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| Prophetess hilda arredondo |
In Luke 14:12-14, it reads, “Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or
a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy
rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee. But
when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And
thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be
recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” We
are quickly moving into the Fall Feast of Israel. God was the Host of the Festivals. There were three (3) Festivals making up the
Feast of Tabernacles beginning with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. They
were celebrated over a period of 22 days.
This year the Jewish New Year will fall on September 25th. Among the many wonderful things celebrated at
this special festival of harvest was taking care of and seeing about the poor. You could say, well that’s Old Testament, and
yes you’re very correct, but the heart of God never changes, in the Old or in
the New Testaments but continues to love those less fortunate people. In the
above scripture of the New Testament we see that
our Jesus encouraged us to not forget the poor when we make a feast. Verses 13-14,
reads “But when thou makest a feast, call the
poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt
be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at
the resurrection of the just.”
Israel was reminded every year at the
celebration of Rosh Hashanah followed by the two (2) fall festivals “don’t
forget the poor.” Long tables were put
out during this celebration loaded down with good food and other gifts for the
poor and special blessings came to those who obeyed. God’s heart was so full of happiness and joy
for he loves the poor and needy.
In Proverbs 22:9 (ESV), it reads, “Whoever has a bountiful eye will be
blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.”
We are instructed in God’s Holy Word to share our
bread with the poor and we will be blessed! This is what Israel was doing when
they put out those big long tables filled with goods and gifts sharing their
food with the needy. Another scripture
in Proverbs
19:17, reads, “Whoever
is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his
deed.” You see we don’t have to
go over to other countries to find the poor; many times they are right here in
our very own communities. Especially now
with our poor economy and so many people unemployed. So remember if we are
generous we lend to the Lord and He will repay us for our good deed. Our God is so wonderful – Praise Jesus our Savior
who is showing us the way – Let us begin to break the power of greed and
selfishness here in America as we begin to practice these scriptures so we can
truly be blessed.
BE GENEROUS TO THE POOR & NEEDY
Years
ago a man from another country visited us and shared with us about his ministry
to the “poor children” of his community.
That wasn’t always the case. Once
he belonged to a big church, and had a TV program. He was invited as a guest to their fancy big
dinners and sat down at the most elegant tables. One day God touched his heart to leave his
big church and go minister to the poor children of his country and he did! He shared with us that he would be dressed as
a beggar at times and would go to the same houses where he sat down at those
fancy tables with the best food and knock at the kitchen doors and beg for food.
The people there would tell him to get
out and run him off, without giving him
anything to eat! In Deuteronomy 15:11, it reads, “For the poor shall never cease out of
the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide
unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Yes, the
celebration of Tabernacles is also the celebration of helping the needy, your brother and the poor in your
community. In Proverbs 14:21
(ESV), it reads, “Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but
blessed is he who is generous to the poor.”
You and I are called to love our neighbor and be generous
to him in his time of need or risk becoming a sinner. Israel was instructed
during harvest time to leave the corners of their fields un-harvested for the
poor. In Leviticus
19:9-10, it reads, “And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly
reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy
harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt
thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and
stranger: I am the Lord your God.” What
a wonderful generous, loving God we serve.
Today if someone is hungry and comes to your corn field, they may call
the police or chase him off with a gun.
How far we have come? We must get back and remember the poor.
WE ALL CAN BE POOR SOMETIMES
In the
year 2000 we moved from Ohio into the Lafayette area with many families. We
were instructed to leave Ohio by the Holy Spirit-our economy was going under at
that time. It took many trucks and money
to move us here and all was put into storage units till the heads of the
households found jobs. It was during the
months of October 2000 through January, February & March of 2001 when all
of us arrived and it was so cold. We didn’t have a church building to
meet. We had men, women and little
children with us. We would meet by the
Vermilion River and the bridge. We asked several churches in the area if we could
meet at their church for a short time until we could get on our feet – to have
our services at an off time from theirs but they said they couldn’t help us.
There was no choice but to huddle together many times trying to stay warm on
those cold, cold Sunday mornings under the pavilion by the Vermilion River. We never missed a service and continued to
sing songs to Jesus. Although, we did learn some valuable lessons – among those
lessons was how to identify with people who have no homes, sleeping out in the
cold or living in cardboard boxes. This
is a good time to ask our God to give us a heart of compassion and mercy.
A NEW YEAR OF BLESSING FOR AMERICA
For
many years now, I have become aware that the Lord sends someone with a special
need during this season of the festival for our ministry to
help. Yesterday, the phone rang and a man's voice came over the line and
he began to share with us that his electric was about to be shut off. He
said he called many churches but no one could help him with his electric
bill. He told me the amount that was needed but at the time we
didn't have that much money to help him. So I called some praying friends
from our Morning Glory Community and together we were able to take up
a collection to help him and his family. To my surprise the offerings
that came in was $300 over what was needed for the electric bill! God is
so merciful-He will supply in our time of need.
When I spoke to this man earlier he told me that he was a disabled
veteran. When serving in the Navy he was shot in the mouth, throat, and
leg. Surely he was like the lame, maimed and needy of Luke 12:12-14. I thanked him
personally for defending us and for his service to our country. He
shared with me that it was his mother who deserved the honor because he
had lost his dad (her husband) plus two other sons in the wars and he was sent
home disabled. After we took up the offering for this man and his family
the Holy Spirit said, "Pay his electric bill and send him the extra
$300 that came in." I quickly obeyed my Lord! You see, we could have
put the extra $300 in our ministry treasury, but we are to help the poor
and those in need especially during the "Fall Festivals"
and we gave him every penny and I know this pleased our Father
in heaven in Jesus name. Surely, this is the season to help those in need. To
God Be the Glory! "Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will
deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive;
and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the
will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing:
thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." Psalm 41:1-3 To God Be the Glory! In
His love and service, hilda arredondo
Thank you so much for reading this message. If you would like to make a copy or copies of this testimony, you are welcome to do so. Make sure your copy is in its entirety and the message should not be changed. Hilda Arredondo's name and her website www.NDCPrayer.com and e-mail address ndcp@att.net should accompany this message as you print it. If you have questions or comments please e-mail us. At this point the National Divine Connection of Prayer its Website and Morning Glory Kingdom Works has no representatives outside this ministry. We are NOT a non-profit entity or affiliated with any denomination or other churches. All ministry business is solely maintained by hilda arredondo, 195 El Shaddai Rd, Opelousas, La. 70570.
