1. Prayer:
Pray for others:
A prayer is a powerful force of God’s power in those who believe God works in and through their lives to enable them to love regardless of the situation. Unless we lay down our life for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God, we continue to be selfish and seek our own desires. Prayer is really the only true “work” of the believer. I have been in strange situations recently with many different people who are what a church goer would consider an infidel or a reprobate. However, I have sat and listened to these people who I used to find myself judging, and discovered they are just like me. Scared, fearful, wanting attention, needing approval and choosing to escape in many different modalities that become accessible if we are looking for an escape. Prescribed drugs, meth, cocaine, and even what some people call harmless, marijuana are sought after, so we can choose to ignore the rejection, disappointment, abandonment, abuse which is most of the time caused by pent up anger that eventually, we can’t control. We either blow up inside or on the outside…..either way, we are victims of this world and the selfish nature we were born with. Jesus has actually mand an escape when we are tempted “so that we may endure and overcome.” How? We have not because we ask not. Those who have been exposed to porn, abuse, drugs, and a life of drama and rejection and abandonment cannot understand why they repeat the same scenarios over and over again. It’s all they know. We are to pray for those who do not understand or believe, asking God to open their hearts and minds to the gospel message. Revival should be our prayer. Our communities are needed a life lived in holiness and truth and love for an example, as they have never known an unconditional love as offered to us by our heavenly Father. Our true calling is to pray without ceasing, for those who are struggling with addiction, homelessness, or other issues, asking God to provide them with the support and resources they need.
2. Provision:
In the desire to see these healed and set free, prayer is where it starts, then it is our calling to be willing and ready “in season and out of season” when God calls us to do something. Are we willing to invite the homeless into our living space? Are we willing to feed the poor clothe the naked and visit those in prisons? Jesus says, “If you do it to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” Strong words!
So truth is that unless we are willing to lay down our own space….which is basically our own lives in every area, we cannot see the Kingdom of God. The word of God specifically speaks of this: “Unless you hate your father, your mother your sister and your brother and even your own life, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Yikes! Do you hear that preached from the pulpit these days?
3. God will supply- Faith—to be continued