Taking responsibility for the ongoing care of widows, thus fulfilling the mandate in Isaiah 1:17, "Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."
In Isaiah 1:17, the prophet presents to Israel God's standards of worship for measuring their faithfulness to him as "learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed (or rebuke the oppressor) Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow."
In the 7th chapter of Zechariah, the credibility of Israel's worship is again called into question based on these same standards, but Israel, refusing to listen, "are scattered by a whirlwind," and God tells them that they (not him) are guilty of "turning their pleasant land into a desolate place" (in effect, a place likened to the condition of widowhood).
In contrast to the consequences for Israel recorded in Zechariah 7, Acts 6:1-7, serves as the model for us when Isaiah 1:17 is being fulfilled by God's true worshipers, who seek to worship him in "spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).
Based on the example of Anna the Prophetess (Luke 2) and the clearly mandated instruction for the widow to cry out night and day to the Lord through prayer (I Timothy 5:5), Widows Harvest Ministries has come to recognize the invaluable prayer resource that God has made available to His church through widows. A resource, sadly, though, that is largely unrecognized and consequently greatly underutilized.
This is a picture of a widow in Kenya that has just received provisions from Abigael Atieno, wife of Joshua, Director of Widows Harvest Africa. Abigael has organized some of her widow’s prayer team to take provisions to widows living out in more rural areas who literally have nothing.
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