Monday

Related Verses
Matt. 5:3
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

Isa. 66:2
2 For all these things My hand has made, And so all these things have come into being, declares Jehovah. But to this kind of man will I look, to him who is poor And of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word.

Luke 6:20
20 And He lifted up His eyes to His disciples and said, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Matt. 19:13-15
13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might lay His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.
14 But Jesus said, Allow the little children and do not prevent them from coming to Me, for of such is the kingdom of the heavens.
15 And after He laid His hands on them, He went on from there.

Gal. 6:3
3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

John 15:5
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Isa. 57:15
15 For thus says the high and exalted One, Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I will dwell in the high and holy place, And with the contrite and lowly of spirit, To revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.

Heb. 1:9
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of exultant joy above Your partners”;

Related Reading
The spirit referred to [in Matthew 5:3] is our human spirit, not the Holy Spirit. To be poor in spirit does not mean that one has a poor spirit. To be poor in spirit is to have the best spirit. It is not only to have a humble spirit but also to be emptied in our spirit, in the depth of our being, not holding on to the old things of the old dispensation but unloaded to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens…Human beings are filled with many things in their spirit. Now that we have turned to the Lord, we have to evacuate our spirit to be poor in spirit. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” pp. 183-184) 

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It may be that our spirit is not empty for something more of the Lord to be deposited into us. According to Matthew 5, we have to deal with our spirit first. The first condition for the nine blessings in Matthew 5 is to be poor in spirit. We need to pray, “O Lord, empty me. Evacuate and empty my spirit of anything other than Yourself. Even empty my spirit of the old experiences of Yourself.”…Our old experiences of Christ can hinder us from experiencing Christ in a new, fresh, and up-to-date way. Our spirit has to be emptied. This is the real humility. It is possible for a person to be humble outwardly yet still be so proud in his spirit. The real humility is a matter in the spirit. This is why Peter tells us that there is the need for a meek and quiet spirit. The real meekness is in the spirit. A person may be quiet outwardly but may be full of opinions inwardly. 

Day by day we have to learn the lesson to deal with the Lord to be poor in spirit by emptying our spirit of many old things such as old knowledge and old experience. If our heart is not open, the Lord has no possibility to dispense Himself into us. If our spirit is full, the Lord also has no way to impart something fresh of Himself into our being…We need to ask the Lord to empty our spirit and clear up our heart. Then the Lord will have the free way in us and the adequate room in our being to fill us. (CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” pp. 191-192) 

Today a great many Christians are…loaded in their spirit…Nearly every kind of Christian today is filled in his spirit with something other than God. 

When the Lord Jesus came preaching, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 4:17), not many could receive His word, because their spirit was filled with other things. The best drink was being offered, but their vessel was already filled. Thus, they were not thirsty. When our spirit is filled, we have no capacity in our vessel for even the best drink. Therefore, when the Lord spoke to the disciples on the mountain, the opening word of His decree was that we must be poor in spirit, that our spirit must be emptied of everything. 

We all need to heed the Lord’s word about being poor in our spirit and say, “Lord, unload me. Empty my spirit. I don’t want to store anything in my spirit. Lord, I want the full capacity in my spirit to be available to You.” 

If we are poor in spirit, the kingdom of the heavens is ours: we are in its reality now in the church age, and we will share in its manifestation in the kingdom age. 

If we are overcomers, at His coming back the Lord will bring us into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. To have the kingdom of the heavens is first to participate in the proper, normal church life and second to inherit the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the…millennium. This is the meaning of the words for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 156-158, 160) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life,” ch. 13; Life-study of Matthew, msgs. 13—14