January 03
The Blessing of the Poor
Happy is the person who thinks about the poor.
Psalm 41:1 (NCV).
Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
2 Corinthians 6:10 (NLT)
After forty-one years in the faith, God is reaching and touching my life in greater ways … through the poor of this world.
Certainly, I love to give gifts, and there is a blessing in that, but there is so much more. I hear it in their letters—the thankfulness, the joy, the love that seems to fill and overflow, in spite of the great hardships, and I am the recipient of their wealth. These are rich soul responses from truly grateful hearts—responses that have touched my own heart in new ways.
From Rwanda, Uwamahoro greets me in the name of Jesus and thanks me so very much for sponsoring her. She tells me she loves to sing gospel songs ... she has found God’s joy even though her parents have died from AIDS. Divine writes me from India and even though he has lost his parents too, he rejoices for his Aunty who lets him call her mother. He loves soccer and roses. He says thank you and he prays for me too. Vichara in Cambodia thanks me and wishes me every happiness. Yeshi in Ethiopia and Sara in Ecuador both tell me they love me and pray for me every day. Then there’s Ruth in Haiti, the youngest of them all, she has lost her parents and is one of eight children, but there is such hope in her words. She asks for prayer … and she says, everyday she asks God to bless … me. And now, I begin to see, hear and feel like never before … the spiritual richness they so willingly share.
I am sensing it in my prayers too. The passion they stir in me is making me pray in new ways for my own children—with a desperateness and a longing so much more real than the dry, repetitious requests of days and years ago.
These little ones, these poor ones have taught me to pray again. They have so little, and yet they have so much. They have absolutely nothing, and yet they have given me everything!
Father, Your word speaks of the poor inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. Lord, make me poor in spirit that my life might bless other lives as these have blessed mine. Amen.
To be a blessing, to give a blessing, and to receive a blessing consider the great needs of the poor. To see what you might do, and to meet someone you might help, visit www.compassion.com.
The Blessing of the Poor
Happy is the person who thinks about the poor.
Psalm 41:1 (NCV).
Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.
2 Corinthians 6:10 (NLT)
After forty-one years in the faith, God is reaching and touching my life in greater ways … through the poor of this world.
Certainly, I love to give gifts, and there is a blessing in that, but there is so much more. I hear it in their letters—the thankfulness, the joy, the love that seems to fill and overflow, in spite of the great hardships, and I am the recipient of their wealth. These are rich soul responses from truly grateful hearts—responses that have touched my own heart in new ways.
From Rwanda, Uwamahoro greets me in the name of Jesus and thanks me so very much for sponsoring her. She tells me she loves to sing gospel songs ... she has found God’s joy even though her parents have died from AIDS. Divine writes me from India and even though he has lost his parents too, he rejoices for his Aunty who lets him call her mother. He loves soccer and roses. He says thank you and he prays for me too. Vichara in Cambodia thanks me and wishes me every happiness. Yeshi in Ethiopia and Sara in Ecuador both tell me they love me and pray for me every day. Then there’s Ruth in Haiti, the youngest of them all, she has lost her parents and is one of eight children, but there is such hope in her words. She asks for prayer … and she says, everyday she asks God to bless … me. And now, I begin to see, hear and feel like never before … the spiritual richness they so willingly share.
I am sensing it in my prayers too. The passion they stir in me is making me pray in new ways for my own children—with a desperateness and a longing so much more real than the dry, repetitious requests of days and years ago.
These little ones, these poor ones have taught me to pray again. They have so little, and yet they have so much. They have absolutely nothing, and yet they have given me everything!
Father, Your word speaks of the poor inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. Lord, make me poor in spirit that my life might bless other lives as these have blessed mine. Amen.
To be a blessing, to give a blessing, and to receive a blessing consider the great needs of the poor. To see what you might do, and to meet someone you might help, visit www.compassion.com.
posted by Craig Soderquist at 6:56 AM
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