To be spiritually poor means that we’re simply aware of our spiritual condition--that without God we are nothing and can do nothing without God, but with God, all things are possible. We settle far too often for systems and structures of righteousness that are shallow and failing because it gives us a level of self-confidence. God is not looking for self-confidence but total and complete dependency on him. If we want to be truly blessed, truly happy, then we have to know what it is to come to the end of ourselves--that apart from Christ, we will never experience true happiness, understand what it means to live a life of meaning and significance.

We are in extraordinary times and we have faced so much politically, socially, as well as in our relationships as we are in isolation from our loved ones. How we engage in our relationships changes in every season. Let’s consider what our relationships need from us, in this time and in this season. God is always wanting to strengthen and grow our capacity for love and relationships.

Our words have power, and our words reveal the condition of our hearts (Matthew 12:37). We must examine the words that we speak to know the condition of our hearts. Our words not only set the course for our life, but they also reveal the condition of our hearts.

The promise extended to Abraham was extended first to his father, Tara. Tara had heard God, believed God and followed God, but then he became bitter. He allowed the pain of his past, the disappointment of the loss, the bitterness in his heart to take his focus off of God. He died in the place of relational pain, serving other gods.

The first commandment to love God is not usually challenging for us as Christians; the second commandment, however, to love our neighbor, is often quite challenging. Loving our neighbor sounds simple enough until we have a crazy neighbor. We all have someone that challenges us that lives near us. Our call is to love our neighbor even when they disagree with us or when they may not be loving to us.

Love is a choice that we make every single day. Love is supernatural. The love of God is powerful. The love of God is working and compelling. Because Christ loved us, we can demonstrate his love in our life. It’s compelled love that takes us into our prayer rooms to pray for peace, for revival, for healing. It’s compelled love that raises up great men of God like Martin Luther King, Jr. We cannot help but choose love because love compelled us, love chose us, love lifted us.

God loves us before we do anything. We can’t outgive God. We can’t outserve God. God loves us right where we are. He gives us grace on our life to do the things that he has called us to do. We have to lay down the things that are causing burdens and weight. We can give Jesus our yoke, the weight, and the outcome. It may be a burden of sin or unforgiveness that has caused weights that we cannot bear. We must remember that we carry the spirit of God, and we are the salt of the earth. Just as salt preserves meat, so can we preserve this world.

If we want to be more like Jesus we have to be more focused on service than on status. The Kingdom of Jesus is not earthly. A king on earth is evaluated by his power, but in the kingdom of heaven, it is the one who serves.