It is good to know we are “poor in spirit,” because then the Kingdom of Heaven is ours!
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Mt 5:3 NIV
So what does it mean to be “poor in spirit”? I don’t even remember who I heard say this, but everything good comes from God (Jas 1:17) so…this preacher said that, apart from Christ, we humans are each “spiritually bankrupt”! Bankrupt! Did you get it? We got nothing! We come to God with empty, trembling hands! We cannot pay our debt, and we continue to get into more and more debt each and every day, especially if we refuse to surrender to God. We are not only poor, we are destitute. Talk about humbling us!
But this is what grants us access to God and all of His blessings. When we choose Humility over Pride, when we choose to agree with what God has already said about us, instead of still insisting we are anything good at all apart from Him, then and only then, can we fall into God’s open and waiting arms and receive Salvation. If you still think you, all by yourself, can somehow get into Heaven, all on your own? Well, you have not yet understood this truth…and you are still not set free.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
21- Lk 23:42
22- Jas 4:7
23- Pr 22:6
24- Mt 5:3
<>< Peace, Diane
