I have just finished a plan on the YouVersion Bible app called “Showing Empathy”. It reminded me that showing empathy is actually compassion in action.

Here is a snipped from day 5 of the plan…

“If you find yourself truly not grasping how to live empathetically, here are some ways to help adjust your mindset so that you can see the needs in front of you:

• Pray daily, “God, give me Your eyes to see who’s hurting near me.”
• When you hear that someone is going through a challenging time, imagine that you’re the one going through that. Your heart will soften, and as it does, find a way to help lessen their burden with a prayer, kind word, or selfless act.
• Make a regular habit of just listening to people without offering any words. As they talk, seek to understand what’s happened in their past and is currently happening in their present that’s led them to where they are now.”

If you are interested, you can search for it on YouVersion and look for the image above.

Blessings,
Dave

I thought this was really good from vision180.org.au today…

‘I will strengthen you and help you.’ Isaiah 41:10 NIV

We go to seminars and conferences looking for a painless cure by which our lives can be zapped and changed. We go on diets. We join gyms and our enthusiasm runs strong for about two weeks. Then we fall back into the same old rut. We don’t change. We read self-help books, but the problem with self-help books is that they tell us what to do but can’t give us the power to do it. We are told things like: ‘Get rid of all your bad habits. Be positive; don’t be negative.’ But how? Where do we get the power to change? 

The Greek word dunamis, meaning ‘power’, occurs 120 times in the New Testament. It is used to describe the most powerful event that ever happened—the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And that resurrection power is available to change your life today. The most important thing in life is knowing Christ and experiencing the power of His resurrection. 

Paul writes, ‘I want to know Christ—yes to know the power of His resurrection.’ (Philippians 3:10 ^NIV) Again he writes, ‘I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great His power is to help those who believe in Him. It is that same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead.’ (Ephesians 1:19–20 ^TLB)

The Greek word dunamis can be understood in two ways: 

(1) ‘dynamite’, which is an explosive force, or 

(2) ‘dynamo’, which is a constant flow of power. 

And in Christ, you have both. Through Him you can break the chains that bind you and the limits that pull you back, and walk victoriously in His power today.