1/4/06

Encouragement for Today

(Principle #7)

“Rescuing the Weak, Oppressed and the Needy”

Sharon Glasgow, Proverbs 31 Speaker Team Member

Key Verse:

Psalm 83: 3-4, “Defend the cause of the weak and the fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (NIV)

Devotion:

“How long must the agony continue? My license to practice law was gone, my son imprisoned, my dad gone, my compatriots freed, over two years of the three-year sentence still staring me in the face. Though I knew I could not give up, those next days were the most difficult of any that I had spent in prison, probably the most difficult of my life . . . Tuesday, January 28, Al Quie called: ‘Chuck . . . I’ve been thinking.’ There was a long pause. “There’s an old statute someone told me about. I’m going to ask the president if I could serve the rest of your term for you.” (Excerpt taken from Chuck Colson’s “Born Again”)

Chuck Colson couldn’t believe his friend was willing to go to prison in exchange for his release. Al Quie had served in Congress for 20 years and was the sixth ranking Republican in the House and one of the most respected public figures in Washington at the time he made this offer to Chuck.

Colson made a total surrender to Christ the night his friend made this sacrificial offer to him. The impact of sacrificial giving to the weak, poor, oppressed, and needy is profound. God uses people who are willing to sacrifice for His glory, to radically turn hearts to Him.

A few years ago, our family experienced a tremendous financial loss; our business that we owned for 20 years came to a screeching halt. We were not only devastated financially, but emotionally as well. Clients didn’t pay what they owed for services rendered; we lost all of our savings and retirement money. God used this difficult time to show us Who He was and is, by sending friends, family and strangers to rescue us in those desperate times.

He sent us – people who brought groceries, some who gave cash, some paid our heating bill, others fixed our cars, one bought us a lawn mower, another paid our house payment, our daughters college tuitions were paid in full, and a lot of people prayed and encouraged us with tender words of love and grace.

I felt God’s love so powerfully through this time, and it was all because of people who were willing to listen to the Holy Spirit’s leading and sacrifice their time, energy or resources. Our children saw how God rescued us by sending His servants to do His work. What a beautiful testimony for them to witness, experience and then to emulate in their own lives.

Who has God placed in your realm of living who needs to witness and experience God’s love in action? People in need of being rescued are all around us – we just need to ask God to show us who He wants us to help and how. In addition to seeing God change lives through our obedience, we also experience His supernatural power when we submit to sacrificial living.

God calls some of us to give sacrificially with our money and resources, some with our time and gifts. How is He calling you to help someone in need? The rewards of sacrificial giving are infinite.

My Prayer for Today:

Dear Lord, speak to my heart, soul and mind that I may know without a doubt who You are leading me to help, and how You want me to help them. Give me Your wisdom and strength to carry out Your plans. It is an awesome privilege to be Your servant! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Application Steps:

Ask God to show you how to live sacrificially.
Listen to the needs of others.
Carefully listen to the Holy Spirit as He leads you to help the ones He wants you to help
Give God the credit!

Reflection Points:

When have other given sacrificially to me?

Did if feel humiliated or grateful?

What resources to I have to offer others? (Money, time, etc.)

Power Verses:

Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (NKJ)

John 15:12-13, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” (NKJ)

Proverbs 18:16, “A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.” (NIV)

2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV)