Tag Archives: helping the needy

October 20, 2025 · 5:43 AM

A Heart For Hospitality

After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, my wife and I led mission trips through a ministry that builds orphanages. After each long, hot day in the sun, our team would meet at the end of the day to debrief, worship and have a devotional. One the first night there, the missionary asked our team, “Where did you see Jesus today?” It was quiet as people looked around, not sure what to say. Then he pointed at a member of our team and said how he saw Jesus as that person gave some of their water to a thirsty kid. Each night the same question was asked. As the week went on, more people answered pointing out how each had cared for someone in need.

In Matthew 25:31:46, Jesus told of how He will return one day and sit on His throne to judge. He will say to one group to sit at His right hand, “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me” (NLT). They didn’t understand or know when they had done that. Then He will say, “I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!” They were giving mercy and compassion to those who needed it, but didn’t realize they were doing it to Jesus. They didn’t see Him in those they were helping.

Hebrews 13:1-2 says, “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!” You never know who God is putting in your path to have compassion on. Do you turn away when you see someone in need or do you see Jesus? Biblical compassion is being able to see Jesus in those who are less fortunate than us or are suffering, and to then be able to respond to them and their needs. You don’t have to go to a foreign country to find the least of these. You will see them every day if you open your eyes. Ask God to give you eyes to see and a heart to help.

Photo by natsuki on Unsplash

Blessing The Poor

Much of Jesus’ ministry was directed to the poor and the helpless. The Early Church followed His example. When the met with Paul, they recommended that he remember the poor. They even created a group of seven individuals to make sure to feed the widows so they could continue to preach the Gospel. They never wanted to sacrifice people for the ministry, nor did they want to sacrifice the ministry for the people. They understood that the Gospel is all about giving of yourself to other people, so they did all they could to find the balance in helping people spiritually and physically.

Today, we still have the poor with us, but helping them isn’t always at the front of our minds or ministry. Nearly 3/4 of the population of earth lives on less than $10 a day. Millions of people in these poor countries are offered jobs, but when they show up, they are captured and are forced into the sex trade. Christine Caine’s A21 organization is one of the leaders trying to stop this. There are other organizations as well like Daughters of Cambodia. I have friends who are out right now trying to raise awareness of the sex trade there and are working to create one in the Philippines. Some are working to eradicate the orphan crisis, and others the homeless crisis. What are we doing to for our part as individuals? We must return to our spiritual roots, take the blinders off our eyes and remember to help the poor once again.

Here are some Bible verses on helping the poor.

1. God always blesses those who are kind to the poor and helpless. They’re the first ones God helps when they find themselves in any trouble.

Psalms 41:1 TPT

2. Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him to defend the poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and to crush their oppressors.

Psalms 72:1, 4 NLT

3. In everything I showed you [by example] that by working hard in this way you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, “It is more blessed [and brings greater joy] to give than to receive. ”

ACTS 20:35 AMP

4. Happy are those who are concerned for the poor; the Lord will help them when they are in trouble.

Psalm 41:1 GNT

5. God’s righteous people will pour themselves out for the poor, but the ungodly make no attempt to understand or help the needy.

Proverbs 29:7 TPT

Photo by doorkeepers on Unsplash

Moonwalking Jesus

A friend showed me a video this week of two teams of guys doing a drill of passing basketballs. The video asked how many times a certain group passed the ball. I watched intently and counted in my head as they passed the ball. At the end of the video it asked, “How many did you count?” My answer was right. I took a deep breath, held my chin up a little bit and bowed out my chest as if I was something. Then the video asked, “Did you see the moonwalking bear?”

What bear? There were two teams of guys passing balls. There was no bear. Then the video rewinds and highlights a guy in a bear costume start from the right side of the screen and moon-walked through the players to the left side of the screen. The guys pad to move to pass around him, but I never saw him when I initially watched it. I also replayed the video from the beginning just to make sure they didn’t try to pull a fast one on me. He was there the whole time.

I was reading John chapter one this morning and came across verse 10. Speaking about Jesus, it says, “He came into the world He created, but the world didn’t recognize Him.” You’re thinking, “I recognize Him”, but really we have the advantage of the tape rewind like I did later in that video. Would we have recognized Him in that time when He came in the flesh? Would we have readily received Him? Or would we have been so busy counting the laws we were supposed to be obeying that we missed Jesus moonwalking through our world.

What about today’s world? Do you see Jesus in your world today? He’s there all around us. He’s the homeless person on the corner who’s hungry. He’s the single mother who doesn’t have enough money to pay the bills. He’s the person who has been beat down by this world and doesn’t think they can go on another day. He’s the child who has been orphaned and is in need of love. He’s in the cubicle next to you. In the house next door. Standing in front of you in line. He’s moonwalking through our lives and we don’t see Him most if the time because we aren’t really looking for Him.

Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me.” How many times have I overlooked someone or ignored them? It wasn’t intentional. I was just busy going about my day doing what I do. I wasn’t looking for those opportunities. According to verse 45, that won’t be an acceptable excuse. Jesus said, “Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me – you failed to do it to me.”

I don’t want to miss Jesus moonwalking through my life today. I pray that God opens my eyes so I can see Him where I didn’t expect Him. I pray that God gives me the courage to help the people that are overlooked and ignored when I see them. I’m hoping today that you’ll make that your prayer too. Jesus is all around us everyday, but we don’t see Him because we aren’t looking for Him that way. Yet, He told us in His Word that’s what He’d look like in our world. Keep your eyes open today and let me know where you see Him moonwalking.

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Tagged as bible, daily devotional, Devotion, distraught, faith, God, helping the needy, helping the poor, homeless, ignored, Jesus, least of these, moonwalking, moonwalking bear, overlooked, single mother, where is Jesus