Satisfy the Afflicted Soul
Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective
I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas, whether you actually celebrate it or not. It should be a time of reflection and enjoying family at least. For me, it is also be the perfect time to attempt to reach the lost through evangelism since the world knows that the celebration is due to the birth of the Savior, even though they attempt to deny it. Even if the world wants to commercialize it, Christians don’t need to fall for that and can use the time to exhibit our powerful response to this particular holiday. At any rate, may His peace be more fully shed abroad in your heart as you seek to highlight His love for the lost around you.
But of course, every Christian should be fully involved in some form of evangelism as often as possible, not simply during the Christmas holiday. The Great Commission of Matthew 28 provides us our marching orders and may we never shrink from that mandate.
I’m not an evangelist. I am simply not gifted in that way, but this does not exempt me from witnessing to others, that the love God has for them is real and if allowed, will change their lives forever, moving them from the unsaved category to the saved. One of the things I’ve realized I can do is help people in need. This opens doors in a big way and even if it doesn’t, anyone I help who is in need may benefit from the seed I end up planting.
I wish I was better at it, but it is what it is. Another of my friends from childhood just passed away from ALS. I’m fairly certain he was jabbed. He went very quickly after he was diagnosed. Mutual friends also knew him and the husband visited him in his hospital bed and asked him about his thoughts regarding Jesus and his potential need for Him. The reply was honest – he wasn’t sure – and so the husband talked with him more about Jesus and what He has accomplished for us.
Direct evangelism is the best way to reach the afflicted, hungry soul. But of course, it’s not the only way. Sometimes, a way to reach an afflicted soul is to meet the person’s physical needs. To do so in the name of Jesus is a tremendous form of evangelism and it’s something the entirety of the book of James speaks to.
Making an impact on people’s lives is often done through some form of work or what we call good deed. It’s where the rubber meets the road because it is tangible. God not only expects His children to do such good works, but promises special rewards to those who do. Remember, these good works are not done for salvation, but because we have salvation. If we are not involved in any good works, there is a huge question mark over our heads. Are we truly saved? Do we want to see others saved?
This is why Christmas is a tremendous way to celebrate Jesus in tangible ways. Again, yes, it is very commercialized, but Christians do not have to fall into that. We can celebrate the true meaning of Christ’s birth without getting caught up in the commercialization craze. Christmas season is the perfect time to reach out to the anguished, afflicted and hungry soul. What do they need that they cannot afford? Certainly, food is a good thing. Maybe you are a carpenter or HVAC person. Maybe you can mow some widow’s lawn. I would be willing to bet there are people in your community who lack food, who need a ride some place, who need some work done around the home and other things beside. Can you meet any of those needs? And in doing so, can you offer the fact that you do those things because of what Jesus has done for you?
If you are uncomfortable getting right to the evangelistic point, there’s yet another way to approach the afflicted person. Ask them point blank how you can pray for them. Silvia and I have done this on trips. We go to a restaurant and deliberately ask the server – after some chitchat – how we can pray for them. We’ve never had anyone laugh at us, or tell us where to go or think we are complete morons.
Again, this is the blessing of the Christmas season because it automatically provides opportunities for Christians to reach out to the unsaved and provide an explanation for why we believe and why we are doing what we do.
I realize that there are many Christians who do not observe Christmas. My biggest problem with that is having people think I’m Muslim. Islam hates Christianity and when given the chance, will do everything possible to destroy the season. That’s now happening in Syria and other places in the Middle East.
I’m still amazed that the Christians who won’t celebrate His birth will celebrate His resurrection. Without His birth, there would be no resurrection. This doesn’t mean again, that we need to be caught up in all the commercialization of the holiday. What it means for me is that the season itself provides me with the accepted reason to talk about Jesus publicly. Yes, some non-Christians continue to hate that, but what does that matter?
In essence, we Christians need to use any reason we can find to evangelize the lost. If that means using the Christmas season to “give gifts” to the poor and needy, how can I not participate in that? If it means using the Christmas season to talk about why Jesus came into this world to unbelievers, why can’t I do that? To not observe to some extent, in my mind, is like looking a gift horse in the mouth.
I don’t know when Jesus was born. No one does. But He was born into this world to fulfill the greatest commission/mandate God ever decided. That, to me, deserves recognition and I don’t care how commercialized the world makes it. I’m simply not falling for it.
If we consider it, every holiday, birthday, anniversary or other public event has also been highly commercialized. However, I still buy a gift and a card for my wife’s birthday and celebrate the fact that she was born into this world! Her presence in this world has made my life so much better since I met her and that is worth celebrating. I do the same with our anniversary, which has also been highly commercialized.
But overall, I fully believe Christians should use these type of holidays and events as a way to evangelize the lost. Doing so, in my opinion, makes the job of evangelism so much easier. I am supposed to reach out to the lost as well as other brothers and sisters in the Lord who are in need.
That’s one of the big things I love about our church. It is filled with people who constantly reach out to other members of our church and/or the community to meet needs for them. It opens the door to tell them about Jesus.
Every Friday, we gather at what is called Little Manna, to give out food to those in need. It is asked that they give a $10 donation per box of food and they get a lot. We also ask them about any needs we can pray about for them. It is an automatic door opener to telling them about Jesus. Many times, it goes further, finding a person who is in desperate need in other areas and people in our church step up.
Christians have the job of reaching out to afflicted souls – both saved and unsaved. God promises to reward us when we do. Case in point is Isaiah 58:10-11.
10 If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
Notice the practical application of the above two verses. God is literally telling us through the prophet Isaiah that if we – as His children – are willing to extend ourselves to those in need, God blesses us in special ways. If we are willing to help the hungry person or the person whose soul is afflicted in other ways, the “light” within us (from the Presence of the Holy Spirit), will dawn in the darkness. Our sacrificial acts in helping another person who is hungry or otherwise in need, will cause them to see the light within us (remember, God is Light and in Him there is no darkness, 1 John 1:5). That light will shine forth into the darkness of their soul, hopefully enlightening them to their need for Him! In essence, God blesses those we help with an understanding that they lack something. What they lack is the light that is within true believers and that light is the truth of the Gospel.
If you help people who need help, simply because you are in the position to be able to help them, they will begin to question within themselves why you are helping them. They may not understand at first, because maybe no one has helped them before. It feels weird to them, though at the same time, it is uplifting to them as well.
Verse 10 goes onto say that the “darkness” within us will shine as the noonday. We all still have some measure of darkness in us because we all continue to have a sin nature. We tend to give into the temptations that come our way at times, whether we want to or not. But in reaching out to other people, our minds become focused on their needs. We literally forget ourselves, as we reach out to attempt to meet the needs of others. This is exactly what Jesus means when He tells us to lose our life (Matthew 10:39).
Finding our life means keeping Self at the center, doing whatever Self dictates. Losing our life in Christ means we understand that we cannot do anything to save ourselves from God’s coming judgment, so we come to Him, submit ourselves to Him, repent of our sin and endeavor to follow Him. We “lose” our life by decisively choosing to ignore our Self and also decisively choosing to follow in His footsteps; to live as He lived.
Notice verse 11 tells us several things that will happen within and to us if we begin to reach out to others in need:
- God will guide us continually
- He will satisfy our souls in drought
- He will strengthen our bones
- We will be like a watered garden,
- Like a spring of water that never fails
Such a deal! In exchange for reaching out to other people, God will shower us with blessings; some physical and some spiritual! This is literally the exchanged life that God wants for us and the more we are willing to reach out to others, the more God blesses.
So what does this have to do with evangelization? I am not gifted as an evangelist and that has always been a point of frustration for me. It has never been easy for me to start conversations with strangers about their need for Jesus. I have found it very frustrating, yet I am still under Jesus’ mandate of the Great Commission. What do I do? I extend my soul to the hungry and seek to satisfy the afflicted soul. This very specific physical action on my part not only blesses me, but opens the door of opportunity to witness to those who do not know Jesus. It is a win-win situation.
Imagine going to work daily and only working on your own things that should only be done at home when you are not at work. You go to work, sit at your desk and work on your taxes, write letters to friends and relatives, write another chapter of the book you’re penning, and more. Because you’re doing all that, you are not doing what your employer is paying you to do. Once they learn that you’ve been using their time to do your things, you may not have a job for long.
Since we are His and our citizenship is in heaven, we need to adjust our attitudes in the here and now so that we begin to realize what God wants and expects from us. If we do not do that and continue to live a life that solely focuses on “me,” we accomplish nothing for God and we fail to grow in Him at all. Our fellowship with Him is next to nothing.
Use every opportunity to evangelize, just like Paul did. After all, he used the situation of the “unknown god” in Acts 17:22-23 to witness to the people about Jesus. That particular altar was not dedicated to Jesus but Paul turned it around so that it was referring to Jesus. Just because the world does things we don’t agree with doesn’t mean we cannot use those things for the advantage of spreading the Gospel.
May 2025 bring you closer to Him and make you more willing to find any excuse to evangelize the lost!
Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective
Source: https://studygrowknowblog.com/2024/12/30/satisfy-the-afflicted-soul/
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