I have been called to third world countries several times over the years to visit for a week or two to be a helper.  There was a time when we stayed for few months to volunteer teach at a school and help in various ways as God led us.  We observed what most people who lived around us lacked what we in our country sometimes take for granted—food, pure water, and shelter.  Programs that have been developed in these countries, aided by other countries, cannot seem to be sustained for those in need or be of real help because of corrupt governments whose officials steal what is given to the poor and take what is given home for their own families and friends who they want to impress. Many people in the world are disadvantaged without provisions or the means to obtain them for various reasons. 

However, I have also observed and heard the beautiful testimonies of the physically poor who are spiritually rich in Jesus in ways that humbled my whole being.  They lack nothing in Jesus.  It is not only their words and behaviors of helping others; It shows by the smile on their weary worn faces.

Let’s go back on the mountain.  Jesus looked over those gathered and began his famous “Sermon on the Mount” to mixed audience of people who were seeking to know Him, curious about Him, with minds more than ready to judge Him based on the hearsay that surrounded Him.  Jesus begins with:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5)

Wait, what now?

What did that mean to this crowd?  Some were poor, sick, blind, and crippled.  Some were haughty and proud of their Jewish heritage.  Others just wanted to come and see with other onlookers as they wondered what might happen next.  But all were compelled to see and hear this man who spoke and behaved like no other man in their world. Most accepted the Message even when they didn’t understand all the details. 

However, there were those with a specific motivation to judge critically, looking for ways and means to stop the Message.  And what are the first words they hear from Jesus, who is Truth?  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  How did they receive these words?  From habit, did they immediately look left and right at the physical poor around them, looking down their noses at them, while judging how much they lacked in their lives?  (Do we do that?)

But the phrase “poor in spirit” speaks to an even deeper reality—beyond physical poverty—but to true spiritual poverty. To be poor in spirit means to daily acknowledge our deepest human need for God with a desire to humbly grow in that longing and dependence on God.  Too much?

Let’s break it down.  The Message of the first Beatitude poor in spirit conveys the unthinkable blessing of salvation with all the riches of its benefits upon the least deserving, namely the poor in spirit. And that is all of us!  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul will passionately write to the churches—to Jews and Gentiles alike! (A Gentile is anyone not a Jew, Romans 3:23) 

Those who are aware that they have nothing to offer God in exchange for his favor are indeed blessed with the greatness of his favor.  (Mic dropped.)  Read that again.

According to the vision given to John, by the LORD; disobedience to God, filled with hate for God and His people, who diligently succumb to evil behaviors that wreak havoc on the lives of others will not only miss out on God’s favor, they will suffer for they lack the seal of God. They lack God.  They lack redemption of unconfessed sins from Jesus.  Jesus, who paid the debt of the sins of the world by suffering through torture, humiliation, and then nailed to a cross for our sins!  Jesus is the One and Only who through His suffering can set us free and seal us from death forever! –God’s Plan.

Revelation 8, The Message

^1-2 The fifth Angel trumpeted. I saw a Star plummet from Heaven to earth. The Star was handed a key to the Well of the Abyss. He unlocked the Well of the Abyss—smoke poured out of the Well, billows and billows of smoke, sun and air in blackout from smoke pouring out of the Well.

^3-6 Then out of the smoke crawled locusts with the venom of scorpions. They were given their orders: “Don’t hurt the grass, don’t hurt anything green, don’t hurt a single tree—only men and women, and then only those who lack the seal of God on their foreheads.” They were ordered to torture but not kill, torture them for five months, the pain like a scorpion sting. When this happens, people are going to prefer death to torture, look for ways to kill themselves. But they won’t find a way—death will have gone into hiding.

^7-11 The locusts looked like horses ready for war. They had gold crowns, human faces, women’s hair, the teeth of lions, and iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was the sound of horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. Their tails were equipped with stings, like scorpion tails. With those tails they were ordered to torture the human race for five months. They had a king over them, the Angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek, Apollyon— “Destroyer.”

¹² The first doom is past. Two dooms yet to come.

^13-14 The sixth Angel trumpeted. I heard a voice speaking to the sixth Angel from the horns of the Golden Altar before God: “Let the Four Angels loose, the Angels confined at the great River Euphrates.”

^15-19 The Four Angels were untied and let loose, Four Angels all prepared for the exact year, month, day, and even hour when they were to kill a third of the human race. The number of the army of horsemen was twice ten thousand times ten thousand. I heard the count and saw both horses and riders in my vision: fiery breastplates on the riders, lion heads on the horses breathing out fire and smoke and brimstone. With these three weapons—fire and smoke and brimstone—they killed a third of the human race. The horses killed with their mouths and tails; their serpent like tails also had heads that wreaked havoc.

^20-21 The remaining men and women who weren’t killed by these weapons went on their merry way—didn’t change their way of life, didn’t quit worshiping demons, didn’t quit centering their lives around lumps of gold and silver and brass, hunks of stone and wood that couldn’t see or hear or move. There wasn’t a sign of a change of heart. They plunged right on in their murderous, occult, promiscuous, and thieving ways.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Have a change of heart!  It’s all in the last two verses of this passage:

Quit worshiping demons who distract our minds, work on our hearts with deceit, with attempts to destroy our relationship with God who loves, heals, protects, and provides all we need in Him so that we lack nothing!

Quit worshiping our bank accounts with worry over what we lack.

Stay away from those who worship anything or anyone but God.  Worship only God.

Be signed, sealed, and delivered by Jesus to God. Jesus is the One and Only Way to reconcile us to God in relationship with God! 

Repent of sins to Jesus. Accept the immediate help of His Holy Spirit, and enjoy the benefits (favor) of a loving, intimate relationship with God who loves us most! 

Blessed are those who know Who they need most and seek Him first—for they lack nothing.

Lord,

Your truly are the Way to Truth that gives Life eternal.  Hope reigns in my heart today because I know whom I have believed.  You are my everything.  Not that I am perfect but I am perfectly forgiven, approved, and cherished by you.  Thank you, Lord.  You are my Shepherd; I lack nothing.

In Jesus Name, for Your Glory, Amen! Yes, I believe.

Just in case you missed it—Be sealed for life with Jesus!

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Psalm 23

Come to Jesus!