November is National Adoption Month! Please join us in praying for the orphaned children of the world. Take a moment to ponder what your life would be like if you had grown up without someone to love & care for you...
Taken from http://www.cryoftheorphan.org/:
“[Many Christians] do not realize that caring for orphans is central to our call as God’s people. Churches so rarely talk about this issue. We are to be his hands extended in caring for the orphans just as God himself would. God’s plan for his people has always been for us to represent him to the world. United as His body, I believe God is willing and planning to do even greater and mightier things through us corporately than he has done through all of us individually."
— Kerry Marks-Hasenbalg, former executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute
“We have been blessed with so much, yet too often we squander these blessings on our personal pursuits without a thought that God gives us these things to use for his Kingdom. Yet I believe the adoption of orphans is one of the greatest opportunities today for fulfilling the Great Commission. When children are received into families where they are introduced to the Savior, and grow up in a secure and loving environment, they are positioned to meet and experience the living God in a tangible way.”
— Dennis Rainey, president and cofounder of FamilyLife
Why This Matters To God...The World's Waiting Children Matter
The numbers are staggering...More than 143 million orphans worldwide...every 14 seconds an AIDS death leaves another child orphaned...more than 800,000 children pass through America foster care system each year.
Taken from http://www.cryoftheorphan.org/:
“[Many Christians] do not realize that caring for orphans is central to our call as God’s people. Churches so rarely talk about this issue. We are to be his hands extended in caring for the orphans just as God himself would. God’s plan for his people has always been for us to represent him to the world. United as His body, I believe God is willing and planning to do even greater and mightier things through us corporately than he has done through all of us individually."
— Kerry Marks-Hasenbalg, former executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute
“We have been blessed with so much, yet too often we squander these blessings on our personal pursuits without a thought that God gives us these things to use for his Kingdom. Yet I believe the adoption of orphans is one of the greatest opportunities today for fulfilling the Great Commission. When children are received into families where they are introduced to the Savior, and grow up in a secure and loving environment, they are positioned to meet and experience the living God in a tangible way.”
— Dennis Rainey, president and cofounder of FamilyLife
Why This Matters To God...The World's Waiting Children Matter
The numbers are staggering...More than 143 million orphans worldwide...every 14 seconds an AIDS death leaves another child orphaned...more than 800,000 children pass through America foster care system each year.
Yet, there is One who cares — our Father in heaven. Throughout the Bible, God shares his compassion, his love, and his special concern for the most vulnerable among us — the orphan. The world’s waiting children. Children with no father or mother to protect them, waiting for someone to care for them, someone to love them.The Scriptures are clear that the Lord gives the family of God the responsibility to care for the orphan's needs — to love and protect them. In fact, God's concern for orphans is so central to his plan for us here on earth that he inspired James to write: "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world," (James 1:27)
Why would God tell us that caring for orphans is "pure and undefiled religion"?
Maybe it’s because the world sees God’s heart when he works through his people to help the helpless. And maybe it’s because caring for orphans is such a perfect picture of our relationship with God. In our inability to please God in our own efforts, in our utter helplessness to initiate a relationship with him, we are more like orphans and strangers than we like to admit.
It’s time for the body of Christ to step up. The urgent needs of orphans around the world are calling the Christian community today to a radical faith. One church, one family, one person can make a difference.
Today God is stirring the hearts of his people to this incredible need and opportunity. There is a movement of an increasing number of churches and evangelical organizations worldwide who are coming together as one voice to not only raise awareness but more importantly to mobilize the body of Christ to take action on behalf of the orphan.
Why would God tell us that caring for orphans is "pure and undefiled religion"?
Maybe it’s because the world sees God’s heart when he works through his people to help the helpless. And maybe it’s because caring for orphans is such a perfect picture of our relationship with God. In our inability to please God in our own efforts, in our utter helplessness to initiate a relationship with him, we are more like orphans and strangers than we like to admit.
It’s time for the body of Christ to step up. The urgent needs of orphans around the world are calling the Christian community today to a radical faith. One church, one family, one person can make a difference.
Today God is stirring the hearts of his people to this incredible need and opportunity. There is a movement of an increasing number of churches and evangelical organizations worldwide who are coming together as one voice to not only raise awareness but more importantly to mobilize the body of Christ to take action on behalf of the orphan.
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. Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King 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!’ Matthew 25:35-40
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment