“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Matthew 5:3

This spiritual poverty is the result of recognizing that apart from Him we can do nothing. It is a willingness to be broken and reduced to spiritual bankruptcy, which implies not only losing everything we once enjoyed, but also making a fresh start with a clean slate and all our debts erased. It is the Second Universal Spiritual Principle, which states: “I must decrease” (John 3:30). This decreasing, or as I like to say, this reducing to Christ, is the first requirement.

If we are unwilling to be emptied then we cannot have the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven. We will be like the Laodicean church, who said they were “rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing” yet in God’s sight they were poor, blind, naked, and miserable (Revelation 3:17). So the Kingdom belongs to those who readily admit right from the beginning that “a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven” (John 3:27)

For nearly twenty years I was addicted to cigarette smoking and it was not easy for me to control or to quite it, because I dint see anything wrong with it, I believed it was helping me to kill boredom and stress. However, as I grew in my understanding of Christianity, I came to
realize that matter-based Cigarette smoking has no spiritual basis and could not help me as a child of God.

Much more so. I realized that Spiritual understanding and material Beliefs do not mingle, and I classified cigarette smoking as dishonesty-being dishonest to my true, spiritual nature. With this now spiritualized mind, I prayed for a change in my behavior, trusting that I, being a reflection of God, have nothing to do with cigarette smoking.

Since that time, I have lost the urge to smoke and have lost nothing but gained so much – socially, financially and spiritually. I have now boundless confidence that God heals and even your problem or weakness is not too big for Him.

Since childhood I had never been grateful even when my parents bought for me a new dress or a pencil. I entered into adulthood with this ingratitude- as I just loved receiving but not giving. However, as I matured in my understanding of Christianity and Christlikeness, I
discerned that gratitude is also a spiritual quality and it brings blessings. It is a willingness to be broken and reduced to spiritual bankruptcy,

This understanding has enabled me to be grateful for everything I do get from God and His beloved children.

As a child of God, the understanding has enabled me to realize that I can only serve the Lord efficiently if I am grateful for what He has already done in my life and what I can do as He lives in me. Much more so, I have discerned that for me to receive, I must have given. Apostle Paul tells the Philippians: “…Not that I desire your gifts;

What I desire is that more be credited to your account.

As I read the story of the lost son from the Book of Saint Luke, I discern that ingratitude leads to suffering while gratitude brings blessing. Remember. When this son was leaving home, he was so ungrateful that he did not even request his father for what he wanted. He just demanded it by saying; ‘ Give me my share’. And I learn that as he was now going back to his father, having wasted his share, he was now humble, broken, and regretful (meaning he was now grateful that he had an able father).

With this new change of mind, he was ultimately blessed – accepted by the father. I’m therefore always grateful for every kind of supply I do get from God, including free air I do breathe. Jesus Himself was always grateful to his father. Every time he was addressing a huge gathering he could start by saying;

“Thank you Father . . .

“It is not too late for you to be Christ-like.

Isaac Otieno was born to a schoolteacher and a peasant mother. Once he finished school he found steady jobs to be scarce in Kenya. After several years of unsteady work, he became depressed and developed a habit of drinking. By the grace of God he rededicated his life to Christ. While attending church he discovered that God had made him for a purpose. He was called to begin the ETERNAL FATHERHOOD CENTER in 2006. Isaac is married to God-given, Purity Jackline Otieno and has two grown daughters.

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