How Do I Determine How To Serve Others
There are times when we arent quite sure what to do to help others. With so many needs in the world, and so many broken people, the shear thought of serving can be paralyzing.
One way to determine how to serve is to just jump right The first is to just jump in and try something out! The other is to ask yourself a few questions to narrow down your heart for the community. Ask yourself a few questions.
- Who do I feel called to serve?
- What skills do I have?
- How much time do I have to serve?
Answering these questions can help you significantly in determining where in this list you can make the most impact.
What Is A Servants Heart
And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Matthew 20:27-28 KJV
What does it mean to have a servants heart? Well to answer this question we have to look to the scriptures and look particularly into the life of the greatest servant and our salvation. Jesus.
To have a servant heart is to be like Jesus, constantly looking for ways you can give to others. Constantly seeking the need and providing the help. Now this isnt to say that you should poor yourself out haphazardly, a huge part of serving others is to be in communion with God. That is to be walking with him closely and allow him to guide you to those who he has equipped you to help.
As a servant of God, he will lead you to help others. If you have cultivated a servants heart then you will be readily available to go where he says go and to help who he says to help.
Reading bible verses about helping others in need and serving can encourage you to find the joy found in serving the lord through serving others. In his word we not only learn what he has to say about serving, but we can also gain inspiration for growing in having a servants heart and in finding new ways to serve those in our community.
Loving To Do What Is Right
The more we do what is rightespecially in helping othersthe more we love to do what is right. Our good God loves to teach us to love to do good, reflecting his character. Through obedience, we are drawn closer to Christ and reflect his glory in the world.
Isaiah 1:17: Learn to do good seek justice, correct oppression bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
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The Wickedness Of Selfishness
Scripture doesnt merely teach the praiseworthiness of helpfulness but also condemns its opposite, selfishness. This is the other side of It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is a cursed thing to act selfishly at anothers expense. God graciously warns us against walking down this path, which consumes those who take it.
Proverbs 3:27: Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.
Proverbs 21:13: Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
Ephesians 4:28: Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
Philippians 2:3-4: Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
2 Thessalonians 3:10: For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
1 Timothy 5:8: But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Luke : 3 And : 4 Called Giver
- Like Jesus disciples, we are expected to be generous in our lives as his followers
- Sacrificing time, money, and effort to help those in need is something we all must do
- We are called to support Jesus out of our means and, at times, giving up what we have
Luke tells us about the extreme giving request of Jesus, calling his early disciples to give up everything they have for a mission trip. He tells them to go out and share the good news and to help people with their needs. But, they must only give and take nothingnot a dime or a change of clothes, and no food either.
This request illustrates the lengths we must go to be generous. While sometimes giving in the name of the Lord is as simple as donating money to a good cause, it can also be as extensive as spending a day building a new home for a charity or a month-long mission trip. The key is to be generous throughout our lives.
Next time giving and generosity comes up at your church, make sure to mention those 12 Bible verses about giving, as well as these Bible stories about generosity.
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Blessings When We Help Others
God blesses us when we help others. Not that we help others to be blessed, but blessing often follows helping others.
There have been many times I’ve helped others when I didn’t have the time or resources, I just felt called to help. Many of those situations stretched me only to find God returning the resources and the time in beautiful ways.
Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse. Proverbs 28:27 ESV
Other times, the blessings were something internal. I grew spiritually by helping someone or the Gospel was spread by helping them. Blessings come in many shapes and sizes. Don’t miss them by looking only externally.
If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Isaiah 58:10-11 ESV
Obligation To Those In Need
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.
Through service, we give others the things they lack, and we find meaning and fulfillment to our own lives. Both the Old and New Testament writings give many examples of the importance of service and charity:
He who despises his neighbor sins, but happy is he who is gracious to the poor.
“Feed the hungry! Help those in trouble! Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you shall be as bright as day. And the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy you with all good things, and keep you healthy too and you will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
And the crowds asked , “What then should we do?”In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none and whoever has food must do likewise.”
But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?
He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses.
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What Does God Say About Helping Others
1. Romans 15:2-3 We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. For even Christ didnt live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.
2. Isaiah 58:10-11 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
3. Deuteronomy 15:11 There will always be some in the land who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.
4. Acts 20:35 By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
5. Luke 6:38 Give, and you will receive. You will be given much. Pressed down, shaken together, and running over, it will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way God will give to you.
6. Luke 12:33-34 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Bible Verses About Helping The Poor
The Bible is full of verses that demonstrate Gods heart toward the poor among us.
Let these verses about helping the poor encourage you as you seek to live a generous life, displaying the same love Christ shows to us. For while we were poor and needy, Christ died for us.
Deuteronomy 15:7 If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother.
Deuteronomy 15:11 For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.
1 Samuel 2:7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich he brings low and he exalts.
1 Samuel 2:8 He raises up the poor from the dust he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and on them he has set the world.
Psalm 9:18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Psalm 35:10 All my bones shall say, O Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him?
Psalm 37:21The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives.
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New Testament Bible Verses About Helping The Poor
Matthew 19:21
Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.
This passage comes from an encounter Jesus had with arich young ruler. The big idea message isnt so much about helping the poor. Rather it is what are the personal issues that come between us God. For the rich man it was his great wealth. He couldnt let it go even to help the needy and, in the end, it cost him a special opportunity.
Luke 14:12-14
Then He also said to him who invited Him, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you
Jesus is challenging our motives with this party example. We love to hang with friends or people of status. However, sometimes we do so to gain their favor, looking for something in return. Jesus says that a party invitation to the poor reveals our heart is in the right place. We are truly seeking to bless them for they literally cannot return the favor.
Galatians 2:10
They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
James 2:2-4
What Does The Bible Say About Poverty
Yennifer, 6, holds her family’s bible. She lives in Guatemala.
The Bible is rich in wisdom about Gods love for people living in poverty and about our responsibility to help. We love the way Jesus showed us how to care for the poor and oppressed. Reflect on these Bible verses and pray for children, families, and communities in need. Heres what the Bible says about poverty.
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Scripture About Helping The Poor
Earlier we saw that we are to help those in need, though the need is not specified. Here we see a call to help those who are poor.
Poverty can strike any of us and it shows a deep love and compassion in God’s character that He calls us to help in both the Old and New Testament.
These Bible verses about helping others direct us to specifically offer a helping hand to the poor.
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land. Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV
Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Matthew 5:42 ESV
Some are needy and poor due to life circumstances or unwise choices while others are forced into need and poverty. We see that God cares for both groups.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. James 1:27 ESV
Bible Verses About Helping Others
What does the Bible say about helping others? Turn to these uplifting verses for encouragement and inspiration to extend your blessings by serving others.
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Romans 15:1
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9
Bear one anothers burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2
There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land. Deuteronomy 15:11
You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35
If it is to encourage, then give encouragement if it is giving, then give generously if it is to lead, do it diligently if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. Romans 12:8
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What Does The Bible Say About Helping Others
Scripture tells us that Christians should consider the interest of others and help those in need. If someone asks you to pray for them, then pray. If someone begs for some water, food, or money, then give it to them. When you do these righteous things you are doing Gods will, working for God, and bringing happiness and blessings on others.
Dont help others for show or recognition like some hypocrite celebrities who turn on cameras just to help someone.
Do it not with a grudging heart, but with a loving heart.
Every act of kindness to others is an act of kindness to Christ.
I encourage you to start today and lend a helping hand to others in need.
We shouldnt just limit helping people to just giving them money, food, and clothes. Sometimes people just need someone there to listen.
Sometimes people just need words of wisdom. Think about the many different ways you can help the needy today.
What Is The Importance Of Helping Others
Volunteering in your community and serving others connects you to those around you in ways you may not have otherwise connected. These meaningful relationships have the potential to significantly improve your mental health. As you make new friends and deepen existing connections you will find your mood lifting and the tilt towards stress and anxiety dissipating.
Volunteering also gives you a sense of purpose, and for those of us who seek to be like Jesus, it allows us to manifest the great commission to share the good news to the ends of the earth. It is impossible to share Jesus with someone without also meeting their physical need.
Helping those in need isnt only something that benefits the community you are offering service to. Its a huge part of improving your mental health! Volunteering helps counteract the effects of stress and anxiety!
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