Romans 15:2 ~ The Message
Everyone needs a word of encouragement and what a blessing it is to find it all over the pages of Scripture. The Lord sees all of the Revive board members’ faithfulness to carry on and complete His work this year. He hears their prayers for help to meet the needs of the poor in their community. He also knows the hearts of people who have established ministries and is answering their prayers for more volunteers. We stand amazed at His great plan and purpose to love others through His own children day by day.
The Scriptures He has preserved for us were written so very long ago, but they speak clearly to us today. I hope you stand amazed at Paul’s words and take them to heart as your own personal encouragement.
Romans 15:1-7 from The Message
1-2 “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
3-6 That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of His steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever He will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!
7 So reach out and welcome one another to God’s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!”
The Apostle Paul thrived on encouraging the churches with his presence and his words. He returned to visit places he had been to urge them to do something specific. The word “urge” in the Amplified Bible is defined as “to warn, exhort, encourage and advise.” So to all you who are already involved and working with Revive, and to you who are reading this and praying about it, I want to use these words to encourage your heart from the Scriptures in Proverbs and the last one from Acts in The Message.
I (personally) “urge” you to feed upon this Bread, the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing the Words of God. Let us put our faith into actions.
God’s warnings to us:
Prov. 21:13 If you stop your ears to the cries of the poor, your cries will go unheard, unanswered.
God’s exhortations to us:
Prov. 28:27 Be generous to the poor—you’ll never go hungry; shut your eyes to their needs, and run a gauntlet of curses.
Prov. 31:8-9 Speak up for the people who have no voice, for the rights of all the down-and-outers. Speak out for justice! Stand up for the poor and destitute!”
God’s encouragements to us:
Proverbs 11:10a When it goes well for good people, the whole town cheers;
Prov. 11:11a When right-living people bless the city, it flourishes;
Prov. 14:31b When you’re kind to the poor, you honor God.
Prov. 19:17 Mercy to the needy is a loan to GOD, and GOD pays back those loans in full.
Prov. 29:7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor; the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea.
God’s advice to us: (His counsel) [Good examples to follow.]
Prov. 31:20 (A good woman) is quick to assist anyone in need, reaches out to help the poor.
Acts 20:34-35 Paul speaking “In everything I’ve done, I have demonstrated to you how necessary it is to work on behalf of the weak and not exploit them. You’ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that our Master said, ‘You’re far happier giving than getting.’”
Enjoy reading about the established ministries on this web site. You will see that they put their faith into action and the Scriptures above describe them. May you be encouraged today and say to ReviveOK , “How can I help?”
DEVOTION BY CAROL CUTLER,
DEVOTED FRIEND OF REVIVEOK