A BLESSING

“And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.  And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

Acts 3:2-6

King Jams Version

God helped me and I posted my first devotion on my website in January of 2005.  The next day I received an email from someone, I’m not going to say if it was a man or a woman because I promised to keep it confidential.  The person wrote in the email “I was going to commit suicide last night but I read your devotion and it stopped me from killing myself.  Instead I called a help line and asked for help.”

Ira B. Wilson wrote the hymn “Make Me a Blessing”.  Are we doing what the words in this hymn tell us to do?  “Give as ’twas given to you in your need Love as the Master loved you Be to the helpless a helper indeed Unto your mission be true”.  We may not be able to give money but we can give of ourselves and what we have.

I don’t have money to give but I give the devotions that God lays on my heart to write to people.  We can also listen to people.  Many times people don’t want us to tell them what they should do; they just want us to listen.  Several years ago, a lady sat in my living room and told me her marriage was over.  She said “My husband doesn’t love me and he’s cheating on me”.

I didn’t say anything in reply.  I just prayed for her.  About three hours after she went home, her husband came to my door and asked me if he could talk to me.  I invited him in to my home and I listened to what was on His heart.  What he told me was just the opposite of what his wife had told me.

He said, “My wife has been unfaithful to me and I don’t think she loves me.  What should I do”?  I told him that he needed to talk to a pastor or a counselor and then I prayed for him.  We don’t know what is going on in someone’s heart, only God knows and only God can fix the situation.

If you can preach or teach Sunday school, play the organ or piano or sing and you are not doing it, not only are you robbing people of blessings, you are also breaking God’s heart and hurting Him.  The Bible tells us that we are to love one another unconditionally as Jesus loves us.  It is a commandment from Jesus.

We read in the Bible.  “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  Can we honestly say that we always love others as Jesus loves us?  I have to admit that there are times when I hurt Jesus because I fail to love unconditionally and I have to ask Him to forgive me.  It breaks my heart when I hurt Him.

Someone emailed me a picture and this person’s eyes are so full of the love of Jesus that I put it on the desktop of my computer.  I got up at 2:30 in the morning, went into my office, turned on my computer and the person in this picture has such a smile and look of love that I found myself talking out loud to this picture and telling this person what is in my heart.

Does that sound crazy to you?  It does to me but I felt safe talking to the picture because I knew the person in the picture couldn’t laugh at me.  If you are reading this devotion, know that you can tell Jesus anything that is in your heart and He will never laugh at you.  He will just tell you that He still loves you and always will love you.

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much You gave Your beloved Son to die on the cross for our sins.  I pray for all those who are lonely, discouraged, and heartbroken and all who feel like giving up and going to bed and staying there.  Please comfort and encourage them as You have been so faithful to do for me.  In Jesus’ Name, I pray.  Amen.

Joanne Lowe

June 2, 2019