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Poor in Spirit

The Beatitudes, Day 1

by TerryLema January 17, 2023

I have decided to do a multi-day reflection on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. My Bible has divided Matthew chapters 5-7 into 19 passages. I am approaching some of those passages from the perspective of two words, “Am I?”

Yesterday, after reading the first two verses in Chapter 5, I asked myself “Am I teachable?” Those verses tell us simply that Jesus sat on the mountain with the crowds that followed Him and with His disciples and began to teach them.

He began with what we call the Beatitudes. [Read 5:3-12] These are the blessings. They set out to remind us that the blessings of God come from far different circumstances than the blessings of this world. They flow out of mourning, gentleness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and even persecution.

It is that first condition of blessing, however, that sets the precedent for all the others. “The poor in spirit are blessed, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs.” [vs 3 HCSB]

Poor in spirit means to recognize that before God I have nothing to offer. I cannot save myself. I have nothing to barter with God. I cannot deliver myself. I cannot make myself worthy of the salvation that is offered to me freely in Christ. I can only be made worthy BY the salvation offered in Christ Jesus. I am spiritually poor. And not just poor, I am bankrupt.

“Am I poor in spirit?” As I contemplated that question, I admit my poverty is what brought me to Christ Jesus in 1973. It is why I surrendered my life to Him. But … and here is where the Holy Spirit took me today … “Am I still poor in spirit?” or have I allowed pride or arrogance to subtly creep in?

Do I see myself as “better” because I am saved? And how does the world see me? As arrogant, or humbly acknowledging that without God’s grace I would be utterly lost?

January 17, 2023 0 comment
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Poor

by TerryLema March 14, 2022

Inflation is out of control. Gas prices are rising; every day a new price is posted. Groceries are more expensive, along with just about everything else. Wages, unfortunately, are not keeping pace. And living on a fixed retirement income forces people to make choices of what to buy and when. The word “poor” is becoming part of many people’s vocabulary.

Sometimes, however, the word “poor” is a good thing.  Jesus used the word “poor” when He began speaking to the multitudes in what we call “The Sermon on the Mount.”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:4 NKJV]

The word “poor” as used here means we are destitute, without resources, weak, powerless, and spiritually bankrupt. Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with the foundation for all the other spiritual attitudes that please God.

To be poor in spirit means that we recognize our spiritual need. It makes us compare ourselves to God where we acknowledge that we have nothing within us that will gain us standing with Him. We see that in Him is all abundance, mercy, grace, and everything we need to be called His children.

Poor in spirit allows us to see through our pride and to know God for who He is and to know our own hearts for what they are apart from Him. Only then will we be blessed and enjoy the kingdom of heaven.

March 14, 2022 0 comment
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Pastor Terry Lema

Pastor Terry Lema has been married for 53 years, and has 3 children and 3 grandsons. Terry graduated from Trinity Bible College, and and recently retired as Lead Pastor at The Way Church in Middleton, Idaho.

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