Today’s Reading:
James 1
James 2
True spirituality that is pure in the eyes of our Father God is to make a difference in the lives of the orphans, and widows in their troubles, and to refuse to be corrupted by the world’s values.
James (Jacob) 1:27 TPT
I heard the Spirit of the Living God say,
I Am reengaging the Church for innocence. I’m reengaging and reigniting the Church with a fiery passion to protect innocence and purity. For too long they have sat on the sidelines leaving children to fend for themselves, leaving single moms to fend for themselves, leaving grandparents to fend for themselves. I Am reengaging the hearts of the Church to care for and serve the widows and the orphans, the ones who have been left to their own devices, scraping for their own resources.
So listen carefully, my dear brothers and sisters, hasn’t God chosen the poor in the world’s eyes to be those who are rich in faith? And won’t they be the heirs of the kingdom-realm he promised to those who love him? But yet you insult and shun the poor in your efforts to impress the rich! Isn’t it the wealthy who exploit you and drag you into court? Aren’t they the very ones who blaspheme the beautiful name of the One you now belong to? Your calling is to fulfill the royal law of love as given to us in this Scripture: “You must love and value your neighbor as you love and value yourself!” For keeping this law is the noble way to live.
James (Jacob) 2:5-8 TPT
I’m breathing new life and conviction and compassion into the heart of My Church for the lonely and alone — to bring them into family, to stretch out a hand to those in need and to build and rebuild community with a Kingdom mindset, with a Kingdom approach, with the heart of God.
It’s time to reach out to those broken families. It’s time to reach out to those lone grandparents. It’s time to surround them with love, family, acceptance and support. It’s time to speak life into the desolate. It’s time to correct the wayward. It’s time for the Church to rise and love unconditionally, to step in to uncomfortable situations and speak into desperate circumstances. It’s time. Jesus is the answer. Family is the answer. Kingdom building and community are the answer. My Kingdom is not an every man for himself kingdom. It is family. It is community. It breathes hope, and it reaches out to draw others in.
My dear brothers and sisters, what good is it if someone claims to have faith but demonstrates no good works to prove it? How could this kind of faith save anyone? For example, if a brother or sister in the faith is poorly clothed and hungry and you leave them saying, “Good-bye. I hope you stay warm and have plenty to eat,” but you don’t provide them with a coat or even a cup of soup, what good is your faith? So then faith that doesn’t involve action is phony.
James (Jacob) 2:14-17 TPT
I’m teaching you to love well. I’m teaching you to extend the cords of your tent, so others can fit into your life, your family, your circle. This is a vital part of the fight against evil. This is a critical aspect of warring against wickedness. It must begin with love. It must begin and be sustained by love, compassion and a teachers’s heart. Let My love, My joy, My Word and My wisdom flow through you so powerfully, so effortlessly that it spills out and touches people everywhere you go.
How to Respond
- Reach out to those in your community who are fending for themselves.
- Pray, Holy Spirit give me a heart of compassion. Help me to hear Your voice and be obedient in responding to Your promptings to reach out with a kind word, a meal, to start a conversation, to invite people into my home. Help me to fight evil in my neighborhood by loving people well.
- Declare, we have a High Priest who can sympathize with us in every way. When He walked the Earth, Jesus’s love always reached out a hand.
- Decree, I will not shut my eyes to the suffering around me. I will reach out a hand of compassion. I will speak to people in love, and I will extend love to them. I will be part of fighting the reign and spread of wickedness and evil in my family and community by being a person who extends love, help and has a place in my home and at my table for those who are struggling and for the lonely.
For more encouragement from Glory & the New Wine, check out the post from this day in years past:
2023: Choose Jesus. He Is the Only Way.
2022: The Lord Is Upsetting Apple Carts
2021: A Call to Live in Contagious Joy
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