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REACH OUT TO THE POOR Sunday 11 December


Open Heavens Devotional by Pastor E.A. Adeboye

MEMORIZE: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,” (Luke 4:18).

READ: Luke 4:16-21

In John 17:15-16, while praying for His disciples, Jesus said they were in the world but not of the world. This means that as believers, we do not originate from earth. We are of God and from God. We are only strangers and pilgrims on earth; hence, we should never allow any material thing on earth to hold us down. The people of the world cling tenaciously to the things of the earth – power, position, money, assets, etc. They are ready to bow to Satan in order to get these things. In Matthew 4:8-11, the devil asked the Lord to bow like others in order to get power, but He refused. Unfortunately, many pastors and Christian leaders are bowing to Satan in order to acquire such things today. Do you know that there are pastors who do not know the way to the houses of poor members of their churches? Yet, they regularly visit their rich members who they see as spiritual clients. They can do anything for the rich because of what they can get from them. Do you know that true ministry is to the poor? Luke 4:18 says the purpose the Spirit comes upon an individual is to make the fellow relevant to the poor.

If you are not ministering to the poor, that is, spiritually and financially impoverished people, your ministry is suspect. Any ministry that is not catering to the needs of the poor and needy through counseling, prayers and other means, will be exposed to the devil. If intensive prayers are not made for them, such ministries will soon be written off. There is nothing wrong with ministering to the rich and affluent people in the society, but any pastor whose ‘calling’ is restricted to only the rich should have his or her ministerial mandate examined. Can you imagine that when some pastors are transferred to local church in a remote part of the town or city, the first thing that occurs to them is: ‘how many rich people will I find there?’ Most church leaders who claim to have the call of God, hardly ever feel called to minister to villagers but to those in the city. This clearly shows that for many, the motivation for ministry is not God but money. They are in business, not that of Christ but of self, using the name of Christ fraudulently. Are you such a leader? This is why we should pray more for our leaders.

PRAYER POINT
Ask that your life will minister to the poor.
 
Bible in One year: Job 14-17

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