We are God's presence on this earth. Answers to prayer often come by motivating people to do His will. When I pray about a lost contact lens, I do not expect it to jump into my hand - I need to act in faith and allow God to guide me to find it. It is the same for many other prayers. When I pray for people in need, I will try follow what I feel God motivates me to do.

I know that the more affluent in society could do a lot more to help those less fortunate. There are many resources which could be used if people were motivated to use them more effectively to help those in need.

But there is another type of poverty which is much more difficult to deal with, and which ultimately has very dire consequences. This is the spiritual poverty which is becoming much more prevalent in the affluent west.