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Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
by Duane Huffstutler Matt 5:3 3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (KJV) Blessed are the Poor in SpiritBlessed are those that have nothingBlessed are those that lay it all down for the cause of Jesus ChristBlessed are those that do everything for the Cause of Christ and take no credit for anything that they doBlessed are the Poor in Spirit. As we listen to people preach and TV evangelists and radio show hosts what we hear is totally against what Jesus is saying here. What they are preaching is totally name it and claim itGet anything you want by sending me a gift of $20.00 to $1,000.00If you will send me $100.00 I will personally guarantee that you will receive a gift straight from God that will make what you send me look like pocket change. I could go on but I think you have heard it all before and there is no since giving Satan the glory for anything else. No matter how much you study the word of God you will never see anything like any of this in the Bible. No matter how much you pray you will never hear the Holy Spirit or the Lord Jesus Christ say anything like this ever! The Lord never places his trust in people. He never places his dependence to accomplish anything in what a person is willing to part with for his work. Jesus did say that if you will give of cheerful heart then I will give it back to you packed down and running over. But I will guarantee you something on that if you give expecting to get something back you will never see it. In order to receive back from the Lord packed down and running over then you will have to give without expectation of getting anything in return and with a joyful heart. Now that we have the rich and poor thing out of the way, let's take a look at the Spirit of this. When you go to Christ do you go with a decision to follow him or do you go totally yielded to him. Jesus never asks us to make any decisions for him or against the world. Jesus never based anything that he did or is going to do on the decisions of a person in a world that is controlled by Lucifer himself. Jesus has the master plan and is waiting for us to yield to him so that he can tell us what to do to pull the master plan together and make it all work. Why am I trying to show the difference between deciding to follow Christ and yielding to Christ? The reason is that they are totally different. A Decision is the act of making a judgment, the act of making up one's mind. The word Yield means to concede, surrender or relinquish, to surrender voluntarily ones rights or privileges. On the basis of the Life of Christ, He never ask anyone to make a decision he only ask them to yield to him and to do what he ask them to do. Never once did he challenge anyone to make a judgment on anything or anyone. He did ask people to follow the law or to follow him but never did he ask them to make the decision. What Jesus is looking for in us is our lack of strength, our lack of will power and inability stand up for our rights. Jesus wants us to stand up for him and his rights but only if he tells us to. He doesn't want us to stick our head in the sand and pretend like the world is all peaches and cream. But he wants us to do what he wants when he wants it and not before. We must be like a soldier act on the orders we receive and stand and wait for orders if we have not gotten any. Pray until you receive your orders then allow Jesus to guide you to the completion of the orders. But you say I don't know if I am able to complete the task that Jesus gave to me to complete. I wonder if I have the ability to do anything for Christ. When you do that you have just placed a block in the path and stopped up the ability for Christ to work through you. Paul stated that I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Jesus said that he that believeth on me, out of him shall flow rivers of living water. If I stop and ask if I am able to do anything for Christ instead of just getting out there and doing it I block whatever it is that the Lord wanted me to do. Satan and his demons didn't block it. The Holy Spirit didn't block it. Me, I, My flesh blocked it. In my infinite wisdom I have just stopped the flow of the Holy Spirit through me and blocked the ability of the Lord to work through me. When all it would have taken is: Here I am Lord use me. So next time the Lord is wanting to use you for a particular thing don't worry about if you can do it or not just be willing to do it and let the Lord take care of all of the details. When we stop worrying about what if it doesn't work and let the Lord take care of that your walk with the Lord will be so much easier. We must remember that we don't have the ability to do anything unless the Lord gives us the ability. I don't have the ability to work on flight computers or wire buildings unless the Lord helps me to do it. He gave me the wisdom to do my job just as he gave you the wisdom and ability to do your job, just as he gave doctors the wisdom and ability to save people's lives. So when we realize that we have no ability unless it comes from the Lord our walk with the Lord will be so much better and smoother. So Blessed are the Poor in SpiritBlessed are those that have nothingBlessed are those that lay it all down for the cause of Jesus ChristBlessed are those that do everything for the Cause of Christ and take no credit for anything that they doBlessed are the Poor in Spirit. We must walk away from our pride and self sufficiency and yield to the Lord. We must go to the Lord without anything and allow him to build us the way he wants us to be. And when we get there we must never ever pick up the pride that Satan lays in the path before us, because Pride cometh before a fall. And if Christ gives to us the ability then we have nothing to be proud of. Just because we are poor in spirit does not mean that we have to be poor in finances but we have to leave them where they belong and not forget that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away Blessed be the name of the Lord. Duane L. Huffstutler, Written 2011, Faithwriters.com Duane L. Huffstutler is the Sunday School Director at Oak Grove Pentecostal Ministries in Bonifay Florida. All scripture is from the King James Version (1611) Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |