Poor In Spirit Series

Introduction:

People all around the world are searching for blessings in their lives regardless of their religion. The source of all blessing is God. True blessings come from the True God. If you received the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart, then you are eligible to receive the true blessings. Also, it is very important for every Christian to fully understand what it means to be truly blessed. Once you understand that, it will be easy for you to receive those blessings. If you don’t understand what it means to be blessed, you cannot receive the blessing. Lord Jesus in Matthew 5:3-12, preaches about the true meaning of being blessed. It is the perfect blessing a human being can ever receive from the One True Living God. This book is an explanation of those words of our Lord, attempting to make believers understand what it means to be truly blessed. I don’t promise you that you will get blessed by reading this book, but I can tell you that you can understand the meaning of true blessing so that you can pursue after it with your whole heart. May the Holy Spirit teach to your heart. God bless you.

Scripture portion: Matthew 5:3- “BLESSED ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT, FOR THEIRS IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN”

Introduction: These are beautiful words spoken by our Lord. Here, we were given the first step we should take in order to enter Heaven. Yes, we should be poor in spirit. To say in other words, we should become poor in spirit. So, naturally the question arises: What do you mean by becoming poor in spirit? We shall try to find an answer with the help of the Holy Spirit.

These words spoken by the Lord indicate that there are some undesirable riches in our spirit which we have to give up, in order to become poor in spirit. These riches may be very desirable to our human nature which has been corruptly influenced by satan. But, to our Holy God, these riches are undesirable. God cannot accept us if we are filled with these undesirable riches. In order to be accepted by God, we have to realize what undesirable riches we have within us. Then we have to reject all of them in order to become poor in spirit. If we do like that, we will be blessed indeed, because then will we be accepted by God and gain entrance to Heaven. Now, we will meditate on some undesirable riches.

1) Self-wisdom and Self-knowledge: “Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee (Isaiah 47:10)”. We as human beings love to be wise. We love to gather knowledge. Throughout human history, we can observe that there had been an intense search for wisdom. As generations passed by, wisdom increased. Modern technological achievements such as computers, rockets etc are a result of human wisdom. Scientists are trying to unveil the mysteries of this great universe in which we are living. But, as our wisdom increased, our distance from God also increased. People are striving hard to earn this worldly wisdom. Some of the wisest persons of this world even dare to say that there is no God. This is the destructive consequence of our wisdom. This will lead us away from the living God, and into hell. Therefore, we should be careful about the knowledge and wisdom which we have gained. Our wisdom cannot become a substitute to God. God is God. In Him, lies infinite wisdom. We have to recognize that our wisdom is unprofitable to us, concerning the eternal things. Our wisdom cannot take us to Heaven. God has no respect for worldly wisdom. Even those who are considered the most foolish can go to Heaven just by believing Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.

2) Belief in Money: “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! (Mark 10:24)”. Money, Oh what a great power it has in this world! Even small children know it. Nobody hates money. For many, there is no meaning to life without money. Some people even worship money as God! We should not be delighting in money more than in God. Being rich may ensure a wonderful life in this world, but it cannot ensure an entrance to Heaven. That is not to say that rich people cannot enter Heaven. It is not a sin to work hard and earn a lot of money. But it is definitely a great sin to put our trust in money instead of God. Money shall not take the place of God. Money can satisfy our worldly needs and deceitful lusts. But it cannot give us salvation or eternal life. Only Jesus can give them. In our lives, if we do not exalt Jesus above money, we will not enter Heaven. It is important that we realize the difference between possessing lot of money and believing in money. Even poor people who do not have money cannot enter Heaven if their belief is in money. The desire of becoming rich, the belief that money is sufficient to live even if we do not worship God, will lead us to hell. The people who can say, “Whether I have any money or not, Jesus is sufficient for me. I can live without money, but I cannot live without Jesus”, are blessed indeed.