According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
Reflection
When I think back at what I have seen and done in my life, it gives me great pleasure to know that God was always with me through my trials and through all of my life’s many failures. Whenever I struggled and was lost, God still patiently awaited me. Because he loves me, he loves his one-of-a-kind son.
God knows my many faults and strengths. When we give up control and truly accept the way God made us, even though we struggle, we learn that we are worthy of God’s love. We must love ourselves (see Matthew 22:39) or suffer a kind of mental poverty that will rob our joy, leaving us lacking purpose and love.
Even though I was homeless, I came to realize God had instilled in me a love for life and abundance that I had always searched and looked for. All along, this connection with God has always started with me loving myself and feeling at home in my own skin. Christ sacrificed everything, yes, to have this faith in God, which is unlike any other. By releasing so much control of our own lives and then letting Jesus start a new work in us, we can experience newfound peace as we connect with others. It’s our heart that matters the most. The mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Life is not so much about the material possessions we accumulate. Sure, having things is nice, but nothing compares to the spiritual gifts God provides. You will find God’s love deep down in your heart and soul.
Heart for the Homeless
Having lost my wife and kids, I became homeless. I had to learn to give that pain and suffering to God and accept His unconditional love during my darkest days. Through other Christians loving, I learned that I could love, too. But I had to love myself enough before I could help anyone else. When I finally gave myself to God, fully repentant, and prayed, I started to experience the peace of God deep inside. Everywhere I went, I was home. Jesus took whatever bad situation in life and turned it into good. I don’t know if I have helped many people along the way, but it was worth it if it was just one.
Author: Zeca Andrews
Many times in my life, I have experienced homelessness because of poor choices, selfish ambitions, or resentment toward others. But the Spirit of God assures me that He is with me for however long it takes to realize God is with me, that I am unique and loved. He keeps reminding me to have a thankful and grateful heart. For as long as it may take to lay my addictions down, God will be there, loving me and waiting for you to surrender. I will feed you. I will clothe you with raiment. You shall lack nothing short of the grace and the glory of God. In all my wandering, I will keep my faith in God. Faith in something bigger than me. It may sound strange, but I had to lose everything to make room for the new by experiencing this darkness and using it to grow closer to God despite the challenges and obstacles. Instead of relying on the love and affection of others, I relied on the love of God. God’s love was something I was never able to find in the world. No person, place, or thing could fill my heart except God.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
Reflection
God gives the believer a permanent, secure hope from His grace through Jesus. From this hope, the Holy Spirit fills me with joy and peace that overflows into how I live by surrendering to His will. I want my work for Him to yield permanent fruit that withstands the fire of judgment (1 Corinthians 3:13) and brings Him the glory and praise He richly deserves.
The hope given to me is not meant for me alone but to share with those I encounter daily, especially those we serve at Hope Missions. Although providing physical needs such as food, clothing, showers, laundry, etc. to the homeless or those who have fallen into poverty is important, it is vital to have personal engagement to listen, encourage, pray with and share the hope we have in Him with those in need. They need Hope joy and peace!
Heart for the Homeless
Many of those experiencing homelessness are ‘invisible’ to us each day as we go about our busy lives. Even when they are visible, we do not see them or encounter them for a variety of reasons. Jesus was homeless. Paul was homeless.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me”. How can I have a heart for Jesus and not have a heart for what He commands?
Hope Mission provides a refuge for the homeless and poverty stricken. It addresses real physical, emotional and spiritual needs for many in our community. It also does this in a safe environment for our volunteers so we are ‘without excuse’ for not engaging and serving Jesus today! Join me in sharing the hope and overflowing joy and peace that only He can provide!
Author: Steve Eudy
I have been blessed to never be hungry or homeless in my life. However, for most of my life, I ignored the homeless wherever I lived. My prejudice was that the homeless were in that situation by choice or could always get out of it by working. The problem was I never really knew anyone homeless well enough to understand them or their situation.
Although there are instances that can confirm my previous prejudices, there are so many more homeless or poverty stricken that are there not by choice and want a hand up just to get out as quickly as possible. God has laid on my heart that I am not the judge but here to serve as His hands and feet to help show His mercy to all those in need. HOPE Missions has given me a great opportunity to serve Him and love those the world ignores.
The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Reflection
As I’m laying here I hear the beep of my alarm waking me up for work. I feel the cold breeze of the AC and I pull my blanket up closer to my face. My first thought is that I can’t wait to see my children’s face as I wake them up this morning. My eyes open and reality hits me as I stare blankly at the intersection of S Towers St. and W Market St. The delusions are becoming more real, especially after I’ve stayed up for days and found somewhere to finally sleep. The beep I heard was a car horn and the cold breeze was the wind. I sigh as I have to look my regret in the face yet again as memories of what I’d done to get here flood back to me.
(A few weeks ago in a backyard when I cried out to God about what I had done to myself and my children, with blurry eyes I saw something shining. I bent down to pull it out of the ground and knew it was a divine assignment. It was a charm with a cross on it that had two words on it “Be still.”)
As I lay there in my makeshift shelter, someone from HOPE Missions came to talk with me and bring me food. I let her read a Facebook post I put in a recovery group. As she read, I saw the tears start to stream down her face. I told her, “I need help…” She gave me a big hug and replied, “Yes, you do.” She left me with a glimpse of hope that day that she would “make a phone call.” I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but I felt in my heart that things were about to change for me. The next day I was off to rehab. What HOPE Missions did for the least of these changed the trajectory of my life. What they did that day shows the Goodness of God and is the reason why two children were able to get their mama back.
Heart for the Homeless
I was there two and a half years ago. I used to be the type of person to drive by someone holding a sign and think to myself that they need to get a job. After experiencing it myself, I now know what it’s like to be out there. I went back to HOPE Missions last June to give out blessing bags, tell my testimony, and tell people that the answer is Jesus. I’m planning another trip this fall. I hope to return and share my story often to plant seeds in the hearts of those who need a glimpse of hope.
Author: Patty Lomax
Abuse and neglect as a child led me down the wrong paths and around the wrong crowds. Battling with undiagnosed or treated mental illness due to the mistreatment I experienced kept me wanting to escape my reality. Never healing from what happened to me as a child, I found myself not being who I needed to be for my own children even though I told myself I would be to them who I needed as a child. For 14 years, I was in and out of active addiction. After six relapses, I finally decided to get clean and stay clean at the age of 30 after losing everything. I lost my car, home, belongings, and two children and almost lost my mind. I was on the streets of Anderson for four months, walking around empty and broken. Stuck in a pit of despair, regret, and darkness. I desperately wanted to be a good mother, but instead, I would drown my sorrows with dope each day. Roaming from abandoned places to trap houses like the dead woman I was, I had no real plans of how I would ever get the chance to even see my children again.
God was pursuing me the whole time I was out there, and it was no accident that the last place I stayed was right down the street from HOPE Missions (Proverbs 16:9). They shined a ray of light and hope into my life one morning when they offered me a chance to go to rehab and start a new life as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).
My life has been restored and I’ve gotten back what I lost and so much more (Joel 2:25). My children were returned to me. I got my license back after not having it for five years. I own a van named Humble. I’ve been promoted to key holder at my job. I’m able to maintain my sobriety and provide a safe, consistent life for my children.
Imagine you are driving along, and you see a car ahead of you swerve, then flip over and land in the ditch. What would you do? Most people would immediately call 9-1-1 and carefully report the incident. Many people would stop and provide assistance. A few people would avoid the scene, look the other way, and perhaps say a prayer and do nothing. Some might curse the driver while suggesting they were probably drunk or high or texting – they deserved to run off the road! How about you?
Does this remind you of Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan?[1] Even those who don’t consider themselves Christians would see the need to stop and lend assistance. After all, one day, that might be me in the ditch!
Of the hundreds of people who move in and out of homelessness, the “Car Wreck” analogy hits home because their experience was both traumatic and life-changing. Our response should be one of urgency. We should be calling the equivalent of 9-1-1 to rush to the aid of someone experiencing homelessness. Sadly, most of the time, that is not the case. What we hear most of the time is definitely critical.
“Those people should just get a job!”
“You reap what you sow”
“They are all addicts”
“They’re all mental health cases, beyond help”
Instead of climbing down into the ditch and offering immediate assistance, we typically see pointed fingers and judgmental looks. Why would people think this way? How can we be so hard-hearted? We can point our own fingers at social media, movies about the homeless, inhumane conditions in huge metropolitan areas, and other examples where those who seem to be perpetuating criminal activity are those who are unhoused. That kind of thinking is the easy way out. It doesn’t require any commitment to solving the issues surrounding homelessness. As long as we regard those people as something other than our brothers and sisters, it’s easy to judge and move on.
This devotional is meant to change that reaction by looking at people through God’s eyes in an effort to soften the hearts of all people—especially those who call themselves Christ-followers.
Whether we like it or not, we are all related. We have a responsibility to care for one another. Jesus speaks to his disciples in one of the most intimate settings recorded in the Bible. Just after he washes the feet of all twelve of his disciples, the ones he called himself, his betrayer is revealed and dismissed. Imagine what they were feeling at that moment. One that was with them on the ministry trail for months, one of their own, was identified and quickly removed from the upper room. The air must have been heavy. Jesus uses this moment to explain how he is about to leave them. The next thing he tells them is this:
34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35
Love one another. Some are more difficult to love than others, but Jesus didn’t give us an escape clause. Neither did he suggest it would be easy. In the most famous sermon ever preached, Jesus told us to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”[3] The bar is not lowered to the least common denominator. Just the opposite. We have a responsibility to love everyone.
As you dive into the subject of homelessness, it’s helpful to consider some additional context. To begin with, it’s important to approach the subject with a humble heart. Dr. Greg Wiens provides some incredible insight in the section Walking in the Wilderness. Leigh Huckins leverages her years of experience in writing the section, Substance Use Disorder and Homelessness – Does One Cause the Other? Do We Treat Together? She explains that we need to recognize that substance use disorder is just one of the many factors that can lead to someone becoming homeless or unstably housed. Vicki Redding contributed a section on Mental Illness and Homelessness to help us all begin to see mental illness as an ailment that needs our empathy more than judgment. Vicki’s decades of experience in this field should help us all as we approach those suffering from mental illnesses. Finally, I’ve also added a section to remind us that Homelessness is a Housing Issue to support the argument for affordable housing for lifetime low-income earners. My hope is that this section will give us some new language to have more dialogue concerning homelessness and housing. Each of these sections is worthy of its own publication. They are intentionally brief here to begin the conversation while not taking away from the devotions.
At this point, you’re probably ready to toss this book in the trash or at least put it down. How can we possibly live up to Jesus’ standards? How can we love so recklessly? “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”[4]
Let me challenge you to invest 10 to 15 minutes a day for 40 days as you read through short passages of scripture along with encouraging words from 40 different people representing a wide variety of viewpoints. Within the pages here, you will meet those who have personal experience with homelessness, some who were homeless when they wrote their devotion, and some who have never worried about their own housing or where their next meal would come from. In short, you’ll read from a broad group of people in an effort to answer the question: Why should we care for those experiencing homelessness?
In addition to the devotion, each author will give you a very brief synopsis of who they are and why they wanted to contribute to this effort. We also gave you room to write some notes beside each entry.
It’s my prayer that your eyes will be opened to see that we are in this life together and that God has arranged every interaction with great intentionality. In the end, I hope your heart will soften for those experiencing homelessness and that you will look for ways to be the 9-1-1 when you see the tragedy unfold.
[1] Luke 10:30-37, 30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
[2] Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
In the opening few verses of the letter Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he shares that he was on a mission from God (and you thought the Blues Brothers thought of this first). His life was lived as an expression of fulfilling God’s purpose in our world. He also reminded this small band of Christ followers of the same thing. He said they were also set apart for God’s work. Paul saw every follower of Christ in this way; they were called to grow into mature and similarly serve in this mission.
Then he continues in Colossians 1:9-12,
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Most people want to grow; they just don’t want to go through what it requires.
In this one sentence, Paul describes what a life of following Jesus looks like. However, too many followers struggle with the journey required to become this kind of follower. Throughout the Biblical and historical narrative, followers of Jesus have had to journey through the season of wilderness. Most people want to grow; they just don’t want to go through what it requires.
The term wilderness can mean many different things to different people. Biblical passages describe it as a time when the soul is developed during deprivation, desolation, and isolation. We all go through tough times or periods during our lifetimes. Still, the wilderness literally rewires our identity, our sense of significance, and our calling—the very core of our soul that is altered.
A wilderness engages the deepest part of who we are and why we exist in a way that we are never the same afterward. It is an inward journey encouraged by outward circumstances where we lose our confidence, sense of direction, and, ultimately, our certainty. These circumstances vary in duration and setting from person to person. But every follower of Christ hits this wall at some point in their lives and is forced to walk this journey to depth and impact or return to comfort and superficiality. A quick review of some Biblical examples reveals their wilderness experiences were radically different, but each one grew deeper.
Joseph—Genesis 37-50. He spends 13 years being sold into slavery and then is put into prison after doing the right thing in Potiphar’s service.
Moses—Exodus 2.11-4.15. He spends 40 years away from his home, friends, and family and is later described as an alien in a foreign land.
Israel—Exodus-Deuteronomy. The nation spends 40 years wandering around a desert (in the same vicinity that Moses had spent the previous 40 years), living in tents and eating mana without any sense of direction.
King David—1 Samuel 18-31. He spends 10 years being pursued by Saul, who wants to kill him. As a fugitive, he lived in caves in the desert and wrote several of the Psalms during this time.
Jesus—Luke 4.1-13. He spends 40 days with no food or friends in the wilderness, being tempted by the enemy of his soul and our world.
Paul—Acts 9.30 & Galatians 1.17 & 18. He was sent home by the church in Jerusalem, and the church was blessed. The chronological dates are hard to reconcile, but we know Paul spent at least 3 years and at most 10 years in isolation, focusing on his Lord and, most likely, questioning his calling.
Historically, the evidence is even more ample. Most individuals greatly used by God had their faith deepened through challenging circumstances, emotions, thoughts, and spiritual testings[1]. Over the centuries, writers who have sought to explain how Christians mature in their faith have consistently addressed this wilderness season.
One of the best examples is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and his lead character, Christian. In The Pilgrim’s Progress, the wilderness plays a significant role in Christian’s journey to maturity. It represents a time of trial, temptation, and spiritual testing, where Christian’s faith and perseverance are challenged. Specifically, Christian encounters a few key wilderness experiences like despondency, humiliation, and the valley of the shadow of death. Throughout these wilderness experiences, Christian’s journey reflects the biblical theme of the wilderness as a place of testing and maturing. Just as the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and Jesus faced temptation in the desert, Christian’s wilderness is both a physical and spiritual ordeal. His ability to endure these trials is central to his progress in maturity. The wilderness serves to strengthen his faith, challenge his resolve, and ultimately lead to spiritual growth.
To increase physical strength and endurance, we put our muscles through strenuous and repeated stress. However, we try to avoid circumstances that will challenge us spiritually, emotionally, or mentally.
God is more concerned about our character than our comfort.
When faced with the uncertainties of the wilderness, too many Christians choose to return to what they know, that is, that which they are comfortable with. God is more concerned about our character than our comfort. Sometimes, the circumstances that create an environment for wilderness experiences are thrust upon us through no decisions of our own, while at other times, they are consequences of our own decisions. Ironically, we may never be certain of the origin of these circumstances, but we can be sure of the loving hand that is leading us through this valley.
Wilderness is not merely a landscape like a desert but a critical environment where a person’s faith is refined through suffering and isolation. It serves as a metaphor for the hardships and spiritual desolation believers must overcome on their way to salvation. Eugene Peterson describes what he calls Circumstantial Wilderness[2], which doesn’t look like a geographic wilderness at all. It is when the circumstances around us isolate us and force us to reevaluate and deeply rethink who we are and what are we called to do with our lives.
My own wilderness journey was a 14-year season of starting a church from scratch. My wife and family of three young children moved to Orlando, Florida to expand the Kingdom of God through planting a Church of God. I was confident of God’s call on my life and filled with faith about the changed lives that would result. Only years later did I realize that God was more interested in primarily changing me. He did change lives, but mine most deeply. For a decade, I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall, and the wall was God. Only as I began to learn about what God wanted to do deeply in my life was I able to see what God thought was most important about who he was calling me to be. I was a human being, not a human doing.
I had for too long found my significance in what I could do for God rather than who he was in my life. Only through my wilderness would I learn to give up all the things that I had come to trust in for my significance: what others thought of me, what I could do for God, what things I could accumulate, my impact for God’s Kingdom measured by the size of the church I was leading, and so forth. This is what a wilderness does for you. It strips you of those things which seem so important to you but stand between you and your Lord. This is true in all the previous Biblical and historical examples.
Today, I help leaders understand the true call of God on their lives. In so doing, I have done hundreds of debriefs[3] for leaders who are often in crisis. It is common for me to see the signs of a wilderness season through the events of a leader’s life. I know the sweet fruit that can result if that individual will soften their hearts, center their lives on Christ, and let him truly lead through their difficult times. But most of these leaders didn’t get to where they are by acquiescing control of events, so they defiantly try one thing then another. However, they can’t outrun their Lord, and some eventually succumb to God’s chastening in their lives, and they are changed forever, while others continue to try to manipulate the hand of God for the rest of their lives.
Our God isn’t a sadist who indiscriminately inflicts pain in the lives of his followers. On the contrary, he is aware of how our own desires and drives can inhibit our maturity. He lovingly enables us to learn to grow into the people we were designed to be. As our creator, he desires us to be the individuals we can be. It is through a wilderness season we become broken and pliable enough to become aligned for his purposes, not our own.
From my experience and the writings of several authors[4], I have come to identify four stages of a person’s journey through the wilderness. True brokenness is experienced as we have completed all four stages of surrender, abandonment, contentment and participation.
1. The first stage is SURRENDER.
Surrender is when we give up the situation we are in and are willing to trust God to work out the situation for his honor. We give up on our desire to be right and accept God’s control and outcomes in the situation. For me, this occurred through the 14 years I spent in one church plant. I finally came to surrender the size and impact of the church to God. This took me a while to give up what I dreamed and desired for the church and trust that God had a better plan.
2. The second stage is ABANDOMENT.
To abandon yourself is more than surrender. Surrender is giving up in a specific situation. However, abandonment is giving up one’s entire life or sense of significance or calling. We all surrender certain things without abandoning our lives. Abandonment is giving up entirely…not just in a specific circumstance or situation. You are willing to give all that you have felt called for. It is not just surrendering to a higher degree but rather giving up to a different kind of degree.
Paul tells us in Philippians 1.21, when faced with death, that to live is Christ, and to die is gain. He abandoned his entire life to Christ. He was willing to give up on his own agenda, dreams, and calling to God’s plan
As an individual, you abandon your life plans but not the planner of your life (God). You are still walking close to God, so you are willing to give your entire life to whatever he wants to do with it. You are not just surrendering this incident, circumstance or immediate situation, but you have abandoned all of yourself. Even your calling is now secondary to simply abandoning yourself to the one who calls.
3. The third stage is CONTENTMENT.
After truly abandoning ourselves to God, do we become contented? This is often the stage when one finds their future is no longer clear, and that is okay. We are content because we know who we are abandoned to. We are content despite not knowing where we are headed or what the next stage is. Often, this stage entails a deep level of trust manifested by the presence of peace. There is no striving of “If I could only…”. Rather, we find ourselves content as Paul states in Philippians 4.11, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances”. Three times in this passage, he states that he has learned to be content. To those who are not in the wilderness, this stage may be seen as lacking passion or a compelling call. This is only a stage, not the end. Of course, some may become caged in this stage if they don’t mature through the next stage of participation.
4. The fourth stage is PARTICIPATION.
This is stage when the new direction becomes clear and accessible. In this stage the opportunity that presents itself is often very different than what was anticipated earlier in the individual’s life. Often, this stage leads into a type of ministry that was never dreamed of earlier.
However, after surrender, abandonment, and contentment, the individual is now open to opportunities and callings that would not have been appealing earlier in their life. This is where convergence begins to occur.
Paul states in Philippians 4.13, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” He is expressing the state of participating in the strength given to him through Christ.
After maturing through all four stages, one is usually not capable of going back. However, during these stages, anyone can become caged. I have seen some individuals become caged in a stage for the rest of their lives. For example, many people get stuck in the Abandonment or Contentment stage and never fully experience the freedom that comes from the whole process of brokenness. Only after going through the last door are you truly broken and will never go back to where you came from previously.
I have found that a broken follower of Jesus is a delight to be around. Their joy is contagious. These individuals have the ability to make everyone around them feel as if they are someone special. Broken followers of Jesus have a wholeness about themselves. They have little need for external titles or positions of significance. They are comfortable with the scars and scratches that may have come from their wilderness experiences. There is no pretense. They simply are well on their way to becoming the people of God.
About Greg Wiens
I have been an Engineer, Pastor, Church Planter, Statistics Professor, Business Consultant, Denominational Leader, Psychometrician, and now a friend of leaders. I didn’t always have a heart for the underserved in our world. However, during the wilderness period of my life, I was brought face to face with my own arrogance and isolation from the marginalized in our culture. It was during this transformational season I began to see all people as God’s creatures. I learned not to judge those who struggled in contexts that I found comfort in, and only then did I begin to deal with my uncomfortableness with their needs and contexts.
This led to clarifying my own calling and how I can use my gifts, talents, and resources for the underserved, housing-insecure, and marginalized in our society. Dave Phillips and Zoë Hale taught me to understand that everyone has a name, a story, and inherent value. They modeled for me how I must look these souls in their eyes and hear their stories for me to be whole. They showed me how God can use me to serve them in a variety of ways. Thanks for this opportunity to do so.
[1] See the appendix: Wilderness through the Lives of Historical Christians
[3] A debrief is a process of explaining the results of a battery of survey instruments selected to assist the individual with a specific purpose (e.g., position, marriage, personal growth, etc.)
[4] These concepts were developed from the writings of Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, Larry Crabb, Shattered Dreams, Bobby Clinton, The Making of a Leader, and Robert Guelich/Janet Hagberg, The Critical Journey of Faith.
