Chris' prayer: Jason Upton's "Poverty"

There's a power in poverty that breaks principalities
And brings the authorities down to their knees

What is the "power in poverty" of which Upton speaks? In light of the recession that the United States, and in fact much of the world, is mired in, I find this song and this article from the New York Times, which I discovered yesterday via ThinkChristian.net, particularly poignant.

The principalities and authorities about which Upton speaks might be literal, but I wonder if they might be more personal. The principalities, instead of being a state or province, might better reflect our lives and the things we build around ourselves. The authority is, therefore, ourselves, the ones who do the building.

The power in poverty is an increased reliance on God. When we cannot maintain the things around us– when we can no longer afford to keep cable in our homes, or to eat out as much; or even worse, when we are struggling to meet our more basic needs– making the mortgage payment, affording to repair a cracked windshield, finding even the grocery bill painful– all that we can do is turn to our God. I know I can relate to this.

The struggle is in taking the power of poverty, our fuller reliance on God, and applying it to the areas of and times in our lives where we experience wealth.

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