There's a feeling most of us know well.

You reach the end of yourself.

Not dramatically, not all at once.

Maybe it comes after a long week.

Or in a quiet moment when you realize you don't have it as together as you thought you did,

you feel small, insufficient.

Like everyone else has something you don't.

Most of us treat that feeling like a problem to solve.

We just work harder then.

We perform better. We push through. But Jesus steps into that

familiar place and says something that stops us cold. He doesn't say, blessed are those who have it

together. He says, blessed are the poor and spirit. This meditation sits with that word. What does it mean to be

spiritually poor? And why on earth would Jesus call that blessed? The Psalms remind us that God is near to the brokenhearted.

That same nearness belongs to those who feel spiritually empty.

As we enter this time of prayer, we'll move through a responsive pattern together after each phrase I lead.

The response you'll repeat aloud is simply, Lord, here I am.

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted. Lord, here I am. He saves the crushed in spirit. Lord, here I am.

He does not despise the one who comes to him with nothing.

Lord, here I am.

He calls the empty and the weary blessed.

Lord, here I am. Now take a moment. Whatever you're carrying

into this time of prayer, lay it down in silence and speak to God from the place that feels

...