The Way We Live

By Josh Hughes

Our recent Orphan Care and Adoption Sunday on November 12th was powerful. If you missed it, please carve out an hour and click this link. Since we gathered, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and thanking God for the many families in our church who have answered God’s call to get involved in orphan care and adoption, and for the glorious reality of our adoption by God. The Lord has been so gracious to us. 

A question that’s been knocking around in my mind the last few days has been, “What does God want to do in us in light of what we heard on Sunday?” I’m certain there will be a number of answers to this question, but the first and most urgent answer seems clear: God wants us to pray.

DA Carson, in his book Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation, writes that “one of the most important elements in intercession is to think through, in the light of Scripture, what it is God wants us to ask for.” Friends, God wants us to ask him what and how. What would He have us do? How should we steward this call to care for orphans? Let’s pray for more families to foster children, more families to adopt internationally and domestically, and more individuals to serve as Guardians ad Litem and use their gifts and resources to serve those who are in the trenches. 

That’s what I’ll be praying for in the days ahead. I’ll also be praying that God would teach us what it means to know and experience Him as our Father. Specifically, I’ll be praying through this checklist that draws out the difference between “the orphan mindset” and “the child of God mindset.” It was created by two of my spiritual heroes, Jack and Rose Marie Miller, and I hope you’ll take a minute to reflect on it and apply it to your own spiritual life.