Get Uncomfortably Kind
Under "Seven Things to Pray for your Children" on PrayerMate #6 popped up.
"Pray that their hearts will be stirred to give generously to the Lord's work."
All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord. Exodus 35:29
At that moment my heart stirred to encourage you all to give an unexpected gift to your church. "The germ" we all are so tired of these past two years has kept so many people out of our churches, but our churches haven't stopped their ministry, in fact I know for ours we've upped the out pouring of love and money into to the community. Bowing my head, I just asked the Lord to show me today where He is calling me to give.
The Lord impressed upon my heart a family of eight (home schooled children 6 months to 14 years) who attend our church's main campus. Their father has been in the hospital on a ventilator for 2 months. Most of that time the mother has not been allowed to visit him because of "the germ" which all ten of them contracted. He's been in a coma most of this time and this wife has had to make critical medical decisions with the doctors' advising her. Her husband himself is a physician. The Lord said, "Do something unexpected for them."
Right after that time of prayer I opened my email and clicked on a devotional by Chip Gaines titled "Get Uncomfortably Kind". What a fun fellow he comes across as on his new Magnolia Network. God has certainly blessed his and Joanna's businesses. It's really worth the read. He shares an old Irish proverb:
“It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.”
He also shares from the story in Mark 12:41–44, Luke 21:1–4 of the widow's mite.
"In the story of the widow’s mite in the Bible, Jesus watched at the temple in silence as rich men made donations — some of them quite large — into the treasury. But then a poor widow placed two small copper coins in the box, barely a fraction of a penny. That was when Jesus spoke up, saying that this woman had given more than any of the others, even the richest of them, because she had made a true sacrifice."
It was after reading this that the mission God had set me upon at the first prompting deepened requiring more self sacrifice from me than simply shipping a gift. Oh, Lordy, go with God.
https://www.faithgateway.com/get-uncomfortably-kind/#.Yd7eeS-cZp8
Number three was from "365 Promises"
Promise #12: I am at work in your life through the desires of your heart.
For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13
The Amplified Bible puts it this way...[Not in your own strength] for it is God who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
The author writes:
"It is amazing to think that God actually directs us by the godly heart's desires that He has already placed in our hearts... May we all learn to trust the still small voice that resides within us. For it is God who is already at work in you and it gives Him great delight to see His kids living from their hearts."
Number four was a Bible teaching on youTube by Paige Brown that was not for the faint of heart as she addresses the problem of what our hearts are set upon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBCCFwAnoPk
Let's pray:
Oh Great Giver of life and Provider of every thing we need, stir us to step out into today prepared to have a heart like Jesus and get uncomfortably kind! As part of our daily routine may we cry out clean me from the inside out and create in me a new heart. In Jesus' name, Amen
The Songs
"Do Something" by Matthew West
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_RjndG0IX8
"If We Are the Body" Casting Crown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFzhMO81gG8
