fully incapable

‘blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven’ (Matthew 5:3)

does this verse confuse anyone else? i know that i have thought to myself “why would i want to be poor in spirit? does that mean i shouldn’t be joyful? shouldn’t i be rich in spirit?”

after searching to answer these questions i've found that having a ‘poor spirit’ is to have a humble spirit. and it takes a humble spirit to recognize our need for God. this verse in Matthew isn’t saying to be poor in the Holy spirit, but to be poor in the spirit of self. poor in the spirit that you can do it all. poor in the spirit that you are in control. poor in the spirit of your righteousness. why? our poor spirit is meant to show us how needy and helpless we are without Jesus filling our portion.

our poor spirit is our reality. one that many of are blind to because of our pride. our pride makes us believe that we are worthy of heaven just as we are without Jesus. that we can get their ourselves, from our own works, and on our own time.

however, a humble spirit recognizes our need for a graceful and merciful God. in fact, a humble spirit begs for God to come in and intercede.

poor in greek translates to the word ‘ptochos’, which means beggar. and back in biblical times, beggars were needy. beggars were helpless. and that is what Jesus is calling us to in Matthew.

we need to have a begging spirit. a spirit that is desperate for Jesus. a spirit that cries out for Jesus.

a spirit that isn’t worried about what people will think of us. a spirit that lacks pride. a spirit that is courageous enough, humble enough, to beg.

but begging can be hard, to beg we must realize how helpless we are on our own. and many of us do not see ourselves as helpless, we see ourselves as fully in control, fully capable. if Jesus knew He 'could do nothing of his own accord' (John 5:19) meaning of his own power, then how prideful and how sinful must we be to believe that we, even for a second, can handle life apart from God.

pride can be blinding, we can’t see how helpless we are when all we have to look at is our own kingdom.

a kingdom that we have built. a kingdom that is built on the sand. a kingdom that, no matter how perfect we build it, will always be blown away in the wind. and all we can do is watch it blow away.

helpless.

but God calls us to build ourselves on the rock. and we can’t build on the rock unless we are abiding in Jesus. for Jesus says, 'everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock' (Matthew 7:24)

we are not called to be mere listeners of the word, but doers of the word. and until we become poor in spirit, being a doer of the word will feel like a chore.

it will be a chore to put others first, if my spirit is rich in selfishness. it will be a chore to choose love, if my spirit is hateful. it will be a chore to be obedient, if my spirit is prideful. a poor spirit does not see these commands as a chore, but rather delights in them because they come from God. and without God we are helpless.

so, pray for a poor spirit, a spirit that is poor of self so that it may be made abundantly rich in the Holy Spirit. for even when we pray, we are humbling ourselves. asking Jesus for His help because we know that we cannot do this alone. we pray because we are helpless. and when we realize we are helpless is when we begin to become poor in spirit and rich in faith.

a spirit that is puffed up on sense of self has no room for God. whereas a poor spirit sees its inadequacies, and humbly submits to God because this spirit realizes we can no longer do life on our own. this should be no surprise to us, the Bible tells us in John 15:4 'abide in me, and i in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me'

helplessness is our prayer because without God we are fully incapable.

-n0tbychance