Nourish Your Heart

Lord, thank you for being here with me this day. You are walking through this day with me.

You know who I am. You know what I’m going through. You named me and love me as your own.

Forgive me my sins. Spread your peace and joy thick around me. Cushion me with your comforting arms and lift me up.

Help me face this day with your hand holding mine.

Jeremiah 14:9 But God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don’t leave us in the lurch.

ACCEPT THE WEAK IN FAITH Romans 14:1 - Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

Jesus left his heavenly glory to become man — to walk the don dusty Judean trails, to mingle with lepers and to train twelve unlearned men who would hold the keys to his Kingdom. Jesus died for all sinners. He became weak so we could become strong. He became nothing for us, so we could become the daughters of God.

Paul writes, “I became weak to win the weak. I became all things to all men to save some.” I Corinthians 9:22 He suggested the strong bear the failings of the weak. (Romans 15:1 – We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.)

Christians never stand on the same level of maturity in the church. Older Christians must teach babies to walk; they must stoop to carry the burdens of the weak in love. This sharing strengthens the strong and serves the weak.

Prayer: Lord help me to see and help those in need. Show me when my help is needed for my fellow man.

(My grandmother, Anna Daisy Siemens, wrote poetry and prose. This devotion was written and published for Devotions for the Deaf in 1994)

Hebrews 10:14 – For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

Translations vary by calling ‘spur’ (NIV) provoke, encourage, arouse, and stir up. All these words suggest that Christians love and do good for others, especially in the church.

A young Israelite girl, captured to be h e his wife’s maid, suggested her master go to Elisha for a cure of his leprosy. (I King 5:2,3 – Solomon sent back this message to Hiram: “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the LORD his God until the LORD put his enemies under his feet.) Barnabas, an encourager, led the Jerusalem church to accept Paul as a servant of Christ. (Acts 9:26 – When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.) He knew Paul no longer would persecute the church.

Grace, a provoker in a small group, stirred the church women to sew pajamas for a small orphanage. They made and gave quilts to burned out families and sewed layettes for missions.

We, too, can become provokers for God in our own circles. God bless them.

Prayer: Lord, help me to see and fulfill the needs of others.