the Hungry

[traveller]

WISDOM first posted this several months ago. I thought it worth revisiting. I think it is very powerful and, unfortunately, so very real. Do I do this? If I am willing to pray to help someone, am I also willing to be the answer to that prayer? Are you?

I was hungry,

and you formed a humanities club

and discussed my hunger.

Thank you.

I was imprisoned

and you crept off quietly

to your chapel in the cellar

and prayed for my release.

I was naked

and in your mind

you debated the morality

of my appearance.

I was sick

and you knelt

and thanked GOD

for your health.

I was homeless

and you preached to me

of the spiritual shelter

of the love of GOD.

I was lonely

and you left me alone

to pray for me.

You seem so holy,

so powerful

so close to GOD

But I'm still VERY hungry

and lonely and cold.

Anonymous

[OneAccord]

James 2:15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16And one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?

[Bill]

As I think of this...this phrase comes to mind:

Love is an action verb.

Many times we express ourselves as having the love of Christ, and wanting to share that with others. We in our minds think that praying for someone's release or healing, praying that someone be provided for (food, shelter, etc.) is expression of that love....and it is ONE expression.

Sometimes we either are or need to be pressed by God to do more than just pray. To do more than talk about the idea of ministering to those less fortunate than ourselves. To do more than debate the rights and wrongs in society. It's my opinion that the ideal expression of God's love...agape love...needs hands and feet and a face.

Maybe that face is me. Maybe it's you.

Good challenge for all of us. Thanks for the reminder Trav!

Matthew 25:35-40 -- 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed You, or thisrty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?" And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

[eric]

AMEN! to all those postings.

[Catsmeow]

That initial post sends chills to me..! Wow! Powerful and moving....

People are so willing to talk the talk but when it comes to taking action, they're do-nothings... :wow:

[boblandis]

Bill did an incredible job of answering this and leaves nothing to be said.

[tsth]

Not to take away from the original intent of travellers post, but I would like to add another viewpoint on "hunger".

Our nation is in a famine right now, but it is not of "food", it is of the Truth. There are many who are hungering for the Truth to be told to them. There are families drowning in debt, because someone has not shared with them the Word of Christ and the meaning of His richness. There are husbands and wives who are dying for love and on the verge of adultery, because someone has not shared with them the Truth about what adultery does to a nation in the eyes of the Lord and how it not only destroys a family, but ultimately will not be the answer for that person. There are children who are dying for adult leadership and guidance, only because no one has shared the Word of Truth to parents about what God's Word says about raising and caring for their children in Truth, not by materialism and permissiveness.

The famine and hunger in this day and time, is due to the fact that we are afraid to speak the Truth in love, and therefore cover over a multitude of sins. We must begin to share what we know from our Father. He gave it to us to Feed the flock! Let's not keep it to ourselves any longer, let's speak the Truth to our neighbors and friends, but please, do so in love, because you care not only for your own, but for those around you. Because you care enough to go out on a limb and be bold enough to chance angering someone, in hopes that in the long run they would see and be helped. Let's feed others around us according to the Word of the Lord, in His Love......isn't that what Jesus did?

Eph. 4:17 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus:22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. 28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

Let's feed the hungry with the Word of Life.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[eric]

Good post Suzanne. Man can not live on bread alone. How true.

[tsth]

for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

Isaiah 32:6 For the foolish person will speak foolishness, And his heart will work iniquity: To practice ungodliness, To utter error against the Lord, To keep the hungry unsatisfied, And he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.

The Word of the Lord is our food and our water, we are to share this food and water, feed the hungry and the poor.

Mark 2:2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.

Mr 4:14 The sower sows the word.

Luke 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

John 4:32 But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." 33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"

John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

John 6:50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die.

1 Cor. 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' "

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Rev. 19:13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

In His Love,

Suzanne

[tsth]

Amos 8:11 "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord God, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.