"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? "Isaiah 58:6
Max Lucado writes: 'Ours is the wealthiest generation of Christians ever. We are bright, educated, and experienced. We can travel around the world in twenty-four hours or send a message in a millisecond. We have the most sophisticated research and medicines at the tips of our fingers. We have ample resources. A mere 2 per cent of the world's grain harvest would be enough, if shared, to erase the problems of hunger and malnutrition around the world. There is enough food on the planet to offer every person twenty-five hundred calories of sustenance a day. We have enough food to feed the hungry...When your grandchildren discover you lived during a day in which 1.75 billion people were poor and 1 billion were hungry, how will they judge your response?'
More importantly, what will God say? When the Israelites complained that God wouldn't answer their prayer, he told them: 'Share your food with the hungry and bring poor, homeless people into your own homes. When you see someone who has no clothes, give him yours, and don't refuse to help your own relatives. Then your light will shine like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.... You will cry out, and [God] will say, "Here I am"... If you feed those who are hungry and take care of the needs of those who are troubled, then your light will shine in the darkness... The Lord will always lead you. You will be like a garden that has much water' (Isaiah 58:7-11).
So instead of focusing on your own needs, focus on the needs of others. That's a key to answered prayer.
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