My wife and I have a burden for the poor. We feel God's compassion for the oppressed and the downtrodden. That sense of mission led me as a single man to evangelize poor people on the Caribbean islands, preaching the gospel and ministering to the sick.
It was there, while travailing in intercessory prayer one morning, that I had a spiritual vision of Jesus - kneeling in prayer - saying, "Father, send me to the poor!"
My wife and I once relocated our family to an area of Dallas where minorities lived, where the majority of families had no father in their home, thus causing lower income levels. I wanted to see them evangelized and be blessed spiritually and materially.
We moved to Africa in 2001 and shared with natives that were truly poor. Then I got food poisoning and went to a private clinic. The total ER bill was $36 USD. By mistake I was charged too much! Outside the clinic, sick people waited with no money to get in. Preaching in Cuba, we saw poverty imposed by Castro's communist government.
Are you poor? Or do you have more than enough so you can share? I once heard the Spirit of God whisper words to me: "Misery to the miser but surplus to the sower!"
The greatest poverty of all may be in fancy neighborhoods or among whites, blacks, educated folks, and even in religious people. What is this most terrible poverty?
It is poverty of the spirit! An impoverished spirit is like a dried-up raisin. The juice is gone. Detached from the vine, it's shriveled up: void of life, dry, and without grace.
Diagnose yourself: Is your inner man alive? Or is it asleep, dormant, or dead? Are you unable to hear God's voice? Can't sense his presence? Don't know what pleases the Father? Feel nothing inside? Then you suffer from a poverty spirit. If you have these symptoms, you need the cure. It connects you with the original source of spiritual life.
What is the cure? It comes from outside yourself but flows into your heart. The cure to spiritual deadness is to reconnect with the Living Vine (John 15:1). Life is channeled in by means of Christ's gift. Its source is a person -- Jesus. How do we make this supernatural connection? By something so simple...child-like faith!
Whoever comes to God must come by faith, by believing that he exists, that he rewards those who seek him. How do you seek God? By praying to him and by reading the Bible. It's that simple. You can know God! The Spirit of Truth is here to help you.
God is ready and willing to reveal himself to you. He does this freely because Jesus has paved the way by suffering on the cross. Because of Jesus, you can tap into "the riches of his glorious grace." You can escape poverty of spirit and become one of earth's privileged human beings - those who partake of heaven's glory and grace -- if you simply put your faith in God and begin to seek him in prayer. I dare you... try it today!
RON WOOD OF FAYETTEVILLE IS A MINISTER, WRITER AND WORKS WITH EMT IN PRAIRIE GROVE. HE LIVES WITH HIS WIFE, LANA, AND A RETIRED JACK RUSSELL TERRIER, NEAR THEIR SIX LOVELY GRANDCHILDREN. EMAIL: [email protected].
Religion on 07/15/2015