POST #5: JESUS' SERMON ON THE MOUNT: POOR IN SPIRIT... POURED OUT... CRACKED POT...

 Thursday - Friday, September 17-18, 2015
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Poor in spirit?  Consider these two visuals and a fable:
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1. POURED OUT:  I often replace the word "poor" with the word "pour" when talking about being poor in spirit.  If I am to be poor in spirit, I need to pour myself out and get filled up with GOD's Spirit.  I need to willingly pour the self out of me... pour the "it's all about me" out of me and become SELFLESS.  Maybe that looks much like a bottle full of contaminated water being poured out, so that LIVING WATER can fill you up.  
   
    
2. CRACKED POT:  As you allow the HOLY SPIRIT to come inside of you, filling you up with GOD, your pot or vessel may have cracks from all the hard knocks of life you have experienced and will continue to experience.  Being poor in spirit allows us to be "okay" with being a "cracked pot", if will give others light and salt for JESUS.  Years ago I claimed this verse and picture as one of my favorite scriptures:

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"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,

that the surpassing greatness of the power may be
of God

and not from ourselves."

2 Corinthians 4:7

There is a Chinese fable that helps us see that it's okay to be a cracked/flawed human when living for JESUS. Thank you, GOD for it's message.  I am truly grateful and would like to share it here.
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"Once upon a time there was an elderly Chinese woman who owned two large clay pots. She would hang each pot on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. Each day she would walk from her house to the nearby stream to fetch water. She would fill up both pots, pick up the pole and walk back to her house. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full pot of water. At the end of the long walk back to her house, the cracked pot always arrived only half full. Because of the crack, half the water had leaked out during the
trek.
For two full years, this happened daily. The Chinese woman arrived home with only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud that it had never lost a drop of precious water. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its imperfection, and was miserable. The cracked pot thought of itself as a complete failure. One day, the cracked pot was so tired of failing that it spoke to the woman. The cracked pot said (remember this is a fable), “I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. I have failed you, and I’m sorry. Maybe you need to replace me with another pot that isn’t cracked.”
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The old woman smiled and said gently, “Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side. And every day as I’ve walked back you’ve been watering those seeds. For the past two years I’ve been able to pick the flowers to decorate my table. Without you being just the way you are, there would have been no beautiful flowers to grace my home.”
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So let's stop concerning ourselves with our inabilities and weaknesses, and simply contain the treasure that GOD has given us, letting HIM do the rest! And when you do you will realize GOD, in profound yet humbling ways, still uses cracked pots!

~BLESSED~