This is God's year to act! We are all needy!

"God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!" (Luke 4:18, 19 MSG)

"The needy" - what does that phrase mean to you? We are all needy in some aspects. Some of the needs we have are relational and some are emotional (friendship, community, love, peace, happiness and contentment.) We also have the need to learn...even those who hate the thought of school and homework have the need to learn and have their questions answered. Then, of course, there are the basic physical needs...food, water, clothing and shelter. And, don't forget spiritual needs...even those who claim to not believe in God have an internal need for forgiveness, worship and eternal life.

Right now, take a moment and think about your needs. Are all your needs being met? Who or what meets those needs? Thank God for your fulfilled needs. 

How about your unmet needs? What needs in your life are going unfulfilled? Think about it...I imagine we all have SOME areas of our lives that we still are in need. Take a moment to ask God to meet those needs and for the grace to endure what unmet needs may continue in your life.

Now...if you are like me, your met needs FAR outweigh your unmet ones. Think of the needs in the world today. If that is too big a thought for you...look at the needs of people in your own community, in your own back yard, so to speak. You may feel that just little you has no power to help people who have many needs in their lives. But...if you can open your mouth in prayer to God for your own needs, you can PRAY for the needs of others too! You can also pray that God would empower you to find ways to help meet the needs of others.

This is what is going on in my life right now...I am beginning to look at the lives around me. My heart is breaking for my community where I have so much and others have so little. There is much I have to learn about the people in my community before I go barging into their lives trying to "help" them...but I am willing to learn because I think there are "God-things" to be done that little me can be a part of.

I'm not asking you to give tons of money away, or give up every weekend to work in Christ's Table, or to do anything huge right now...just pray that your eyes and hearts are opened to the needs of others around you. What little thing can you do that will help someone who has greater needs than you do? Pray about it, and I'm sure God will show you something! That's what happened to me! This is God's year to act!