REVELATION:  WHY THE POOR ARE RICH IN FAITH  2/19/09

Yesterday I heard a sermon recall this scripture:

John 9:8  AMP

When the neighbors and those who used to know him by sight as a beggar saw him, they said, Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?

The sermon was about something else entirely, but the Holy Spirit quickened to me one tiny word.  When recalling the scripture, the speaker said that the beggar was expecting a donation but instead got healed.   The word expecting leaped out (was quickened) and the Holy Spirit  reminded me of a question I’d had. 

When our Birthday or Christmas comes around, most of us expect something.   Why?  Because we have been trained to expect on those days.  We need to have this same expectation every day because the Lord’s promise is to load us with benefits and daily bread.  May the Lord grant us the expectation to receive what we are needing from Him! 

Many times I have I questioned why in scripture the Lord honored the poor with promises and rebuked the rich. 

This was a moment of revelation where the Lord connected what I knew (which was my question) with what I did not know, (the word expecting) and I suddenly received His answer (the process of revelation).   God took the lid off my closed mind and uncovered the truth: 

The poor are trained by reason of need, desperation or habit to EXPECT TO RECEIVE.  This is a very simple concept, but true.  The poor are used to searching to find sources for their practical needs.  Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith?  (James 1:5)  Why are they rich in faith?  Because faith is an expectation and they have been trained to seek God until they receive!

Matt 7:7-12 NKJV

"Ask , and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock , and it will be opened to you.  8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

Luke 6:20 NKJV

Blessed are you poor for yours is the kingdom of God. 

Matt 5:3 NKJV

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

Matt 19:21-26 NKJV

Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor , and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." 

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."  25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, "Who then can be saved?"  26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 

James 2:1-6 NKJV

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?  5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

1 Cor 1:26-31 NKJV

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise , and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption —  31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."  

Rev 3:17-20 NKJV

Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' — and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor , blind, and naked —   18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.  19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 

Look at the mindset of these folks in the following scripture.  They continued to think of ways to receive what they needed, even in a time of famine.  They knew they had to move in order to get their needs met.  Even in the worst circumstances, they still had expectation and a glimmer of hope.

2 Kings 7:3-4 NLT

Now there were four men with leprosy sitting at the entrance of the city gates. "Why should we sit here waiting to die?" they asked each other. 4 "We will starve if we stay here, and we will starve if we go back into the city. So we might as well go out and surrender to the Aramean army. If they let us live, so much the better. But if they kill us, we would have died anyway."

This was so spectacular because the tiny hope of these 4 weak men compelled them to move beyond their present circumstance.  They ended up finding the bounty to feed their entire city!