Faith that Works

James 2:14-17

If a church member were to come to you for help, what would you do?  Would you say to him or her, “Don’t worry, God will provide”?  What if God sent that person to you?

James is telling us that when people come to us for help, we ought to do what we can.  Words of faith will not do them any good.  But faith accompanied by works would benefit them greatly.  James mentions two needs that a person may have–clothes and food.  You simply can’t see a person naked and hungry and send them away hoping and praying that things will work out.  What good is your faith if you didn’t use it to help that person?  When you see a need, don’t miss an opportunity to exercise the faith you say you have.  Perhaps you can provide only one of those needs but that’s fine.  What you cannot provide, someone else could.  Perhaps a friend or another church member could help.  You pick up the phone and call.  Let the person who came to you see your faith in action.  Words will bring that person little comfort if they are not followed by actions.  It’s a matter of don’t tell me you care, show me.

If someone came to you for food and a place to stay but you can’t provide either, don’t send him or her away.  Invite the person in.  Have faith that God will show you what to do.  Perhaps, He will bring to your mind two people.  One will prepare a meal for the person.  You take the person over to that friend’s house and while he or she is being fed, you call another friend who has a spare room.   Faith is no good to you or anyone else if it is not a faith that works.  Faith that is all talk and no action is worthless.  As James rightly said, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

 

Put On Christ

 

Romans 13:11-14

Paul talks about putting on Christ.  How do we do that?  When you put on clothes, what are you doing?  You are covering yourself, right?  Similarly, when you put on Christ, you are covering yourself with Him.   You have clothe yourself with Him.

What happens when we put on Christ?  We change.  We stop doing the things that would separate us from God–things that people do in the darkness.  When we put on Christ, we walk as children of light–not doing anything that is contrary to God’s will.  As Paul told the Ephesians, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8).

As children of light, we are to live decent lives, as people who live in the light of day with nothing to hide or be ashamed of.  Wild parties, drunkenness, sexual immorality, promiscuity, rivalry, and jealousy are no longer part of our lives.   We are different people.  We belong to Christ not the world.  We are no longer preoccupied with satisfying ourselves.  We live to please the Lord.  We put the will of the Father and the needs of others before our own.  When we put on Christ, people will see Him when they look at us.  

Today, put on Christ and allow Him to live through you.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me – Galatians 2:20

Prisha’s Calling

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven – Matthew 5:16

I read Prisha’s story and was touched by the love and compassion she and the other women missionaries showed the people of Punya Basti.  The village was ready for harvest but there were no labourers until God sent Prisha.  She had heard about Punya Basti.

The residents lived in squalor, with no electricity, running water or toilets.  Can you imagine living in such conditions? Although most of the villagers left for months at a time to find low-paying work and beg in other areas, they were still unable to feed their children three meals a day.  They couldn’t afford to sent them to school.  Amidst the squalor, alcohol and drug abuse were major concerns.  Fights frequently broke out.  Animal carcasses and burning waste littered the place, creating a stench so horrific that made outsiders drive recklessly through the village just to get away from it.  Outsiders looked down on the villagers because of their low caste and lack of hygiene and education.

The outsiders remind me of the scribes and Pharisees in Jesus’ time.  No doubt they would have avoided this village like it were a plague.  They would never set foot in it.  They would put as much distance between themselves and it and condemn the people instead of having compassion on them.  What about us?  We might feel sorry for the people but are we willing to do something to help to change their circumstances?  If God were to call us to go to such a place and minister to the people and share the Gospel, would we be willing to go?  Would we find excuses like Moses? Or would we run in the opposite direction like Jonah?

What would Jesus do?  I think it’s fair to say that He would go into that village and stay with the people.  And I also think the apostle Paul would do the same.  Sometimes God calls us out of our comfort zone and sends us to places we would never dream of going but there are people there who just need someone to show that they care.

Prisha was called to go to Punya Basti.  She knew that no one else wanted to go.  Even as she might have had misgivings about being able to stick it out, she agreed to go.  Her leader suggested that she commute to the village from a safer nearby village where she would have more comfortable accommodations but Prisha refused.  She wanted to live among the villagers.

I don’t want to stay in a different place.  I want to stay in the midst of them, in the village, so I can understand their feelings . . . and they can understand the love that we want to show them.

How many of us would have been tempted to stay in the safer village and be more comfortable? Prisha wanted to be able to relate to the people so living apart from them was out of the question. Jesus went to those who were downtrodden, outcast, rejected and lost.  He was criticized for being with them.

No one said that it would be easy.   Thing were pretty bad.  The people rarely had baths or washed their clothes.  Just last night my son asked me if he had to take a bath.  If he had his way, he would skip bathing altogether.

Once Prisha’s landlord offered her and her fellow Sister of Compassion a glass of water.  Prisha was shocked when she looked at it.  It smelled so bad that they couldn’t drink from it.  This was not surprising because Gospel for Asia Pastor Hoob Kumar who served the village, mentioned that the women cooked and ate food out of dirty vessels.

Realizing the magnitude of what lay in front of them, Prisha and her co-worker spent their first week in prayer and fasting.  Then they found ways to help the villagers.  They started by sweeping out the village’s filthy drains.  At times, Prisha was overwhelmed by the filthiness of Punya Basti but she and the seven Sisters of Compassion who joined her resolved to embrace the villagers and share in their lives.   There are times when we feel overwhelmed and this is the time when the enemy will attack us but God gives us the strength to carry on.  He who calls us will equip us and will be with us.

Slowly we understood that if we don’t get to know them closely, we won’t be able to have relationships with them – Prisha.

The Sisters of Compassion helped the local women with their chores, took care of their babies and ate the food offered to them.  Can you imagine eating tortoise and mongoose?  Most of us would refuse to eat that but Prisha and her fellow workers didn’t.   Eventually, they earned the people’s trust. The villagers began to listen to and follow their advice.  The drinking and fighting stopped. Women once barely clothed, embarrassing Prisha were now dressing modestly.  They began to cook in healthier and cleaner ways.  The children started going to school and the Sisters of Compassion taught them how to bathe, brush their teeth, comb their hair and dress neatly–things that we and out children do everyday.  Great changes were happening in Punya Basti!

The Sisters were embraced by the villagers who began to see them as family because of the love these women had shown them.  Others had scorned them but these Sisters had shown them that there is a God who loved them and wanted to transform their lives.  It was not long before the people decided to follow the God who had sent the Sisters to them.  The love of Jesus permeates the village that had once been steeped in squalor, violence and discord.  They had received physical and spiritual cleansing.  The once filthy ground was now fertile.

Today, the vast majority of Punya Basti’s residents, numbering more than 1,000, proclaim faith in Jesus. Even when half of the village is away traveling for work, more than 200 people gather to worship Jesus each week, ready to learn more about the God who cared enough to send His daughters to live among them.

This story really inspired me.  A village that seemed beyond hope and redemption was transformed by a young woman who obeyed God’s call.  Through her and her fellow Sisters of Compassion, God reached out to the villagers, showing them that there is a better way.   She reflected God’s love and they responded.   I pray that when God calls us to serve Him in areas that others don’t want to go to, we will be like Prisha and simply obey.

Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me” – Isaiah 6:8.

If you are interested in learning more about the work of Sisters of Compassion, watch this http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1” target=”_blank”>video.

Source:  Gospel for Asia

Daya’s Timeline

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up – Psalm 27:10

Daya was like an orphan even though her parents were not dead.  They abandoned her and if it weren’t for her grandmother, she would have been completely alone.  Family life was terrible for her.  Her father beat her mother and then abandoned them both.  Her mother deserted her. Neither parent showed her any love.  There is nothing worse than a child not receiving parental love.

Things didn’t improve for Daya.   With no income, she and her grandmother were forced to beg at bus stops, train stations and shops.  It’s heartbreaking to see an elderly woman, with her grandchild in her arms, begging for something to eat.  The cook for a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope centre had to be cautious.  He knew that there were beggars who carried small children in order to get larger handouts and they pocketed most of the money for themselves.  He couldn’t tell if this beggar was on the level.  He asked her a question and demanded an answer.  Her response was to break down in tears and pour her heart out.

He learned that the woman was the child’s grandmother and that Daya had once been a happy child until strife tore her family apart.  Realizing that this woman was telling the truth and moved with compassion, the cook invited her to enroll Daya in the Bridge of Hope centre where he would cook the young girl meals.

Daya joined the Bridge of Hope centre lodged between a railway station and a slum. Unfortunately, she stood out from the rest of the children.  She was the poorest of the poor and living in the slums for much of her life, she didn’t know much about hygiene.  She went to class each day in the same dirty clothes.  She rarely had a bath and when she did, she didn’t use soap.

It was not long before some of the parents began to complain about Daya and they pressured the Bridge of Hope staff to drop her from the program.  They didn’t want this dirty child to be around their children.  They threatened to remove their children from the centre if she didn’t leave.

Daya’s future was in jeopardy.  If she was dropped from the program, she would return to the streets as one of the 300,000 child beggars in India.  Somewhere down the road, she would be among the 20 to 30 million boys and girls who are exploited as child laborers.  If it weren’t for her grandmother’s protection, Daya was at risk of becoming one of the 1.2 million Indian children abused as prostitutes.  And worse yet for Daya if her grandmother were to die.  She would be lost and her future would be hopeless.  She wouldn’ stand a chance in a society where evil men preyed on the innocent…

Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life – Psalm 54:4

The Bridge of Hope staff remained committed to helping Daya because they knew that God had brought her to them.  They decided to keep her in the program and undertook her hygiene problem.  They scrubbed the 8 year old and gave her new clothes.  By the time they were finished with Daya, you could hardly recognize her.  They continued to teach her and her classmates proper hygiene and other practical life skills.  These wonderful people of God didn’t cave into the demands of those parents who wanted them to expel Daya from the centre.  They followed the example of the apostles Peter and John in Acts 5:29 who, when the council demanded to know why they were continuing to preach in Jesus’ name after being commanded not to, replied,  “We ought to obey God rather than men.”  They had to do whatever was necessary to protect the welfare of this child whom God had rescued from a life on the streets.

I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly – John 10:10

Over six years have passed since Daya joined the Bridge of Hope centre.  Instead of dirty rags, she is wearing beautiful dresses given as her uniforms.  She had gone from being a beggar to being blessed.  She had gone from the streets to a sanctuary where she receives an education.  She is not in bonded labor or in a brothel.  She is enjoying liberty in Jesus.  She can realize her dream to be a teacher.  Daya, now 15 years old, has a relationship with a Father who loves her and a Savior who has given her hope and set her free from the social evils which plague young girls like her in South Asia.

Daya’s grandmother has witnessed first hand the love of God as shown through the kindness of the Bridge of Hope staff.  And she too is experiencing that love.

God is using Bridge of Hope to change communities.  More than 60,000 children are finding hope in Jesus through the centres but there are millions of children like Daya out there who are still living in despair.  You can reach out to them by sponsoring a child.  Find out what every Bridge of Hope child receives.

My heart goes out to these children who are robbed of their childhood.  They are unloved, abandoned, exploited and abused.  I was touched by the story of Lakshmi, a nine year old who works in a factory rolling cigarettes.  She is an example of selfless love.  She doesn’t care about playing or going to school–all she wants is to bring her sister home from the bonded labor man.

My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.  

It would cost 600 rupees to buy her sister’s freedom but for Lakshmi, there is hopeless.  “We don’t have 600 rupees,” she says, “…we will never have 600 rupees.”  600 rupees is only $14.00 US.  This is just one story among over 10 million stories of children who are bonded laborers in India.  Help Bridge of Hope to bring hope to these children.  Pray that God will rescue more of them from the clutches of evil people.   Pray that they will discover that there is a loving God who sees their plight and will intervene.  Pray that they will come to know Jesus.

Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, Just as we hope in You – Psalm 33:22

Source:  Gospel for Asia

Women and Money

I thought it would be interesting to find out some facts about women and money especially as I used to spend, spend, spend money on clothes, shoes, books and Bibles.  I have so many Bibles.  The clothes I bought I had to donate because they couldn’t fit me.  I had to get new clothes when I became pregnant.  I had to get Employment insurance when I went on mat leave.  I am still paying off my VISA debts.  I had planned to buy new clothes and shoes which I really need but will have to wait until the next time I get paid because I have to pay the rent.

Being in debt makes me feel  a bit overwhelmed sometimes and find myself longing for the days when I used to be able to pop into my favorite stores and buy what I needed.  I needed tips on how to stay on top of my debts until they are all paid off and came across these 8 must-follow tips from the Women in Red online community for reducing debt by M.P. Dunleavey.

1.

Face Up to What You Owe Financial solvency starts with fearless honesty. So sit down and tally every last dime.

2.

Set Up an Emergency Fund
Having backup savings will help keep you from going further into the red.

3.

Repay Aggressively
A good online debt calculator (like the one on bankrate.com) lets you run “what if” scenarios with different repayment amounts and deadlines. Choose a plan that’s more demanding than you’d like.

4.

Track Your Money
It’s duller than eating Weetabix for breakfast, but keep a spending diary for at least two weeks. What you’ll learn: why and how your cash is leaking away.

5.

Inspire Yourself
Visualize your post-debt life, when you will be able to use your money for some interesting or more important things.

6.

Go On a Cash-Only Diet
It’s a known law of financial physics: Plastic attracts debt. So cut up all your credit cards (except one, for emergencies), and when you buy, spend actual money.

7.

Pay Bills More Often
Many Racers make debt payments two or even four times a month. This pares down principal faster and reduces interest, too.

8.

Adopt a “No Excuses” StrategyYou may not want to take on a weekend job or sell your grandmother’s jewelry — but maybe you should. Do whatever it takes to succeed. You’ll thank yourself when your debt load shrinks

Right now I have one credit card which I can’t use because I am trying to pay off the debt I still owe.  I am using cash only to buy what I need.  I am really trying to conserve and only buy things that are essential.   I have enough clothes for now and I can survive on three pairs of shoes although one pair looks worn.  I have my moments of discouragement and a sense that I will never get out of debt but then I get suggestions from my fiance and I feel optimistic.  Right now I am looking into an option he suggested to me.  Hopefully it will work.

If you are in debt, don’t be discouraged.  Just focus on paying off your debts using these tips.