Dashboard Devo

Matt. 5:3- Poor In Spirit

Episode Summary

Have you ever wondered what Jesus meant when he said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit..."? Maybe a better question is, "What ways do you find yourself trying to earn God's favor?" When we learn to be poor in spirit, we remind ourselves that we have to come empty-handed so that we can receive everything we need from Jesus.

Episode Notes

Family Discussion Questions: 

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

  1. In what ways does God show His Love for us? Read Psalm 23:1-3 and point out how Jesus shows us His love.
  2. Is there a promise to claim, a truth to believe, or an attitude to live out? (What do we receive when we  become "poor in spirit"?)
  3. Ask, "How will tomorrow look different having heard and talked about this scripture?"

 

Additional Resources: 

Daily Prayer App for your phone- http://www.rethinkme.com/dailyprayer/

HEAR Journaling: https://replicate.org/what-is-a-hear-journal/

All Scripture is read out of the ESV Translation of the Bible. 


Remember: 

This podcast is not designed to replace your personal devotion time with God. There are hundreds of resources out there on how to walk daily with Jesus. Our recommendation is to simply start with one of the Gospels in the New Testament and read few verses each day. Use the Replicate Ministries HEAR Journaling Method to respond: Highlight what stands out to you, explain what it means, apply it to your life, and respond in obedience.  

Episode Transcription

Dashboard Devo

Season 2- The Beatitudes, Matt. 5:1-12

5 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.

2And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

5“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

7“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

 

Episode 1- The Poor in Spirit

The sermon on the mount! There is so much to be said over these short phrases affectionally titled the beatitudes. How do we even begin to explain what it means to be poor in spirit to our kids, right? So as we jump into season 2, let's wrap our heads around a few things:

  1. What is Jesus trying to tell us in these 12 verses? Jesus is saying is, “Listen, the kind of people who follow me are like this…” Or to put it another way, Jesus isn’t saying this is what grownup Christians look like. When we read the beatitudes you can’t say, “Well only the older, most mature believers possess these attributes.” No! Young, old, small, and tall, Jesus is saying to all who believe, this is what it looks like to follow me and live a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
  2. What is this “blessed are those” business all about? What Jesus is also telling us in each of these statements is that believers and followers of Jesus are blessed, happy, and joyous. That means even if we have bad days… we can still have joy. Even when bad things happen… we still have hope. When we are the recipients of good things… God is rightly worshiped as the giver. One of my little girls loves the color pink and one evening right as the sun was setting she said out loud, “Look, daddy! God made the sky pink for me” though she’s only three she recognized even more than I do, that even the beautiful sky is a gift from God to her.
  3. Lastly, what does it mean to be “poor in spirit?” Now, this is really important. I believe this is the first beatitude because it sets everything up for us. Jesus is telling all of us that there is nothing that we can bring to God for him to save us. It's to finally realize, that only Jesus and his love for us is able to save us from our sin. For the believer and follower of Jesus, we have to recognize that we come to Jesus empty-handed, desperately in need of Him to give us all that is necessary to live and flourish in this life and the next! So it is a supreme blessing to be poor in spirit because only when we realize we have nothing Jesus can give us everything.

It's not natural for us to not perform. We want to show Jesus that we deserve his love. But if we keep trying to perform, we will never grasp the depth of Jesus’ for us… before the beginning of time, Jesus had already decided he was going to come and save us. God already knew that he would have to send Jesus out in love to save the world. How do we teach our kids this truth? We show them and remind them how we love them. I tell my girls all the time, there is nothing that you can do to make love you more or less… You have all my love! If you have kids you can tell them, “before you were born and God was growing you in your momma’s belly, you had all my love. You hadn’t done anything yet, but I still loved with you all my heart!”

So my question to you is how are you showing and telling your kids about Jesus’ love for them. In what ways have we caused our kids, (Or ourselves) to try and earn God’s approval. In what ways will we course-correct this week?