Purpose: Anointed to Enrich the Poor

Purpose: Anointed to Enrich the Poor

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor…
– Luke 4:18

This is Jesus confirming the prophecy that Isaiah had made concerning Him hundreds of years before that time (Isaiah 61). This tells us Jesus was also sent to the poor. Poverty is a terrible state; it is debilitating and robs life of its meaning. The poor are always at the mercy of other people. They have no say among their peers and no matter how brilliant they may be, their ideas are often invalidated by their wretchedness. May you not be poor; and if you had once been, may you not return there in Jesus Name.

The poor are described as people who lack money or material possessions, inferior, having little skill or ability, inadequate, weak, deficient, lacking productive potential, and deserving pity. These are no palatable status. However, there is hope for the poor. We see from the above passage that Jesus also came for them; He came to preach the gospel to them. He came to offer them hope and comfort. He came to be the solution to their problems. He came to lift them from the dunghill to prominence and change their status from deficient to buoyant. Some of us are called to do the same.

Those who are partners of Jesus in this calling often find themselves disturbed by human depravity of any kind and they take conscious steps to correct such anomaly. They may not necessarily be rich themselves, but they have the wherewithal to enrich others (2 Corinthians 6:10). Their own wealth is not accurately measured by how liquid they are or much they have in their bank accounts. They are truly measured by how many people they have been able to enrich and lift from poverty to comfort. Whereas, in expending the little they may have to help the poor, God will continue to increase their resources so that they are able to do more and help more people.

The natural tendency is to oppress and deny the poor, and to esteem oneself better than them. But for those assigned to them, they look beyond their present situation to what they can be. And while others are denying or ignoring them, these missionaries to the poor are preoccupied offering them opportunities that will help them to improve their lot.

If you are one of those dedicated to empowering the poor; do not count your blessing by how much you have for yourself; because your success is best measured by how many people you have been able to raise out of poverty into financial independence.

You will succeed in Jesus’ Name!

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