Should you give material food or spiritual food to the needy?
The answer,
Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Most of the time we can give both.
I was preaching a message about ¨Heroes or Guides¨ when this story began to unfold. Yes, people came to the altar inside the walls of the building for salvation, but more were saved in a hospital.
I love it when people are hear the Word and act on it.
The original Spanish testimony is below this message which I’ve translated the best I could since Maria was so excited when she wrote it (parenthesis mine):
Today, brother Ed was preaching the Word of God.
Ed is a servant of God, missionary, and was recently in Sri Lanka and other countries, preaching the gospel.
He was motivating us to go to where the needy people are and to share material and spiritual food with them.
Suddenly my cell phone rang (while in a church service 🙂 ) It was Doña Isabella, who I had met while riding a small public bus. Her daughter, Liliana Lopez Dominguez, is just 3 years old and has cancer in her right eye. She is from a family of 6. The 4 children, dad and mom. Right now they have no income because they are all in the hospital. They are from a far off Municipality of Malpaso, Chiapas.
Here’s what the Doña Isabela told me,
¨Mrs. Mary We’re in this pediatric hospital because my child became ill. We just had enough money to pay for our transportation to get here, but not enough for food. Could you bring us something please?
The problem was that I didn’t have any money either.
I was about to tell her I couldn’t help but while Edwas preaching I heard him say this,
¨If you don’t know how to obey God, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.¨
That encouraged me.
As soon as the service was over, I went to talk with some precious ladies who are servants of God. I told them what was happening and they willingly gave me offerings (some money) to help out.
God knows best and I’m sure He will multiply back to them a hundredfold.
I was purchasing a delicious pie for them when suddenly I saw a brother who is a servant of God. He offered to drive me to the hospital in his taxi at no cost. May God richly bless him!
In fact, God used him a lot, and he wasn’t even planning on serving God in this way!
The truth is, we are the ones who receive the biggest blessings when we serve God!
The taxi driver took me to buy a roasted chicken, rice, salad, tortillas, water, soda and paper plates.
When we arrived at the pediatric hospital, Quintilian, Liliana’s father, came out to meet us. .
We shared the food and the Gospel.
Thankfully, that day he received Christ into his heart. 🙂
That’s not all, as we were walking down a corridor in the hospital some strangers asked us,
¨Please pray for our daughter, her name is Yuneidy Odeny Velazquez Perez, she’s 3½ years old and has Crouzon syndrome. The doctors are going to operate on her but we’ve been here 8 days waiting to be served.¨
We found out this family is from another far off place, the Municipality of Motozintla. So we also shared the food we brought with them.
Doña Lesvia, Yuneidys mom, told us the wife is already a Christian. Thank God!
However, her husband Victor did not want anything to do with Jesus. He was hurt and angry at God because three months ago their other daughter died. She was only 1 ½ years old. No one was there to help them. Crying, they told us that he had been a Christian who loved God, but not any more.
The good news is that when the family saw us they said,
¨You are Christians and we want you to pray for our child¨.
Thank God we prayed for him. And the Holy Spirit began to work in his life.
Broken and crying, he reconciled his life with God.
Then he told us he really wanted to forgive those who had hurt him and that this was the first time he felt the presence of God in his life in a long time.
Finally we prayed for the child. In fact, we prayed for the entire family and the glory of God poured out in that place in a wonderful way.
Glory to God, hallelujah!
I invite you to go to the hospital (or wherever the Holy Spirit guides you) and share with those who are in need.
People who are not only hungry for material bread, but also spiritual bread.
If we can give them what God gives us, God will reward us in a surprising way.
…………
Original message en Español by Maria Robles Vargas:
Hoy estaba predicando la palabra de Dios el hno. Ednemer…Un siervo de dios, misionero, que recientemente estuvo en Sri Lanka y en otros países, predicando el evangelio…Nos motivaba para ir a donde están los necesitados y compartirles alimento material y espiritual…..
De pronto sonó mi celular…Era doña isabela, que conocí en una combi, su hijita liliana lopez dominguez, de 3 años de edad, tenía cáncer en el ojo derecho, es una familia de 6 personas: los papas y los 4 niños, y por el momento no perciben ingresos porque están todos en el hospital, ellos son del municipio de malpaso…Me dijo: doña mary estoy en el pediátrico mi niña se puso mal y solo trajimos para los pasajes…No tenemos comida, nos podría traer algo por favor….
En ese momento no tenía…Y estuve a punto de decirle que no la podía ayudar….
En la prédica escuche: ¨Si no sabes cómo obedecer a dios, pide que te guie con su Espíritu Santo¨
Entonces me anime y apenas terminó la reunión, hable con unas amigas preciosas, siervas de dios que ofrendaron gustosamente, dios las conoce muy bien y estoy segura que les multiplicara al ciento por uno…Salí y compré un rico pay, y de pronto vi a un hermano que es un siervo de Dios, que Dios lo bendiga muchisimo…Con su taxi se ofreció a llevarme.
Por cierto dios lo uso mucho, no se esperaba servirle a dios de esta manera….La verdad nosotros fuimos los más bendecidos, servirle a dios es lo maximo.
Pasamos a comprar un pollo asado, arroz, ensalada, tortillas, agua, refresco y desechables.
Llegamos al pediatrico y Don Quintiliano (papá de Liliana) salió a recibir lo que les llevamos… Le compartimos el evangelio y gracias a dios recibió a Cristo en su corazón.
Caminando por un pasillo me dijo un señor:
Por favor ore por mi niña,, se llama Yuneidy Odeny Velazquez Perez, de 3 años y medio, tiene sindrome de crouzon…La van a operar, pero llevan 8 días esperando ser atendidos, ellos son del municipio de motozintla.
Tambien a ellos les compartimos algo de lo que llevamos.
Doña Lesvia, la mama de Yuneidy nos dijo que ya es cristiana gracias a Dios, pero su esposo Victor no quería nada porque estaba muy herido, pues hace 3 meses falleció su hijita de un año y medio y nadie le ayudó.
Llorando nos dijo que él había sido cristiano, y quería de Dios pero no podía.Y cuando nos vieron dijeron,
¨Ellos son Cristianos y quiero que oren por nuestra niña.¨
Gracias a Dios oramos por él, y el Espíritu Santo hizo la obra en su vida, se quebranto, lloro, y se reconcilió con Dios. Nos dijo que tenía muchas ganas de perdonar a quienes le habían lastimado, y que sentía la presencia de Dios en su vida.
Oramos por la niña y por todos ellos como familia y se derramó la gloria de Dios- De una forma maravillosa…..Gloria a Dios, aleluya!!!
Los invito a ir a los hospitales y compartir con los necesitados, hay gente hambrienta no solo de pan material, sino tambien de pan espiritual. Y si podemos darles de lo que Dios nos da, Dios nos va a recompensar de una forma sorprendente.