realmiraclessm
Handley WORLD SERVICES™
Foundation
a National Heritage Foundation
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realmiraclessm Handley WORLD SERVICES™
Foundation
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INTRODUCTION By God’s grace, you have just decided to benefit from the best ministry course in the world. Designed, not to "grind out" students, but to develop your abilities in the power of the Spirit ... and to help you receive NEW GIFTS from God ... so that you will be a well-adjusted, seasoned and mature, new sharp threshing instrument for the Lord! You will live in a fresh power, using the wisdom God gives you, so that you will have fun and enjoy the Lord, even in hard times. You will have JOY with the POWER, even in the times of trouble. You will have miracles ... for you and for others, so you can win the world for Christ and tell the nations about the "greatness" of your Father God!!! Now ... let’s get started!
MEETING NEEDS True spirituality is "seeing a need and meeting it." Sometimes, you may not be able to physically meet the needs of other people. But, you can always take the people to God in prayer. Actually, that’s what ministry is: "serving people by taking them to God". Our beloved brother James said, "Suppose there are brothers or sisters who need clothes and don’t have enough to eat. What good is there in your saying to them, ‘God bless you! Keep warm and eat well!’ -- if you don’t give them the necessities of life? So it is with faith: if it is alone and has no actions with it, then it is dead." [James 2:15-17] Prayer is an "action" that you can always take. It is not an excuse to keep from helping someone in a physical way. The most important thing you can always give a person is the Word of God. If you give money to a poor person, he will usually end up being poor again; however, if you give him the Gospel (all the Good News, not part of it), he will learn how to serve God and to tithe and offer to His Heavenly Father; then, God will take care of him and he will not starve in time of famine. [Read Psalm 33:18-19; Psalm 37:18-19; Job 5:19-27; Malachi 3:10-11.] Some Christians make the mistake of giving people money or physical help but without giving them the Good News of Christ. People need to know how to be saved and to walk in the prosperity and the heath and the power of God. They need to know how to live a victorious life: how to have power over the world, the flesh, and the devil! Other Christians make the mistake of giving people the Word of God, but never helping them physically. What does the Word of God tell you to do? Read James 2:15-17 again. It is talking about a Christian brother or sister who is in need of the "necessities of life": things needful to the body. Not someone who is making a living by taking advantage of you or the saints; it is talking about a brother or sister in the Lord: someone who belongs to Christ, who needs help and who comes to you for help. Study carefully Deuteronomy 15:7-11. God, through Moses, gave instruction to Jews about taking care of their Jewish brethren who were poor and needy. Satan would like to steal all your money by condemning you with guilt for not feeding the world (a hunger situation caused by the devil, himself, when he tempted man to separate himself from God in the Garden of Eden). With all your money gone, you will then have nothing left with which to buy Bibles, or to help the saints in need, or to purchase media for the Gospel to be preached on TV or radio or in the newspapers. No money for cassettes to get out the gospel. No money left to buy bicycles to travel to villages with the Gospel. No money left to evangelize the lost or to teach the saints. No money left for you to get together with your Christian brothers and sisters and worship you Father God! So what do you do in a situation which involves another person’s need? Here’s your answer: If it is NOT a close Christian brother or sister as described in James 2:5-17, (God’s Word already tells you what to do in that case), then your first action should be to PRAY:
Jesus said, "Give to him who asks you, and do not turn from him who wants to borrow from you." [Matthew 5:42] He also told us, "Of him who takes away your goods, do not ask them back again...away but love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing back again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest; for He is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Therefore, you be merciful, like your Father also is merciful." [Luke 6:30-36] You may feel that there is a conflict between #B and #C under Item #2 above. Not so! The answer lies in priority and your responsibility under God. A person may come to you to borrow $50 (or 50 Francs or 50 Cedi or 50 Pesos or 50 Lira or 50 Rupees) and you may have it in your possession; however, if your first priority is NOT to loan either your friend or your enemy $50; it is to take care of your responsibility, under God, to either your landlord or your family, whichever the case may be. It is also possible that God may answer you with #A above and tell you to help a person, or to loan him $50, even though your family is hungry and you owe the landlord! This is one of the times it is very important to know the voice of God: to know how to be led by the Spirit of God! Time after time, God has asked me to give away all the money that I have had. However, on other occasions, God has told me, "Don’t do anything; this is a trick of the devil to steal your money!" or "Don’t do anything; this is not a valid request!" Another example of priority and your responsibility under God as regards helping those in need might be as follows: Let’s suppose someone comes to you and asks you for a certain amount of money; and let’s suppose, also, that for several months you have been saving money so that you can buy a particular piece of equipment that you need for God’s work: something that will help you reach more people for Christ. Or, Perhaps, you have been saving money for a particular evangelistic project, possibly to reach several million people with the message of Christ. To whom is your priority in this case? The millions of people who are lost and on their way to Hell, or the one man who needs physical help? Which is more important in regards to your responsibility to God: Obeying the Scriptural command of Jesus in Matthew 5:42, "Give to him who asks you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you,"; or obeying the Scriptural Command of Jesus in the Great Commission, "Go ... and teach (disciple) all nations." If God has been leading you to save money to reach people for Christ, would it not be unwise to then give it away? Rather, would it not be the devil wanting to take it away? This is why you must know how to be led by the Spirit of God! Why are you in the ministry, or service, of God? First, you are to serve God; next, you are to serve mankind. "The Son of Man (Jesus) came not to be served, but to serve others." You are to love God first; and then to love your neighbor as yourself. You can always PRAY for others and take them to God for a miracle. You can GIVE GOD’S WORD to others. Sometimes you can give PHYSICAL HELP to others. The greatest work is to help people eternally; but it is also good if you can help them while they are here on earth. There are many ways to help a person here on earth, but the "highest way" is to help them to know God personally.
They will have God to help them, to lead them, to keep them alive in famine, and to help them to help others. God will be their Father! True spirituality is "seeing a need and meeting it!"
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