From the outset, Jesus had to deal with 12 unruly men who argued and passionately desired to be the greatest, but when the Holy Spirit came and indwelt them, all of that changed. Their desire now was to study, pray and impart wisdom to the new fledgling church.

But just as the church is growing and becoming a strong witness,  Satan’s ears perk up and he thinks he is invited to enter not to encourage but to distract. The church then and the church now encounters his orchestrated problems. Some are caused by us; some are caused by circumstances beyond our control such as widowhood. In the early church, widows were in need financially and in prayer support just as the widows we read about in the Book of Ruth.

God cares for the orphans and widows and He always has a plan.  God is never “a day late and a dollar short” to overrule Satan’s plans. This new fledgling NT church became the source of help to teach us the following principles: “Honor widows who are truly in need.”[ 1Ti 5:3]  “Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity.”[Jam 1:27]

The apostles could have stopped their ministry to help. Instead, they chose to include others in the solution thus teaching the church the principle that we are a body with many gifts.  “Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another” [1Pe 4:10] Today our churches employ this same principle.

Where are employing your gift to serve others in the Body of Christ?

This will be posted here on Feb 9th. Come and join us as we read through the NT/Ps and Proverbs each day.