THE BEAT e119 Part 2 Becoming Poor. He Grows My Spirit from His Spirit.

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.

Season 2 Episode 119 

THE BEAT | Part 2 Becoming Poor. He Grows My Spirit from His Spirit.

Quick Take

Hey human, in this episode we return to davar in the midbar, my word in the wilderness, we dig in on being poor in spirit, what God said, what Jesus said. Discover my spiritual chai and land in a brave, new spiritual space. Thanks for takin’ a short break to listen to e119.

 How is God dwelling with you today?

I’m Kathryn Bise, your host. 

The apostle Paul tells us how Jesus became our Savior.

2 Corinthians 8:9

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 

Jesus became poor. So I might become rich through the poverty of His walk on earth.

It’s a paradox, isn’t it? That I could be rich through the poverty of the person who saved me.

It’s also quite glorious that this is my “davar” in the “midbar.” In Hebrew davar means “word” and midbar means “wilderness.” This comes from a familiar Biblical context:  40 years in the wilderness. A spiritual metaphor that was hard-wired into the lives of a Jewish people who were seeking a deeper relationship with God. They had experience, that this was the way God pulls us closer. Elijah at the brook of Cherith, three years of eating what the ravens fed him, to helping the widow at Zarepath to the divine consequence of confronting and defeating 850 false prophets on Mount Carmel through his trust in a faithful God. And in New Testament times, the apostle Paul, who upon having his conversion experience on the road to Damascus, did not immediately head for the synagogues. God drew His new apostle closer to Him with three years in Arabia, preparing him for his purpose, his commission to evangelize the Gentiles. (Gal 1:17)

The prophetic call to the wilderness comes when God called His Son into the wilderness immediately after being baptized and consecrated for His ministry. To be tempted by the devil, which God knew would draw His Son in closer to Him, this would fortify His Son for what He would endure over the next three years.

So it makes sense that this is the question the Jewish people would ask when they had come out of a season of trial, a season of intimate, secluded time with God: that God brought them through it to give them direction. To give them a word for stepping forward. A “what are you learning about God” word.

Coming out of my current wilderness, mine is “becoming poor.” It is not tied to 2025. It’s tied to eternity in relation to where I am in my spiritual growth right now. Because God knows exactly how to pull me in closer to Him.

And getting closer to God will grow my witness.

I Need Spirit-Things.

I shared my perspective about poverty, as a child, living on main street of a Middle America town, that I had enough. I shared my perspective on poverty as a single mom with two small children during my first year in grad school. That I was kid rich.

Jesus tells us, “blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) With this sermon on the mount He uses present tense, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

This is where the blessing of God begins. To be poor in spirit is the gateway to blessing that leads to all the others. He is describing what a person feels when he or she is face-to-face with God.

Jesus came for the spiritually bankrupt. He provides all the spiritual currency we need. And He begins filling our account now. Our struggle, the human condition, is in how we deceive ourselves, how we deprive ourselves, how we create destitution. What am I talking about?

I think I can be spiritual. That’s pride a-talkin’.

I need spirit-things. I am always running low on them.

I am suffering spiritually. Always falling short.

To be poor in spirit requires we acknowledge our deepest human need for God and to grow in that. To be poor in spirit means recognizing that everything good in our nature comes from God. Anything worthy of praise in us comes from God and God alone. Being poor in spirit is the opposite of self-sufficiency, a mantra of this world’s culture. My path to being “poor in spirit” is a letting go. Submitting to his will, transcending through the righteousness of His Son, and transforming into His likeness. Although salvation happens once for all eternity when we accept Jesus, as humans, we seek this eternal state of mind daily: we are in a relationship with Jesus, and the worth of our life is in His nature, not ours. And what Jesus says about poor in spirit is preceded by His Heavenly Father by quite a few years. Think Isaiah.

God Said It

God tells us who He lives with.

Isaiah 57:15.

 

I live in a high and holy place,

    but also, with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit,

 

God tells us who He favors.

Isaiah 66:1-2

 

66 This is what the Lord says:

 

These are the ones I look on with favor:

    those who are humble and contrite in spirit,

    and who tremble at my word.             

 

What better affirmation to seek a contrite heart, than this? That God will live with us and look on us with favor.

Poverty is the cornerstone. I recently read that being “poor in spirit is the first mark of a person who genuinely walks with God.” Consider this. You might be proud of how your life has turned out, the status you have reached, accolades you have received, perhaps the moral code you have adopted and display with a sense of honor and duty. That you are a compassionate, caring individual. But if you are truly seeking God, you will know that before Him you have nothing to offer. If you want to move beyond a vague, religious belief in which God lives at a distance from you, if you want to be spiritually aware of God’s presence in your life, this is where you must begin. With the poverty of Jesus. This is how we are saved. God dwells with the person who is poor in spirit. I am trusting this in a new way.

Let God Dwell

The earthly address of the kingdom of heaven is at the corner of humility and the cross. Where God will come and dwell within us. Being poor in spirit prepares us for the commission God has for each of us. We know that what God has called us to is beyond the range of our ability. What God commissions me to do will be something only He can accomplish through my spirit of poverty.

Because first we must understand that God is not an idea, not some vague moral code, God is, as He told Moses, “I am.” Then, we begin to understand that His nature is to dwell, that Jesus’ nature is to abide. So, it becomes quite transparent that serving others is not telling others “about God.” It is about bearing witness to His nature in how we act. Prioritizing our witness is the key to a spiritual room deep within God’s house. The deeper I grow in God’s faithfulness, the more I need Him. Depend on Him. Reach for Him. Love Him.

Jesus is not a feeling; He is a Savior. And a Lord. He saves us from a worthless life thrashing around in water deep enough to spiritually drown. He leads us beyond our human limitations to that place where we recognize the need for “only God.” Jesus fully redeems us through a contrite heart, a heart that claims only what the Creator is, what the Creator gives, what the Creator owns.

My Spiritual Chai:  To Lay Down My Advantage

I am back to imitating Christ’s humility.

Philippians 2

 

Imitating Christ’s Humility

 

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

This tells me to be quick to engage, quick to love, quick to thank, quick to apologize, quick to serve, quick to resolve, quick to amend, quick to forgive, quick to reconcile. In the toughest, most irritating, most challenging of circumstances. And perhaps even harder, in the dull, lack luster, monotony of daily life when inspiration seems to have left “the house.” Then, be quick to give to others, in humble response to my debt before God. Our debt, human.

Paul says in Philippians 2 to “value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

Honestly, it is important I break through words that have been so heard and be open to how God is drawing me closer every time I read them. Because I want a spiritual tattoo on my heart that says, “becoming poor.”

So, continuing with verse 5:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 

6 Who, being in very nature God,

    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

7 rather, he made himself nothing

    by taking the very nature of a servant,

    being made in human likeness.

Jesus said, “something to be used to his own advantage”… there’s the chai in my spiritual latte. This sent me on a mental journey to think about someone that chose to lay down advantage in a way that had a lasting impact on me. I should preface this by saying that I think our culture promotes dramatic stories of humility, life stories in unbelievable circumstances. A culture that worships a heroic figure in a great, big story. Something with entertainment value. Something cinematic.

But I think laying down advantage is sacredly held in a person’s heart, regardless of the experience. It is divinely cinematic. And we have a bounty of opportunities to do so. It is the way we begin to see the power of our witness in a new light.

My career spanned 28 years as a professional fund development executive. One of my roles as a major gift officer was in a well-known hospital in New York City. My work was to create and sustain relationships with major gift donors (often grateful patients) to fund the needs of the hospital, and in some cases the vision of doctors and their work. I was working with one doctor to create a Wellness Center, and we were in the process of working through building a vision, the program, and the need in a case statement to share with donors. We were also working on creating donor-hosted events at their private homes to raise awareness and funds.

I am remembering one meeting in particular. We had scheduled to meet mid-week, in late afternoon, and he indicated he would text when he was on his way over. My office was just across 76^th Street from the Hospital’s south entrance. The time to meet came and went, but I had not heard from him. I knew he had a surgery scheduled, so I had no intention of leaving or assuming he just couldn’t make it happen without hearing from him. Two hours went by, then I received a text, “on my way over, so sorry.” I replied, “I am here, awesome. Thank you.”

When I heard the elevator doors open, I went to let him in to our area. When he stepped out of the elevator, I thought I would cry. Raising major gift money is pretty high pressure and high visibility. I was already so grateful he was showing up, but then this: He still had his surgical mask around his neck, and wearing his scrubs and medical shoe covers (called “booties”) for his shoes. It was as if he closed up the patient and ran out the door and across the street in his booties. I couldn’t believe it. 

He was lost in his love for his commission, to save the lives of people who needed him. So he was motivated to keep our meeting to move forward his work, but he could have easily rescheduled the meeting at his convenience.

But he didn’t. He chose laying down his advantage, his prestige, and honored our commitment. He chose laying down his fatigue and honored our commitment. He chose laying down his evening plans and honored our commitment.

I remember feeling like I had experienced the nature of Jesus. My subway ride home was filled with gratitude. And awe. Several weeks later, one of this doctor’s grateful patients hosted a soirée at his private home on Central Park West to help raise awareness for the Wellness Center. The patient gave his testimony, expressing his gratefulness for this doctor. That one early morning, hardly a quarter a mile away on a Central Park run, he had a potentially fatal heart attack. He thanked the doctor for saving his life. He bore witness to it.

I remember feeling like I had experienced the nature of Jesus. Again. This is what it feels like to be grateful for Jesus saving my life. Not in a weird way. In a “God drawing me in for a closer look” kind of way.

I am grateful to recall this memory. It immediately refreshes my clarity on laying down advantage for someone else. In all my relationships, all my conversations, outreach, projects and daily dailies, to lay down my advantage and clear my calendar of pride and meet “the one” where that person is. Stay there and show God’s nature.

I have been living with this question for a few days:

What advantage am I laying down right now?

It is a powerful way to follow Jesus and open your heart to others. It is also convicting. We hold on to our advantages in the form of comfort, privacy, convenience, to name a few.

The Path to Humility is Obedience

8 And being found in appearance as a man,

    he humbled himself

    by becoming obedient to death—

        even death on a cross!

I believe Jesus. The act of becoming poor, becoming humble, to live poor in spirit, is through obedience.

How am I acting when I am poor in spirit?

• I make a big deal out of who Jesus Christ is in my life.
• I pray a lot. Because I come to Him with empty hands. I need everything from Him.
• I am grateful, because I deserve nothing from God. Everything I receive is from His mercy and grace.
• I am not afraid to beg from my poverty because God has what I need.
• I walk with a Romans 11:36 heart – all things from Him, through Him and to Him, to His glory amen.
• I boast only in the cross, like Paul (Gal 6:14)

All this focus on committing to “becoming poor” has brought me to a brave, new spiritual space. Where I am learning about the intimacy of being poor in spirit:  when God gives us what we need, it doesn’t come from His inventory of attributes, his towering problem-solving skills, His wave of the God-wand, or from some warehouse of spiritual riches, managed by angels.

It comes from His nature.

I am created in His image.

He grows my spirit from His spirit.

Let the Creator who made me, define me. I am becoming poor.