Post by Apostle Ray Ritchie on Mar 1, 2012 22:55:11 GMT
Praise the Lord! It’s March 1st, 2012 and I am among the living, I have food in the pantry, a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and shoes on my feet! I thank God for it all, He is worthy to be praised!
But there are people all around us who do not fair as well in life for one reason or another. My heart goes out to them but the reality is I am not rich in wealth, therefore I am limited, I do not have a big organization to finance me, therefore I am limited, but one thing I do have is faith in the God who saved me and directs my life. Whom has done great things and executed the miraculous to many times to count! Hallelujah!
Today I want to talk about something which is and has been close to my heart for the last 25 years. Poverty!
Poverty has no borders, it pays no attention to governments, or the age, race, or gender of its victims. It is a consumer of the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of all it encounters, its desire is to steal, kill, and destroy. Poverty always travels with his brother ignorance, ignorance loves to exploit the destitute, desperate, and delusional taking advantage of the unlearned, untrained, and the unknown. This Ominous Spectrum of Ignorance ride its coal black steed charging into the minds of it victims with its lightening quick sword of fear slashing out at the imagination of the ones it loves to slay. Leaving them drained of hope and paralyzed by fear. The fear of the unknown is among the greatest fears in life, rendering many to settle for the familiar at the expense of their own advancement. Fear causes one to clutch firmly to what is not in reality working ,instead of grabbing and grasping what could in reality prosper and advance them.
Villages in remote areas and even mega urban areas are inundated with a poverty brought on by the lack of knowledge infused with a fear of changing a long standing cultural or habitual way of life, along with a lack of substantial food, and lack of clean water which helps to secure a better health which also produces better mental health. Many around the world are slain by poverty not for the lack of labor which pays a meager wage, but for the fear of change. Change threatens authorities, changes rearranges the order of things, change emphasizes the importance of individualism while recognizing the necessity of unity, change with the right motivation, inspiration, and persuasion pushing a positive agenda brings with it the opportunity to prosper proportionally.
The Gospel must be the force behind the fortification of any society it effects with its message. God is a God of Change who never Changes Himself but furnishes the fires of Change through the instructions of His Holy Word. Those whom minister the gospel must commit to teaching the importance of the dynamic of the transformation of applied information. Preaching without the balancing of teaching is going to be doomed at the onset. Myself, I believe in equipping people to enrich their lives by not only preaching and teaching the gospel, but also through societal building blocks of education and skills training from a biblically principled view. I have found that just giving money or material things to the impoverish only makes them enslaved to a dependence upon someone else, and does not inspire them to equip themselves to prosper proportionally as they advance their intellect and a trade skill. There are a myriad of ways to promote self reliance and self sustaining dynamics , but there must first be a foundation, a structure, and place to gather, organize, plan, and execute those objectives to systematically eradicate as much poverty and ignorance as possible.
These are some of the things I think about when I go on “ Mercy Missions “. To change one life from destruction, to turn a life from darkness to light, is a major and eternal accomplishment, but then that one person may live in this life another fifty or sixty years, now what of the poverty, now what of the education, now what of the expenses of life, now what do I do to change it and how shall I accomplish it?
The right equipping, with the right resources, and the right opportunity; for the ambitious will elevate that individual; spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, and financially.
Brethren keep the faith today by considering those around you, those you have the power to impact by the time, talents, and treasures God has given you. The keys of wisdom God has graced you to forge, form, and cast through the experiences of life. The expertise of the education you may possess, the talent for training a trade that you qualify in, the kindness to encourage that flows from your heart, the hearing ear of a silent listener that consoles, the enabler you may be by a position you may hold, the giver to the need a desperate one you may know, and the faith will return it to you in due season, if you faint not, “ Cast your bread upon the waters and it shall return to you at the appropriate time.
As for our Ministry we are doing as much as we can ; with what little we have, and we see God do big things!! Hallelujah, Amen!
Shalom Y’all,
Apostle Ray Ritchie
But there are people all around us who do not fair as well in life for one reason or another. My heart goes out to them but the reality is I am not rich in wealth, therefore I am limited, I do not have a big organization to finance me, therefore I am limited, but one thing I do have is faith in the God who saved me and directs my life. Whom has done great things and executed the miraculous to many times to count! Hallelujah!
Today I want to talk about something which is and has been close to my heart for the last 25 years. Poverty!
Poverty has no borders, it pays no attention to governments, or the age, race, or gender of its victims. It is a consumer of the hopes, dreams, and ambitions of all it encounters, its desire is to steal, kill, and destroy. Poverty always travels with his brother ignorance, ignorance loves to exploit the destitute, desperate, and delusional taking advantage of the unlearned, untrained, and the unknown. This Ominous Spectrum of Ignorance ride its coal black steed charging into the minds of it victims with its lightening quick sword of fear slashing out at the imagination of the ones it loves to slay. Leaving them drained of hope and paralyzed by fear. The fear of the unknown is among the greatest fears in life, rendering many to settle for the familiar at the expense of their own advancement. Fear causes one to clutch firmly to what is not in reality working ,instead of grabbing and grasping what could in reality prosper and advance them.
Villages in remote areas and even mega urban areas are inundated with a poverty brought on by the lack of knowledge infused with a fear of changing a long standing cultural or habitual way of life, along with a lack of substantial food, and lack of clean water which helps to secure a better health which also produces better mental health. Many around the world are slain by poverty not for the lack of labor which pays a meager wage, but for the fear of change. Change threatens authorities, changes rearranges the order of things, change emphasizes the importance of individualism while recognizing the necessity of unity, change with the right motivation, inspiration, and persuasion pushing a positive agenda brings with it the opportunity to prosper proportionally.
The Gospel must be the force behind the fortification of any society it effects with its message. God is a God of Change who never Changes Himself but furnishes the fires of Change through the instructions of His Holy Word. Those whom minister the gospel must commit to teaching the importance of the dynamic of the transformation of applied information. Preaching without the balancing of teaching is going to be doomed at the onset. Myself, I believe in equipping people to enrich their lives by not only preaching and teaching the gospel, but also through societal building blocks of education and skills training from a biblically principled view. I have found that just giving money or material things to the impoverish only makes them enslaved to a dependence upon someone else, and does not inspire them to equip themselves to prosper proportionally as they advance their intellect and a trade skill. There are a myriad of ways to promote self reliance and self sustaining dynamics , but there must first be a foundation, a structure, and place to gather, organize, plan, and execute those objectives to systematically eradicate as much poverty and ignorance as possible.
These are some of the things I think about when I go on “ Mercy Missions “. To change one life from destruction, to turn a life from darkness to light, is a major and eternal accomplishment, but then that one person may live in this life another fifty or sixty years, now what of the poverty, now what of the education, now what of the expenses of life, now what do I do to change it and how shall I accomplish it?
The right equipping, with the right resources, and the right opportunity; for the ambitious will elevate that individual; spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, and financially.
Brethren keep the faith today by considering those around you, those you have the power to impact by the time, talents, and treasures God has given you. The keys of wisdom God has graced you to forge, form, and cast through the experiences of life. The expertise of the education you may possess, the talent for training a trade that you qualify in, the kindness to encourage that flows from your heart, the hearing ear of a silent listener that consoles, the enabler you may be by a position you may hold, the giver to the need a desperate one you may know, and the faith will return it to you in due season, if you faint not, “ Cast your bread upon the waters and it shall return to you at the appropriate time.
As for our Ministry we are doing as much as we can ; with what little we have, and we see God do big things!! Hallelujah, Amen!
Shalom Y’all,
Apostle Ray Ritchie