Thread: How Can a Broke, Pinched, Wretched Person be Prosperous?
Admin
How Can a Broke, Pinched, Wretched Person be Prosperous?
Posted : 23 Sep, 2011 02:34 PM
Published On: Wed, Aug 3rd, 2011
Devotion ~ By Albert Kents AlbertKents.org�Fuel Your Faith�
How Can a Broke, Pinched, Wretched Person be Prosperous?
�Blessed are you poor, For yours is the Kingdom of God� (Luke 6:20)
This seems to make no sense and so alien to the modern mind. How can poverty in any form be good? How can a poor person be �Blessed� The word here for blessed literally means, �happy, fortunate, supremely blessed.� How can a person be poor and still happy?
It is a quite difficult phrase to understand. The word used here for �poor� in Greek literally means having nothing, reduced to begging, like a beggar, totally broke.
�Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven� (Matthew 5:3)
While monetary poverty can also be inferred from these verses, what Jesus really meant was spiritual poverty. You can be really (monetarily) poor and still be arrogant and prideful, or you can be rich and still be poor in the spirit. (King David is great example of this, in spite of being King, he had a humble and contrite heart.)
Correction Concerning this Poverty
Some equate physical poverty with being pleasing to the Lord. There is no special righteousness in being physically poor, neither is there a special sinfulness in the possessing of riches. While it is often easier for the poor to be saved than the rich, it is certain that there will be rich who dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven and poor who will dwell in the depths of Hell.
Some believe that a false modesty and self-abasement are the fulfillment of being poor in spirit. Jesus never recommended monasticism (the complete abasement of the human body and retreat from society). The Bible tells us that we are to be part of society, although we are to be different from the sinfulness of the world. John 17:14-15
The Lord is also not talking about those who would mentally have a �poor me� attitude. Christianity is being Victorious not victims. Romans 8:31 � �What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Philippians 4:13 � �I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.�
Then What is Spiritual Poverty?
�Spiritual poor� is a state when you realize that you have nothing and need constant help. It contrasts to the self-contained, self-sufficient spirit which the world long for. But in the Kingdom of Heaven, Spiritual poverty is the most important qualification, you can have.
A person that has spiritual poverty realizes that he or she cannot save themselves, that they are without an ability to glorify themselves. The spiritually poor have a keen sense of their own sinfulness and need for God�s grace. Spiritual beggars who have abandoned pride and self-sufficiency and who rely totally on God for support are in a position to inculcate the mournful, meek, hungry, merciful, pure, and peaceful disposition suggested by Jesus.
Luke 18:13 � �And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.�
The attitude of Gideon. Judges 6:15 � �And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father�s house.�
The attitude of Isaiah. Isaiah 6:5 � �Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.�
The Lord displayed this attitude while here on the earth. John 5:30 -�I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.� , John 14:10 � �Don�t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me.�
It was the thinking of the apostles. Philippians 3:8 � �What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ�
Isaiah 66:1-2: �Thus says the LORD, �Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? �For My hand-made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,� declares the LORD. �But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.�
Psalms 51 is a great example of a man who is craving for God�s spirit. (King David�s confession and repentance after he committed adultery with Bathsheba.) �Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.� Psalm 51:10
Poverty of spirit is the root of all virtues. It is the state of heart; it is how you view yourself in light of God.
The opposite of �Poor in Spirit� is �proud in spirit�. This is one of the three roots of sin and independence from God. (1 John 2:16). Look at the same example that we first cited, the publican contrasted with a Pharisee. Read what the pharisee said Luke 18:11-12, 14 � �The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess . . . I tell you, this man (the publican) went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.�
Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel 4:30-31 �As he looked out across the city, he said, �Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor. While these words were still in his mouth, a voice called down from heaven, �O King Nebuchadnezzar, this message is for you! You are no longer ruler of this kingdom�
The Promise: Kingdom of Heaven
�Kingdom of Heaven is used interchangeably with �Kingdom of God. Kingdom of Heaven is the messianic kingdom promised in old testament, to be established by Messiah. (Daniel 2:44) Matthew represents Jesus Christ as the savior and king prophesied in old testament.
Kingdom of God (Heaven) is in twofold;
Already Here: Luke 17:20-21: �Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, �The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, �Here it is,� or �There it is,� because the kingdom of God is within you.�
Yet to Come: Kingdom of Heaven will be fully realized and established when Christ will come as a King and Ruler over all earth. (Daniel 7: 13,14,27)
Jesus offers to those who are poor in the spirit the best and perfect place and state humanity can ever have. �The Kingdom of Heaven�...:applause:....xo
How Can a Broke, Pinched, Wretched Person be Prosperous?
Posted : 23 Sep, 2011 03:06 PM
Ephesians 4:28: "Work so that you may have something to share with those in need!":angel:
James 4:3: �When you ask you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures:devil:!"
In the old covenant God's commandments were only preached to Jews but in the New Covenant Jesus commands us to preach to every nation in the world teaching them to obey *EVERYTHING* He commanded and everything would also include all of the approximately 400 NT commandments also taught in Acts to Revelation {See 2 Timothy 3-16 to 4:2.}
Jesus also eliminated the earthly rewards for faithful service and commanded us to sell our possessions and give to the poor and get *TREASURES IN HEAVEN* and **THEN** come follow Him.
Luke 12:33,34: Jesus says, �Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted....For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.�:angel:
Matthew 20:20-24: �All these {Commandments} I have kept, the young man said. �What do I still lack?� Jesus answered, �If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. **THEN** come, follow Me.� When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. Then Jesus says, �It is hard for a rich man to enter the *KINGDOM OF HEAVEN*. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the *KINGDOM OF GOD*.�
Luke 6:20: Jesus says �Blessed are you who are *POOR*, for *YOURS* is the *KINGDOM OF GOD*.�:applause:
2 Corinthians 6:4-10: As servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance, in troubles, hardships and distresses, in beatings, imprisonments; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love, in truthful speech and in the power of God; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; dying, and yet we live on; beaten and yet not killed; *POOR*, yet making many rich; *HAVING NOTHING*; and yet possessing everything.�:angel:
I Timothy 6:5-10: There are men of corrupt mind:devil:, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain....If we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.:angel: People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.�
The early saints followed the commands of Jesus and the NT Covenant:
Acts 2:44,45: "*ALL* the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." Acts 4:32: "*ALL* the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.":angel:
How Can a Broke, Pinched, Wretched Person be Prosperous?
Posted : 23 Sep, 2011 03:45 PM
God teaches that he who does not work, doesn't eat... Paul also teaches Timothy to make sure he let the people know the importance of workign with their own hands so that they might be able to care for themsleves and help others... that's prosperity...
If you ain't got no job and loving belowing provety, that is not prosperity! Nor is it the will of God for believers... He say he rains on the saint and sinner His blessings, and the preacher aslo tells us to enjoy the works labor of our hands becasue its all nothing but vanity anywayzzzz.:party::yay:
