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The Poor In Spirit

by Shannon Byous

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 God says:  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:3).

     After a couple of years of sporadic volunteer work in the inner-city of San Francisco as well as a short stay in an orphanage and a city dump where people lived in Mexico, I dreamed of being a missionary in poorer nations - not because of some great gift that I had as a person, but simply because I saw so much need and had love to give.  Beyond those experiences, I am still only vaguely aware of the poverty of many other nations - from the incomprehensible AIDS crisis in Africa to the need to support fair trade.  I wear a “Make Poverty History” bracelet, but other than praying and wearing that bracelet, I don’t feel like I do much to directly effect the lives of suffering people.

     But instead of being sent to those whose needs are often more apparent, God sent me to England, a place that is similar to America in it’s obsession with materialism.   My love for this place and the people who live here is straight from God, yet I struggle with knowing how to show God to them.  In places where people’s physical needs are more obvious, it seems that it is easier to not only lay down my own hunger for possessions and status symbols, but to give them something that they can grasp and hold and see salvation in - food, clothing, medical attention, etc.

     What God has been teaching me is that even though many of us aren’t in a third world, war torn, disease-ridden country, we are still being asked to give our love away to those whose needs are well hidden under the wealth of Western culture:  The poor in spirit.

     God has sent us to be his ambassadors.  Through us, He is making an appeal to them, begging them to be reconciled to God through Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

     They may be hiding well under all that money can buy, but they are still seen by God as captives who He longs to set free;  captives who he did set free through his death.  They are not a project (by that I mean that they are worth being loved whether or not they ever get saved).  They are people who He dreamed up in his heart and created in his image.  He fills with compassion when He looks at them just like we do when we see a picture of a little child in Africa who is dying of AIDS.  He sees the starvation of their souls as clearly as we see the physical state of someone who is starving.

     So, here is something amazing that God is wanting you and I to remember:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon you,
Because he has anointed you to bring
good news to the afflicted,
He has sent you to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners;
to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn...”   (Isaiah 61:1-2)

     That is what you are made to do...that is what you can give the poor in spirit.  You don’t have to be in Africa or India.  If you are, that’s fantastic.  But on the other hand, if you’re in London or Atlanta or Adelaide, or any other city or town, you get to love the people right around you - the people who need God.    

“God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the kingdom of heaven is given to them.”  Matthew 5:3

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Shannon is currently a missionary in Bournemouth, England.  She is a freelance writer for 24-7prayer.com.  Her website is www.10lampsoffire.net.

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