The Poor in the Spirit

Hello everyone,

The Sermon on the Mount by Jesus is very popular, which spans from Matthew 5 all the way to Matthew 7. This sermon has so loaded with many things educates one spiritually. My focus today would be on the Beatitudes.

As many scholars do, I looked up the word ‘beatitude’ from the dictionary which means, “Supreme, utmost bliss and happiness”. The beatitudes which Bible scholars popularly call it spanned from Matthew 5:3-12 [Luke 6:20-23]. One thing I got to understand about Jesus’ sermon was that He showed us the truth about what is expected of us in certain areas of our lives, not with pretence as many do, and how God view things also. So, the beatitudes which appears to refer to our physical person also has deep spiritual connotation involved.

Jesus started His sermon with the beatitudes and the first one He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Of course we all have an idea of what being blessed mean, although the Amplified put up synonyms for the word blessed as “happy, to the envied, and spiritually prosperous-with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favour and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions.” But what really caught my attention was how Amplified depicted the one who is poor in the spirit as “the humble, who rate themselves insignificant.” The Message put Matthew 5:3 thus, “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” It was then clear who the poor in the spirit were, and who are they?

1 Corinthians 1:26 and 27 says, “For [simply] consider your own call, brethren; not many [of you were considered to be] wise according to human estimates and standards, not many influential and powerful, not many of high and noble birth. ₂₇ [No] for God selected (deliberately chose) what in the world is foolish to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame.” AMP. Verse 29 says, “So that no mortal man should [have pretence for glorying and] boast in the presence of God.” AMP. The poor in the spirit are those who don’t look unto their self-effort when they look unto God, in other words, they understand that there is nothing they would do physically that is good enough to present to God, in other word they understand that it is not of works that they received the grace and mercy of God (ref.: Ephesians 2:8), these are the poor in Spirit, and Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is theirs.

Everyone born of God is expected to be poor in the spirit, not holding on to any self-effort in getting to the top with God. Working with God can never be done with self-effort, but with God’s effort as God empowers us to work for Him, and this is so when we are poor in the spirit. Really, the Sons of God are meant to inherit the kingdom of heaven, so be led by the spirit and not by your carnal mind then you would be poor in spirit and see how the kingdom of heaven had always been yours.

May the LORD bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you. May the LORD be gracious to you and lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. AMEN.

                    

Why not accept Jesus today if you haven’t. Pray out loud, “Jesus, I confess that You are my Lord and Saviour. I believe in my heart that God raised You from the dead. By faith in Your Word, I receive salvation now. Thank You for saving me!” Congratulations, you’re born again, you are now brand new!

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Unless otherwise stated, the following scriptures are gotten from New King James Version (NKJV)