Love in Action

Daily Devotional

Ministering to Jesus.
 
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25:36
 
Scriptures call us to not forsake the assembling of ourselves together and encourage us to minister to those in need. What do you do when you can’t assemble or go to those in need? Scriptures have examples of what to do in both circumstances. In the days of Elijah, the prophet worshipers of the God of Israel were persecuted by Queen Jezebel in her efforts to end the worship of the true God and lead Israel into idolatry. God's solution was a type of quarantine by the Prophet Elijah as he withdrew for a season. But then he gathered in small groups as he went to stay with a widow and blessed her. At the same time Obadiah, a servant of King Ahab, worked with small groups. He hid 100 prophets of the Lord from Jezebel in two caves 50 prophets per cave. During the Babylon captivity, Jeremiah ministered to the Jews who were in captivity by communicating the word of the Lord to them. He wrote letters to encourage the people and to let them know the duration of the captivity would be seventy years. Paul did something similar when he was in prison or when he was persecuted and not able to physically be present. He could not gather with the believers but he used the technology of his day to write epistles to support, encourage, and minister to their needs. During times when we are constrained from gathering in larger numbers or even gathering at all, the needs remain. We are to follow the biblical examples to separate when God says separate but remember those who are in need with a visit, a phone call, text, email, letter, or a card. When we minister to those who are sick, in prisons, or homebound, we minister to Jesus.