THE DAILY BLUEPRINT FOR 8-9-08

SPECIAL EDITION - THE POOR - THEIR NEEDS - OUR RESPONCE

--------Day 6-------

Matthew 25:44-46...

They also will say, "Lord when did we see you hungry or thisty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?" Jesus will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatsoever you did not do for the least of these you did not do for Me." Then they will go away to eternal punishment, the righteous to eternal life...

These verse from Matthew are very harsh but to the point - Jesus does not mence words at all - He says that if we don't help the poor - its like saying no to His request for Help- what an odd thing to say - because many of us would respond in the same way by saying -when did we see you poor - sick - in need? Jesus knows our hearts and He knows since HE created everything -what makes us tick - He knows that its human nature NOT to help those in need - just the other day I was driving down the road and I saw a stalled car in the middle of the road on the island -Id love to tell everyone I stopped and helped them and got blessed by it - but the turth is I didn't stop- well that was until God kind convicted me - He said to go back - I did as God said this time and I found the car on the side with some other guys helping them - Jesus was saying that we should help all those we come across - and in doing so we help Him - many times its fear or its the risk of our comfort that causes us to turn away from those in need - the end of these verses sure seems harsh to me but I believe what Jesus is saying that when we have His Spirit inside us we will help those in need- that's the differnace between us and those without Christ -we help out of worship - that should ALWAYS be our motivation - not rewards -lets help those that Jesus sends our way - and in doing so you will be helping Jesus Himself! Amen!? one final word:The words in God's word seems to be action words - its not enough to read it - it's not enough to wish you brother in need well - what is enough is actually physically - mentally or emtionally helping those in need -so stop sitting here and go where GOD calls you to go!

Daily Blueprint 8-9-08

JESUS says the poor will always be with us -good thing JESUS also will always be with us!

the following is in response to one of the devotionals from last week-these words mean so much! Allow God to use them to show you His mercy - His grace in the poor around us! Kathleen writes: =-) The verse you used for today is a good one for mission work and helping those in need. I have another thought about this Scripture, from my experiences in Baja. Where it says "At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality! ". Each time we go to Baja we bring clothes and medical supplies and school supplies and many "things" that the people need. We bring of our plenty to supply what they need. And every time, at the end of our week, I go home filled with a renewed and strengthened spirit, a sort of "recharge" of my spiritual batteries, and a realignment of my priorities! That is the people of Camalu's plenty that supplies my need! Their life is simple and their daily struggles are for basic necessities of living, but in that, their lives are not cluttered with all the material things we often let control our lives. They don't fret over what's for dinner, they are happy to have something to eat for dinner! They are very family oriented and spend a lot of time with their children and helping their neighbors. It seems that without a lot of material things filling their lives and taking their time and attention, their simple lives are filled with God and family! Being with them and working with them is a wakeup call for me. I don't think that means we necessarily need to get rid of all the things we have, because God has blessed us greatly. But we need to be very careful not to put these things ahead of God and to thank Him daily for the many blessings He has bestowed on us. We need to seek His Will in how to use these blessings - this plenty - to help others. And watch carefully as we go through our lives to be aware of "plenty" that others may have and give to is that we may not recognize as plenty! God is so Good and His Plan and Creation is awesome and marvelous.We are blessed! Love,Kathleen