the Blessed Life

We Need God

Doesn’t everybody want to live a blessed life? You know, the type of living where there is happiness, peace, and joy? Is that even possible these days? To be sure, in this life, we will have troubles; Jesus said so. But Jesus also said He had overcome the world. (John 16:33) Even in our trying times, we can feel God’s underlying peace. We can rest secure in His favor even as we go through trials.

 The “Living the Blessed Life” series is adapted from a small group study I led a while ago on the beatitudes. If we live by the principles of the Beatitudes, we will live a blessed life! When studying scripture, I often find the original words have such a richness and depth of meaning that frequently is lost in translation. To better understand what it means to live a blessed life, we will look at the original meaning of keywords.

Let’s look at the beatitudes and what it means to live “The Blessed Life.” This “Sermon on the Mount,” where Jesus taught these precepts, was more than a Sunday sermon. This sermon holds the keys to living in God’s favor, the Blessed life!

The first beatitude says,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:3 NIV

The word for blessed can also mean happy, positioned for God’s favor. As believers in Christ, we desire to be happy and live in God’s favor. We understand that when we are in His favor, our lives, even with troubles, go much better.

The phrase poor in spirit refers to those who understand their need for God. Sometimes we affirm, “Oh yes, I need God!” But then we try to help God out. Or we pray and pray expecting God to bless our mess instead of living life His blessed way.

The word “poor” means bent over, which to me means on my knees, bowing before God, and confessing my utmost dependence on Him. When we reach the end of ourselves and honestly look to Jesus without explaining, without buts, without excuses, we are on our way to a blessed life.

The word kingdom in this verse primarily refers to the rule of Christ in Believers’ hearts. When we are surrendered to Him, knowing without Him (all that He is, all that He says), we cannot make it when we understand that God is Lord of our life and rules in our hearts.

When we understand what it means to be poor in spirit and focus on God’s ways and living our lives as He says, blessings will come. From time to time, I assess my life, looking for any place void of God’s favor. I don’t do this to beat myself up about how horrible I am. I do this to know where I am out of alignment with Christ because I know that when I align with His ways, His favor is a natural result.

Psalm 107 is an excellent chapter for further study on being poor in spirit and crying out to God. Verses 42 and 43 point out that we are to pay attention in life and learn from the failures of others. By the same token, we can also learn valuable lessons from those living the blessed life.