The Wasting of Spiritual Energy

As Christians, we are called to be stewards. Stewards of our time, resources, work, family, ministries, money, etc. If you think about it, our life on this earth consists of management. However, we hardly, if ever, adapt this principle into the spiritual realm. If we are not careful, we could be doing what Oswald Chambers calls "wasting spiritual energy." What this means is that the energy we could be spending on meditation, prayer, obedience, and study, is often spent on daydreaming, anxiety, rationalizing, and being just plain lazy. We can also see this principle worked out in the areas of our spiritual giftings and ministries. In using our giftings and our time in ministry, we should ask, is this a good investment? Paul also gives an example in Phil. 4:6 about wasting spiritual energy. The verse reads "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made know to God." The phrase "be anxious for nothing" in the Greek is a command. Paul is commanding us not to waste our time, thoughts, and energy on being anxious. Next, he tells us what we should be doing with our energy, and that is to pray. The energy that we spend in our worry is less energy that we spend in prayer. And as a result, we miss out on God's peace (v.7). By holding on to our worry and not submitting our request to God, we wrongfully judge Him as unable to care for us and our problems. The reason we spend our time in worry instead of prayer is because we are not taking our Christianity personally. For if we did, we would take God at his word and spend our spiritual energy in prayer, thus reaping the fruit of a life of peace. For it is this peace that will guard us against an anxious mind and a troubled heart. In Ephesians 5:16, Paul speaks of redeeming the time. Though we may have spent much time in the past wasting our spiritual energy, we can start to day, and redeem the time. We can choose today to repent, and start spending our energy on what truly matters.

The Sin of Prayerlessness

through all prayer and petition, praying on every occasion in the Spirit. Eph. 6:18 (translation mine).

In the context of the preceding verses, Paul tells us that we put on our spiritual armor "through all prayer and petition". On ever occasion that we pray, we are to do it "in the Spirit", or in the realm of the Spirit. We are to pray under His influence, under His power, and under His instruction, for He is the Spirit of prayer.

As saints of God, we are either walking in the Spirit or walking in the flesh (Gal. 5:16, 25). If we are walking in step with the Spirit, prayer will be a vital part of our being. It is the pulse that can be checked to see if we have any life within us. If we are walking in the flesh, prayer will either be a second rate exercise in which we have no joy or perseverance, or hypocritical confession that we merely give lip service to. So, what is the cause of prayerlessness in the modern church? Christians who walk after the flesh. Indeed, we always speak of sins of the flesh as adultery, fornication, outburst of wrath, strife, envy, etc., but prayerlessness never makes the list. if we are walking in the flesh, we will exhibit some of these characteristics, yet it is exactly these characteristics that will keep us from the place of prayer. If a believer is in sin, the last place he will want to go is into the prayer closet. Why? Because it is in the place of prayer that he or she has to come face to face with the Divine Holiness. Also, since the Spirit is the Spirit of prayer, the one living in sin is not being controlled by His desires, and will avoid the place of prayer.

But what is it that makes prayerlessness such a detestable sin? It is the fact that for the believer, it is a manifestation of pride. We are saying to God, “I do not need you, nor do I care about your guidance or your will. I am of no need of being in union with you, nor do I need your power and the filling of your Spirit. I do not care about knowing you, nor do I care that you have called me to a ministry of intercession." Some may object to this and say "I pray every day for 10 minutes!" Yes, you do, but where is your joy in prayer? Why is it that you have time for everything else but can only give God 10 minutes of your day? You make time and priority for all the other things that interest you. The fact that you only allot prayer 10 minutes a day shows that it is of little importance. Though you may be unaware of it, it shows how arrogant you are.

Many wonder why their spiritual life is so feeble. They wonder why they never see or experience God. It is because they are in sin, the sin of prayerlessness. Many even try to cover up this void by filling it with service, study, and work in the church. What a sad state. All that they do is done in the power of the flesh, because it is not bathed in the Supernatural in the place of prayer. Many failures in the power of modern day preaching and ministry are due to this great and heinous sin. We plan all kinds of things without ever taking them to the throne of the Most High and asking if this be His will. We presume upon the divine forbearance, pick something to do that sounds good to us, and then demand Him to bless it.

It is a necessity for the spiritual leader to outpace the rest of the church in prayer. If you come across one who outpaces you in this place, you should repent and ask God to forgive you for not being the leader and ask Him to give you the capacity to receive more of the Spirit for the work of intercession. In order for the sin of prayerlessness to be on the decline in the life of the modern church, the minsters and leaders have to set the pace and teach other how to do it. Until that happens, the rest of the church will be hindered because of their sin.

Journal Entry: Saturday, March 10, 2007

Today, I wanted to share one of my journal entries from last year.

Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

What I have gained from these verses this morning is very rich. Those who have gone before me- Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Barak- have set an impeccable standard of faith. Because they have gone before me, I also must strip away those things that will keep me from living at the level of faith that they did. The reason being is that there is a race set before me in which I must, by necessity, run. However, as great as those who went before me where, I am not commanded to fix my eyes upon them. I am, however, told to turn all my attention, interrupted, to Jesus. He is the one who is the Founder of my faith, and the Perfecter- the one who will bring my faith to a successful conclusion! Therefore, He is the source of my endurance. I have the promise that Christ himself will bring my faith to a successful conclusion! Why? Because He Himself successfully completed the will of the Father.

It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross. The Greek text gives the idea that there was a greater plain of existence in the realm of joy that awaited Him. It was laid before Him. There is also for me, a greater plain of existence in the eternal state- a greater joy to come. Because there is this greater plain of existence to come- the eternal kingdom in which the author has been talking about in the previous chapter- I need to live for that joy. This life is a vapor, and the pleasures found here are fleeting and disappearing. They will not last. Therefore, I must do as Jesus did- live for the plain of existence in the realm of the joy that is soon coming. That realm of joy is eternal, and far exceeds any temporal pain and persecution that I MUST go through. For this life is preparation for eternity. This life is the valley that I must walk through in order to reach the mountain of joy. This valley is what God uses to perfect me and to build up treasures for me in the eternal state.

There is only a certain amount of time left in this life. Therefore, in the time that remains, I must live for the eternal existence that will soon be here. All the persecutions, all the heartache, pain, vile words, oppression, discouragement- it will all cease. Yet the joy that is to come will never stop! It is an unending, everlasting state of super abounding joy- a plain of existence now foreign to us, yet not out of reach! This is why it is so important not to falter or fall in times of difficulty. They will not last, but the one who does the will of the Father will abide forever! And his reward? Unending joy in the presence of his King!


Here is a something I wrote to go along with this entry:


I have found hope in your truth today,
the stench of discouragement you are washing away.


A spirit of mourning you have poured out on my head,
a broken heart accompanies me at night in my bed.

My sorrow stemmed from the wickedness all around,
vile words, apathy, and lies that abound.


Why do you bear with the foolishness of men?
When will you rise up and judge them with your hand?

Indeed I know all things are happening as they should,
and you will soon use this evil for good!


So I take up my cross, in my eye there's a gleam,
determination, perseverance, as I pick up that beam.

No sissy Christianity, no time to whine,
with scars on my heart, it 's gut check time!


So I'll press on with your joy in my heart
until this wicked, corrupt world I depart.

I'll bear with the vapor that you have called man,
for they are but dust, the work of Your hand.


The day of judgment will humble them all,
it will silence their mouths, on their knees they do fall!

But as for me, I rejoice in all of Your might,
it's your truth that has caused me to walk in the light.


So here is my body, my life, my all,
a ball of depravity You ransomed from the fall!

A sin loving sinner you elected in grace,
removing the veil so I can see Your face!


Here I am Jesus, I take up my cross,
counting all things in this world as loss!

Sinners at Ease in Zion

Amos 6:1-8 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes. 2 Go over to Calneh and look, And go from there to Hamath the great, Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, Or is their territory greater than yours? 3 Do you put off the day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? 4 Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall, 5 Who improvise to the sound of the harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves, 6 Who drink wine from sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, And the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away. 8 The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains."


Hear the words of Amos the prophet! He unloads a scathing rebuke on those arrogant sinners who are living in a makeshift security devised by their own corrupted mind. He pronounces the prophetic curse, “woe”, to those in Judah and Israel because of the monstrosity of their sins that rise up into the nostrils of a Holy God. In their pride, the covenant people of God felt “secure” because they presumed upon God that being a covenant nation gave them a right to spiritual apathy. They claimed that they were secure because their city dwelled in the “mountain of Samaria”, deeming themselves impregnable from any oncoming onslaught. Oh see the picture of these arrogant, self absorbed people, sprawled out upon their fine couches, drinking the best of wines, while their nation slips into moral decadence and apostasy. Now, mind you, these were the leaders who were doing this, the “distinguished men from the foremost of nations, to whom the house of Israel comes.” Boasting in their pride and material gain, these wicked imposters “put off the day of calamity” and had no after thought of the judgment of God. Day by day they were storing up wrath for themselves. They had fallen asleep. They were at ease on the Holy Mount of God. Indeed, did they think that God would never rise up and avenge His name? Did they think that God would turn His face from the spiritual adultery that was going on? Yes they did! Yet God through Amos had word for them that flew in the face of their self absorption and false security: The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself, the LORD God of hosts has declared: "I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, And detest his citadels; Therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains." Judgment was inevitable. Those sinners who now sit at ease in Zion will soon be weighted down with heaviness of heart over the destruction that will befall them. Those sinners who now sit at ease in Zion will soon eat the ashes of the ruins of their riches. Those sinners at ease in Zion, who presume upon the goodness and forbearance of God, will receive back to them all the oppression that they brought upon others. Why such a strict judgment? Because these were the covenant people of God; they knew better!


So now I turn my comments to those in the church. Woe to you sinners who are at ease in Zion! You who presume to be among the elect of God, what evidence is there of your election? Let us take you into the courtroom. Let us examine you under the light of truth. You come in week after week to the house of God, yet you are devising evil in your heart! You speak with smooth words that could fool only the most nominal Christian, yet the venom of the asp flows from your bite! You claim genealogy from the Son of God, yet your actions show that your real father is the devil himself! What of you who defame the name of God and blaspheme the Divine Majesty by attributing your sinful actions to the direction of the Holy Spirit? How is that you say “God told me to do this,” when your life is so full of sin, that there is no way you are hearing from God. You follow the voice of folly and arrogance, pride and the sinful way! You sinners at ease in Zion! What is your protection? Do you boast of your works? Your church attendance? Indeed, what are your works or your fruits? Do you bear the fruits of repentance? Thanksgiving? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control? Do you share your faith? Is there holiness of life? Do you abstain from the pleasures and vices of the world, or are you fascinated by them? Do you know your God? Do you fear Him, love Him, and obey Him? Indeed, what is the evidence of your conversion?


Where is the prophet among you who is standing up and crying out “Injustice! Violence! Apostasy! Hypocrisy! Luke warmness! Repent and turn back to God!” Who among you stands up for the truth and yearns to lead sinners in the way? Who of you is righteously indignant at the state of modern Christianity and the apathy that has invaded the churches in America? Who among you have been enlightened by the Spirit to recognize what I am talking about? The majority say, “all is fine, we are doing great!’ Oh sinners at ease in Zion! Sinners on the way to destruction! Blind guides! People living in ignorance! Indeed the Lord said, “My people are destroyed by lack of knowledge!” Where are the tenderhearted? Where are those who burn with fire and whose lives are invaded by the supernatural? Are you there? I have not seen you. Is there a man or woman of God out there who will stand up and be counted? Is their a man or woman of God out there who will challenge the status quo of the pretenders who camp all around you? Where are you? Come out! For I am sure that God has his remnant!

The Power of God

1 Corinthians 1:18, 22-24, 30-31; 2:1-5


18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.......22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.......
30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."...........



1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.


The God of glory, with all of His Omnipotent wonder, creates the universe out of nothing, causes the mountains to tremble and the oceans to stir. He upholds all things by the power of His word. He has the authority to cast people in the lake of fire, and no purpose of His can ever be withheld. There is nothing that He has decreed that will not come to pass. No scheme of man or of devils will ever prevail over the purpose of the Immutable, Unchangeable God. Clouds in thick darkness surround Him, and righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. He has parted the Red Sea, and causes desolations on the earth. He is an awe-inspiring God; a dreadful God. One so full of burning Holiness and righteous indignation, that it is indeed a fearful thing to fall into His hands. Yet though these wonders are all majestic displays of His power, the culmination of His Omnipotence is found in the preaching of Christ crucified.

The use of the word "power" here in 1 Corinthians denotes that of "ability". God's ability displayed in the cross is distinct in the fact that it is through the cross and only through the cross that the salvation and wisdom of God is found. However, we must understand that God is speaking here of more that just an event. It is not in the event of the cross that the power of God is manifested, but it is in the person who accomplished the event- Jesus. Through the incarnation, the God-become-flesh poured out His holy life to obedience to the Father. He then offered that life as a propitiation for sin, and afterward, rose again from the dead, setting the people of God back into a right relationship with the Father. Here is where the power of God is expressed in the event of the cross: That God first placed us in His Son, who Paul says has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The cross is the power of God because what Jesus accomplished there was the totality of Christianity. The substitutionary death of Jesus not only means that He took the wrath of God upon Himself so that we could go free, but that through the cross, He accomplished our redemption from start to finish.

Through His substitutionary death, He has also become our wisdom. We no longer have to operate in accordance to carnality and worldly wisdom, for now the very wisdom of God has become ours through Jesus. This means that no longer must I bend and yield to the common sense of the world, but I must accept the fact that I have died with Christ, so that the Wisdom of God Himself- Jesus, can express the divine discernment through me.

The substitutionary death of Jesus also provided for the people of God righteousness. Through our identification with the death of Jesus, God has done away with our carnal virtue, and wants to replace them with the virtues of the Son of God. As Christians, we can still have carnal virtues. Carnal virtues are those things in which we establish our own selves as being loving, kind, patient, nice, etc. The reason they are carnal is because the have their root in the sinful nature and not in the life of the Son of God. Carnal virtues are a weak substitute. The reason being is that they will always carry with them some bias or some breaking point. The carnal virtue of love will always have something or someone that will not be treated with truth. Carnal patience will always have an event that will bring it to its end. Carnal kindness will not be extended to all, especially to those who are one's enemies. However, the virtues of the Son of God know no limitation, because they are perfect and eternal in their duration. When Jesus is expressing His love through me, I will see people as equal. His patience will bear up under any circumstance and situation, and His kindness will be extended to all, even the undeserving. This is what God has provided for us through the atonement.

Next, His substitutionary death has provided for us sanctification- being made into the holy image of the Lord. Sanctification is not a process where we receive the Spirit of God so that He can rehabilitate us. He does not give the Spirit as a crutch that we can use to help us walk. God never honors trying, He honors surrender. God does not want to rehabilitate us, He wants to do away with us so that the life of Jesus can be made manifest through us. As long as we are in the way, we are trying to carry out sanctification on our own means and along our own terms, and we will forever remain impotent in the realm of spiritual progress. Christian sanctification is the process in which the foundation is "not I but Christ". God united us in the death of Christ so that He could get rid of our sinful disposition and nature- our selfish self-centeredness- and manifest the life of His Son through us. The reason God gave us His Spirit is not to rehabilitate us, but to put to death the deeds of the body, so that He and He alone can glorify Jesus through us. The process of sanctification is both started, carried out, and completed by Christ. He is the one who has become our holiness for us. We need to surrender and let Christ live through us, and stop trying to use the Spirit to rehabilitate us.

Finally, the cornerstone of apostolic preaching is now made manifest to us. It is the preaching of the cross in the Spirit and power of God. Wherever there is any sort of preaching, whether it is gospel preaching, righteousness preaching, or sanctification preaching, if it has any other foundation and premise than the substitutionary death of Jesus, it will not be accompanied by the Spirit and power of God. The reason being is that Paul has stated in the previous verses that the preaching of the cross is where the power of God is manifested. Therefore, if we want the Spirit and power of God operating in our lives and in our preaching, it must all be centered on the cross. Sanctification, righteousness, and wisdom preached on any other way will not have the anointing of God, and the practice of it in the lives of those who hear will not be blessed with the power and Spirit of God to bring about true sanctification, righteousness, and wisdom. All other preaching is carnal and worldly in its wisdom. If you ever hear someone tell you that sanctification and righteous living can be obtained any other way than through the death of Jesus and Him living His life through you, avoid such teaching. In obeying such worldly wisdom, you will forfeit the working of the Spirit, who only operates in and through the cross of Christ (Rm. 8:1-2).

A Spirit of Mourning

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Matthew 5:4


Again, Jesus cuts through the superficial, humanistic mindset of happiness by exalting a virtue that gains no mainstay in the world. Yet in heaven, it rises to the throne of God as a flagship, leading the way to spiritual blessing. The word translated "mourn" conveys the idea of grief of the deepest kind. It is a sorrow that begins in the heart, takes possession the the entire person, and is then outwardly manifested. It is of significance to note that the idea of bereavement is not primarily in view, though it is by no means excluded. The type of mourning portrayed here is a deep sense of contrition that comes over sin and lukewarmness, over the slowness of our spiritual growth, of our distance from Him; it is grief over our spiritual bankruptcy.

This attitude is manifested in the life of Christ disciples in three main ways: repentance, prayer, and intercession.

Repentance- It is those disciples who have wandered from the flame of the Holy Spirit who have the great need of the Omnipotent God to show them mercy, and pour out a spirit of mourning upon them. They have forsaken their first love and have become cold, calloused, and uncaring. They have become fascinated by the world, and are in danger of receiving the loving rod of discipline from the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. They have little passion for the glory of Christ, and live out a nominal existence with a phenomenal God. These saints know little of the presence and blessing of God. They are like a child who has never gotten over his fascination of breaking waves on the seashore. Content with what he finds after the tide has gone out, he has no desire to explore the true depths of the sea. What unknown wonders he could discover if only he would actually venture out into the ocean itself. These Christians are only paddling on the edge of the possibilities of grace. Only when they come with brokenness and repentance over their sin and lukewarmness, will they ever be able to experience the depths of God.

Prayer- It is possible for a Christian to mourn over the slowness of his or her growth and the feebleness of his or her spiritual attainment apart from any actual sin in their life. This is indeed a healthy attitude to have. It keeps the disciple in the place of humility, realizing that the only way he or she will continue to be transformed into the image of Christ is through hiddeness in Christ. The place of prayer becomes the pinnacle of existence, because it is in that place that union and abiding with Christ takes on its fullest expression. In the place of prayer, the word of God becomes etched within our soul. As we gaze upon the reality of the Son of God, we lose consciousness of our self; decreasing and becoming invisible, so that Jesus may have his rightful dominion over us.

Intercession- Besides evangelism, this is by far the most neglected ministry of the modern church. We know little of intercession and its power because we know little of what it means to mourn. Yes we pray for those who are sick or in dire circumstances, but we know little of the power of prayer when it comes to the spiritual transformation of human lives. The apostle John states in 1 John 5:16 that if anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that does not lead to death, that he should pray for him and God will give him life. Are we so blind that we do not recognize the enormity of such a promise? Is are faith in God so feeble that when we hear a promise such as that, we immediately become suspicious? When was the last time that your eyes flowed with tears because of the rampant unconfessed sin and lukewarmness that runs amok in the lives of Christians today? When was the last time you mourned over the soul of a lost friend or neighbor?

One who has been gripped by the holiness of God will hate what He hates, and experience His grief over sin in the lives of His people. If we have been blessed with a spirit of mourning, we will dive head long into the ministry of intercession, knowing that we can pray the power of the atonement into the lives of God's children. In response to our intercession, God has promised to give the sinning disciple life. This life is nothing other than the life of Jesus himself. Through the power of the atonement, God will come and replace the bondage of sin with the very virtue of Christ Himself. When a disciple is caught up in the Great Way of God, he becomes so intertwined with the will of God, that his intercession is the expression of the prayer life of the Son of God, who always is heard by the Father and obtains what He ask for. The disciples intercession becomes the avenue for God to express His will and fulfill His purpose upon the earth.

If you do not have this spirit of mourning, don't waist another minute of your life. Hit your knees and cry out to God to give you this blessed attitude.

Spiritual Paupers

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."


Over the next month, the following blogs will be over some of the beatitudes listed here in the Sermon on the Mount. The reason such a discussion over the beatitudes is necessary is because these are the ideal characteristics that are to be in the lives of His disciples. It is of utmost importance to realize that these characteristics were present in Jesus with all of their perfection. That being the case, it is only as He lives His life through us, that these attitudes can become a reality in us.


In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was mainly addressing his disciples (vs1-2). These ideals that he was instructing them in cut across the temper of the age, redefining the popular idea of blessedness. We will do well to listen to his instruction, for never do such words radiate with such relevancy in the humanistic, ego centric, pleasure seeking culture that we find ourselves in today.


Ask people in the world what they think makes them happy? Ask them what they think of when you say the words "Blessed" or "Blessings". They will probably say something along the lines of having immeasurable wealth, good health, the absence of suffering and pain, a good job, the opportunity to fulfill the gratification of their lustful appetites, or being a "good person." All of these replies are materialistic and carnally minded.


Thanks to prosperity preachers, this type of mentality has flowed into the church. Christians think that they are truly blessed and favored by God if they have good health, lots of money, a great job, no trials, etc. Now, obviously, these are blessings from the Lord, but they are not evidence of a blessed life. It was exactly this type of thinking that Jesus was rooting out of his disciples with the beatitudes.


A life that is truly blessed takes on characteristics that the world deems unsuitable. Let us now look at the first blessed attitude.


The word blessed could be translated, "oh the bliss". Here, it is the one who realizes their spiritual inadequacy that finds a state of bliss, or a blessed life. There are two words for "poor" in the Greek. One means someone who has nothing unnecessary; the other , one who has nothing at all. It speaks of one who is bankrupt, having no resources at all. It is this second meaning that Jesus is referring to here. He is stating that until a person recognizes that they are in a state of spiritual bankruptcy, having no resources in themselves for anything spiritual, they will never be in a state of bliss.

We have to realize that we bring nothing good to the table. We have nothing to offer Jesus. The Bible says that in our former, unregenerate state, that we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:2). Because of the fall, we are born in sin. This is what theologians call Original Sin. Because of Original Sin, our will is held in bondage by our sinful nature. We do not seek after God, nor do we desire Him at all. The book of Romans makes it clear that there is none who seek after God, and that there is none who do good (Rm 3:11-12). Every part of our being is corrupted by sin. We have no power to return to God or will anything good. Everything we do is corrupted by pride and self centeredness.

The thought of Jesus parallels with the thought of Paul. We are all spiritual bankrupt, devoid of any righteousness or ability to love God. It is only when we recognize this about ourselves that we can obtain the kingdom of heaven. The only way the we can come to this realization is by the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says that He will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:8). The tool that the Holy Spirit uses to show us our depravity is the Law of God (10 commandments). For Paul said that through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Rm. 7:7). Once we have been humbled and broken, and have come to the realization of our depravity, the grace of God is then made clear to us.

The thing that we are in danger of as Christians is to somehow naively believe that there was some good thing in us that cause us to believe. We walk the path of the anointed cherub who fell from his state of beauty when we entertain the idea that we can offer God anything. As Christians, we should be growing daily in this attitude of being poor in spirit.

Upon our conversion, we were made to sit with Christ in heavenly places, and are now co-heirs with Him. This means that we have access to all the spiritual blessings that are in Christ Jesus. However, these blessings never become a reality as long as pride governs our life. The only way we transact business in the heavenly places is through being poor in spirit. When we are constantly growing in the recognition of our inability and the recognition of the magnificent grace of God, all the glories of Christ become a reality in our life.

When we do not access all that has been given to us through the atonement, we are like a man who has a bank account with millions of dollars in it, but because he does not know how to access his account, lives in abject poverty. We indeed are bankrupt in spirit, yet through the cross, God has opened up to us the inheritance of His Son. However, we will never experience the fullness of our union with Christ until we grasp the concept that it is not I but Christ.

This is why Jesus considers this a blessed attitude to have. For when we have the attitude of a spiritual pauper, one who is totally dependant upon the resources of Christ, the fullness of the kingdom and all that comes with it, will be ours abounding and overflowing. This is a blessed life: One that recognizes their own inadequacy in the spiritual realm and because of this revelation, comes to inherit the kingdom of God.

Jesus himself displayed this attitude of total dependency on the Father all throughout His life. It is He an He alone that can rise up within you and produce the humility in you that is necessary to walk in the fullness of your union with God. Let your prayer this week be, "Lord, by your grace, bring me to a deeper understanding of my spiritual bankruptcy, and come and produce your life of total dependency through me, so that you may be glorified and that I may experience all that you have given me through your death and resurrection.