So, here at Linkyear, we have a daily inductive Bible Study that we simply call precepts. These Bible studies are not little 5 minute devos that you do in the morning, these things take 45 minutes to an hour each and there's no way you can go through these without letting your heart be effected. The biggest thing that this weeks 5 precepts taught on was Matthew 5:3 which says "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." But the fire hydrant was really opened to me this week when my home church back in Johnson City, Tennessee pastored by Robbie Hilton streamed their Sunday service. I actually copied the title of this blog post from the title of this sermon.
In my Bible, I had the words "poor in spirit" circled with a big question mark next to it. I remembering reading this when I was about 13 and was so confused by the term "poor in spirit." Eventually, I figured out that the phrase was synonymous with humble, but I've always thought the even the word humble just meant, "think less of yourself and more of others," but ya'll, it is so much more than that. Being humble and poor means denying yourself and taking up your cross. But here's the catch, taking up your cross doesn't mean just carry it. Our calling is literally to just die. But we had the best instructor on how to die luckily. Jesus submitted to death on the cross. He died on the cross first to show us how to suffer, how to submit to the will of God, and how it's better to preach from a cross than from a platform. By that I mean, it is more glorifying to God to have a humble servant, screaming his good news, bleeding for His name, with no regard for themselves, rather than a masked spokesperson crying artificial tears, and screaming nonsense just to get attention. This is human nature; we want a crown of Gold before we've endured our crown of thorns.
So humble yourself. A lot easier said than done right? Trust me, I know. It's a process. But, the fact that we cannot humble ourselves is what is hindering our ministry the most. The fact we think we deserve or have a right to be used by God is what actually hinders us from getting used by God. Pretty much, we think we have a right to a cell phone, so we think we have a right to a ministry, but WE DESERVE NOTHING. Every breath we get is better than we deserve. If we were all honest and admitted ourselves to be sinners, we would quickly find out that "the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23a) So the payment we owe ultimately is death. But the second part of this verse offers our redemption;"but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So good news! We all got this gift! We were given this gift without us having to pay anything. The only thing we had to do was acknowledge that we were sinners, that we are in desperate need of supernatural grace through Jesus' blood, and die to yourself completely.
How you do this is just spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus, soaking in every single word that he speaks to you. Do not read sentences at a time, read word by word. Slow down. You'd be amazed at the difference one word can make. Sitting and listening without interruption is the beginning of a humble heart and a poor spirit.
So let's die with him, die for him, and let Christ live in us. Let this shell of a body be filled only with the Holy Spirit and let it act accordingly. But don't prolong the death. Just die already.
In my Bible, I had the words "poor in spirit" circled with a big question mark next to it. I remembering reading this when I was about 13 and was so confused by the term "poor in spirit." Eventually, I figured out that the phrase was synonymous with humble, but I've always thought the even the word humble just meant, "think less of yourself and more of others," but ya'll, it is so much more than that. Being humble and poor means denying yourself and taking up your cross. But here's the catch, taking up your cross doesn't mean just carry it. Our calling is literally to just die. But we had the best instructor on how to die luckily. Jesus submitted to death on the cross. He died on the cross first to show us how to suffer, how to submit to the will of God, and how it's better to preach from a cross than from a platform. By that I mean, it is more glorifying to God to have a humble servant, screaming his good news, bleeding for His name, with no regard for themselves, rather than a masked spokesperson crying artificial tears, and screaming nonsense just to get attention. This is human nature; we want a crown of Gold before we've endured our crown of thorns.
So humble yourself. A lot easier said than done right? Trust me, I know. It's a process. But, the fact that we cannot humble ourselves is what is hindering our ministry the most. The fact we think we deserve or have a right to be used by God is what actually hinders us from getting used by God. Pretty much, we think we have a right to a cell phone, so we think we have a right to a ministry, but WE DESERVE NOTHING. Every breath we get is better than we deserve. If we were all honest and admitted ourselves to be sinners, we would quickly find out that "the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23a) So the payment we owe ultimately is death. But the second part of this verse offers our redemption;"but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." So good news! We all got this gift! We were given this gift without us having to pay anything. The only thing we had to do was acknowledge that we were sinners, that we are in desperate need of supernatural grace through Jesus' blood, and die to yourself completely.
How you do this is just spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus, soaking in every single word that he speaks to you. Do not read sentences at a time, read word by word. Slow down. You'd be amazed at the difference one word can make. Sitting and listening without interruption is the beginning of a humble heart and a poor spirit.
So let's die with him, die for him, and let Christ live in us. Let this shell of a body be filled only with the Holy Spirit and let it act accordingly. But don't prolong the death. Just die already.