Faith-bearing Seed for the Soul
"The sower soweth the Word."

Mark 4:14

How To Be Poor and Needy...

When I was in my teens my mom told me that when I got married, if it didn't work out that I could never come back home, that, "If I made my bed, I was going to have to sleep in it." I thought she said that because I was adopted and that she didn't love me. Later in life, I found out that her insistence on my taking responsibility for my decisions and actions was the greatest blessing she could have given me.

I'm not insensitive to the handicapped, I've been one. However, in Epeshians 4:15, we are admonished to speak the truth in love, if we are ever to grow into the stature of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here goes...

Our choices and decisions, good or bad, will have consequences. I'd like to talk about a man written about in the Bible that made decisions that resulted in his being poor and needy, and contrast him with two of the presidents of the United States.

In Acts 3, Peter and John came across a man who had been born crippled, who customarily begged at the gate of the temple. Let's look at his pitiful existence that some of
his friends contributed to:

1) He depended on a small group of friends (who I'm sure thought they were helping) to carry him to the temple gate each day.

2) There he sat and begged for his existence until they came back to carry him home. This went on day after day. When he met Peter and John, they refused to give him money, and they made him look at them (Acts 3:4). They had no money, but they weren't begging. But, you might think, "Yeah, but they weren't crippled!

In contrast to this beggar, let's take a look at two men who became president of the US despite their health issues, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. At age 43, Theodore became president...the youngest ever at that point. He was an advocate of "The Strenuous Life." He was born with ill health, but he never allowed that to deter him. He believed that the more difficulties we have, the more determined and patient we should learn to become.

Romans 5:3
"...We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."

Acts 14:22 NIV
"We must go through many hardships to enter into the Kingdom of God."

Later, Theodore's fifth cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, a great admirer of Theodore, followed in his footsteps. Franklin was nominated as a candidate for Vice President in 1920, and disaster struck in early 1921. He got polio and became crippled. However, in 1928 he became governor of NY City, and went on to become president in 1932. Few even knew he was crippled. He didn't use his disability to get others to "carry" him through life. He never felt sorry for himself,
and never begged for his existence.

I'm sure if anyone had asked this crippled man at the gate how he supported himself, he would have said, "By faith." And that would have been so far from the truth...What was truly crippling" this man's life? Was it crooked legs? Or was it his lack of faith in Jesus Christ? Peter and John, rather than giving him what he asked for, silver or gold, imparted to him
what they themselves possessed, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The man was immediately healed, in the name of Jesus, and his means for begging was gone forever. He went walking and leaping and praising God.

Many of us are dealt hardships...We can use them to make us stronger, or we can yield to them and stay poor and needy. If you want to be poor and needy, do this:

1. Look to others to carry you; take no responsibilty for yourself or your family, if you have one...

2. Depend on other than yourslef to supply your needs...

3. Feel sorry for yourself, become inferior, and use your handicap as an excuse to not work or educate yourself...

Do these things, and like this man who begged for a great portion of his life, you will be guaranteed to continue to be poor and needy for the rest of your life...unless...some man or
women of God comes along and makes you take a look at the Truth, and you choose to accept the truth and allow Jesus to make you strong in body, soul and spirit.

Rooted and grounded in the love of Christ Jesus,

Marlene JuHaros,
TexasSower@prayervine.org

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