“Blessed are the poor in spirit…” Matthew 5:3
The car God is letting me borrow...thanks again Eric...
My morning devotional is going through the Beatitudes of Matthew 5. The other day Kay Arthur covered verse 3. She explained spiritual poverty in a way that I never considered before. “Poverty of spirit is not some passing emotional experience or a one-time event; rather, it is a whole way of life, a life of total dependence upon (God). It is continually realizing that in and of yourself you could never please (Him). You could never meet His standards of righteousness.”
“His standard of righteousness” leapt out at me…this made me pause and really think. The definition for righteousness I most often hear is “Do your best, be your best, and God will accept you”. What a crock. God’s righteousness is unattainable and can only be reached through Jesus. On our own, we humans fall so short of the ‘righteousness’ mark – our deeds are good, sometimes even great, but in comparison to God’s…ha…nice try!
What does ‘poverty in spirit’ look like? I think its synonym could be ‘reliance’. When we get to the point in our lives where God is everything and without Him we are nothing, we have attained ‘poverty’ in the spiritual realm.
So, we realize we can’t do life with out God and so give up, surrender, relinquish, we hand over all that we can control (ourselves) and what do we get in exchange? Just the Kingdom of Heaven! Yep, we give up ourselves and we are granted keys to God’s home. Pretty Cool. That’s a trade I’d make!
Updates:
Living – safely ensconced at my relative’s house, the commute is relatively painless, and Samson loves ‘chatting’, through the window, with the backyard bunnies at 5:30 am
Car – Eric is in Malaysia with his family and graciously loaned me his car until he returns (please continue to pray for his Dad, Pat)
Work – Going well – I feel challenged, like what I am doing and who I am working with.
Samson – Comes out of the room at night and when my Uncle gets up in the morning - it is entertaining to listen to them have a conversation…Tom asks him a question and Samson meows in response!
Financing – Thank you for your generosity…donations are coming in but I am still short of my goal. God has been very kind and I want for nothing.
Requests:
Housing – I am with my Aunt and Uncle for most of the summer but, when the new rēp headquarters are in place, I need to find my own space close to the office – that is cat friendly!Condo - Jamie found a house an is moving out of my condo the end of July...thus, I need to find a renter...let me know if you can recommend anyone!
Car – I am happy to keep borrowing them if people are generous enough to let me do so…but, eventually, I will need a car long term.
Work – that I hear God’s voice on how HE wants things done!
Samson – that he will not be afraid to come out of the room during the day or when my Aunt is around
Financing - Eventually my position will be salaried but at first I need to raise $2,500 - $5,000 a month cover basic expenses. If you are interested in contributing, please see ‘Donations’ at http://www.repurposing.biz/ on the bottom left of the page, or visit http://www.denaandrews.blogspot.com/ and read the footer for additional info.
Abundant blessings to you!
Dena
PS. Congrats to Katie and David on celebrating their weddings over the last weekend – what a reality check for me – I used to baby-sit you!
“His standard of righteousness” leapt out at me…this made me pause and really think. The definition for righteousness I most often hear is “Do your best, be your best, and God will accept you”. What a crock. God’s righteousness is unattainable and can only be reached through Jesus. On our own, we humans fall so short of the ‘righteousness’ mark – our deeds are good, sometimes even great, but in comparison to God’s…ha…nice try!
What does ‘poverty in spirit’ look like? I think its synonym could be ‘reliance’. When we get to the point in our lives where God is everything and without Him we are nothing, we have attained ‘poverty’ in the spiritual realm.
So, we realize we can’t do life with out God and so give up, surrender, relinquish, we hand over all that we can control (ourselves) and what do we get in exchange? Just the Kingdom of Heaven! Yep, we give up ourselves and we are granted keys to God’s home. Pretty Cool. That’s a trade I’d make!
Updates:
Living – safely ensconced at my relative’s house, the commute is relatively painless, and Samson loves ‘chatting’, through the window, with the backyard bunnies at 5:30 am
Car – Eric is in Malaysia with his family and graciously loaned me his car until he returns (please continue to pray for his Dad, Pat)
Work – Going well – I feel challenged, like what I am doing and who I am working with.
Samson – Comes out of the room at night and when my Uncle gets up in the morning - it is entertaining to listen to them have a conversation…Tom asks him a question and Samson meows in response!
Financing – Thank you for your generosity…donations are coming in but I am still short of my goal. God has been very kind and I want for nothing.
Requests:
Housing – I am with my Aunt and Uncle for most of the summer but, when the new rēp headquarters are in place, I need to find my own space close to the office – that is cat friendly!Condo - Jamie found a house an is moving out of my condo the end of July...thus, I need to find a renter...let me know if you can recommend anyone!
Car – I am happy to keep borrowing them if people are generous enough to let me do so…but, eventually, I will need a car long term.
Work – that I hear God’s voice on how HE wants things done!
Samson – that he will not be afraid to come out of the room during the day or when my Aunt is around
Financing - Eventually my position will be salaried but at first I need to raise $2,500 - $5,000 a month cover basic expenses. If you are interested in contributing, please see ‘Donations’ at http://www.repurposing.biz/ on the bottom left of the page, or visit http://www.denaandrews.blogspot.com/ and read the footer for additional info.
Abundant blessings to you!
Dena
PS. Congrats to Katie and David on celebrating their weddings over the last weekend – what a reality check for me – I used to baby-sit you!
1 comment:
You move to California and end up driving a BMW M3! WOW! ;)
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