The Cast Out

A day rarely passes without a beggar at my door. Most are women; they have nothing in their homes to cook with for that day. They didn’t yesterday and won’t tomorrow. They will return home today to a house full of hungry, malnourished children.

When medical needs arise, they only have an inefficient government system to support them. The system isn’t helpful and sees them as outcasts, as do all others in their country. The color of their skin screams to their fellow countrymen that they are without honor, untrustworthy and worthless.

There aren’t many options for these women. They are crushed. Perplexed. Despairing. Persecuted. Forsaken. Struck down and being destroyed. Pray that Jesus will be manifested through the clay jars in this home and the other homes where Christ dwells. Ask that we respond to their needs as Jesus would and that we allow Him to love on them through us.

1 Peter 4:8-11
“Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers a multitude of sins. Open your homes to each other without complaining. Each one, as a good manager of God’s different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God. Those who preach must preach God’s messages; those who serve must serve with the strength that God gives them, so that in all things praise may be given to God through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs glory and power forever and ever. Amen”.

Holy Father, we live in a world where your people, your creation, your children still face prejudice and persecution; are thrown away and cast out. They have been discarded and abused by the societies they escaped and by the ones in which they now live. They are foreigners, refugees displaced and rejected. They aren’t allowed to work, treated as if they were mangy, sick, diseased animals in the street. Many are herded up and caged behind steel fences. And for what; what was the crime to deserve such a punishment; DNA replicating in their cells; the color of their skin, eyes, or hair? We know that you love them and made them beautiful. You are proud of the kaleidoscope of color in your design. Red and yellow, black and white; all, not some, but All are precious in your sight…. We know that you ache to gather them up and hold them in your arms. We know that you long to kiss them and hold them close. Help us to see all people as you see them for we know that you are not pleased at the treatment they receive.

Lord Christ, please give us a heart transplant, we want to love as you love. Let our hearts break for people such as these. Convict us where we have need of it. Change our habits by revealing the evil of self-indulgence and self-worship. Help us to become wise stewards and managers of the resources you have given for such a time as this. We love you Holy One. Help us to demonstrate that you are Living Hope. Amen.

Additional Prayers
• We pray for Muslims all around the world who are praying and fasting during Ramadan. We pray that Christ Jesus, Isa al Massih will illuminate.

• We pray for widows, children, women, orphans, the outcasts. Open our eyes to see their need. Open our hearts to reach out in love and to walk for a time in their shoes. Open our wallets and our schedules to give generously as you lead.

• We pray to you LORD, cry out to you our God, to send workers to the lost, needy, suffering and sad. Call US to carry Your Good News. Call US to sacrifice the opulence in which we dwell, the pride in which we walk, the daily lives we live, the things we treasure most. Call us, send us and provide Your strength for our going.

(permission to use this story was obtained from it’s originating author. Names have been changed to protect identities)