The Key to Heaven's Riches
Prayer 365 // The Economy of Heaven (Day 1)
More from this week:
Today's Scripture:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." - Matthew 5:3-6 NIV
Today's Devotional:
The theme for this week of devotion and prayer is “The Economy of Heaven.” This is a continuation from Sunday’s message titled "The Rhythm of Loss.” In that message we learned, as Christians, we do not identify ourselves with the value systems of this world. Instead, our value is found only in God and His value system is defined by His word. Nations of the world determine their value (or economy) with systems built on comparison — in other words, it's a process built on the fickle (or frequently changing) opinions of its neighbors. The church, however, determines its value by the unfaltering, unchanging, and unwavering Word of God. This Word was manifested in the very person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who is indeed God. Yes, it’s through Jesus that all things were created, thus giving Him the ultimate authority to be the One that defines our value.
It’s clear to us that the value systems of heaven and the earth are on polar opposites, what works in heaven is often a total contradiction to "what works” or is acceptable in the world. Because we are not of this world but of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must learn to live by "The Economy of Heaven.” So this week we will take a close look at five instances the world identifies as a loss but heaven sees it as a gain.
Today for Day One of The Economy of Heaven, I’m going to share with you the "Key to Heaven’s Riches." In our scripture, Matthew 5:3, we find these words stated by Jesus, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is the beginning of a series of declarations that Jesus makes during His Sermon on the Mount, known as the beatitudes. Each of these declarations completely oppose the values of the world. They seem weak, feeble and embarrassing to compare them to something so powerful as a kingdom.
Let’s take a closer look at what Jesus is saying in verse 3, He says “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Blessed is defined as being happy and well off. We often associate being blessed with a favorable financial status or state of wellbeing and being poor as lacking in some way. However, Jesus says that a person is blessed when they are poor in spirit, therefore it’s clear that there has to be more to this than we can see naturally.
If we take another look at this, we will see that a person who’s poor in the spirit is actually lacking spiritually. Our spiritual condition is determined by our fruitfulness and those Fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I want you to do a personal assessment to determine how well you are producing these fruit in your life. If you are lacking in any of these areas, by definition you are poor in spirit and according to the scripture, the kingdom of heaven is yours.
There's a lot in this and I want to try my best to help you understand it. Here’s what it boils down to: Heaven is not a place for perfect people or those who claim to be without flaw. In fact, perfect people have no claim to the place of heaven. Instead, it’s those who are are honest with the fact they are lacking spiritually that are heaven was created for and it’s those people who. Therefore, the key to heaven’s riches is not perfection, but the total awareness and admission of our imperfections and spiritual deficits. It’s the person who knows that they are not perfect and in desperate need of God’s grace that gains access to heaven’s riches.
So when Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are poor in the spirit, it means that it’s those who are honest about their flaws that have access to the wealth of heaven. The economy of heaven does not benefit the perfect, but those who are in need of perfect the grace of God that’s found in Jesus Christ.
It’s clear to us that the value systems of heaven and the earth are on polar opposites, what works in heaven is often a total contradiction to "what works” or is acceptable in the world. Because we are not of this world but of the Kingdom of Heaven, we must learn to live by "The Economy of Heaven.” So this week we will take a close look at five instances the world identifies as a loss but heaven sees it as a gain.
Today for Day One of The Economy of Heaven, I’m going to share with you the "Key to Heaven’s Riches." In our scripture, Matthew 5:3, we find these words stated by Jesus, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is the beginning of a series of declarations that Jesus makes during His Sermon on the Mount, known as the beatitudes. Each of these declarations completely oppose the values of the world. They seem weak, feeble and embarrassing to compare them to something so powerful as a kingdom.
Let’s take a closer look at what Jesus is saying in verse 3, He says “Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Blessed is defined as being happy and well off. We often associate being blessed with a favorable financial status or state of wellbeing and being poor as lacking in some way. However, Jesus says that a person is blessed when they are poor in spirit, therefore it’s clear that there has to be more to this than we can see naturally.
If we take another look at this, we will see that a person who’s poor in the spirit is actually lacking spiritually. Our spiritual condition is determined by our fruitfulness and those Fruit of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I want you to do a personal assessment to determine how well you are producing these fruit in your life. If you are lacking in any of these areas, by definition you are poor in spirit and according to the scripture, the kingdom of heaven is yours.
There's a lot in this and I want to try my best to help you understand it. Here’s what it boils down to: Heaven is not a place for perfect people or those who claim to be without flaw. In fact, perfect people have no claim to the place of heaven. Instead, it’s those who are are honest with the fact they are lacking spiritually that are heaven was created for and it’s those people who. Therefore, the key to heaven’s riches is not perfection, but the total awareness and admission of our imperfections and spiritual deficits. It’s the person who knows that they are not perfect and in desperate need of God’s grace that gains access to heaven’s riches.
So when Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are poor in the spirit, it means that it’s those who are honest about their flaws that have access to the wealth of heaven. The economy of heaven does not benefit the perfect, but those who are in need of perfect the grace of God that’s found in Jesus Christ.
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