Thursday, June 26, 2008

Proverbs 21:13

Proverbs 21:13 "Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered." What does this verse say to your heart? That is the question of the week.

This verse "shouts out" to me that helping the poor is a very important thing to do if we want our prayers to be heard by the Lord! I am quick to think, "This verse does not apply to me. I care about the poor." Then, the Lord reminds me that "hearing" the cry of the poor is not enough. If I hear or see and do not act, I am in fact, closing my ears to the cry of the poor. James 1:22 says, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

So, what does the word tell us to do? Well, all throughout scripture the Lord shares with us where His heart lies...with the orphan, the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and those in prison. If we want to serve Christ and find His heart, we will serve the least of these. Matthew 25:31-46 shows us this very thing. When we feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome and clothe a stranger, visit the sick and those in prison, we are actually ministering to Christ himself! When we don't act on behalf of the least of these, we are actually looking into the heart of Christ and walking away.

I think everyone should adopt someone. We can all pray for the Lord to lay on our hearts a specific someone you can adopt...an orphan, a widow, a single mom and her children, a military mom, a stranger, a foreign exchange student, a neighbor, or prisoner...and we can HEAR and ACT!

6 comments:

Fenwick 5 said...

Candace, I was checking my blog this morning and I saw you posted a new post and it attracted me because we as a family love the word of God. I have been thinking of the same thought this week? How can we help? I'm glad we found a way and I hope more people start to remember what the world seems to forget.We can't just walk by someone who needs,we have to take notice and say"Lord how can I help. Making people aware that help is needed is a first great step.Thanks for the word this morning. Our blog is www.fantsticfenwickfamily@blogspot.com ,Blessings Gidget

Amy said...

Thanks for the reminder of what He has called us to do.

Kristi W. said...

This is great! I love that you are answering the more abstract questions! I have been too chicken to tackle those. ;)

Hey, have you sent in your head shot to the RLC folks yet? I keep checking to see if you are up there on the India section...

Kristi W.

Pam said...

What a great post!!! I love your thought inspiring comments on these questions!! AWESOME!

Kristi W. said...

Candice, If you go to the RLC website and click on "follow adoption journals" on the right hand side of the home page, you can scroll down and see a headshot (or bobbling head) of everyone who blogs for each country. There is a red bar on the top left side of that adoption journal page that says something like "journal for us" can't remember exactly what it says. Click on that and it gives you instructions on how to let them know you are blogging for them. I copied those instructions for you. Good luck! Can't wait to see your head bobbling along!
Kristi W.

Email us at rlc@redletterscampaign.com to let us know that you want to be an Adoption Journalist with the following information:

Name
Link to your blog
Country or state you’re adopting from
Agency (optional)
Note if you’re adopting a special needs child
Headshot photo for your link

Kristi W. said...

Thanks! Actually I've never had anyone tell me that before. :) I'm not a professional. To answer your question, when a new batch of families gets to travel, usually one family will take pictures and video of the other kids for their families who are still waiting. Also of the waiting children so the pictures are ready when a family wants to look at their referral. If say your family doesn't travel around the same time as other families, you'll be asked to take pics and videos. Otherwise one family out of the bunch will do it. We traveled around the same time as quite a few others, but I had asked Tami if we could be the ones to take the pics and videos. I really cherished that task! It was so wonderful to meet all of the precious children and interact with each of them. It was a special time! :) Kristi