Whom Shall I Fear?

The Lord is my light and my salvation –

Whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life –

Of whom shall I be afraid?

Psalm 27:1

I wanted to pause from my anti-slavery posts to give God praise.

I said that human-traffickers prey on people who are desperate.  People are desperate because of the consequences of poverty, which include a lack of food, clothing, shelter, among other things.  The body of Christ is responsible for doing tangible acts of mercy and justice – and we are.  Last week, I visited Times Square Church (http://www.tscnyc.org/about_us.php), which is providing funding to 100 smaller churches so that those smaller churches can feed their small congregations (http://www.oncallnyc.org/2012/10/feed-new-york/).  It was exciting and encouraging to hear about the very first small church that was able to provide food to its congregation.  We were shown a video, in which the pastor of the smaller church described how she’d been praying about ways that she could feed the hungry & depending on God to give her an answer.  He did answer – just not in the way she expected.

My own church works with an organization called Young Life (http://www.younglife.org/AboutYoungLife/) which shares the gospel with young people.  Through my church, I’m getting the opportunity to sponsor a young girl or boy going to camp.  So my point is that, you don’t have to be directly involved in the anti-human-trafficking movement to make a major difference.  Whenever you mentor a young person or send a child to camp, you are raising a hedge of protection around that young person.  Whenever you donate money to a local shelter, you’re protecting someone.  When you participate in your church’s efforts to feed & clothe people, you’re keeping someone safe.  You’re giving a person hope, and making it difficult for them to turn to prostitution, drug-dealing, a gang, or street life in order to survive.  God is glorified through the efforts of His people.

 Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance,

the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat,

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

I was a stranger and you invited me in,

I needed clothes and you clothed me,

I was sick and you looked after me,

I was in prison and you came to visit me.

Matthew 35:34-36