The Poor in spirit Look at Him

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

It’s been a while since I’ve said this out loud, but we really do want our ceiling to be their floor.

There is always more room to invite God into your life. You can have as much of Him as you want—as much as you are willing to receive. You are the deciding factor. That’s why we nurture our hearts, protect them, and guard them. We’re saying, “I want as much of God as I can receive.”

Our Ceiling, Their Floor

Jesus said the works that He did, we would do greater. He was saying His ceiling is our floor. You can look at that and feel overwhelmed, or you can receive it as the greatest invitation available: you can have as much of God as you want.

Miracles Flow from Love

I believe we are going to see more miracles—not because we’re chasing signs, but because He is a God of love. That is the only motive in the heart of Jesus when He heals, when He gives life, when He expresses His nature. He does not heal to get something back. He often told people not to tell anyone, knowing they would tell anyway. He still released life.

Even Jesus said He could do nothing of Himself—only what He saw the Father doing, only what He heard the Father saying. Miracles are a byproduct of love, not a performance.

Abide in the Gospels

The Lord has been drawing the body of Christ back to the Gospels. Live there. Abide there. Meditate on the life, the ministry, and the words of Jesus until you see Him.

When you plant the Word in your heart, something happens that you cannot manufacture. The farmer plants the seed, sleeps, and it grows. He doesn’t know how. Our job is simply to posture the heart—the spiritual heart God gave us, the one with eyes and ears, the garden.

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory

As you read the stories of Jesus, you begin to see yourself in them. Not because you are trying to copy Him in your own strength, but because it is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. That is the life we were created for.

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Hope is a confident expectation. Glory is God’s manifest attributes. When you acknowledge that Jesus has already moved into the house—lazy boy, feet up, not going anywhere—you wake up expecting people to encounter who He is through you. If you see Him as Healer, you expect healing. If you see Him as Wisdom, you expect wisdom.

Paul called this the great mystery. He labored to the point of exhaustion so it would be revealed. When you look at yourself, there is no grace. When you look at Him, there is all the grace you need. We are not called to visit grace and rest. We are called to abide in them.

Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

That is why Jesus begins the Beatitudes the way He does: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Poor in spirit is not seeing yourself as a worm. Jesus did not die for a worm. He died for a son. He died for a daughter. Sin distorted what we were created to be, but God never lost sight of it. Poor in spirit is dependency. It is a cry. It is getting your eyes off yourself and onto Him.

Behold the Lamb

John the Baptist understood this. When they asked who he was, he said he was only a voice crying in the wilderness, “Make His path straight.” Then he pointed and said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” We would never introduce a King that way. There is great power in the humility and the mind of Christ.

Jesus on Every Page - Jesus, Your Name, All People

The Holy Spirit gave me three assignments years ago. First: write “Jesus” on every page of my Bible. The whole book is about Him. Second: write my own name on every page, because it is just as important to see yourself in Him. Third: write “all people” on every page. Once you see Him clearly, you see yourself clearly. Once you see yourself clearly in light of Him, you can see the people around you clearly.

That is true humility—identifying with Christ, not shrinking from Him.

He Goes to the Ones Others Avoid

The man living in the tombs, cutting himself, breaking chains, full of a legion—Jesus went to him. A storm rose on the way and Jesus took a nap. He saw the value of that man when culture stayed far away. The man went home transformed and told his own people what God had done.

You must be born again. You must be transformed from the inside out. That requires the cross. It requires being crucified so that His life can be given. It requires a cry.

You Were Created to Cry Out

Because you are a son or a daughter, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying “Abba, Father.” You were created to cry out. Do not let that cry be silenced—not in the big things and not in the little things we have decided are “normal.”

Normal Christianity looks like this: I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live.

Look at Him. That is the invitation. That is the assignment. That is how our ceiling becomes someone else’s floor.

If you want to walk through the Gospels with us again in September—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—come. Let’s keep planting the seed and watching what only He can grow.

This post was shaped from the transcript of a recent teaching with the help of AI tools. I reviewed and edited every part so it reflects my own thoughts, voice, and study of Scripture.

Courtney Olson