Matthew 5:3,10
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [KJV]
Yesterday, as I was clearing a certain piece of land, I came across some maize plants which against all odds had produced some maize combs! They were surrounded by all kinds of weeds and the ground they were on was not that fertile, it was dry also and the one that planted them must have given up watering them at some point. It is a drv place, so, the plants must be watered thoroughly if they are to produce anything. At some point, the farmer must have given up on the plants, yet, against all these odds, the maize plant that never grew very tall, buried deep within the weed, produced corn.
And I started thinking, how when everything is against us, something within us just springs up and allows us to (if we allow it) produce even in places we'd have been thought we'd not produce.
Reminded me of Isaac, when he farmed during the greatest famine and still managed to get a harvest (Gen 26:12). When there was famine in the days of his father Abraham, Abraham went down to Egypt, but when the famine came in times of Isaac, God told Isaac not to go to Egypt but stay and farm/sow, in the famine. Many scholars believe that this was achieved through irrigation using water from wells. This was a creativity never seen before Isaac.
Poverty or lack, has a way of bringing out the creativity in you. When you have everything working for you, you will always find comfort in having everything happening and many times you will end having nothing happening. There is an African proverb, that those who have knives, many times do not have the meat to cut. They say that poverty is the mother of inventions. It is when you are in lack that you find yourself being creative enough to make ends meet.
I couldn't fail but notice in Matthew 5, that the poor in the spirit and the persecuted for kingdom's sake both get the same reward! They both inherit the kingdom! Theirs is the kingdom of heaven!
Spiritual poverty and persecution will all make you become spiritually creative. This is not to celebrate persecution of the righteous, but, have you ever noticed that when the righteous are persecuted, the gospel spreads faster and wider?! As long as the disciples were in Jerusalem, the gospel was not going anywhere! As soon as persecution started, they spread out and wherever they went, they went speaking about Jesus.
In places where there is freedom of worship, you will find Christians fighting over some very nonsensical issues like when exactly is the day of worship. Some will say it is Saturday and that those who don't worship then, are sinners headed for hell. Others will say that Sunday is as good as any other day. But when you go to Islamic states like in the Arab countries, the Christians there do not mind which day they worship! As long as they are given a day and time to worship. Even if you put it at night, they will gladly take it. Many Christians in these countries do not care whether you are catholic, Presbyterian or Pentecostal or Adventist! As long as you proffess Jesus Christ as LORD, to them you are a brother or a sister!
We have heard stories of places people worship in caves and in secret. They even have creativity to mark who is for the Christians and who is against them. I've read of stories where due to persecution, Christian to identify each other would draw the symbol of a fish somewhere and when another Christian see it, they'd know it is a safe ground. Persecution and lack, which in other words is called poverty, brings about creativity.
The poor in the spirit will always be spiritually creative! The kingdom of heaven shall not be inherited by people who are waiting for everything to fall in place and work like magic. The kingdom of heaven shall be inherited by people that were not stopped by lack, by poverty, by persecution from achieving their kingdom mandate! Anybody that is still saying that the reason I am not doing this for God is because I don't have this and that, is still not ripe enough to inherit the kingdom of heaven!
Being spiritually poor must teach you how to use locally available materials to produce the same results you would if you had everything working for you. I read somewhere of a guy that is able to produce a liquid that resembles diesel from a certain tree barks and seeds! And he has tested it on many motors and it is working. Have you seen children from slum families using locally available materials to do things that many companies have spent millions coming up with?
This is the same effect that spiritual poverty should have upon your spiritual life; it should give you spiritual creativity! Such that like that corn plant in my land, that could not be limited by neither the dryness nor the weeds around it, you too shall be unstoppable in what God has ordained you to achieve on earth!
In the story of the talents, the one that was given one had very valid reasons why he could not bring more that one! But the LORD could hear non of it! Because there is no valid reason why you should not produce! It doesn't matter whether you are planted in the desert, in the wilderness or beside the rivers of water. No matter where you are, no matter the season of your life, you are expected to produce! No matter what the circumstances around you deny you, that spiritual poverty much produce in you spiritual creativity to overcome the situations!
The fig tree that Jesus cursed and it dried up from the roots upwards, the Bible says very clearly that, "It was not its season to produce figs!" Now, why would Jesus curse it, yet it was not its fault. It was out of season to expect figs from a fig tree at the time. But this is the revelation behind this: when God comes to you, it is not about the seasons, it is all about producing in and out of season. You need to be creative enough to circumvent around the limitations of seasons, surroundings and anything else that may stand to disadvantage you!
Your ability to inherit the kingdom of God is not hidden in your abundance or in what you are strong in, it is hidden in your ability to creatively overcome your spiritual poverty. Your ability to perform even when and while you are being persecuted and everything is working against you!
Your ability to preach with your mouth shut! Your ability to lead with your eyes plucked out! Your ability to give when you have nothing! Your ability to embrace those that are outrightly working against you! Your ability to pray for those who hate you! Your ability to not be stopped, or be made unfruitful by things that were not given to you or you did not find!
I've always told people that the best preacher is not the one that preaches what they are strong in, but the one who can preach a message that is clearly cutting them in all ways. I've always said that, just because your marriage failed, does not mean you cannot teach about marriage! Just because you started businesses and failed, doesn't mean that you cannot teach entrepreneurship! Your challenges should not shut you up! Just be spiritually creative and produce even where nobody expected you to produce!
May the LORD bless you and keep you, may He lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
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