The only way you and I can become poor in spirit is to have the Holy Spirit living within us! We must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ to save us. He will save us if we only turn to Him and believe in Him! Give your life to Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit. He will replace your proud, arrogant heart of entitlement with a heart of peace and service. All are born naturally sinful, protective, guarded, and demanding, and the only way to be poor in spirit is the new birth. In
John 3:3, Jesus said we must be born again, and remember, He spoke this to a religious man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
Come to Jesus as you are, admit your sin, and say with the songwriter, "Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling."
After your conversion to Christ, you will be tempted to develop old habits and become proud in spirit, but you do not have to do that. Many Christians do not age well. They become proud, self-sufficient, and self-dependent instead of God-dependent. So how do you and I as followers of Christ guard against this pride of spirit and stay poor in spirit? Dr. Lloyd-Jones helped me greatly in understanding this with some great practical advice. Hear him carefully:
"The way to become poor in spirit is to look at God. Read this Book about Him, read His law, at what He expects from us, contemplate standing before Him. It is also to look at the Lord Jesus Christ and to view Him as we see Him in the Gospels. Look at Him. Keep looking at Him. Look at the saints, look at the men who have been most filled with the Spirit and used. But above all, look again at Him, and then you will have nothing to do yourself. It will be done. You cannot truly look at Him without feeling your absolute poverty, and emptiness." (Lloyd-Jones,
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p. 31)
Dr. MacArthur said that when you are poor in spirit, you lose a sense of self, lost in the wonder of Christ, never complain about your situation, see only the best in others and your own weaknesses, spend much time before God in prayer, take Christ at His terms and not your own terms, and continually thank God and praise Him for His grace (MacArthur, p. 68-69). The part that convicted me the most in what he wrote is never complaining about your situation. I know I am not poor in spirit when I am complaining! It is so easy to be proud in spirit and demand what we want, but when we do, we are clearly not being poor in spirit or obeying Jesus.
During the month of November, we are offering the full-length messages on the Blessed Life for your gift of support to DFEA. Just go to
dfea.com to support our ministry and receive these messages. I am sharing these messages on our podcast as well.
We appreciate all your prayers and support for our ministry. Because of your generosity, we are able to reach and bless many.
Apple
Spotify
Stitcher
YouTube
