Monday April 1 2013

Weekly Challenge

See if you can help one poor person this week in  a real, positive way.

 

Read Leviticus 19:9-10, Leviticus 23:22

 

“God helps those who help themselves.” I’ve heard this bandied around the church hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the years.  There’s only one slight little problem. It’s not actually in the Bible.

 

The Biblical version is something like, “God helps those who cannot help themselves” and “He does it through His people.” The God of the Bible has a soft spot for poor people and commands His people to help them through poverty towards viability.

 

In ancient Israel that meant making sure that you didn’t glean or harvest your fields right to the very edges. It meant leaving a section for the poor to have for food and so on. It meant deliberately leaving a portion for the poor.

 

In the New Testament this focus on the poor continues and we see whole churches and whole regions supporting the poor. Paul the Apostle even took a collection from the Macedonian churches to support the brothers in Jerusalem.

 

In our day, supporting the poor is actually a lot more difficult. Of course we can give to aid organisations but often the name of God is not exalted or lifted up or praised through that. Here are a few ideas that you could take up to help the poor and needy in your world:

ª Increase your giving by 10-20% and ear mark it for poor relief. If 100 to 200 people did this in one church that church would have ample funds to reach out to the poor and needy.

ª Volunteer for a Christian aid organisation for 1/2 to 1 day a week and get actively involved.

ª Sponsor a child through a Christian organisation such as Compassion.

ª Donate food stuff to your local church and help them distribute it through their avenues.

ª Walk around your neighbourhood and take note of who may need help and seek to meet that need.

 

It’s not hard to be proactive in helping and supporting the poor. All it takes is a little bit of commitment and drive. Are you up for it?

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray that your church would be a generous church that has ample funds to reach out to the poor and needy and to show them the love of Christ Jesus. Pray that the Kingdom of God would grow through your church’s generosity.

¥ Pray that God would reveal to you who the poor are in your area and how you and your church can be meeting those needs.

 

Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1.  Someone says to you, “I am too poor to help anyone else.’ How do you respond?

2. Describe one thing you can do to help the poor and the needy.

3. What factors stop the church from helping the poor and needy?