Bill Johnson - Blessed are the Poor In Spirit
I’m not looking for people who want to be famous or powerful; I’m looking for a poor spirit. I’m seeking those willing to say, «God, You can do whatever You want with me.» David thought of himself differently than you might realize. Sometimes we equate his accomplishments and achievements with human skills, psychological skills, determination, stick-to-itiveness, and diligence. All those qualities are essential, but David thought of himself differently. In Psalms 131, verse 1, David says of himself, «I don’t involve myself in complicated matters.» He was probably the richest and most powerful man on the planet, governing the most powerful nation with unbelievable responsibilities in management, development, and warfare against enemies around him. That man states, «I don’t involve myself in complicated matters.» There is something in that statement that I believe prophesies strength to us. His strength was not human devotion or discipline; his strength was his complete and total dependence on God to do what only He could do.
When Solomon, his son, became king, there was an incredible moment in First Kings, chapter 3. In this chapter, Solomon is sleeping, and the Lord appears to him in his sleep, saying, «Ask what I shall do for you.» I know this is material we’ve discussed before, but I’m fascinated by how a person can be so intentionally trained for divine purpose that God can show up while they are sleeping and actually trust them to make a decision that will last for the rest of their lives. Solomon asks for wisdom, but he specifically requests a hearing ear, which gives us access to wisdom. To acknowledge it is not human wisdom; it is wisdom from another world. If I don’t hear You, I won’t receive it. He prays this prayer in his sleep because he was prepared for purpose as a child. As a young child, he was groomed for the privilege and responsibility of leading the nation of Israel.
The thing that preceded his prayer request was a confession, which is also found in First Kings 3. He said, «God, I am a child.» This is King Solomon; God shows up in his sleep and says, «Ask what I’ll do for you.» He replies, «God, I don’t know how to go out or come in. I don’t know how to carry this assignment you’ve given me.» He acknowledges he lacks the ability to represent that office well. I believe if you’re not overwhelmed by your assignment, you don’t see it clearly; the revelation of purpose brought the most powerful man on the planet to his knees in his sleep. He exclaims, «God, I’ve got to have a hearing ear.» The Lord spoke to him, saying, «Because you didn’t ask for wealth, fame, or long life, I’m going to give you all the things you didn’t ask for along with wisdom.»
This is very similar to the prayer, «Seek first the kingdom, and all these things will be added.» It is a kingdom principle: when your priorities are right, there’s a trickle effect on things you don’t pray about. Those things that don’t matter to you suddenly become important to God and become some of the most pronounced parts of your life. Jesus came along and identified this trait in King David and in Solomon. In the most famous sermon of all time—the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7—Jesus started with these words: «Blessed.» The word «blessed» means happy or profoundly happy. «Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.»
Being poor in spirit is not a place of self-criticism, self-judgment, or self-condemnation. In fact, all of that is a counterfeit. You can tell the difference: when filled with self-judgment and criticism, you lack the courage to take a risk. But the poor in spirit will take risks because their entire life depends on God showing up; He is a God of promise and covenant. You can instantly tell whether you are ready to take great risks, as that evidence reveals the trait of being poor in spirit working within you. It’s not self-criticism. The Bible states, «Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.» This is not a trick question; if you are merciful, you obtain mercy. But if you are poor in spirit, you receive the whole Kingdom. Being poor in spirit grants you access to the entire realm, not just a taste of a particular realm.
Being poor in spirit is what made David great. It is what attracted God into the bedroom while Solomon was sleeping, giving him an option no one else could be trusted with. It was being poor in spirit that granted him the kingdom. This trait is transferred into Jesus’s life and throughout the Gospels. One of the most astonishing realities I see in the Gospels is that well-trained students of the Word or Scripture were clueless. When they saw Jesus, they were trained to know what was supposed to happen, yet they completely missed the person standing in front of them. Being a student of Scripture is not a strike against you; if you are one, you better have an ear, because it is the Holy Spirit who interprets His own book. Knowledge in Scripture can bring resistance to the move of the Spirit of God.
It is too easy to think you know how God is going to show up, and for that reason, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees—those trained in Scripture—completely missed Jesus. Interestingly, the prostitute understood exactly who He was. The tax collector, a government-sponsored thief, climbed a tree just to get a better look at Him. You can go through the list of the «bad guys» in the New Testament, and they all knew who He was. There is something about being locked in sin that creates an awareness of need, whereas those who are well-trained in Scripture become insulated to their own awareness of need. It is that awareness that positions a person to recognize what God is doing when He is moving.
I witnessed this here 18 years ago when an outpouring started. While many I expected to respond with zeal and surrender couldn’t get to the back door fast enough because it didn’t make sense to them, I saw others, whom I never thought would respond to the move of the Spirit, lay down everything. I don’t want to say I’ve learned my lesson, but I try not to figure things out anymore because I’ve struck out too many times. I observed that drug addicts and people on the last leg of their marriage, broken for a thousand different reasons, came in, and I don’t recall any of them having an issue with the move of God happening in that building. The only ones who had a problem were those trained in ministry. There is something about the condition of life that says, «I am a person in need,» which helps you filter through everything.
Jesus looked at the religious leaders and said, «The well don’t need a physician.» They were the sickest people on the planet, but if they didn’t recognize their disease, they couldn’t value what He brought them. This past week, Benny and I were in Toronto, and I consider it one of the greatest honors of my life to be in the room with some heroes of mine whom I now know personally. I watched them at the dinner table and by the pool, where we spend a few days together every year, resting and debriefing about what we see God doing. They are the same in all these places of rest as they are in a public gathering leading a great meeting of revival or healing.
During a recent celebration of their 20-year anniversary, someone stood up and said, «I had a dream. In this dream, a very large wave caught up to and overtook a smaller wave.» Let’s be honest; the smaller wave is the biggest wave I’ve ever seen, and it was quite terrifying. Now, I am told a bigger wave is going to overtake what has changed my life forever. However, I am concerned because I know history, and those who experienced the last wave are seldom at the forefront of the next one and often miss it entirely. Why? Because in knowing nothing, they learned how God moves, and now they know what to expect next time, which can disqualify them. God must find people who don’t know what they’re doing because the poor in spirit inherit the whole kingdom.
So, I want you to stand. If we only had one Sunday morning service and this was it, I would have an altar call and make all of you come forward, but we must limit things a bit. I know God is big enough to meet you where you are. What takes someone like Randy Clark, one of our closest friends, from pastoring a small church in St. Louis to Toronto? He lays hands on a guy named Leif Hetland, a Norwegian Baptist pastor who had never prayed for the sick or done anything significant. Randy prays for him and says, «I see you as a bulldozer going into the dark places of the Earth,» only to find that God has radically changed his life from a Baptist pastor to an evangelist who has personally led over one million Muslim Pakistanis to the Lord Jesus.
I’m not looking for people who want to be famous or powerful; I’m looking for a poor spirit—those willing to say, «God, You can do whatever You want with me.» I prayed that prayer. It’s not important right now, but I had an encounter of a lifetime, and I feel the Lord wants to do it again. I don’t want to miss it; I don’t want to be an observer. I want to be a participant. I don’t want to know enough to disqualify me. I hope that makes sense to someone besides me. I’m saying, «Amen,» in my heart to what I’m saying.
Let’s ask Him to do it again. Holy Spirit, come, reignite us, and give us new mantles for a new day. Prepare us for the greater wave of presence, glory, and purpose. Yielded hearts, yielded hearts, poor in spirit—let there be a grace released for the poor in spirit, almost as though it is a gift to empower us to take great risks. Lord, increase this; I pray, increase it again, again, and again. Lord, a fresh baptism of fire—a fresh outpouring. Come, Lord, yes, increase this. Increase it again. That’s God; just let it be. Thank You, Lord.
Pray that famous prayer of all: «More, Lord!» Start right here with me. Go deeper, deeper, deeper. More, Lord. Increase this, God. Let’s put a hand on someone next to you and pray for them: «God, just double it. Dramatically increase this.» Let it increase without limit, beyond measure. Thank You, Lord God, increase this. This week could very well be the most important week of our lives. It’s possible that for many in this room, this week will define the remainder of your days. We say yes before it starts; we say yes.