The Discipleship Dare @ Grace (Bel Air, MD) Day #9 - Poor in Spirit

(Join the pastors of Grace as we post "Facebook Notes" (& blogs) for our 40 days of discipleship. Please interact with these notes (& blogs). They are based on the book: The Discipleship Dare: Living Dangerously for God - http://thediscipleshipdare.com/ - we are reading together as a church.)

I can identify with the Israelite's who were destroyed by the Babylonians. They lost everything. In exile, they did not have their Temple or the sacrificial system to rely on. They lost all of their spiritual currency. They were spiritually bankrupt. They could only rely on God Himself.

What a place to be, a place where we have to completely rely on God. Sometimes there will be seasons in life where our talents, skills and past performance will not be sufficient. We need to rely only on God Himself for our daily needs. I need God today more than I ever needed him before.

As Liz and I are beginning the journey to start a new church from scratch, I can't rely on the last things God did for us in our previous place of ministry. We need God more today than before. We can't depend on our old spiritual accomplishments, but on God himself. Only when we are broke spiritually will we experience the richness of God.

I would rather be spiritually bankrupt than momentarily rich any day of the week. I want to depend on God more than trust in wordily riches less. Yesterdays anointing will not suffice. I need today's anointing more than I needed yesterdays. How about you?

The Discipleship Dare Day #9 - Bigger Is Not Better

There are many times when I live like Israel before the exile. I depend on things I accomplish not on God alone. I act like I am "rich in spirit" when God prefers me to be "poor in spirit." I have come to realize, there is nothing inherently in me that impresses God or attracts God to me, but my brokenness. It is a life of brokenness that I want more than anything else. I want to live spiritually bankrupt like Israel after the exile. They were not able to depend on anything to please God but God Himself. They did not have a temple or the sacrificial system to fall back on.

What is your temple? What is your sacrificial system? What do you rely on other than God? Is it your spiritual disciplines? Is it the ministry you lead? There is nothing inherently wrong with spiritual disciplines or leading a ministry. Problems arise when those things become the end. They are a means to an end. The end we seek is God, the God of the spiritual disciplines, the God of the ministry. Bigger is not better in God's economy. The more spiritual accomplishments will not make you more important to God. Better is better in God's economy. He is looking for quality, not quantity. To be "poor in spirit" is to live the blessed life, a life broken before God and others. It takes humility to live the blessed life. Humility is the door. Come on in.