THIN SPACE
Prayer Hour is going to take a break during the month of August to allow staff and regular contributors to take some time off and rest. So, this will be our last week of Prayer Hour before we break for the summer holiday.
Today, we ask the question
What has God been saying to me during lockdown?
How does God speak to you?
* Through the Bible?
* Through other wise Christians?
* Through a set of circumstances?
* Through an audible voice?
* All of the above?
What has God been speaking to me about during lockdown?
I have become very aware of how many verses there are in the Bible on the theme of the oppressed, orphans and widows.
Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless and the widow. Isaiah 1. 17
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free. Isaiah 58. 6
Religion that is pure and undefined before God, the father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction. James 1. 27
These verses, and many similar ones, show us God’s heart. He doesn’t want empty rituals but instead He wants us to have hearts of love just as He has.
Who are the widows and orphans and those who are oppressed? They are those who have no power, finance or ability to change their difficult situations themselves.
God is asking me, and, dare I say, us, to be alert on a daily basis to how we can change the situations of today’s widows, orphans and oppressed. There are numerous ways we could do this but here are just three that have all been mentioned during prayer hour already.
* Help out Sid on the Embassy bus (when it is back in operation!)
www.embassybus.org
* Sponsor a child through Compassion
www.compassionuk.org
* Support the Dalits through Life Association
www.lifeassociation.org.uk
Prayer
Father God,
Help us as individuals and as a church family to step into action on behalf of today’s widows, orphans and oppressed. Help us not to be distracted by the unimportant but to be alert to the needs of the powerless.
Amen