Back home the church modeled itself according to the early church… as we lived every day in expectation of the Lord to return soon. So there is constant giving and sharing. All those who have secular jobs know fully well that it is God who provides us with jobs… not that we earn to consume it for ourselves… not that we hoard it for our children or our children’s children… but God provides us with material resources so that we provide for our brothers and sisters in need… to help provide for those who leave their secular jobs in order to evangelize to the lost.

It is a delight to see the church that I attend here also doing a lot to meet the financial burden of its needy members by giving… and even helping them find jobs. The previous church I attended before relocating also gave generously to its own in need… and shared in the burden of their single parents.

This is exactly the meaning of fellowship… to demonstrate our faith/love in action. We must first meet the needs of our own brothers and sisters in Christ… i.e. those who belong to the household of faith. “It’s not right to take bread out of children’s mouths and throw it to their dogs.” Sorry, people… if this sounds offensive to you … but honestly speaking…if we cannot serve and meet the needs of our own fellow believers… how can we even think of helping unbelievers?

Besides, in the end the King will tell the sheep in His right to enter into His kingdom because… they helped and met the needs of… not unbelievers of the world… but those who met the needs of their own brethren! Who is my neighbor that I am called to love? It is the blood-bought saint… my very own brother and sister in Christ!

This does not mean that we should not seek to do good to unbelievers. The immediate church family is always the first priority. We must first care for our own household… to do good works of mercy and compassion. Our benevolence however, is not just limited to the children of the household… namely Christians… it first fulfills the needs of those within our household and then overflows beyond our boundaries to fulfill the needs of those who are in the world.

It is unfortunate that sometimes in our zeal as good Samaritans we tend to do this the other way around… that is focus on feeding the unbelievers while our fellow-believers are left to feed on the scraps that fall off our tables. Just my thoughts…

pappy58, with all this worrying are you able to add even an inch to your height? Unless we experience troubles, we will have no experience of what it means to exercise our God-given faith… to simply trust God. Remember it is God who has created you, your wife and your children and it is He who cares for all of you…. not you or your job or your employer.

If you are a Christian who believes in Christ… then your Christian journey is on the train called faith… and the engine driver is Christ. When the train goes through the tunnel of sickness, unemployment… and the world gets dark due to death or poverty, will you jump out? Of course not! You sit still and trust Christ even if you don’t understand His language or instructions… He perfectly knows the way and will certainly get you through. Praying for you…

I do not believe I have ever heard God “speak” to me. I have gotten emotional at times just in thought or when I hear a particular song on the radio. Just yesterday, my wife and I were enroute to sign a lease on our new apartment. We can only rent because my credit is a mess from my divorce,whch, by the way, I tried my best to fight. Anyway, this old man was staring at the road that we were just pulling out of. The poor guy looked like he was lost, so I stopped right there and asked him what he was doing. He said he was looking for the bus stop. I told him that it was right across the street but it was a busy one so I would help him cross. So, I took him by the arm and we crossed together. He was walking with a cane and had a cast on his left arm like he had just returned from a hospital. Anyways, he thanked me and told me he lived in a place downtown where homeless people do. I told him to stay by the bus stop and stay close to the sign so he would not wander off.

On the way to the apartment I spoke to my wife and then I realized, he probably did not have bus fare. As we were enroute, we spotted a shopping cart left close to the road with stuff in it. When I though where this man might go, a tear welled in my eyes. If this was his cart, he surely wandered a long way. Unfortunately we were running late for our appointment and could only do so much. So she called the police and they took care of the situation. The officer said that the man got safely on the bus and all was well.

I could not clear my mind. I kept thinking that I should have taken the time to stop and wait with him for the bus, then pay his fare and watch him get seated. i mean if I was truly walking in fellowship with Him, wouldn’t I have thought about this sooner?
Afterward, my wife asked me if I felt good about my good samaritan act. I jokingly remarked,”yes I do, but I wonder what else will go wrong in my life now that I did this thing?”

Could this have been the voice of God? I don’t know. All I know is I will keep striving to be like Joshua and try my best to to what I believe the Lord wants me to do. I just wish He would make it much more clear to me. I’m so confused!

Pooh. I have distinguished needs and wants. I never buy anything myself for myself because I am always preoccupied with helping other family members. Mostly when I pray I pray for others. For the very first time that I can remember, I waited in line a few weeks ago for food at a local church. It sure was embarrassing for me, but I did it. This was when we had not received a check of any kind in a month. The only reason I agreed to do it is because my wife is a Diabetic and she needed food. Anyways, she called me just before my number came up to receive the food and told me my check finally arrived. I walked up to the lady from the church, handed her my number, and told her to give this to someone with a higher number, because I do not need it anymore. Then I walked off.

If God speaks to me directly, I believe it is in a language that I don’t understand.

He has spoken to me, I, like all of HIS sheep know HIS voice and recognize HIM.

I’ll say this about hearing God speak, HE gets all your attention and you don’t forget and you want more.

Steve

I am praying for each of you who are going through difficulties. Yes, times are tough, but we have an amazing God who cares about each of us, individually. Trusting and praying that He will make a way for each one of you as you deal with life’s daily struggles.

Mtman, I can identify with the experience you “sat on” for 30+ years. A few weeks ago I shared a similar experience that I also “sat on” for just about as long as you have. I feared sharing it because I believed that it would be dismissed as a figment of my imagination because “they” say: “God does not speak, audibly, to people these days.” I did not want to be ridiculed for it.

Fortunately she can do all this because she has no other family responsibilities. That is about to change. She was on a missions trip to Brazil three summers ago. Near the end of the trip she met a man who was involved in the ministry of the church they had come down to assist. They began communicating – first by email, then by phone. She returned to Brazil last summer to get to know him & his family better and came home engaged. Right after arriving home is when her employment ended.

Her fiance’s visa process started last fall. It was approved in March and he arrived in the U.S. two weeks ago. According to regulations they must be married within 90 days of his stepping foot on U.S. soil. Their wedding will be on July 11th. Hubby & I would have liked to help contribute to the wedding expenses, but due to my unexpected surgery in February and no health insurance, living on a fixed income & little savings, we just get by.

Our daughter’s fiance’s English is coming along fairly well, but being new here and jobs scarce he probably will have difficulty finding employment. He is a very dedicated Christian. Like my daughter, he is trusting God to provide for their needs – a trust that I have found lacking in many Christians who have walked with the Lord for years.

Throughout our lives, when circumstances seemed at their darkest, the Lord always came through for us. He is an amazing God!

In the Summer of 1999 my 21 year old son wrecked his car and spent the next 23 days in intensive care. The doctors gave him no chance at surviving or ever waking from the coma he was in.

In October of 1999 his mother, my wife of 30 years discovered she had cancer.

I had to quit working and stay at home to take care of my family. During the next several months our financial situation become very grave as did Rita’s health.

Our local churches held fund raisers and took up special collections for our benifit. Their efforts saved us from ruin and carried us through until Social Secruity could come into play.

We weren’t as desperate as some others, because of planning and decisions made early in life. But during this dark period in our lives the church certainly came to our rescue.

Steve