After this
I will pour out My Spirit on all humanity;
then your sons and your daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 I will even pour out My Spirit
on the male and female slaves in those days.
30 I will display wonders
in the heavens and on the earth:
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the great and awe-inspiring Day of the Lord comes. Â Â Â Joel 2:28-31 (HCSB)
There are people in my life that if I read their blogs or devotions, I know before I start that my toes are going to feel some pain. J. Lee Grady, pastor and contributing writer with Charisma Magazine is one of those people. His recent article, There Are No Indian Reservations in Heaven, woke me up to a need in God’s Kingdom that I have ignored.
I grew up along the Mississippi River in the heartland state of Missouri. I was a Girl Scout for ten years and our area council was called Otahki. It was called that to honor the memory of the Cherokee nation who in 1838 was forcibly removed out of their ancestral land in northern Georgia and marched across (going through my home town) to the Oklahoma territory. It was called The Trail of Tears because 3,000 Cherokee died on the march, mostly women and children. Sounds like some of the events described in the Bible, doesn’t it?
On Pentecost, Peter, now filled with the Holy Spirit, stands before thousands and proclaims again the prophet Joel’s words. Every time I have heard those words, I have smiled and received that encouragement for myself. In the context of the entire Bible, I would do well to remember who are the slaves and poorest of the poor.
In the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the unemployment rate is 80%! Can you imagine? 8 out of 10 people have no means of income. Life expectancy is the lowest of anywhere in the Western Hemisphere except Haiti; that includes Central and South America! It’s unbelievable to me that there is a place in the United States and we are allowing it to continue. To do something about it, we don’t have to buy a $1000 plane ticket or even get a passport. Read J. Lee Grady’s article and if God speaks to your heart about His Native American children or you know someone working in Native American missions, drop me a line via email (jody@energion.com).
My heart was quickened by J Lee Grady’s article. What has quickened your spirit lately? What outreach are you involved in? To whom are you the hands and feet of Jesus?
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord written by Andy Park and sung by Lindell Cooley
