acted like I knew what I was doing. Only, my ‘plans’ failed.
All our plans must go through God. It is His decision
that is paramount in all our lives.
"Being poor in spirit simply means that we realize that we can’t do anything without the LORD guiding us." You said it well Cecelia, without Him we can do nothing. It is a good kind of poor, I guess :)
ReplyDeleteWe must remember that all we have comes from God. He does guide us as we go through this life.
DeleteYes, we need the Lord to fill us with His Spirit so that we can function in this ever-changing world we live in. Right now, I feel rather "poor" in Spirit because I am longing to be in the house of the Lord again. It may be mid-June before we are going to go back, and I am really missing being there. But perhaps God is also teaching me that I need to draw all the closer to Him during these times and allow His Spirit to "enrich" me with His love, power and presence...right where I am.
ReplyDeleteYes, we need the LORD to guide us through each day in order to continue to live for Him. I understand how you feel about not being able to be in God's house. I miss seeing the people. I do spend a quantity of time reading devotionals and, right now, I am doing a special 31-days of prayer exercise. I am also trying to journal about some of the scriptures I study.
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