Poverty of Spirit - Or Poor In Spirit?
March 28, 2009
What is poverty of spirit? Is it the poor lottery winner who loses all their earnings in less than 5 years and winds up worse off than before, because their inside doesn’t match their outside? Is it a rich guy like Flavor Flav who despite his fortune and fame seems to desire the lifestyle and mindset he grew up in? Is it possible for us Christians or only the unsaved to have an impoverished spirit? How about the Christian who lives a lukewarm existence?
Revelation 3: 15 – 17; 19 says, “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing – and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked -… V19 as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
The church of Laodicea was lukewarm. God challenged them to be zealous and repent. There is nothing worse than a lukewarm Christian who has one foot in the world and one foot in the church. He/she is totally miserable. They can’t enjoy the peace and joy of God’s kingdom, because they feel guilty about sin. They can’t have a “good time” sinning, because they knows that it’s wrong. Such “Christians” are useless spiritually. Jesus tells them to choose whom they are going to serve and to quit playing games. One definition of poverty is the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount. The degradation of women in ‘Flava of Love,’ blowing millions without counting the cost, and living a life beneath your Christian privilege and heritage all reek of inferiority and insufficiency…
What does it mean to be poor? Afflicted, needy; lowly, humble; low in status. It can refer to the person whose outward condition makes him afflicted or depressed. Psalm 140: 12 states that God is on the side of the afflicted. Isaiah 61: 1 says the Messiah would preach the good news to the poor. The poor can be those who actually live in poverty or slum area, but it can also refer to people who live in the inward ghetto of the soul. (mind, volition & emotions)
When David wrote, “But I am poor and needy” in Psalm 40: 17 he was not referring to being broke. He was talking about humbling himself in the presence of Almighty God! and as you know, David was himself a king! Yet even with his status he, like we, could see and respond to the fact that there was a deprivation - an insufficiency inside of him that alone he could not satisfy. He needed to cry out to God to meet his need. Though he ruled the kingdom of Israel, he understood that there was a greater realm to desire. Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who humbly acknowledge this poverty of spirit. Matthew 5:3
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2 Responses to “Poverty of Spirit - Or Poor In Spirit?”
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Thanks for this message, its has given me what I had wish to know.
This tells me that to have poverty of spirit is to humble yourself despite who one may be. A king, queen, head of department and so on.
It is my prayer that the Almighty would grant me the necessary things that will help me attain this porvety of the spirit and this will help me obey his instructions, trust in him alone and lean on him as my very best friend.
You know I don’t want to bust anybody out, but I need help with this. I was speaking with a member of my church the other evening. We were talking about resources. I was sharing that I was willing to commit to purchasing supplies and being reimbursed. This person badgered me with the statement that maybe you won’t always have the resources available. Okay, my opinion of that statement is its a prime example of a spirit of poverty. Why wouldn’t she or I always have resources to “loan” and or sow into His House. Granted, sometimes saints have lean seasons, but do I have to claim them? I am thrown aback because this person is one who is in the inner courts of my Pastor who just completed a teaching series entitled “Forget not Prosperity”!!!
What about speaking faith filled words???
Jesus is LORD!!
“Don’t worry when you are not recognized but strive to be worthy of recognition”
ABRAHAM LINCOLN