“Jesus, help us to be obedient when You ask something of us, help us to be obedient to respond to the needs in front of us. We never want to see the hurts and pains of the homeless, orphans, and widows as an experience but to have our hearts broken for them as Yours is. We will be obedient to what You ask of us, all we have is Yours.”
No sooner had we finished praying this prayer then the phone rings and Jerry calls because he has no food or money, and felt the Lord was telling him to share his need with other believers, not to be ashamed or hide it. The Lord designed the body of Christ to help each other.
Tom hangs up to fill us in on the call, and to see what our response would be. Within a few seconds, we were off the couch and running to get money. We couldn’t sit with our arms folded wondering, “Lord, where will the resources come from?” or praying “Lord, should we help Jerry? Lord, will you please provide for his needs?” We ARE the answer… the body of Christ! God had Jerry call us to be the answer to Jerry’s prayer for help. It’s not about the words that come from our lips, it’s about the evidence in our lives and our obedience. So many times we offer up our prayers to the Lord, but then when He asks us to then act on those prayers, we shrivel back and say, “Not this, Lord. This isn’t really what I meant. Maybe later. Someone else will help.” Tom’s response really humbled me, he said, “I may not have much, but I have enough food for my next meal so I have enough to give away.” Wow! We are learning a whole lot about how selfish we really are. His response really made me question myself, “If I was ever at the place in my life that I had only one coat or only enough food left for one more meal, and someone came along with the same need, would I love enough to give away ALL that I had. And would I trust the Lord completely, trusting that He would also provide for my needs!?”
The Lord makes it completely clear in Scripture what we are to do when someone comes to us with a need. We’re really really good at making up excuses, but that doesn’t change what Jesus asks of us. James 2:15-17 says, “
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Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing,
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and you say, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
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So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless.”
It’s not that God couldn’t provide for them in some other way, but He wants us to use the resources we’ve been given as gifts to share with each other. ALL we’ve been given is to be held loosely, because it’s all His anyway. He gives, and He can take away just as easily.
As we headed to meet Jerry at the grocery store, we remembered that just a few days prior we had been thinking about the $50 designated ministry money we had been given to use from the last race and wondering how we were to use it. Here was a need, and we had money set aside for something such as this. However, a thought that honestly crossed some of our minds was “Is this a big enough ministry to use this money for?” Ouch! This is EXACTLY one of the things the Lord has been working in us about, that there is no such thing as a “small” act of obedience or someone who is less important than another. Just because it might not produce as exciting a blog or look like something important to anyone else, it was a big thing to God!
We had never met Jerry before, but standing in the grocery store parking lot, we were able to meet this brother in Christ and hear his story. He is a 68 yr old black man who was raised here in S.Africa by a white Christian family. Jerry was priviledged to go to the USA for his education and even received a master’s degree in Biblical Theology and worked in LA and San Francisco at homeless shelters for a number of years. The Lord drew his heart back to his homeland, so he returned to S. Africa and in obedience started giving away all that he had to pour into those in need. Jerry said, “Whenever someone would come to me with a need, I would give of what I had.” His heart is for the homeless and poor, especially those with AIDS. He has lived among them, counseled them, prayed with them, and loves them. Recently, the Lord used someone to give Jerry a house to live in completely for free, and a car to drive around the neighborhoods to more easily follow-up with people. He lives day by day, meal by meal – depending on the Lord to provide. Jerry hadn’t known where his next meal would come from, but the Lord put on his heart to call us and share his need…and the Lord had put on our hearts to be obedient no matter what and to share of what we have. So, God answered both of our prayers and showed us all what the body of Christ is really all about!
With all of my blogs, I share these things the Lord is teaching me, not because I’ve “arrived” or get it all, but because I am being challenged and want to encourage you on your journey with the Lord as well! 🙂
