Lazarus Our Brother

[destiny]

I recieved this from an e-list this morning and thought it was worthy of sharing...

"LAZARUS Our BROTHER" - Powerful Comment
-by 'Hindsfeet'.

... The visible "priests and prophets" boast over and over about
how rich they are, how blessed they are, how they don't suffer for
lack of anything.

Yet the beggar Lazarus lies right outside our very own gates.
These imposters trip over him every day and in their blindness
walk right past him....

I was raised on the American Dream - nice middle class family,
comfortable middle class prosperity. But in a very bizarre series
of circumstances we suffered a God-ordained financial reversal
and I have lived in the ghetto now for the past eight years.

It was the worst kind of culture shock both in the natural and in
the spirit. The very neighborhood I used to avoid (or if I had to go
through it was with windows up, doors locked and at lightning
speed) has become the place God has poured out His refining fire on me.

I cried and cried to Him as I witnessed crack deals, gang murders,
and hookers setting up shop on the wall of my side yard. "Oh
Lord! WHEN are you going to get me OUT of here?" And then He
asked ME a question. "When are YOU going to learn to love your
neighbor as yourself?"

The scales instantly fell off of my eyes and I repented HARD that
I was the rich man in that story. And now I wouldn't trade the
transformation of my heart for any of the comforts this American
culture has to offer.

I listen to the prosperity preachers now (as well as their echo in
the local churches I've attended) and I see that they have
exchanged the Voice of the Blood for the hawking cries of the
money-changers. I see a "body" that has received a strange
transfusion - the veins that used to flow with the Blood of Jesus
now spurt gold.

I am ashamed of the greed and the lust for comfort and money
that is the heartbeat of this country. American...Laodicean...
Babylonian - one common denominator: Jesus is OUTSIDE the
door just like the beggar Lazarus.

 

[lovely]

Amen Destiny, and thank you for sharing it. My heart was definately pricked, because I sometimes struggle so much with God's will for my life. It is hard to drop our expectations, but only if we would...how we could then serve Him in thankfulness, and with a true reflection of His love.

I have never believed in the prosperity preaching thing, or really even heard too much of it, honestly, but I think the application reaches even past that...into our own expectations of how we feel God should use us. I always thought I would be used so differently than I am now, or that I only needed to wait for some fantastic opportunity that God would one day bring...seeking honor for myself, I think really, but God just desires me to show hospitality and love where I am...serve Him where He has me, and first and foremost honoring Him alone. It is something not to loose sight of...a true pearl.

Thanks again, and I am interested in 'Hindsfeet'...what is this?

 

[destiny]

I thought you might like reading that, lovely. I guess this 'hindsfeet' is just someone who shared this with the list owner, and then he felt it was worthy of sending out.
I'm glad that he shared it.

 

[lovely]

Hi Destiny,

I didn't realize that it was posted somehwere...I was thinking that it may have been from a devotional site or something. The reason I asked is because of the book, "Hindsfeet on High Places." I was just wondering if there was a ministry with a similar name. I think I have that title right, it's been quite a few years since I've read it. Anyway, thanks again, and the Lord bless you.