God's Fasting. Isaiah 58(6)

"and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail." (Isaiah 58:10, 11)

Faithful Father,

This world is a dark place. Since the fall of man, we continue to live in sin and the sin of mankind becomes worse, not better. These children will grow up in a world that is ever darkening until the day you redeem your creation. Amidst that truth, the greatest hope I have for these children is that they be lights shining in the darkness. By the promise of Isaiah, if they devote themselves to serving the physically and spiritually oppressed and poor, you will cause their lights to shine brightly, spreading the light of hope to all around them and brightening their own path with light.

But that path can be wearisome. Sometimes we just grow tired tending to the wounded in this world. Sometimes it becomes discouraging when those we are trying to help sabotage their own recovery from the pit. But your promise through Isaiah is that if these children will devote themselves to this kind of ministry, you will supply there needs, even when they feel like they are in the desert. That you will actually give them greater strength and endurance to go on and that you will refresh their souls with soothing and nurturing spiritual streams. I pray and ask that you fulfill these promises in them. And that you do so with each step they take so that you train them up in a pattern of behavior, a pattern and habit of compassion in their approach to the world around them.

Amen