No Needy Persons Among Them
“And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.” Acts 4:33-34
Welcome to Peniel CrossRoads, where we embrace Jesus’s heart and together live out the call to biblical unity!
We knelt together at the front of the church at open altar prayer time. I assumed my friend was praying for her children, as we had prayed about more than one distressing situation before. I had already witnessed her strong faith in her Heavenly Father to work it out. We prayed silently at first but then the Spirit began to intercede through me aloud. Her assent was clear, as she verbally echoed my prayers with “Yes, Lord” and “Amen”. We declared in agreement that God is able to do anything He desires concerning His children.
As altar time ended, I relayed to her that if she needed anything, she could let the church know. Her brief response, without hesitation, was, “I need food.” As a single mom, this woman had done everything she could to provide for her children materially but also with the gift of her presence. By necessity, she works as support staff for a public school district during the school year so she can be present to her children during vacations. We were in the middle of a long summer holiday.
After service, I referred her to the food closet in the church’s downstairs classroom. Unselfishly, she took a few items, saying the others were supplies she already had. I notified her of the food pantries in our city and their open hours. She was not aware of these resources and thanked me for the information. But I still had a choice…our refrigerator was full of leftovers from a party we’d had two nights before. Our family had food to spare. We had never shared a meal with this family before, so I invited her and the children over “to help us finish off the leftovers”.
We brought the mom and her little girl to the day camp starting at church that afternoon, although we registered a little late. Thanks to the attentiveness of a thoughtful ministry worker, my friend’s little girl was assigned to my adult daughter’s small group. At checkout time, we picked them both up and headed home to eat leftovers together.
Following the meal, our daughter read to the 3-year-old while I read to the 8-year-old. The 8-year-old asked lots of questions about our home. Then she said something that stunned me: “This is a blessing house.”
Pause…Gulp…WOW.
A little child shall lead them.
It had been a challenging week for my family emotionally and spiritually, even though we’d poured ourselves out in ministry. I firmly believe: the more we expose the enemy’s tactics and seek to be a blessing to others by following the Spirit’s lead, the more we can expect Satan to try to confuse, accuse and destroy what we have in Christ. Gratefully, we combatted the enemy’s lies and the attempts to bring confusion and misunderstanding with prayer and worship. The NAME of Jesus and the presence of His Spirit are a covering and a fire all around us, if we will only invite them.
“The Name of the LORD is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10, NIV)
The combination of these two things—spiritual resistance and bearing the burdens of our fellow brothers and sisters—so often go hand-in-hand. We cannot expect one without the other, because when God’s Kingdom shows up, even in our human hearts, we cannot take credit for any blessing that comes out of it. God is at work in us, around us and through us as we embrace His commands and obey the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When we get our eyes onto the King and HIS Kingdom, we cannot help but recognize the works HE is doing!
And when we live for the glory of the King, we will bask in the overflow of His blessing.
“ ‘And I myself will be a wall of fire around [Jerusalem],’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’” Zechariah 2:5
“I will bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.” Psalm 138:2, NLT