Spontaneous favor!!!!
Philemon 1:14” any favor you do must be spontaneous and not forced.”
It was a hectic day of Christmas feast and other Christmas related activities, after coming back home, while I was reading my Bible reading potion for the day, I came across the above scripture which just stuck to me. I immediately started writing my thoughts that came gushing out like from a dam.
Well, being a mother of two grown up adults now, what I share will heal Christian ministers, comfort, encourage someone out there, may be a missionary who feels marooned out in an island, a woman pastor who feels over loaded or a youth leader who feels lost.
Paul writes to Philemon and tells him “ if you want to help me, let it come spontaneously and not forced, this statement comes out from a man totally surrendered to Christ. You know what, I have found out from my several years of experience that ‘force only creates chaos’, if the Holy Spirit does not work in the lives of people, nothing moves. We have held 3 days ‘Soldiers for Christ’ camp, travelling from one state to another, 14 hours in train, so we needed loads and loads of help, volunteers, supporters, who must do it spontaneously and not forced. Do you think you will get this kind of ‘spontaneous helpers’ easily? Never. Be it camp meetings, Fasting meetings, Youth camps etc., my husband had to get the banners printed and also put them in appropriate places himself. Rarely would people come and ask, “ how can I help?”, they quietly slip away. Dear Christian, as you read this devotion, examine your heart today!
During RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh )Hindu outfit camps, people take leave from their work and go to help in camp work. A brahmin lady who was working as a teacher in my Abide School, would take leave from work and go along with her husband to Tirupati Temple to help them during peak darshan seasons. They don’t get money for their travel or food, they spend from their own pocket and do this, expecting no ‘volunteer award’ for this. This is done silently. Do we have this kind of workers in churches? Despite million announcements, nobody turns up on their own to help. There was great tension during one of our camp meetings, when the lady who washed the vessels suddenly vanished in the evening, leaving us in a lurch. After dinner, huge dirty vessels were left behind, the cook refused to cook breakfast the next day if the vessels were not washed. Though the people who came to attend the ‘fire meetings’ were aware of the problems; yet, people went back to their rooms to sleep, none volunteered to help. Finally my daughter along with another person, got the vessels washed. Where are the spontaneous workers? I actually cried out once to the Lord, ‘why not people just come for the sake of help?’ How good is it for believers to attend the prayer meetings but not lift their little fingers when there is a need? Tell me.
In verse 20, Apostle Paul subtly reminds “Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Gandhi
The BEST way to show our gratitude to God is by pouring ourselves into His work and helping the church ministry activities in whatever way we can. How can you be passive when there is colossal work right in front of you? Just throwing few dollars is not enough, God needs you! Anybody listening?
“Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
After 20 years of ministry running a free school for the poor as a Principal, Teacher, Writer, Helper and so on....God opened a door for me to start ‘5 am Early morning Booster prayer’ during the 2020 lockdown period. With so much already on your plate, do you want to do this was the question from all quarters; nevertheless, God propelled me to go ahead. People, mostly women from various States, abroad and from other time zones join me, it is going steady till date. God knows your stamina, energy and fortitude, He knows how to dig and bring the gold out from you. Once I asked a gentleman, son of a pastor to prepare agenda (for one day only) for the Booster group meeting, from the day next day he vanished, when asked he said, ‘I am very busy with my children and family, I have no time to prepare agenda and he eventually stopped attending the meeting too. Such is the pathetic condition of our body of Christ today! Christians today want to be just in the audience, watch worship like ‘light music entertainment’ and then leave church to stand in the queue to buy mutton for Sunday. Job over. God is watching the callous lives of Christians!
I attended Prophet Ezekiah Francis camp meeting and was astounded to find Engineers, Executives and highly educated youth working as cooks in the kitchen, they were spontaneous workers for the Lord’s Vineyard. Technicians, Electricians, helpers and cleaners were all ‘spontaneous workers’ Prophet Ezekiah Francis had sowed his life in God’s ministry during his youth days and now in his late sixties, he is reaping the harvest. Spontaneous helpers are hidden and they do the job silently and leave.
Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they have the heart.” – Elizabeth Andrew
