*Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."* (KJV)
We need to understand that Jesus became poor so that we may be rich. And the desire of our God is that we may prosper and be in health, even as our soul (spirits) prosper. Therefore, being poor in the spirit, does not literally mean being poor, it means *taking up a mentality and a position of humility* and counting all things as nothing for the sake of Christ.
It is the ability *to untag material gains from the indications of the presence or the absence of God in your life.* Many people want to connote that if you lack, then it means you don't have God. Others believe that if you are rich, it must be not from God and it may hinder you from entering heaven. But we need to untag these two and look at the attitude of the heart towards losing and gaining.
Paul says, "To die is a gain and if I live in ought to bear fruits." And this is the attitude of a spiritually poor person. That no matter what happens, you must take up an attitude that says, *"I NEVER LOSE"*.
I have talked to many people who are in need and I have also approached many people myself being in need, I have also met hostile people here online and I have also met very nice people here online, but there is one thing that those who know me will tell you, that there are three words that never lack in my mouth or speech, *"IT IS WELL".*
And I don't just say it with my mouth to fill up the day, I have convinced every fibre of my being that no matter what happens, nothing will ever trip my balance. It doesn't matter who leaves my life or who comes in to my life, it is well. I am deeply convinced that *All things happen because they are working together for my good.* Even that person that abuses me online, they do so because they have been commanded to do so for my good.
Imagine if I was preaching and everybody is saying "Amen" and "well done". Pride would be inevitable and with pride I wouldn't see heaven. But I love it when some people tell me, "you are wasting your time", "I don't even read what you send", "Don't send this to my wife, she's falling for you". It shows me that I still have a long way to go, I am not yet even near the finish line. I know that one of those that reject this might share it with a friend in a bid to caution them against me, but instead their friends get interested and request me to be sending this to them instead.
Being poor in the spirit is not literally lacking but having a perpetually spacious spirit. Where there is always a space for one more thing from God. A spirit that is ready *spend and be spent for the sake of the gospel.*
Most people nowadays give so that they may be blessed. Even preachers are telling you that if you give, that will guarantee your having. *Of course I agree that God is a debtor to no one*, but I am praying that God may help me and others who have a similar Spirit to raise up a generation that gives not to indebt God but because they love God. People who when God says, "I will pay you back as soon as I can", can be able to tell him, "Ah! Don't mind. That was just for our friendship's sake".
Would you rather God calls you His lender or His friend?
All you need to look is how you view your lenders, and you will understand why many people give in church and they are not as Blessed as they wish to be blessed. They give as lenders, the only thing is that they do not specify their interest rates! But deep in their hearts they expect that God will pay them double or triple of what they gave him.
These are the kinds that are poor physically, and may be even poor spiritually, but they have taken up an attitude of the rich shaylock. They are the kind that Jesus took a whip and drove out of the church, they are the money changers in church. And the pastors have become the bell ringers who proclaim when the best season has come to exchange you dollar with God. They stand on the pulpit and tell you what the dollar is up against the heavenly currency. They tell you how much you might get back if you invest during the open window. And people flock these sanctuaries and those who have nothing to lend to God go home downcast!
But this is not the people I wanted to bring up with this series, I wanted to raise up a sleeping generation of people who feel inferior to lend to God. People who feel they don't have the audacity to demand that God pays back what they gave in church. Because if they calculate it against what God has done for them, it is a drop in the ocean.
I wanted to say this, there is a young rich man we mentioned when we were starting this series. He came to Jesus and told Him of how good he was at obeying the law. Then Jesus told him, "OK, now go and sell everything, give all you get to the poor, then come follow me." The bible says, that the young man went home very downcast because he was very rich. Spiritual poverty is the ability to loosely hold onto what you have already acquired so that you may hold on tightly onto God. It is the ability to differentiate between the goodness of having everything and the advantage of having the source of everything.
Some one told me that, if you take what the richest man in the world has, and give it to the poorest man in the world, then give them a space of five years, most probably, the richest man in the world will still be better off than the now materially rich poor man.
Many people keep asking me about betting and they ask me what is wrong with betting. Well, one of the wrong things with betting is this, that even if you win, you only get the flow but you don't get the source. You end up like the poorest man in the world who was given what the rich men of the world have. No wonder rich men don't win lotteries. Because *what makes you rich is not having, what makes you rich is having the source.*
And this is what Solomon pointed out when he said, "Some scatter, yet they wax rich; others withhold, yet they die in poverty." When you have the source, you don't fear giving, but if you are just but the owner of the stream, you are always scared that the stream may dry up.
Jesus said, "let your hearts not be troubled, you believe in God, believe in me also."
And this is the same message I will leave you with from this series, *Get God, and relax.* Because with God, you have all in all. Seek ye first the Kingdom and His righteousness, then everything else, will be added to you. But if you seek everything else first, they will not add God to you. Being spiritually poor is seeking God above all things, then letting all the other things be an addition. And one more advice, *don't get too attached*, hold everything loosely, but hold on to God tightly. Be ready to lose anything ... yeah, even everything, but be ready to die for God. *That is SPIRITUAL POVERTY.*
Shalom and keep the faith.
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