01/09/2024 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there’s in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)

I Was Blind, Then I Could See 🎶

  Image by Pete Linforth from
      Pixabay

Blessed! I’ve been reflecting on this verse for years, and always find solace in it! In the time where I surrendered myself to him as Lord, and He became my boss. I had loosely had an awareness of Him as being a Savior to man, for 18 years of my life, and knew much about Jesus. But when I became born again at 19 years old, I could see with un-scaled eyes very clearly that this Jesus I had always wanted to know was the Lord of a spiritual kingdom of good and bad, saints, angels, demons, the Holy Spirit, commands, convictions, joy, etc. It was a wonder to have Him for my Lord, My Own Lord! Oh what a glorious thing to recall! I remember crying and sometimes being just without words altogether when I went to spend time in the Bible or in prayer. This Lord was near – “But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth, and in your heart”, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:” (Romans 10:8). What a tangible thing it was! God gets people’s attention sometimes at different points in their life. Well, this was my time. I was amazed that Jesus would speak directly to my soul, and the clear passages of the Bible “flew off the page at me”, so that I could receive what was read, and not just read it! I had done plenty of reading even by then, because I did believe that God spoke to men. My newfound joy in the Presence of Jesus kept me pre-occupied trying to get together anytime I could with other Christians to sing praises, confess sins, talk about Scriptures and ask questions, to help cultivate what I had found with Jesus. I loved to encounter people and surprise them with a fully-felt smile, and hoped to portray the joy that would be appropriate for someone who was previously covered in filth, but whose sins were taken away by realization of Jesus’ blood. Can you imagine how good it felt for a soul to have been so filthy in sin, but whose sins were washed away by Jesus’ blood? “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swinglders will inherit the kingdom of God.” That’s the bad news. Then comes the good news! “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God”. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)~! Praise the Lord Jesus :). I had the satisfaction of knowing God looked at me and saw a clean state and not only clean for that present time, but having His promise that he could cleanse me for the whole way into heaven. It is amazing to me how Jesus continually avails himself, so incredibly accessible, if we take the moment to realize He’s there! I remember that even when I was 19 (which was 18 years ago), I knew immediately that “God’s call” on my life, among other things, was to be conformed to Jesus. It would mean that though many troubles were on their way, Jesus would be there first and see me through them all. And how many more blessings there have been than boo-hoos. To me, it was natural then, and even expected (I reasoned) that EVERYONE should know about the something that I had found, how could they not?! I wasn’t thinking of myself as radical, I was considering it normal response to a really good thing happening! I was so happy in the Lord, and to this day, I cannot write this without welling up with joy. That is a miracle, that I still have my joy, because I have so many roller coasters in life, as all of us do, that it really is a miracle every new step I can conquer for the Lord. Most of the time, I put those hurdles in place, but Jesus is helping me not to.

Being “Poor in Spirit” Means I’ll Inherit Heaven

The times I wanted to write about – I got sidetracked by joy again when getting this on paper – were times I felt a sad joy because I understood the Lord to be so holy and pure and upright. I understood how poor I was before God, in the sense that I saw I would need Jesus so desparately, that it would require His blood to cover my sins. It was then that the realization came that my sins really did separate me from God, so every day I made/make it a goal to be clean before Him, washed ultimately and cleansed as much as needed! This is where I get to know this Lord, and what He requires of me – that I be filled with joy at His Presence and the presence of His people. The times where I would seek God and felt He was distant from me, I knew would pass, but Matthew 5:3 brought me solace. If I can stay in a place of knowing my necessity of God, I’ll be all right, and the kingdom of Heaven will be mine!

“This poor man called out, and the Lord heard him. He saved him out of all his troubles.” (Psalms 34:6)

“Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him” (Psalms 34:8)

Oh what the heck – just read all of Psalms 34! Blessings to You too!