Leading The Way - Devotional for February 19
February 19, 2025
Blessed Are the Spiritually Bankrupt
By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.
Nowhere is Jesus’ countercultural message clearer than in His Sermon on the Mount. He directly confronts the secular world’s values with rapid-fire definitions of those who are blessed in His Kingdom. Blessed in the Greek means more than our modern idea of happiness, more than good feelings or material comfort. It encompasses the ideas of fulfillment and purpose. So, Jesus opens by saying that when you are poor in spirit, then you are fortunate, fulfilled, and contented.
How contrary Jesus’ message is to our culture’s drive for wealth and success! The world says, “Get what you want so you can be happy.” Jesus says, “Recognize your poverty and find true happiness.” To Jesus, happiness is an inside job that begins when you recognize you are totally, absolutely, without doubt dependent on the living God. You know you are not the master of your destiny, not the captain of your ship, not the all-powerful being society says you are. You recognize that without Jesus you are nothing, you have nothing, and you can do nothing.
In short, Jesus calls us to declare spiritual bankruptcy and, in doing so, find ourselves filled with the presence of the King and His Kingdom. Are you ready to stop looking to outward circumstances for fulfillment and turn to the only source of true joy and happiness?
Prayer: Lord, I need You. You are my Creator, the source of life, joy, and love. Help me live in this Truth and the peace it brings, that I might live rightly before You to Your glory. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).
Learn more in Dr. Michael Youssef’s sermon series The Master’s Manifesto: LISTEN NOW
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