Discernment and Love

There is nothing like the satisfaction and joy of seeing a wounded soul being rehabbed by the love, and wisdom, and power of God. Isaiah spoke of the reward and benefit for those who make it their business to care for the needs of the needy souls around them, saying, "And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" (Isa. 58:11). That is as true as it gets because it still stands certain that the best way to bless yourself is to bless someone else. The scripture tells us that we reap what we sow, and it only stands to reason that we will flourish if we put priority on helping those who are needing help (Gal. 6:7). This concept of being of help to the needy is also known in the scriptures as, "love thy neighbor as thyself" (Gal. 5:14). It is said, "What comes around goes around," and it is said truly. If there is someone in your vicinity that is downtrodden in some way, count it as God giving you an opportunity to bless yourself, because that's what it is. If you don't know what to do for someone who is in need, then do what you DO know what to do. It can make the difference between living and giving up for someone to just know that someone cares about them. I'm thankful beyond measure for every opportunity that I've had to contribute to the lifting up of someone who is down, or to the restoring of some poor soul who has lost their way. In fact there is nothing I would rather be involved with, and there is nothing that is more rewarding in every way.

If we find ourselves a little dry in the Spirit, it's probably because we're not doing enough for anyone else to give God the space to water the garden of our spirit, as Isaiah alluded to. I love the proverb that tells us, "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself" (Prov. 11:25). If we get a little too lean in spirit then we need to be a little more liberal, or giving of ourselves to the help of others. If we aren't bothering to water the dry souls of others, then we should't expect to be watered ourselves. We have spiritual gifts that are not operating in the capacity that they should be, often times because we aren't giving enough of ourselves to those in need. If you think about it, g-i-f-t-s are for giving. If we aren't giving, why should we expect to prosper in the use of gifts? Makes sense really, doesn't it? Do you want to operate more in the area of healing? Then visit more people who are sick and afflicted, and visit them because they are in need, not for the purpose of increasing in spiritual gifts and operations. If we want to increase in wisdom, it would be w-i-s-e for us to visit people who are confused and downhearted. There is far more likelihood that we will increase in the operations of the Spirit if we tend to care for those whose lives are in need of those operations. Let's not be unwise to think that God is going to increase us by means of us asking for increase, but at the same time we're not venturing forth to minister to the neediness of others. So once again the real power and truth of the Gospel just comes down to things that make good, sound sense. Amen.