Subject: Visit Christ's Poor
Date sent: Thu, 19 Nov 1998This particular message, which was almost ready to be added to the site when a followup arrived, is an exciting way to start this new section of the website.
We invite you to read on and see what you think about God's timing!
Here is the message that Gary sent to the mailing list Nov. 19, 1998:
A LETTER TO CHRIST'S POOR
December, 1942God was no less a God because he came into the world destitute. Nor was he less a king.
Neither are you less a man because you have been stripped of respectability. Neither are you less a child of the king because you share his destitution. You are still made to the image and likeness of God though you are beaten and scarred. A man is a man for all that. The whole creation of God trembles before your dignity for all that.
We are keenly conscious of the injustices of the world. Our Christianity should not soft-pedal injustice. We know that hopelessness and discourgement often overtake you and that the faith in your hearts can turn to ashes.
A stupid, respectable world lets you eat its garbage and bed in its gutters; and a stupid, respectable world lets its God be born in a beast's hut. If you remember the birth of Christ, faith can brighten for you who are among the world's outcasts. The knowledge of Christ is a fire, a roaring flame, a thundering passion that can carry the lowliest of men to the very heights. Don't let it die within you.
When a man has been knocked around, as some of you have, it calls for fortitude to throw back your head and sing a song - a song of thanksgiving to God for your very being.
If on Christmas eve your home is the streets, your bed is a gutter, your clothes are rags - remember the stable. You are little kings, and an animal's hovel enthroned the King of Kings.
If you receive the Lord of Lords, you are host to the Lord of all creation, and angels shall tremble before the temple that is your body. Though the world passes by, all heaven will stand still. John Cogley
(Sent in by Sue Bates)
======================Jesus came to the poorest of poor, the lowest of low, the unloveliest of all that mankind find dispicable. And for what purpose? To raise them and seat them with Him at the height of all power and glory and honor. And we, who have been called into His body must be about that same business, the business of our Father...restoration, reconciliation, redemption...bringing about the realization of the True Image of our Father and Creator. We have been called to this task AND the very work has been planned in advance, the authority to bring out our portion of that work has been already given, and the power to bring it forth has been deposited within us.
Do you wish to experience the fullness of the richness of all that Christ purchased for us? Then you must go to the lowest of low. It is there that His greatest power is needed. That makes sense doesn't it? The lady who sent in the above quote (Sue Bates) knows what it means to be among the lowest of low. She serves the blind and street kids in Romania. If you want to know what it's like being a Christian serving the lowest of low, email her. ([email protected])
Love
There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer; No disease that enough love will not heal; No door that enough love will not open; No gulf that enough love will not bridge; No wall that enough love will not throw down; No sin that enough love will not redeem….
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, How hopeless the outlook, How muddled the fangle, How great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all….
If only you could love enough, You would be the happiest And most powerful being in the world. Emmet Fox
Do you wish to manifest this power? Then you must use it where it is most needed. Water seeks the lowest place first, and so does the Love of God. Visit Christ's poor and become the "happiest and most powerful being in the world." I'll leave you with a quote from one of Christ's poor who was touched by this power.
UNASHAMED
"I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have the power of the Holy Spirit. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made--I'm a disciple of Jesus. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished and done now with low living, sight walking, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, worldly talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals."
--a young believer in Zimbabwe, later martyred for his faith in Christ.
See the power of love in action? Pray this day, that the Lord of Glory send you equipped with His Love to one of "Christ's poor." GA.
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Here's the followup. Will there be a dry eye left by the time you finish reading this? There isn't here at the webmaster's desk.
From: "Gary Amirault" <[email protected]>
To: "Gary Amirault" <[email protected]>
Subject: An appendage to "Visit Christ's Poor"
Date sent: Thu, 19 Nov 1998 11:41:50 -0500Our Father's timing is simply awesome. Right after I wrote and sent "Visit Christ's Poor", I opened my email program to answer a few emails.
The following story was in the first email I opened. I think our Father wants us to pay attention to the content of these messages:
Two Babies
In 1994, two Americans answered an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on Biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach at prisons, businesses, the fire and police departments and a large orphanage. About 100 boys and girls who had been abandoned, abused, and left in the care of a government-run program were in the program. They related the following story in their own words:
It was nearing the holiday season, time for our orphans to hear, for the first time, the traditional story of Christmas. We told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem. Finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where the baby Jesus was born and placed in a manger.
Throughout the story, the children and orphanage staff sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.
Completing the story, we gave the children three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manger. Each child was given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins I had brought with me. (No colored paper was available in the city.) Following instructions, the children tore the paper and carefully laid the strips in the manger for straw. Small squares of flannel, cut from a worn out nightgown an American lady was throwing away as she left Russia, were used for the baby's blanket. A doll-like baby was cut from tan felt we had brought from the United States. The orphans were busy assembling their mangers as I walked among them to see if they needed any help.
All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy's manger, I was startled to see not one, but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger. Crossing his arms in front of him and looking at this completed manger scene, the child began to repeat the story very seriously. For such a young boy, who had only heard the Christmas story once, he related the happenings accurately - until he came to the part where Mary put the baby Jesus in the manger.
Then Misha started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said "And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told Him I have no mama and I have no papa, so I don't have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with Him. But I told Him I couldn't, because I didn't have a gift to give Him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. So I asked Jesus, 'If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?' And Jesus told me, 'If you keep Me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me.' So I got in the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and told me I could stay with Him - for always."
As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him, someone who would stay with him - FOR ALWAYS! I've learned that it's not
what you have in your life, but Who you have in your life that counts.
(This email was sent in by Curtis Wright)
=========================================Needless to say, after writing "Visit Christ's Poor" and then immediately opening the above message, my keyboard received a shower of tears. (It needed a good washing anyway.)
Brothers and sisters, I believe this "coincidence" was by our Father's design. I think it is the exclamation point to "Visit Christ's Poor." I hope He got all of our ears, hearts, AND
feet. Please pass these two messages along to as many other brothers and sisters you can. Gary Amirault ========================================Humility and love are precisely the graces which the men of the world can understand, if they do not comprehend doctrines. They are the graces about which there is no mystery, and they are within reach of all classes... [The poorest] Christian can every day find occasion for practicing love and humility. ... J. C. Ryle
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