The scripture says in Psalms 12:5: Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the Lord, “I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
All of our hearts are known to God. We who have suffered affliction and persecution for the sake of righteousness and truth have not done so in vain.
Many Christians throughout the ages have been imprisoned and tortured because they refused to retract their confession of faith in a living God who always does justly and rewards all who seek him before the children of man.
Walking your faith is not a comparison shopping excursion where you get to blithely chose garments of your liking one moment, and then, changing your mind, you cast them aside, and go for a whole new look, mostly you are searching for that perfect wardrobe which you will never find.
Clothes and food are necessities of life indeed, but unfortunately in media and magazines everything worshipped must include fantastic exotic foods that visually attract and tantalize our taste buds, and/or stunning outfits with glistening or unique features that will make others rave with jealous wanting to know how to achieve that look.
While people suffer in want of basic necessities and wear basically rags to work every day, we have so much in America and are self-obessesed. Unfortunately too the cosmetic industry is burgeoning with business in numbers of billions of dollars in sales annually in America, lively with the hustle of make-up powders and perfume items that will attract anybody and everybody.
We have to stop and look long enough at ourselves and who we truly are. If we do this, we will find that the need we have is for things that last or I say, the everlasting gospel first and foremost. Foods for the belly and the belly for the foods, but God shall destroy both!
Our hunger if we are born again is toward the things of heaven and to help those of our brethren who are suffering in the world.
I can remember more than a few times in my life when I was given God-anointed opportunity to minister to someone in a specific amount, a fleeting moment of time, and I knew it, really knew it, and I had made an excuse up in a hurry in my mind and walked on. I can still see some of their faces. I cannot change the past. Those times proved that I failed to give a word of encouragement or even a scripture or a prayer not because I did not love God, no, it was because I failed to give that day properly to the Lord before I went out into the world. I failed to ask the Lord to bless me with an anointing to bless others.
No one but God really knows why all these things happen, but they happen for a reason, and God has a way of sending someone else who is obedient to a specific mission, if we who are called to do something in a specific time or moment fail. I have wondered how long it took before that person or group of people finally received the word of encouragement or ministry they needed because of my disobedience to the Spirit of God.
The beautiful part of what I’m saying is this: You are not under any yoke unless you have been tricked or deceived, to be loaded down with guilt in your attitude toward the needy. God says he will arise and set those at liberty who have cried unto him. The only yoke you should be under is that of the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life and that has nothing to do with anyone beating you over the head with the Bible telling you to do thus and so. Sometimes groups of Christians come under a ‘leader’ who convinces everyone in the group that unless they do what he says, they are under condemnation from the Lord. These types of so-called leaders are not serving the Lord but themselves because their ambition has blinded them and whatever love they had for God was replaced by a self-serving oppressive rule over other peoples lives in the name of religious fervor.
Be wise and understand the will of the Lord. Read what the Apostle Paul had to say to the Romans, Corinthians, and others about ministry and what his position was before the Lord. Paul never sought to oppress or rule over the churches he ministered to. Paul also was careful to say specifically ‘follow me as I follow Christ.’ That way you can’t go wrong. Paul understood that loyalty to the King of Kings was first and foremost.
LILLY OF THE VALLEY 