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Q2. Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit


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Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? A person must realize and understand that they are lost, separated from God, and headed for eternal suffering before they can comprehend Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection as a propitiation for their sins and God’s  grace and mercy to forgive our sins through faith in His only begotten Son.

 

What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian?  I think it would be over the sins in our life and the time that we invested in this sinful behavior prior to hearing and believing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then over our loved ones and the lost people in the world who, for whatever reason, refuse to listen to the gospel message.

 

What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.)  It is my belief that once we are saved and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ we mourn when we still sin, we mourn the lost souls in this world, we mourn with and support others who mourn, we mourn the ever present erosion of morality and lawlessness, and we mourn the oppression and persecution of Christians along with other evilness.

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I believe that a person needs to know the fact that their life is empty. They are missing a key to find inner peace and happiness.

 

A person must find that they long for justice for all people. They are upset by the wrong doing. They see the corruption of men all around them. They feel that there is more than just the things of the world. They need more. They need some deep inner purpose of being.

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It is necessary to be aware of our spiritual poverty before we can become a Christian because unless we are seeking Jesus we can’t know that we need His help. If we are asking for His help then we can get closer to Jesus. The mourning that we need is to know that we don’t have what we need to become closer to Jesus. The kind of mourning is that of crying out to Jesus to save us.

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The lack of awareness of our spiritual poverty allows us to develop arrogant and proud hearts; the antithesis of righteousness.  Pride is the wellspring of sin. Abandoning our pride is an absolutely necessary (though without Christ, impossible) early step in advancing our Christian walk.  (In my life this has been the most difficult blessing to pursue.  I’m not so sure I can ever attain true spiritual poverty; mourning, meekness, hunger and mercy may come a little easier.  Praise God he has rescued me from my weakness!)

Mourning is a common life experience for humans however; the Bible speaks of morning for those lost to sin, those who do not know the love of a compassionate creator who truly longs for a personal and intimate relationship with his children.

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Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian?

 

A person needs to be aware of their "lostness", their inability to save themselves from the fate all sinners must face.

 

 

 

What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian?

 

People need to repent. The conviction of the Holy Spirit often brings about extreme sadness when someone is fully confronted by how they've lived their lives. Also, we need to feel sorrow over the way we ignored God prior to our acceptance of Christ's salvation.

 

 

 

What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.) 

 

We feel sorrow over our friends and relatives who refuse to come to Christ as we have. We also mourn over the sin in the world and all the violence and injustice that sin causes. 

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On 12/19/2007 at 9:40 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.)

Until you realize your emptiness and your need for Jesus your Savior you won't give your heart.

Surrendering it all at the feet of Jesus, mourning your sin when you finely realize how much he loves you.

The mourning of this world.

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When we are aware of our spiritual poverty and of our sins then, and only then, we can mourn both for ourselves and for the world. Through this, we naturally recognise our own selves, both present and past in the abominations of this world, and it is only natural to mourn the pain, the hurt, the little deaths that we have caused.

And we can truly mourn for the folks of the world as we are not putting ourselves apart from them.

Mourning without being aware of our own poverty can be narcissistic, understanding our spiritual poverty without mourning...well, that can be lead to boastfulness. 

THe Lord knows when mourning is true - that is one of the strong messages of Isaiah and Ezekiel

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On 12/19/2007 at 9:40 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.)

Because then and only then will you realize you need a savior.

A mourning of one self of the life we lived on our own without God, to rid ourself of the "World"

The mourning of evil of this world. To watch the news and see how sin destroys do many lives.

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This question has puzzled me. Some people seem to get Christianity and never have spiritual poverty. For me I had to get to a point that there was no where else to go. When I look at this Beatitude I think of all those that don't know God and Christ and I mourn for them and there are some who think they know God but they don’t show that they do and I mourn for them.

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On 12/19/2007 at 9:40 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian?  Since I'm born again, my experience tells me that in order to seek the Lord, you have to have something greatly amiss in your life that makes you reach out  beyond your neighbor's hand. There are many people who found God early in their life, perhaps through their parents and early indoctrination into the faith but for newcomers, there is truth to the idea that one needs to be absolutely lost and without hope, in order to see the hope in salvation. 

What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? One would need to endure some kind of loss, tragedy and pain and mourn, in order to be able to be able accept salvation as the reward for your suffering.

What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.) Sometimes we experience injustice when we lose a loved one to a vicious crime. We mourn the loss of a beloved brother and the lack or delay of justice. We cry when the wicked continue to enjoy the sun and the air, while the people he killed lies in a freezer in the coroner's office. In this way, we mourn for the righteous, the victims who suffer at the hands of the evildoers. When we feel such profound pain, and injustice, we turn to God for the answers. We seek justice for the wrongs done to the righteous. 

 

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If you are not aware of any lack, you do not recognize a need. Once you are aware of your spiritual poverty you will seek a means to fill that or to change the situation and are then ready to change your spiritual situation, i.e. hopefully becoming a Christian and not turning elsewhere to try and fill the emptiness.

 

Mourning for your lost state. Mourning for (feeling sorry about) the sins you have committed or put plainly, for the lifestyle you are living in.

 

Our mourning should not be without hope. We should indeed mourn for the sins we commit and be full of hope, knowing we can come to Christ for forgiveness. We should also mourn for the atrosities committed in the world at large (eg. the abortions) also for those who are lost and without hope of a Saviour. Our praying for their deliverance should be filled with hope for a positive answer and a change of lifestyle for them also.

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On 12/19/2007 at 9:40 PM, Pastor Ralph said:

Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.)

I believe that t is necessary to to be aware of our Spiritual Poverty because if we don't we will lose ground really quick and fall deep into our worldly desires. I also believe that the mourning they are talking about is that here we go we hit rock bottom now we can run to him with open for help to be helped and to give it as well. To lose something or someone, like your mom family member a friend spouse dog or whoever makes you feel warm, that emptiness you mourn from God will fill it up w His Heavenly Father Love and Comfort

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Q1. Each Beatitude consists of two parts. What are these parts?

ANSWER: Each Beatitude consists of two phrases: the condition and the result. The Beatitudes are blessings declared by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew. Eight blessings are found in the Gospel of Matthew while four blessings and woes are found in the Gospel of Luke.

Why do you think Jesus made each Beatitude a paradox?

ANSWER: The Beatitudes, the paradoxical promises, offer freedom from sin. Free, the Spirit blesses us, with grace upon grace. Secured by divine Love, the Beatitudes produce rightful happiness. This happiness far exceeds any earthly blessing because we behold the author of all blessings, Jesus Christ.

He wants to bless us with his presence, securing us in his heart. To do this, Jesus inverts earthly blessings and replaces them with the Divine Beatitudes. The Divine Beatitudes unveil the paradoxical promises of the heavenly kingdom. These paradoxes contradict because wealth does not bring happiness, poverty does.

Perfection produces paradoxes because they create contradictions. Paradoxes are counter-cultural, anti-conventional. The paradox becomes apparent when life is anything but perfect. Following our own heart’s desires leads to the greatest sorrow and sadness, whereas following the heart of Christ leads to fulfillment, the perfection of our person. This is the great Christian paradox.

What is the relationship between the Beatitudes to the Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)?

ANSWER: The relationship between the Beatitudes to the fruit of the Spirit is that the “Beatitudes” have to do with the qualities of one's heart, whereas the “Fruit of The Spirit” deals with the actions one does when they are guided by the Holy Spirit.  It is the intent of these associations to help you focus on becoming more like Jesus—and become the kind of person that God will BLESS!

The “Fruits Of The Beatitudes” associates “The Beatitudes” and the “fruit of the Spirit” in the Bible. It is intended to help you develop the attitudes of Jesus and produce the character of Jesus in you. The following are the ‘associations’ that connect the particular “fruit of the Spirit” that most closely relates to the intent of each “Beatitude”:

THE BEATITUDES            FRUIT OF SPIRIT
(Attitudes)                          (Character)
PURE IN HEART………… LOVE
POOR IN SPIRIT………… JOY
MOURNING………………. PEACE
PERSECUTED…………… PATIENCE
MERCIFUL……………….. KINDNESS
RIGHTEOUSNESS……… GOODNESS
PEACEMAKER………….. FAITHFULNESS
MEEKNESS……………… GENTLENESS
INSULTED……………….. SELF-CONTROL

 

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