"As a man, you've got to learn to take care of Yourself!" My dad's words were worn into my heart as he gave me jobs and taught me responsibility as a teenager. We do have to be responsible for our actions and taking care of ourselves. But, part of being blessed and taking care of ourselves - at least as God sees it - is caring for others, sticking up for the disadvantaged, and intervening when someone else is being exploited. After all, we are our "brothers' and sisters' keepers!" What convicts me most about this passage, however, are the three verbs for me to obey: encourage, defend, and plead. I can't sit on the sideline and hope someone else takes care of the needs!
My Prayer...
Remove the heart of selfishness, O God, that sometimes keeps me from caring for the oppressed, abused, forgotten, and broken. Give me your eyes of concern and Jesus' heart of compassion to see the oppressed, fatherless, and widowed. O, Holy Spirit, please stir me to action and help me minister to them. In his name, the Lord, Jesus, the compassionate Christ, I pray. Amen.
"Men perish with whispering sins — nay, with silent sins, sins that never tell the conscience that they are sins, as often with crying sins; and in hell..."
"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
About This Devotional
Today's Verse is a free daily devotional that includes a Bible verse, thought and prayer.
The Thoughts and Prayer on Today's Verse are written by Phil Ware.
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