As for Me and My House – Day 19

DAY 19: BEARING ONE ANOTHER’S BURDENS

Romans 12:15-16 
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 

Let’s face it—we all struggle with life’s various difficulties at times. God wants us to empathize with one another through those low points. When someone is feeling down, we who are stronger ought to be there for them. 

We should also share in the happiness of those who are doing well and not let ourselves be jealous of their blessings. Jesus was a friend to tax gatherers and sinners. He drank wine at weddings and wept at funerals. 

We can’t all be Mother Teresa, ministering in leper colonies, orphanages, and homes for the dying destitute. But each of is called and equipped to do something. Ask the Lord, what?

QUESTIONS Who are the “people of low position” around you? The unemployed? The homeless? Foster kids? Teen moms? The mentally ill? Recent arrivals in America? What is your attitude toward them? How can you “associate” with them?

PRAYER Your Word is clear, Lord—I am to help prisoners, orphans, widows, those less fortunate than I am. Show me how to demonstrate Your unconditional love to those who are so different from me. Let me humble myself now and go and do what You would do. 

ACTION Go and do it. Serve the marginalized through a church ministry, a faith-based or secular community-service organization, or even as an individual. But do something. Don’t just read this and miss the opportunity to help bear someone else’s burden. Here are just a few ministries that serve marginalized people in the Phoenix area: 

Living Streams Food Pantry & other ministries

Phoenix Rescue Mission

MentorKids

Young Lives Room 4 Me House

GoTen

Christian Family Care Agency

As for Me and My House – Day 18

DAY 18: BLESSED TO BLESS OTHERS

Proverbs 22:9
The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor. 

Proverbs 11:25 
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

Steve, a 62-year-old homeless military veteran, attempted to earn money by displaying his hand-drawn art. One evening, a young woman approached and offered him several slices of pizza. Steve gratefully accepted. Moments later, Steve shared his bounty with another hungry, homeless person. Touched by Steve’s generosity, the same young woman soon returned with another plate of food.

Steve’s story illustrates the principle that blessing others often results in being blessed by others. But we shouldn’t give in order to get something in return. God’s economy doesn’t work that way. He sees our hearts as well as our actions, and tells us if we will refresh others we will be refreshed. 

QUESTIONS Do you share with the poor? Have you given to Living Streams’ Food Pantry recently? Do you support local downtown missions? Even if you can’t give financially, can you volunteer some of your time?

PRAYER Lord, You said there will always be poor people in society. Help me to not be cynical, but to give out of my heart to those in need. Open my heart to share out of the wealth of Your abundance to me.

ACTION Share some food with the poor today, no matter how you do it. Donate to Feed My Starving Children — fmsc.org, to the Living Streams Food Pantry, etc., or give a sandwich to a homeless person on the street as the Lord leads you. 

As for Me and My House – Day 17

DAY 17: SOCIAL JUSTICE STARTS IN THE CHURCH

Isaiah 58:6-7
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? 

How do we please the Lord with our fasting? He says here in Isaiah that He wants us to break the chains of injustice, to set captives free, to share our food with the hungry, and to provide shelter for people who don’t have it. Jesus said simply, we should clothe the naked, feed the poor, and help prisoners, widows, and orphans. 

Maybe we can’t solve every social injustice, but certainly, we can find someone beyond ourselves who’s hungry or poorly clothed or homeless. During this time of fasting let’s listen to the Lord and then participate in acts that demonstrate our commitment to what He cares about. 

QUESTIONS Do you fast on a regular basis for the things Isaiah mentions? In what ways can you care for those who have such needs? 

PRAYER I repent, Lord, of not thinking more about those You care for so much. Help me to hear what You are saying to me right now. Help me to follow through and do what You ask me to do—to help the hungry and the homeless and to clothe those who need it. 

ACTION Decide to make an effort to be aware of people around you with basic needs, then give or share with them as God guides you. 

As for Me and My House – Day 16

DAY 16: DOING GOOD TO OTHERS

Hebrews 13:16
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. 

Eighteenth-century English cleric John Wesley had this for his rule of life: 

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can.

His contemporary, writer and poet John Keble, wrote that going out and doing something kind for somebody is a “medicine that never fails to cure” despondency. “To test it, try it. Your visit to the sick, the bereaved, the disheartened, and the lonely, will kindle fires of love and hope upon your own desolate hearth.”

Keble believed that Jesus was cheerful partially because he “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38). Remember that doing good for others frees us from bondage to our self-centered gloom. 

QUESTIONS What do you do when you are down? What do you think? Will you visit the sick, bereaved and disheartened? 

PRAYER Lord, help me get out of my own little world. Help me to see and share from the abundance of what You have lavished on me. When I am down, let me light a fire in my “desolate hearth” by doing for others as You did.

ACTION Take a moment to pray and think of someone you can do something good for. They may be a close friend or someone in your neighborhood. Maybe you can call them or write them a letter or purchase groceries for them. Do it now!

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He Reveals Deep and Hidden Things

by Mark Buckley, Founding Pastor
Mark Buckley Ministries

       A few years ago, I was greeting people in the lobby of Living Streams when I saw a tall, handsome young man. One of our members introduced us and said he was a wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals. I played football in high school and I have been a fan since I was a kid going to 49er games. The Cardinals were in pre-season at the time, with many coaching decisions being made. I immediately told the young guy how much I liked the team and what I felt about their coach, and about a situation they were facing.
       He looked straight at me with an expression I have never forgotten. His puzzled face said, “You are a pastor, not a football analyst. You don’t know what you are talking about.”
       It did not surprise me that he did not stay with our church. 
       I’ve been told by friends that I speak with as much authority about sports and business as I do about the Bible. These comments are not compliments. I have not played football in fifty years. I’ve been out of full-time business for forty-five years. I’m a fan who studies these things in newspapers and on TV. I like to share my opinions, but I have no real expertise.
       In late 1999, Bill Ford, a humble man with a ministry of intercessory prayer, made an appointment to meet with me. Bill sat down in my office and explained to me that he had been a farmer in Texas. In the early 1990’s, there was a drought and the farmers were struggling to make a living. While he was praying, the Lord spoke to Bill and told him to plow his field into large chunks when he prepared the ground to plant his crops. Bill knew crops could not grow in that soil unless the ground was broken into small pieces. Nevertheless, because it seemed the Lord was persistent, Bill plowed his soil into large chunks.
       Not long after he had plowed, there was a huge storm. The intense rain broke up Bill’s soil from large chunks into small pieces which were perfect for planting. Many of his neighbors who had plowed their soil into small pieces lost their soil to erosion when the rain fell so violently. Bill had tried to warn his neighbors and explain to them what God had shown him in advance, but they thought he was crazy.
       Bill then explained to me that the Lord had shown him we were going to have a major correction in the stock market. He told me many companies would be wiped out. I did not doubt Bill’s story about the warning the Lord gave him when he was farming. However, the stock market was booming, and I did not think Bill knew what he was talking about. Like his doubting neighbors, I discounted his warning completely. 
       Four months later, in March of 2000, the dot com bubble burst. I lost most of the money we had in the stock market, because I had moved it into high tech mutual funds. Then, in 2007, Bill gave me another warning about what he saw coming, which I ignored. I told myself I would listen and obey if Bill ever warned me about our situation again. I learned it is not easy to obey a word from the Lord that comes through someone else. 
       Two years ago, Bill sent me another warning about what he saw coming to America. I tucked this word into my heart. I felt the bubble of our debt-fueled prosperity would burst. We would be called to account for our pride, prejudice and pornography—among other issues. When I first tried to warn some of my business friends about the length and depth of the struggles we are now facing, they treated me the way I treated Bill in 2000. “I respect you, brother, but you are out of your depth on this issue.”
       I have no more earned the right to speak as an authority on our economy than I have earned the right to speak to a sports professional about his team, or doctors about their medical practices. With one caveat:
       He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with him.(Daniel 2:22)
       Sometimes, to reveal His glory, God shows his servants things beyond their pay grade.

Go Horizontal

by Alan Heller, Personal Life Coach and Counselor
alan@walkandtalk.org

ISAIAH 58:6-9 (TLB)

No, the kind of fast I want is that you stop oppressing those who work for you and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I want you to share your food with the hungry and bring right into your own homes those who are helpless, poor, and destitute. Clothe those who are cold, and don’t hide from relatives who need your help. If you do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon you. He will heal you; your godliness will lead you forward, goodness will be a shield before you, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind. Then, when you call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,” he will quickly reply.
–Isaiah 58:6-9 (TLB)

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
–MMatthew 25:35-36 (NIV)

God tells us we should minister in practical ways to hungry people, unclothed people, unprotected people, prisoners, widows, and orphans. We’re to share our food, our homes, our clothing, and our abundance with those in need. As we do these things to others, it is as if we are doing them for Jesus Himself.

There are so many who need encouragement during this time. It should not be hard to find those who you could give to today. First responders, those in your neighborhood who are high risk that need someone to just ask, “How are you doing? Can I pray for you ? Can I get something at the store for you?”

QUESTION: 

How can you be involved in serving the Lord, by serving others in the ways mentioned in these verses? Who are the widows, prisoners, orphans you can give to today? Who are poor in spirit that you can write, call, Zoom etc. ?

PRAYER: 

May You shed Your glorious light upon me. May You heal me. May You lead me forward in Your ways, and protect me from behind. May your goodness be a shield for me. May I call and You quickly reply. Help me pour out Your abundant blessings on others.

ACTION: 

Listen to God and take action. Go! And do what He tells you to do. No matter how small an action.

Good Reads

Looking for something to read? We asked our pastors and staff what books they’d like to recommend.

David Stockton:

Song of Albion trilogy by Stephen R. Lawhead:
The Paradise War
The Silver Hand
The Endless Knot
Fiction. A more grown up Narnia-type series. Super well-written, has Christian undertones, and is a fun mental break during this time.

Mark Buckley:

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
From Darkness into Light–My Journey by Mark Buckley
Talking with Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Jay Murphy:

How to Worship a King by Zach Neese
Lifesigns: Intimacy, Fecundity, and Ecstasy in Christian Perspective
by Henri J. M. Nouwen. 

Faith Cummings:

The Insanity of God by Nik Ripkin
The Insanity of Obedience by Nik Ripkin
This Day We Fight by Francis Frangipane
The Three Battlegrounds by Francis Frangipane
Victory over the Darkness by Neil T. Anderson
The Bondage Breaker by Neil T. Anderson

Kurt Cotter:

Visions Beyond the Veil by H. A. Baker
Living a Life of Fire by Reinhard Bonnke

Eddie Morales:

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer
The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
Secret Power by D. L. Moody

Tammy Valdez:

Destined for the Throne by Paul Billheimer
With: Reimaging the Way You Relate to God by Skye Jethani
Becoming Who You Are by Dutch Sheets
Encounters with Jesus by Timothy Keller

Arthur Le:

The Way of the Dragon Or The Way of the Lamb
by Jamin Goggin & Kyle Strobel

Jeremy Thompson:

God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew
The Autobiography of George Müller by George Müller

Isaiah Gomez:

Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique DuBois Gilliard
Radical by David Platt
Jesus, Continued by J. D. Greear
Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Sharon Welch:

42 Seconds: The Jesus Model for Everyday Interactions
by Carl Medearis
Adventures in Saying Yes by Carl Medearis
Tea with Hezbollah by Ted Dekker and Carl Medearis
Taking Men Alive by Charles G. Trumbell

Cleiton Oliveira:

A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene H. Peterson
The Rise of Christianity by Rodney Stark
Liquid Love: On the Frailty of Human Bonds by Zygmunt Bauman
Generous Justice by Timothy Keller
The Gospel According to Paul by John MacArthur
El Laberinto de la Soledad by Octavio Paz

Jenn Taylor:

I Declare War: Four Keys to Winning the Battle with Yourself
by Levi Lusko

Morgan Breitling:

Boundaries by John Townsend and Henry Cloud
The Wounded Healer by Henri J. M. Nouwen
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Debbie Becker:

Fervent by Priscilla Shirer
Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground by Ryan Romeo