COMPASSION: WHAT IS IT?

The Journey
Invest In People
Partnering With Compassion International
Taking Action
The Rewards
Compelling Facts
Waiting On The World To Change
Will We Change?

The Journey

In March of 2005 God led me on a trip to Ghana, West Africa* with some close friends in the ministry. It was a life-changing trip and awakened a deep conviction in my spirit. I was in the deep, deep bush and saw things that were incredible! I met 82 beautiful little children from ages 2 to 8 that were from a near by slave camp. One of the amazing things that was hard for me to believe was that they had never seen a physical toy of any kind. This was unreal.

We brought toys with us to give out to these 82 children. I was overwhelmed and wept as I passed out toys to these precious souls that were just released from slavery. Their need was far greater than that of just toys; they needed to be loved and cared for, they needed to know that they were special, that their life had significance and that God loves them. The toys were just a small gesture of that love and brought me great joy to see their faces light up as they received.

From that time, the Lord birthed a longing in my spirit to make a difference in the world for the children. I have always loved children and am a father to two of my own. The children are indeed our future and after this experience it became obvious that God wanted me to utilize all of my gifts and talents to impact the lives of the lost and forgotten children of the world.

The purpose of this writing is to rally the spirit within you to reach out to at least one child and make a difference in what can be a cruel and heartless world to a child in desperate need. I will pull on your heart in an effort to help you see what I have seen and to challenge you to take action. <top> <sponsor now!>

Invest In People

In the eyes of God, children are the most precious things in his sight. In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, “ Let the little children come to me…for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Why did he say this? It’s because heaven is filled with the pure of heart and children possess the purest hearts on planet earth.

By getting my own 5 and 7 year old children involved in sponsoring a child of their own I have learned that children also have a heart for other children. They naturally love them and want to do wonderful things to help them. My kids are always asking if we can give the poor kids things like a house, toys, food, etc. Unfortunately, as we grow up many of us grow cold, callas and indifferent to the cries of the poor and become self-absorbed.

Even worse, very few parents today are helping their own children to develop a heart of compassion for the less fortunate. Our human nature for the most part tends to be selfish, so if you want your children to respond in a compassionate way you must work diligently against the ways of our culture to instill that in them by giving them real life opportunities that allow them to express compassion. Remember that every miracle performed by Jesus came out of a heart of compassion. Compassion is godly and one of the most powerful forces on the universe.

I want to encourage you to teach your children that most of the world does not live in the luxury like those of us fortunate ones in the west. That responsibility lies on the shoulders of the parents and no one else. No one else can do it. If we don’t nurture hearts of compassion in our children the world will grow even colder and our narcissistic and self-serving society will only get worse. Each one of my children sponsor a child of their own with their own allowance.

This teaches them stewardship, accountability and that caring for others has a cost, but a cost that is well worth it. And if taught properly, allows for them to experience the great joy that comes from helping the less fortunate. This also teaches them to appreciate what they do have. I have found that most children in America lack gratitude simply because parents shelter them from the worlds truths or are oblivious themselves.

Investing in people will be the greatest investment you can ever make. The souls of people are the currency of heaven. Investing in people is one of the few investments you will ever make while living on planet earth that will yield eternal rewards. It’s an investment that goes beyond the grave. I love motivational quotes and have one on my desk that is very profound. It says, “A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove….But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”  The only thing that will matter when we are six feet under is what you did for others. This helps me to keep my focus on what really matters now and what will inevitably matter in the end. <top> <sponsor now!>

Partnering With Compassion International

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make a difference in our world today. You just have to put a little effort behind someone who’s got the wheels up and running to help to give them momentum. After my trip to Ghana I sought the Lord earnestly and through much prayer and God’s divine direction I was led back to one of the greatest organizations on planet earth! They are called Compassion International and they are doing some of the most vital work for children ever undertaken.

They were first established in 1952 out of the aftermath of Korean War in an effort to help hurting children. This is their mission statement and goal. To release children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.   

They have been faithful stewards and for over 50 years have demonstrated integrity by doing the work that they promised to do! I love their motto. They are about the number one. One person, linked up to one sponsor for one goal, to change the world, one life at a time. Truly this is how we do it.

I believe many people would like to do something to help others in great need. But most often they simply don’t know how or they get too overwhelmed so they do nothing. And because there are a plethora of charlatans, conmen and snake oil salesman, people get discouraged when they find out that the money they gave with all sincerity, hope and expectancy went to absolutely nothing. In our world today there is so little integrity and a scam a minute. It’s really sad, but that is why I have chosen to partner with Compassion as an international spokesperson.

They operate on merely 17 % of the revenue that they take in. They are held financially accountable by several leading agencies that insure that funds are going where promised. They are in the trenches and ghettos of over 20 developing nations around the globe demonstrating with tangible evidence the very word compassion.

My relationship with Compassion actually goes back many years to a time when I was simply a child sponsor. It was always a rewarding experience and now with my own family we continue the tradition of sponsoring children. This allows us the great privilege of demonstrating the love of God as a family. I want to help make a tangible difference in our world and I will use all that I have to do it. I hope that you will join me in making a difference by sponsoring a child yourself and involving your own friends and family. <top> <sponsor now!>

Taking Action

Investing in Compassion International is like investing in a Microsoft stock at the height of the market when the stock kept splitting and skyrocketed to the top. It’s a fruitful effort that will only increase in the things that matter to God. The cost of sponsoring a child is a mere $32.00 a month. That is a little over a dollar a day! Most people in the west fritter $32.00 a month away on useless garbage that goes in the trash not long after they purchase it. Does corporate America need any more of your money? No! But a poor child does. Many people blow four times that amount a month on frappuccino addictions. People are what God values and cares about most and it should be the same with us.

The scriptures say, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” We in the western world have been given incredible prosperity and resources. We must be good stewards of the abundance of what we have been given and look after the poor. If you don’t have enough money yourself and truly can’t afford $32.00 a month then use what you have. Use your voice and rally up others to join forces with you!

I once met some young kids who wanted to sponsor a child but didn’t have the money. I said to them “use what you have, use your voice, your ability to persuade, use whatever you have and rally up your friends.”  So they got five friends to agree to sponsor a child and they split it! They actually responded to the call and did it and that touched my heart so deeply. Here is how Proverbs 31:8-9 states it. "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and these young guys saw a need, had a desire and made a way. You can sponsor a child as a youth group, a church, a business, a school club or sports team or any combination of people who congregate for one reason or another.

Helping others gives purpose to lives that for the most part have none. As long as you live only for yourself you will never truly have deep significance and purpose in your life. Worldly success does not offer true deep and meaningful purpose. The heart of God is for his children and he values them above all else. Countless people have succeeded at gaining huge world success and notoriety only to find that true happiness and contentment did not come as a result. The world system cannot offer purpose. Purpose comes from the heart of God the father and he alone. It comes when he gives us his heart for people. It comes when we ask him for his heart because remember scripture says that, “God is love!”

The greatest command in the Bible is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, might, soul and strength and the next is to love thy neighbor as yourself. When we obey those commands we find a heavenly contentment, purpose and deeper meaning in life the way God intended it. <top> <sponsor now!>

The Rewards

By making a commitment to sponsor a child you will be an enormous blessing to a child for sure. But the truth is, it is really you who will be blessed in the end. The heartfelt satisfaction you will receive when you see what your $32.00 a month was able to accomplish will amaze you! Remember that $32.00 a month may not do a lot in America, but in these third world nations its like a million dollars and goes far. The money you give will help to feed, clothe, educate, inspire, and encourage those children. You will be a living conduit for a real life demonstration of God’s love and the full expression of his mercy.

Most of us in the western world would never even miss the money. When you receive their letters twice a year it will put a huge smile on your face and fill your heart with unspeakable joy. And if you so choose you can also show your love by writing them a short not back twice a year and by sending them $10.00 extra for their birthday and Christmas. Many people have sponsored children until they completed the program, which ends at age 18. You will get a new picture of your child every year and begin to really know them, their family and feel for them because they are real people!!

They hold on to your letters like precious gold. They hang them on the walls of their mud huts, shacks, shelters, and tents because it says that that they matter and that someone loves them. These people live in a hurting world and you could never begin to understand what it means to a little child to have a letter from you. Watch the movie called, It’s About Schmitt, staring Jack Nicholson. It may inspire you!

The child you sponsor will have opportunities that the rest of the world simply won’t see. The child you sponsor will be part of a church based program. Many sponsors have gone to the nations where their child lives and have met them face-to-face. It has been an incredible and overwhelming experience for those who have been able to do so. Many of us talk about love, but when I talk with my children about love, I tell them “love must be demonstrated in order for it to be real.” Simply saying you love someone without demonstrating it is has no meaning and at its core is nothing more than self-deception. Love is action, and at its core love is a decision.

I can think of no better or more practical way to demonstrate our love and the love of God than to sponsor a child. It’s real life and keeps you connected to a worthwhile cause that allows you to be an instrument of change. Proverbs 19:17 says this. “He who has pity on the poor lends to the LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.”

The Bible states that when God judges our life that he will put our works through the fire. Unfortunately, for many of us we have built our lives on things that will burn up instantly because they never had any eternal value. It was all temporal garbage that we so desperately clung to and coveted. One of the only things that will survive that test will be what we sowed into the lives of others and whether or not we responded to the needs and cries of the poor, lonely and destitute. It would be wise if we could stand before the father of creation with at least the soul of one child that we can say we loved and cared for. At least one!! <top> <sponsor now!>

Compelling Facts

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me.”

Kind David said, " I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

The Big Christian Cop Out - we have to pray about it? 

All throughout God’s word he commands that we look after the poor and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. There are many things that we do need to pray about to seek God’s direction for our lives, but helping the poor is not one of them! In fact, it is our duty. We are commanded to demonstrate Gods love. We don’t have to pray about that because it’s clearly God’s will and consistently stated over and over in scripture.

How come we don’t have to pray about it when it comes to things we want for ourselves?

Do you pray about it when you treat yourself to something special, a nice dinner, a favorite CD, Starbucks, a concert, a movie, a nice handbag, a piece of jewelry, some cool shoes, going on a vacation or whatever you fancy. NO, in reality we pray very little about those things and making ourselves number one. We just do it. God will never say no when it comes to demonstrating his love for the poor and needy. On that you can be sure.

Check Out These Scriptures For Confirmation

Titus 1:16 (New King James Version)
16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

James 4:17 (Amplified Bible)
17 So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.

Galatians 6:7 (New Living Translation)
7 Don't be misled. Remember that you can't ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow!

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (New King James Version)
18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, 19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

1 John 2:17 (New International Version)
17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

<top> <sponsor now!>

Waiting On The World To Change

There is a wonderfully catchy song by John Mayer called, “waiting on the world to change.” I like it a lot, and though it’s a noble effort to try bring awareness of the world’s problems. The real problem is that it offers no solution. It only dwells on sad realities we are all well aware of. It speaks with a sense of hopelessness and that perhaps someday magically if we sing about it enough the world will change and be a better place. People we need to stop waiting on the world because sad to say, we are the world.

When we say that we are waiting on the world to change we are really saying that we hope someone else does all the changing so we don’t have to. The reality is that we are only waiting on ourselves to change. If you want to see the world change, surrender your life to the living God and he will begin to change you from within. Then you will do what you know is right in your heart at every given opportunity. Extending your hand to the hurting, needy and downtrodden will always be the noblest effort a human being can make for another. The Bible states it like this; “Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for another.

Let us stop waiting on the world or anyone else to change and make a decision to do something to make the world a better place ourselves. Just begin to change yourself by making others more important than yourself.

Lyrics like these really annoy me simply because they put the blame or accountability on others and fuel people with a spirit of non-accountability. What they should be singing is that “the world sucks because most of you are selfish and heartless pigs who refuse to change.” But that wouldn’t go over so well now would it. No it wouldn’t and that’s because it’s so much easier to rally behind something that makes change elusive, idealistic or someone else’s responsibility. It allows us to deceive ourselves into thinking there’s really nothing we can do about it anyway so we won’t. People, it’s us!

True, no one has the power to change the whole world. But if we can at least change ourselves and reach out to just one person in need then we have changed the world and made a difference and that’s more than most will ever do in their lifetime.

You know how we change the world? One life at a time, that’s how. I believe God is waiting on us to change because we are the world. We were certainly endowed with the ability to change. The question is, do we have the will and spirit and we will pay the price of that change.

I have come to the conclusion that if I want the world to change, I need to change myself and by doing so, add to society a renewed person who is contributing to the solution, not the problem. If I can rally up a few others to do the same then my contribution to my planet will be all the greater. And that is precisely what I am attempting to do and imploring you to do as well. <top> <sponsor now!>

Will We Change?
My dear friends, our life on earth is a short one indeed, we must make every moment count.  We would be wise if we begin to live with an eternal perspective rather than a temporal one because we are eternal beings. Let the following scriptures speak to your heart. I hope and pray they cause you to re-evaluate your life and compel you to spend the rest of it pursuing God and things that have lasting value.

We must be heavenly minded for our future by being earthly minded in our present life with good works. I hope that you do the right thing and join me by sponsoring a child today with Compassion. If you do, God will surely reward you as he promises and everyone will get blessed because that’s God’s way. With gratitude, hope and expectancy-----Zoro

Matthew 16:27 (Amplified Bible)
27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory (majesty, splendor) of His Father with His angels, and then He will render account and reward every man in accordance with what he has done.

1 Peter 1:17 (New Living Translation)
17And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites when he judges. He will judge or reward you according to what you do.

Matthew 7:21 (New King James Version)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:19-21 (NKJV)
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Revelation 22:12 (Amplified Bible)
12 Behold, I am coming soon, and I shall bring My wages and rewards with Me, to repay and render to each one just what his own actions and his own work merit.

Luke 16:9 (New Living Translation)
9 I tell you, use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. In this way, your generosity stores up a reward for you in heaven.

James 1:22 (Amplified Bible)
22 But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].

Psalm 106:3 (New International Version)
3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do.

2 Chronicles 16:9 (New Living Translation)
9The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (Amplified)
 For God loves {He takes pleasure in, prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without) a cheerful (joyous, “prompt to do it”) giver {whose heart is in his giving}.” <top> <sponsor now!>

Remember, you are never more like the nature of God than when you give!

*Zoro in Ghana, Africa
See Zoro's trip to Ghana, Africa to build God's people.

Read Zoro's "Verse of the Day" on JCTV.ORG - the World's #1 Faith-based Youth TV Channel

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