Speak to Your MountainSample

  Speak Provision for the Needy

What is the purpose of a Christian-owned business? There isn’t just one purpose. One purpose is to provide a living for those who work in the business. Another is to be a Christian witness to employees, vendors, and clients. Another is to fund Christian enterprises. And another is to care for the poor.

This last purpose for a business, caring for the poor, is rarely talked about in Christianity. This concept was understood in the Old Testament. Boaz was a successful farmer. He understood that part of his responsibility to his community was to allow the poor to come and glean from his field after he had harvested the main crop. While the harvesting was happening, widows, the poor, sojourners, and orphans all had the right to go into the fields behind the harvesters to pick up any leftover grain.

This was their version of welfare for the poor. No food stamps. No handouts. You actually had to do something to put food on your table. But it was in cooperation with businesses and farms in their area.

Life had hit Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth really hard. Both had lost their husbands and were having a tough time. They were unemployed and wondering where their next meal was going to come from. They picked up all their belongings and moved to Bethlehem during the barley harvest time.

There is a bigger picture to the story of Ruth and Naomi. God uses the business owner Boaz to fulfill the purposes of God. You see, as a relative of Elimelek, Naomi’s deceased husband, Boaz had the ability to take Ruth, Naomi’s daughter-in-law, as his wife. So this wasn’t just any field. It was a field of hope and a solution to her plight. Ruth did all she knew to do, but God orchestrated events that would lead to her marriage to Boaz and being the seed that would lead to lineage of David and the Messiah—all this from a business!

The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 8:18 that God gives us the ability to create wealth to promote his Kingdom here on earth. That is a core purpose of a Christian-owned business. It’s also part of our purpose as a believer in the workplace. Whatever we earn, a portion of that money should be directed at helping the poor.

There are many verses that tell us we are to care for the poor in our midst. Today, consider how you will help the poor as part of the fruit of your work life calling.

DECREES

I decree that:

1. I will be gracious to the poor because God says when I do this, I lend to the Lord, and he will repay me for my generosity.

2. I am blessed because I consider the helpless; the Lord will deliver me in my day of trouble.

3. When I give to the poor, I do not let my left hand know what my right hand is doing. I do this in secret.

4. If I shut my ear to the cry of the poor, I will also cry myself, and God will not answer my prayers.

5. When I give to the poor, I will never want, and if I shut my eyes to the poor, I will have many curses.

6. I will vindicate the weak and fatherless; I will do justice to the afflicted and destitute.

7. I will be a person who seeks justice, reproves the ruthless, defends the orphan, and pleads for the widow.

8. I will give of my possessions to feed the poor, and I will love my neighbor as myself.

9. I will care for widows and orphans as proof that I am a follower of Jesus.

10. I will be a father to the fatherless and defender for widows.

Decrees based on the following Scriptures: Deuteronomy 8:18; Leviticus 19:9–10; Deuteronomy 24:19; Proverbs 19:17; Psalm 41:1; Matthew 6:3; Proverbs 21:13; Proverbs 28:27; Psalm 82:3; Isaiah 1:17; 1 Corinthians 13:3; Mark 12:31; James 1:27; Psalm 68:5

ACTIVATION

We see the heart of God in the many Bible passages that talk about the poor. Many throughout the world live in poverty. Many Christian organizations serve the poor. Today consider how your business or work life call can be a catalyst to care for the poor. You’ll be touching God’s heart and know you are in the will of God for your generosity.