How Does Being Poor in Spirit or Meek Apply to Me?
Apr 09, 2024Bible, Women & Bathrobes, Episode 1
In today’s episode we launch into a discussion on the first 5 verses of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-5.
Key Talking Points
- Being poor in spirit means you feel like you are lacking
- Being poor in spirit means being humble and acknowledging you need the Savior
- Blessed meaning valuable in God’s eyes and as we follow Him and keep His commandments he will then reward us.
- Blessed means happy.
- Sometimes we don’t feel very blessed—we feel heavy and downtrodden.
- Good news is Jesus can comfort us when we feel down and discouraged. He weeps with us when we are sad.
- Being meek means having a sword and knowing when to sheath it.
- Being meek means great power under complete control, like a tamed animal.
- Jesus was meek.
Main Takeaways
- From Tiffany, “I want to do to be more meek to be more willing to come to the Savior and put away the things that are keeping me from him.”
- From Bonnie, “How much I need the Savior and His grace. And that when we combine the atonement, and all that he did for us, with therapy. . .we have lasting peace, we have lasting change, we have lasting healing. If we ignore His piece of the pie, we will find ourselves in that cycle over and over and over again. In order to truly find the kingdom of heaven. And to find all these blessings that he's promising us, we need Him. He is the key here is the linchpin. The secret ingredient, if you will, to all happiness and joy.
- From Tamara, “Blessed means happy. If you want to be happy, find Jesus.”
Today's Hosts & Guests
Tamara K. Anderson
Tamara, founder of Women Warriors of Light, is a dynamic speaker, award winning author, and a podcaster. She is driven by her Christian faith to inspire faith in Jesus Christ. Alongside her husband, Justin, she navigates the joys and challenges of parenting four children with autism, ADHD, and mental health hurdles. You can find out more about Tamara on her website: https://www.tamarakanderson.com/
Bonnie Randall
Bonnie Randall is a wife, mother, trainer, speaker, actress, copywriter, heart centered life coach and has also been a business and marketing consultant for over 20 years. Her real passion is to help people grow as individuals and teach them how to resolve limiting beliefs. Bonnie enjoys teaching about mental health, abuse prevention and recovery classes. She runs a trauma recovery support group and YouTube channel called, Come Off Conqueror, which helps survivors of abuse find Christ centered healing. Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/@comeoffconqueror
Tiffany Fletcher
Tiffany is a member of our Women Warriors of Light advisory board. She is an author, wife, mother and an example of faith & courage. Through her life experiences she shares hope in coming from a place of darkness to light and love. You can find her on social media @tiffanyfletcher or on her blog: motherhadasecret.blogspot.com
Keywords
Savior, blessed, spirit, verses, recognize, meek, comfort, poor, jesus, god, word, bible,
sermon, scriptures, lacking, blessings, love, find
Transcript
Tamara Anderson 0:00
Have you ever wondered how the Sermon on the Mount applies to you as a woman in these latter days? If so, we're going to start diving into it today. We're going to talk just about the first five verses. So join us in Matthew five and we'll figure this out together.
Tamara Anderson 0:19
Welcome to Bible, Women & Bathrobes the podcast where faith meets comfort. Join us Tuesday and Thursday morning. As the gals from Women Warriors of Light and their guests, don bathrobes and dive into the inspiring stories of women in the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus Christ. From Esther's bravery to the Sermon on the Mount. We explore it all with warmth, laughter, sisterhood, and maybe even a few sleepy eyed moments. Tune in live or at your leisure as we learn lessons from scripture which empower women today.
Tamara Anderson 1:01
Welcome to Bible women in bathrobes. I'm Tamara K Anderson. And I have Bonnie Randall with me. And Tiffany Fletcher. And Bonnie and I were kind of introduced on the trailer episode. So I'm going to just quickly introduce you to Tiffany Fletcher.
Tamara Anderson 1:17
Tiffany is a member of our Women Warriors of Light advisory board. She's an author and an example of faith and courage. Through her life experiences, she shares hope and coming from a place of darkness to light and love. So thanks for joining us, Tiffany. And, oh, we are so happy to have you.
Tamara Anderson 1:38
We are going to start by just kind of setting the stage we're talking about the Sermon on the Mount, or we're going to start talking about the Sermon on the Mount. There's no way we're going to cover it all in one episode. So we'll probably get through about five verses is all and then we'll pick up next week on Tuesday. And we'll keep going until we're done with the Sermon on the Mount and then we'll pick another thing that we can talk about from the lessons of the words of Jesus Christ.
Tamara Anderson 2:05
So the Sermon on the Mount was one of the Savior's first kind of big speeches, I have no other word for it, for His disciples, He had just been baptized and called his disciples. And so they're kind of he's he's starting his ministry. And this is these are his first words to His disciples to people who are following him.
Tamara Anderson 2:35
And so I just imagine maybe even being a passerby and seeing a big group gathered and going, Oh, what's this about? You know, what I mean, and how?
Tamara Anderson 2:44
Well, we use the word blessed. And we're going to talk about that a lot on this. This, as we talked this morning, but how blessed they were to have been there, when the Savior began his ministry, I just think it would have been wonderful to sit at his feet and learn from him. So indeed, they were blessed just to be there. Any thoughts Tiffany, as we get going,
Tiffany Fletcher 3:12
I think it's also important to recognize that this is a time where he had just been tempted. He went and fasted and just been tempted. And, and he was now really coming down and recognizing, okay, this is who I am. And now I'm going to be bold, and I'm going to start testifying and telling other people because I know who I am now. And now it's time for me to tell other people who I am. So this is really his first time going out there and saying, Okay, it's time for me to be about my Father's business.
Tiffany Fletcher 3:42
And, and for me, I think that you know, that first testimony is one of the most important testimonies of all, because that's when we really understand who he is and what his lessons are. And, and those lessons are powerful because of the experience. He just had in in the temptations that he had with adversary. So I love this part of the Bible, because it really does help us to to see who he is, and what who he wants us to be in reality.
Tamara Anderson 4:10
Love it. Bonnie, any thoughts?
Bonnie Randall 4:14
I really liked that you brought that up, Tiffany, because the first couple of scriptures are all about being humble. And it's a interesting thing to think that he's recognized who he is, who is, you know, the Son of God, He is the Savior of the world. And yet, he's the example of all of these things that he's asking us to be. And so it's interesting because when he declares himself as the Son of God, or the Son of Man and all these different titles that he gives himself, right, the I Am and all these things. When he does that, you would think that that would be almost the opposite of what he's saying here, right? He's saying poor in spirit, the meek, and then goes on to talk about those that mourn and all these things in a lot of those first few scriptures, all point back to be humble, and recognizing that you need a Savior. And he's saying, recognizing that you need me.
Bonnie Randall 5:19
And one of my favorite things about humble and what it means one of the things that has kind of come to me over the last few weeks, as I've been studying this, is that if he is the great example of all of these things, in which ways did he show up as humble, or poor and spirit or meek, and we can talk about that more, I'd love to hear your guys's thoughts. But one thing that stood out to me was that he didn't put himself down, which is almost what you would think when you when we think about being humble as a society. A lot of times we think it's well acknowledging our faults, right? It's maybe not condemning ourselves, but putting ourselves down and just saying, oh, man, I am not worthy. I'm, I'm this I'm that, like, I can't believe I'm whatever, right I did it.
Bonnie Randall 6:18
When I was thinking about coming on this podcast, like, holy cow, I can move on doing this. I'm not a scholar, I have not a scriptorian and like, I'm not an author, like there's so many things that make me very disqualified, to be in this role as a co-host. For for podcast that's a Bible study. But I can acknowledge who I am just like the Savior did. And who I am is a daughter of God, who I am is someone who is striving to be a disciple who is striving to follow Him in all things. And in that regard, I am qualified because I do recognize that I need him and all things. And that's really what he's saying in these first few scriptures is recognize me as your Savior. And here I am, to give you these blessings.
Tamara Anderson 7:20
Yeah, I think that is a great transition into that first verse, the blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. First of all, blessed any thoughts on blessed? That you guys want to comment on? Or I can do blessed if you guys don't want to? All right.
Tiffany Fletcher 7:45
I can say something real fast. I, I feel like blessed is something that that a lot of us feel like, I'm not, I'm not blessed, I've got so many struggles about all these things that are happening, but but here's the thing he is telling each one of us that we are blessed, we are important, were valuable in his sight. When we do the things that he is inviting us to do. Blessed means that we receive those things that God wants us to receive, that we are His children, and we we receive His blessings.
Tiffany Fletcher 8:21
And and I love in the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed is, is spoken so many times, it's it's the one word that is repeated over and over and over again. And I and I feel that that symbolic because at this moment, as we as I said before, he has come into knowing who he is, I mean, he already knew. But now he's inviting us for to come and know who we are, that that we are blessed, and that we are also children of God, and that we can receive those blessings that God has for us, once we recognize truly recognize who we are as his children. And so he has already done the work to be to know who he is. And He's inviting us to come now and do the work that we need to do to recognize how blessed we truly are as children of God.
Tamara Anderson 9:15
Yeah. One of the that's awesome. I love that one of the definitions of blessed that I found was happy. And it's I think it's pointing us towards how we can become when we are reliant on the Savior. So how you're happy when you're poor in spirit, which you're like, wait, what? That doesn't like jive. You know, it doesn't sound like it works. But obviously, I'm happy when we're lacking basically poor in Spirit. It means your lat you recognize that you have a lack. So where do you turn? He's saying, You're blessed if you're lacking and you turn to me. You know, because then we really can be happy or at least at peace with our circumstance in life, whether it's what we want it to be or not.
Tamara Anderson 10:10
And then he gives the promise: Theirs just the kingdom of heaven. That's where we all want to be. We want to be in God's kingdom. And that's his promise. So it's like, do this. And here's your promise, you know, when you're lacking come to me. And I like how you pointed it out, Bonnie that the Savior exemplified this. He was happy, even though the he relied on his father, you know? And so it's interesting to kind of see how he, like you said, he perfectly exemplified this. What are their thoughts do you guys have on that? Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Bonnie Randall 10:52
I think on top of that, the blessings are, when you work on these things, and you do my commandments, and you learn who you are, like Tiffany saying, right, and we come unto him, like, there are blessings. And it's like, My husband always says, I'm probably going to quote him a lot, because he is the scriptorian in the family. The he always points out to the kids, and to me that these are like, natural universal laws, like the way God has set up the universe, we do this and this happens, he's a God of order. And when you obey these laws, naturally, you're going to be blessed, because that's how he set it up. It is a universal law.
Bonnie Randall 11:45
And so he's saying, if you are poor in spirit, you will, what are the words, you will inherit the kingdom of heaven? And then, you know, he goes on to say, whatever. But I looked up poor in spirit, because I thought, What in the world does that mean? Like, and I remember people saying, in Sunday school, and in different Bible studies I've attended, right? They talk about the poor, and the people who are lacking materially, but then also like lacking spiritually, right, because he's saying, in spirit, so I thought, I'm going to rely on him to understand this.
Bonnie Randall 12:28
So I did a deep dive for like three days straight on each one. Versus that's how like, obsessed I became, because I'm here to understand this. And I loved some of the different things that came up broken heart contrite, troubled, discouraged downhearted.
Bonnie Randall 12:49
And then one of the scriptures that came up as a cross reference and to come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy, laden, I will give you rest, that is the kingdom of heaven, kingdom of heaven is the time of rest. And then it continues to go on right? Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek. And I'm getting a little ahead here, and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest and to your souls. And one of the things that this definition made me think of as when I was a new being Christianity, I say New in Christianity, even though I was born in it.
Bonnie Randall 13:33
I had left my faith for time after some stuff had happened to me in college right after college. And my life just took a terrible dive, I really spiraled out of control. And at one point, I was so poor in spirit, literally had nothing left to give, I was so lost. I was so broken. My role was literally shattering. Everywhere. I lost my job, I didn't have a place to live. I was couchsurfing just one disaster after another.
Bonnie Randall 14:13
And my sister flew me up to Canada. To be with her, and I remember telling her Am I want nothing to do with God. He's turned his back on me. And I've turned my back on him. And she's like, No, no, no, you can maybe not want anything to do with God. But make no mistake, he has not turned his back on you. I'm like, Alright, whatever. I don't want to have this conversation with you. I don't want to like talk about Jesus. I don't want to pray. I don't want to do any of these things. Just let me wallow in my self pity. And we throw myself a pity party. And so I did. And she was as respectful as she could be.
Bonnie Randall 14:54
But being the Christian that she was, she just exuded lie. it, there are Bible verses all over her house. She had Krispies it going her kids were quoting it all the time. Her oldest at the time was like four. And anyway, long story short, my niece comes to me and says, Bonnie, why do you hate Jesus? Or something like that? Like, why are you coming to church with us, and I felt so bad at that point, I couldn't look at this little four year old and say, I hated Jesus, because I didn't, I just felt like he had abandoned me.
Bonnie Randall 15:29
But the truth was, he hadn't. And it makes me think of that song, by Bethel music, the goodness of God, he ran after me. And he rescued me. And he made up for all the brokenness, and he put me back together while I was there in Canada, and he rescued me and I feel like that is one of the greatest things he could have done was starting this sermon out with the poor in spirit. He right out the gate acknowledges everyone in the group and everyone in this world who is broken, who is going through some sort of hard being some trial, some challenge some, whatever it is, he's saying, Listen, if you will just turn to me, and look at me, you will live, you will find rest, you will find heaven, you will find wholeness. Again.
Tamara Anderson 16:38
Thank you, Bonnie. Wow, what a beautiful personal story of being broken and lacking and, and slowly letting Jesus back in maybe through the example of a three year old. Out of the mouth of babes. Right? Well, and I think that fits perfectly into the next verse, which is, blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. So sometimes we find ourselves sad and discouraged, and his promises, you know, come to me, and I will give you peace, I will give you rest, as Bonnie said, I will comfort you.
Tamara Anderson 17:25
I love that one of the examples of Jesus Christ. Especially like when Lazarus died, he wept. He wept with Mary and Martha. And I think it's okay to go through times of mourning, it's part of who we are, it shows that we loved. And so what a blessing that he can be with us and weep with us when we are sad, and need to be comforted. Any thoughts on that verse? Tiffany?
Tiffany Fletcher 17:57
I actually want to go back for a minute to the poor in Spirit just, I think it's interesting, like Tamara, that you said that, you know, poor means something lacking. And I think that sometimes funny when we get into that place where we're angry, and we're struggling, and we just don't know if God is listening to us, or that being poor in spirit is, is being poor of pride, right is letting go of our pride is like being void of pride, being void of anything that puts us between the say, but but something between us and the Savior, right? Like we need to lack those things. Because when we lack those things, when we really, you know, like, give Him our will, then that's when we can mourn and truly be comforted.
Tiffany Fletcher 18:41
Like, we have to be able to let go of those things that are keeping us from the Savior. And to really be that not just poor in spirit, and sad and sorrowful, but poor in the fact that we are not fighting him anymore, so that we can really feel his comfort. And it's suckering when we need to because because I like your sister, like I know God is always there, he is always there to comfort us. And the question is, are we in a place where we are able to receive that comforting?
Tiffany Fletcher 19:16
It's like, you know, when you you're as a mom, you have your kids and they're, they're frustrated with you and they're like, No, leave me alone. I need my space, you know, kind of thing. Like you want to be there to comfort them, but they have to be in a place to receive that. Otherwise, that comforting, doesn't, it just falls on unwilling hearts, so to speak. And so I think that one leads to the other, like being poor in spirit, being void of, of pride and those things that keep us from the Savior is what allows us to come to Him and be comforted by him.
Tiffany Fletcher 19:52
And I mean, there's so many times in my own life where or that has been a pattern of mine where I'm just like, No God just leave me alone. For a minute, because I was really mad at you, right? And, and, and then he does, he does that for us, He gives us that space so that we can learn and grow and recognize how much we need him and get to that place. You know, like the prodigal son, where we are just wallowing with the pigs right? Place. You're like, Okay, God, I'm just kidding. I need you. And I am sorrowful, for how I have treated you. And I am sorry for not allowing you to help me, please. I'm coming to you now import poor and spirit, void of feet of pride, and anger and all those things that keep me from you. Now or it please comfort me. And, and I really do love how it builds on to the next one because it makes it so that we can recognize Okay, am I void of the things that I need to be void of in order to receive the comforting that I need to receive from the Savior?
Bonnie Randall 21:01
100% Which is what meekness means right like willingness to submit, and humble and modest and unpretentious and submissive, all those things, right? Like you just described, what it means to be meek. And that word threw me for a loop to because it was like, Oh, I don't know what meekness is, if I could really be honest, right? So I went and looked it up and describe that and I think, man, Tiffany, you're absolutely right.
Bonnie Randall 21:29
Because when we are in those moments, right, our pride is what's keeping us from His sucker. It is what's keeping us from being cleansed of our sins, being relieved of the pain from the healing, right? I am a heart centered life coach. And one of the number one things I have learned in doing this job is that in order to recognize who we are, and to rise above the ashes, we have to recognize the things that we have to let go of.
Bonnie Randall 22:10
We're all holding on to emotional and spiritual baggage. And if we can, turn and face it, and see ourselves, in an honest light, see ourselves for who we really are, which is what Christ is inviting us to do in these in these scriptures. When we can really recognize who we are both the good, and the things that deplete us things that maybe keep us down and keep us from rising above. Right? When we can really examine those things, we can then start to recognize, hey, I've got some things I've got to work on. And that's okay. Because the things I've got to work on, don't take away from who I really am.
Bonnie Randall 23:01
And that's probably, gosh, I would say almost every single one of my clients, that's one of the first things we work on, is realizing who they are in their eternal nature. Who are they as a child of God, and who are they inherently when they come to earth as and once we can start to recognize ourselves with that true honest view? Right? Then we can start to let go of the things that don't serve us and that don't lead us to happiness. They don't lead us to rest. They don't leave us to peace or don't lead us to the kingdom of heaven, all those things. And we can let go of that baggage. But we have to be, as Tiffany said, First pour and spirit willing to be contrite willing to be taught. That's what another definition of meekness is willing to be taught to surrender right. Anyway, I just think it's really important to note that we have to look at ourselves honestly, both the good and the things that hold us back.
Tamara Anderson 24:19
I love that. Thank you so much for that. We're gonna have to wrap it up. We could keep going for another 30 minutes flies by
Tiffany Fletcher 24:31
I want to just use a definition of Meek really quick that my husband taught me because he's also really great at this meekness is having a sword but knowing when to sheath it. And I and I love that because it means it we're confident is meekness isn't like a It's not looking at ourselves in a negative light. It is really having confidence in who we are, but also knowing when to speak and when to do it. Mary said "and ponder in our hearts," right? Like instead of creating contention, but being willing to just be still for a moment, and I just I love that about me. It's it's a quiet competence, you know that you can testify when you need to, but you also know when to be still. So there I just need to throw that out there.
Tamara Anderson 25:17
Yeah, no, that's great. And I know I did a huge study on meek because it isn't, it isn't a word we use now, you know what I mean. And there were several people in the Scripture who are meek, and Jesus certainly was. One of the best definitions I ever heard was, it's like, and this is what the Greek word meant was, they used it in terms of like, a wild animal being tamed. So having immense power, I think of a bridle on a horse, immense power, but under complete control, it's being able to have that strength, but knowing how to use it wisely, you know?
Tamara Anderson 25:55
And I think that is Jesus, like, perfect example of that. They say Moses was meek. Oh, yeah, you know, great power, complete control, you know. So that's what it means. And I think that those two previous verses kind of lead into this verse of have, you know, first of all, realize what we're lacking. And then, being coming unto the Lord broken and needing to be comforted. Oh, look, how, look how far I've fallen, Lord. And then the blessing that the meek shall inherit the earth, you know, that. That's where he wants us. He wants us to, to, once we've turned to him, and we draw on his strength, we're strong enough. We've learned how to kind of control those urges to lash out. And I'm not saying we're perfect. We all need Jesus every day, right? But yeah, doing all those things. All right.
Tamara Anderson 26:54
Do like a quick 30 second takeaway, and we'll close down for this first episode. Tiffany, go first.
Tiffany Fletcher 27:01
I am just grateful to be here. I learned even in these 20 minutes are things that I want to do to be more meek to be more willing to come to the Savior and put away the things that are keeping me from him. So I just I'm grateful for you women and helping me bring these Bible verses together to help me become the person that I need to become for Jesus.
Tamara Anderson 27:25
Bonnie.
Bonnie Randall 27:27
I think my biggest takeaway from these verses was that how much I need the Savior and His grace. And that when we combine the atonement, and all that he did for us, with therapy, and you know, obviously, that's what my lens, right? But when I combined the atonement with different therapy modalities, we have lasting peace, we have lasting change, we have lasting healing. If we ignore his piece of the pie, we will find ourselves in that cycle over and over and over again, in order to truly find the kingdom of heaven. And to find all these blessings that he's promising us, we need him. He is the key here is the linchpin. The secret ingredient, if you will, to all happiness and joy.
Tamara Anderson 28:27
Yeah, love it. Gosh, you guys have said practically everything I was thinking. So I'll just conclude with this. Blessed means happy. If you want to be happy, find Jesus.
Tamara Anderson 28:38
So thank you for joining us this morning on our first episode of Bible, Women & Bathrobes. On Thursday we're going to start talking about Ruth this week. And then next Tuesday, we will be back and we will be studying verses six through nine of Matthew five. So a little bit more of the blessed that are and then the rewards. So be happy in Jesus. And may you be blessed today. Thanks for joining us.
Bonnie Randall 29:08
Amen, have a good day guys.
Tamara Anderson 29:11
Thanks for tuning into Bible, Women & Bathrobes hosted by Women Warriors of Light. We've loved exploring the stories of remarkable women or the teachings of the Savior today with you. If today's episode brought someone special to mind, be sure to spread the word. And don't forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss a moment of inspiration and sisterhood. Just a friendly reminder, all opinions we share are entirely personal as we are trying to decipher and apply Bible teachings just like you are. Until next time, stay faithful. And may Your journey be blessed and illuminated by God's love.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
