From Jesus with Love

November 24, 2015

The blessings of the Lord be with you, Heartdwellers. He truly is with us. And today He gave us an instruction on charity. I asked Him:

Lord, what do You want to speak on today?

"I will defend the widow and the orphan. I will open My coffers and pour out upon them the abundance of My blessing. This is a season when many go in want, while others bask in luxury.

I was reminded of that Scripture in James: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27

"My Brides, be on the lookout for those in need this week and this season. There is great depression among the poor and lonely during this season. I wish to touch them with My Love through you. All around you are those who cannot afford the dinners that others prepare for all week. Simply put, don't allow yourself to be blind to your neighbor's distress. Don't allow yourself to criticize their lives or take exception with their situation."

I'd like to add to that, too. We've all got neighbors or different people we know that are single or divorced and they're all by themselves. If you're planning on a dinner, that might be a good thing to invite them, as well.

"Many of these have been abused and rejected from childhood and their only interaction with the world was to get what they needed through every deceptive means. They do not understand family or love and protection; they've had to fend for themselves - fighting off hunger, loneliness, the cold and hostility of those around them. It is truly sad and breaks My Heart to see how children are treated - but the issues go back through many generations of drinking, crime and drugs. These who are so looked down upon have been rejected from birth and do not have the normal social skills of you who have been raised by good parents.

"Were I to show you what their childhood was like, you would be horrified. Many of these children were tended only by My angels. They went from dumpster to dumpster looking for clothing and food while their parents locked them out of the house or were constantly gone, either under the influence or walking the streets looking for their next fix.

 

"I have put these poor ones before you as an exercise in mercy. Many, but not all, who came from middle class and functional lower class families do not understand the principles of mercy and reaching out on a personal level to the unfortunate."

I have to confess there, that that's so true of us. When I was growing up with my mother, she would really be terribly harsh with people who were on the streets, or who were begging - very poor. Very, very critical of them, and say, "Why don't they just go get a job!" And that's the attitude of a LOT of the working class.

"Their own pursuits in the world have hardened them against those who seem to be lazy and failures, not caring for themselves and their children. Many of these are severely, mentally damaged from childhood injuries and cannot think for themselves in pressured situations, so they go from job to job, or crime to crime, getting what they need to survive.

"You who have been born into fortunate circumstances are meant to carry the burdens of the poor with your excess...not to fill your coffers for the future, which you may not even live to see. But to act in My stead and supply for their needs. In doing this, you become the sons and daughters of righteousness. The poor are My gift to you, to help you cultivate virtue.

"The early church always provided for the poor among them, always. This they were taught from the very beginning. The poor among you are truly My gift, by which you prove your faithfulness and love for Me.

For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality-- at this present time your abundance being a supply for their need, so that their abundance also may become a supply for your need, that there may be equality; as it is written, "HE WHO gathered MUCH DID NOT HAVE TOO MUCH, AND HE WHO gathered LITTLE HAD NO LACK." 2 Corinthians 8:14-15

"To pass up one of these needy ones on the street without a stirring in your heart and a dollar in your hand is a symptom of the lukewarm church. Busy about her business agendas, the poor are an inconvenience and impediment to her acquisition of wealth.

"But for you who have been touched by My Love, you have been trained not to judge, not to respond the way the rest of this selfish world responds, but to go out of yourself, out of your class boundaries, and show My mercy. The enemy of all good has striven to remove this responsibility from you, knowing full well the graces that flow with charity. They have hardened your hearts against the poor and hardened the hearts of the poor against you. I never intended this. I intended your excess to supply for their need, and someday their excess to provide for other's needs. This is training in holiness and Satan had deliberately removed this opportunity from you, while hurling accusations on these injured souls, causing enmity and division in your society, fomenting discontent and hatred."

At this point I felt the need to look up Isaiah 58. So many promises are tied up in this passage of Scripture: just decisions, protection, guidance - that we will raise up ancient foundations and repair broken walls. Beautiful promises.

Interestingly, this Scripture was given to me, quickened to me at my conversion. And you know, I think I know why. I had a real tendency toward a Religious spirit: fasting and prayer, and doing all these outstanding fasts and all these other things that seemed to make other people holy. At least, what I was learning in my early days. And I didn't have a whole lot of care for the poor. I was more concerned about my own walk, my holiness - I still was very materialistic at my conversion.

Now that I look back on it I remember, that my concern was more with fasting, and getting word of knowledge, a vision - moving in the Gifts and healing. And from an egotistical viewpoint - not out of love for the Lord so much, but to prove myself as a good Christian, who operates in the Gifts.

And I remember. They had a seminar at the church that I went to, and we were all to fill out these questionaries and at the end, they explained what each person's gifts were. There were scores on different things - scores on wisdom, understanding, mercy, charity - oh, all kinds of topics. And I scored so low in mercy that it just blew my mind. I thought, 'Wow! I score low in mercy - that's no good!' and a young lady who was a good friend of mine, who served the deaf as a sign reader - she scored REALLY high on mercy and I thought, 'I'm really lacking in mercy!' I just had no consideration of that, because at that time I was caught up in proving myself and dressing well and looking well and speaking well - not in the things that were really important to the Lord. So, this is a landmark Scripture for me, to bring me out of that religious head-set and help me be more established in the Lord's heart. And all of us who hunger to hear and see the Lord this, too, is promised in Isaiah 58:

For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

And here I'm reminded, when he says, "striking each other with wicked fists"...gossip, jealousy, fighting back and forth, strife in the family. You know, I can look back on times when I was fasting and undertaking these severe fasts - when I was harsh or short with my children. And the Scripture would ring in my ears and I'd realize, "this fast cannot be pleasing to the Lord, because I'm being impatient and losing my temper." So, that's a real balancing point on a fast: if you're fasting for the Lord and your disposition is not sweet and loving and kind, then I think it's better NOT to fast and keep a good disposition, than to try to prove something with a longer fast and injure people.

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter; when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:2-12

This is beautiful, and so many of you are already doing so much to help those around you. Please don't come under condemnation. This was just quickened to me, and it was just a reminder of all the blessings that come with looking after the poor. It's not something we need to be walking away with our tails tucked between our legs or feeling bad about ourselves at all!

Let us go forward, not under the yoke of condemnation, but out of love for our Lord...in our desire to feed and cloth Him and provide for Him who dwells with the poor. Let's make this season a time of exceptional care and concern for those around us who are wanting, and do it in the Name of the Lord, giving according to our means, with these words:

From Jesus, with love.