February 10, 2015 … Everyone Needs It !!

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 41

Devotional Song: ... Go to this link  … Please take the time to take in a video of music and lyrics of the poignant song… Mighty To Save, [or also entitled Everyone Needs Compasssion]… expressing the reality of how Jesus is Mighty to Save, showing His divine compassion to all who receive Him as Lord and Savior.

Highlight Passage Matthew 25: 36 [NKJV] … 
36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. 
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Highlight Context - Matthew 25: 31-40 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1 - Matthew 15: 32-39 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
 … Jesus shows compassion on the thousands who were hungry by feeding them with a few fishes and loaves

Reference Passage #2 - Luke 4: 18-19 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… The Messiah’s mission in life, which had been foreseen in Isaiah 61: 1-2

Reference Passage #3 - John 4: 1-21 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …  
… Jesus shows compassion on the Samaritan woman at the well

Reference Passage #3 - Galatians 5: 22-23 [NKJV] …
  22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control … 
… The characteristics of Christians, growing in Christlikeness, through God’s grace

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by David C McCasland, tells of friend of his who found great fulfillment after she became a Christian by visiting elderly and in-firmed people in hospitals and nursing homes. He said that God had given him a gift to be “a visitor.”

 Such testimonies of people who had been selfish, and even greedy, before they came to Christ and then becoming filled with compassion and mercy after they were born-again as Christians is very human witness to the transformation brought about in the growing Christians [see 2nd Cor. 5: 17]. Certainly the life exhibited by Jesus Himself when He walked in this world during His earthly ministry was our ultimate model of compassionate living, wasn’t it?

 And Jesus clearly stated His mission which had been prophesied by Isaiah (see Luke 4: 18-19); and then our Lord put His divine compassion on display (see the Matt.15 copied above); and finally preaching that all in God’s Kingdom (i.e., all born-again Christians) will find a place in HIS mission by serving others with compassion, providing them with His living waters (see the John 4 story of Jesus serving the woman at the well).

 Hence we read of Paul declaring that Christians, being filled by God’s Spirit, will exhibit the fruit of the Spirit (described in Galatians 5: 22-23) as opposed to the fruit of the flesh (see Gal. 5: 19-21). My personal challenge from today’s ODB entry is just how much compassion and Spirit-led fruit am I sharing with others to fulfill Christ’s mission (again see Luke 4: 18-19)?

 Personally, … I am challenged to grow more … to do more … to share more. How about you?

My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … Help me to be more fruitful in Your Name and for Your glory. … Amen

Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.