For those struggling financially …
Never stop helping other people. No matter how destitute you become, God will show you a way to enrich someone else. After Hurricane Katrina, I had the honor of serving some of the people of the state of Mississippi. I arrived at Waveland, Mississippi a few days after the hurricane. We set up shop in the parking lot of a K-Mart. Right next to us was a field hospital surrounded by rolls of razor wire and a pile of cars bulldozed together. The people we met had lost everything. For most of them, their uninsured houses were wiped clean off the face of the earth without a trace remaining. They were hungry, dazed, tired, sleeping in the streets. Yet, from them I learned the meaning of real wealth. If they had two bottles of water, they offered me one. If all they had left was a smile, then it was given away freely. I went away feeling indebted to them, rather than the other way around. Even on the cross, Jesus, stripped of everything, offered eternal life.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid…” — Luke 2:8-10
I don’t know about you, but I think I would have been terrified also.
Without too much trouble, an angel put to death 185,000 Assyrian soldiers one night when a king got a little too uppity about the God of Judah. I heard a story once about an angel, sword in hand, who showed up in a bar down in Mexico to inform a certain man that he needed to give a certain widow the money he owed her. That would sober me up.
We may have all kinds of reasons to be afraid, but here in this shepherd’s pasture, God skips over them, and assures us that terrifying us is not on His agenda.
One night I had a dream that heaven was opening, and I knew at any moment I would see God. I thought I would be scared witless. But I wasn’t. Instead, I was filled with an awe I cannot describe. It would be something like seeing a thousand Grand Canyons all in one moment.
I hang on to stuff like this. To me, one of God’s greatest gifts has been the words, “Do not be afraid …”
Be encouraged!
Dwight
What happens when you partner with Dwight Clough Ministries?
Victims of violent crimes and survivors of abuse are finding peace,
wholeness, the power to forgive and the strength to set boundaries.
Those ensnared by addictions are finding freedom. Marriages are being
restored. Families are strengthened. Christian brothers and sisters in
restricted lands who face persecution are finding strength and
encouragement. Young believers are learning how to walk with the Lord,
and people are coming into the faith for the first time. None of this
happens as a result of one person’s efforts, but rather this is God’s
work as He blesses the sacrifice of many people including yourself. We
partner with you, with other ministries, and, most significantly, with
the Lord. That’s how the supernatural happens.
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