Morning Offering

Some days are really different from others, aren’t they? Some days are memorable for completely different reasons. One day can we can be exultant over some joyous news and other days can be tragic and leave us feeling desolate and lonely. Sometimes, on those latter days, we can wonder where God is.

God Weeps, Too

But, as I’ve said before God is always there with us! He rejoices with us and He weeps with us, too. For our God is a God of great compassion. If you look at Jesus on this earth, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus is always healing out of “pity,” it is sometimes translated. But I prefer the translation that states He was “moved with compassion.” That literally means ‘to suffer with.’ And if anyone could do that, it would be Jesus. He leaves the Holy Spirit with us and so we, too, can have that compassion that moves us to action.

It might be that we are moved to pray for someone, or better yet, moved to pray with someone. I have, on occasion, asked people who are obviously hurting if I can pray with them. They have always said yes. And then I just lift this person up, often someone I don’t know very well, interestingly enough, and ask God to bless them, to heal the hurts of this brother or sister, this child of His. I am sure it helps, even if temporarily. But we all need a lift along the way. It helps us to keep going. There are times when the hurting person’s need requires us to give him or her something tangible – some money, some food, some clothing, a blood donation, shoes, our time, our encouragement. It could be a myriad of things. We just have to be open to what God is asking us to give.

Let Me See Jesus 

If we pray to see Jesus in other people, it becomes so much easier to give, to help. If we call on the Jesus within us, it is infinitely easier to be ‘moved with compassion.’ I encourage you to pray a morning offering if you don’t already. In that prayer, we give ourselves and all we do and experience during our upcoming day to the Lord. And then everything we do becomes an act of worship. We’ll end up praying with our very being, and it also will tune us more to what God desires of us. That offering of self and our actions, our thoughts, even our feelings, will remind us that God is with us all day long and into our evenings. We ought to find great comfort in that. We are never alone. And then we can remind other people of that, as well.

Here’s a sweet thought I came upon yesterday that I share with you, to start you off with a morning offering you might find doable, along with a profound thought.

“Fishing out the hurting starts with your morning prayer before you leave home. ‘O Jesus, lead me, guide me and use me to touch the hurting You place in my path today. Amen.’ If you pray with expectant faith, your prayer will be answered by a grateful God who is looking for people like you.” – SeekFirstCommunity.com