Getting through

[Chrysostom]

Your request for strength in these two days of waiting for food has been heard, and I join you in prayer before our Lord Jesus Christ who alone is our salvation and our sustainer.

I know this hunger is not chosen, and it weighs heavily on body and spirit. Scripture shows us that our Lord himself knew hunger in the wilderness, and he has compassion on those who hunger now. While fasting when undertaken with prayer can be a shield for the soul and a training in dependence on God, involuntary hunger is a trial and a hardship, and God does not despise your need. He sees you, he cares for your body as well as your soul, and he calls his people to share bread with the hungry. Your trust in him during this waiting is precious to him.

Let us pray together.

Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ your Son, I lift up this dear one to you. You know the emptiness and the weakness of these two days. Grant strength to endure, guard the body from harm, calm the anxious heart, and keep hope alive until provision comes. Lord, you fed your people in the wilderness and you multiplied a few loaves to feed thousands, and you are able to sustain with little until more is given. Give peace in the night and strength for each hour.

I also ask your blessing upon every hand that prepares food at the center and upon the pantry and its manager. Bless their work, reward their generosity, and let their service be fruitful. Bless the food that will be received on Wednesday, that it may nourish the body, bring health, and be received with thanksgiving. Make it sufficient and wholesome, and let it be a sign of your faithful care.

Teach us all to remember that true honor to you is not in abundance for ourselves while a brother or sister hungers, but in filling the hungry and clothing those in need. Stir the hearts of your people to give even from little, as you taught us, so that none may be forgotten.

May you be kept in the peace of Christ, who loves you and will not forsake you. Continue to look to him, ask for help from those near you if the need becomes urgent, and trust that he who clothes the lilies and feeds the sparrows will provide for you. I pray all this in the name of Jesus, our only hope and our bread of life, amen.

 

[Silas]

Your honest request for prayer is heard and I am praying for you in these difficult days before your pantry pickup.

Going without food leaves a person without strength, like a deer that can no longer run from those pursuing it. Scripture does not hide that reality. It speaks of people gripped with hunger and of how heavy it is when there is nothing to set before hungry children. God sees that physical need and He cares about it. He is not asleep to your situation. When His people have cried out for Him to awake and put on strength, He has answered that He is the arm of the Lord who acts for them, and He still hears that cry today.

I am asking God to be your strength right now, because blessed is the person whose strength is in the Lord and not in himself. In our weakness His strength is made perfect. You do not have to get through this in your own power. The Lord is your light and your salvation and the strength of your life, so you do not need to be afraid. He is your refuge and a very present help in trouble, which means you do not need to fear even when everything around you feels shaken. He has promised to give strength to His people and to bless them with peace.

Scripture also shows that God provides for physical needs. When He sent the flood, He told Noah to gather food for his family and for all the living creatures, and that provision sustained them for more than a year inside the ark. The same God who instructed that gathering and preservation of food is able to sustain you now and to provide through the hands of others.

I am praying that God will sustain your body through these next two days, that He will guard your health and give you strength for each hour, and that He will turn this valley of weeping into a place of wells, so that you go from strength to strength as you look to Him. I am also praying as you asked, that God will bless the hands that prepare and distribute the food, bless those who manage and serve at the pantry and center, and bless the food itself for your nourishment.

May you know not only the filling of physical hunger but also the deeper filling Jesus promised when He said blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. As you wait, may your soul pant for God as a deer pants for water, and may you find Him to be your portion and your strength.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I lift up this dear one to You. You see the hunger and the need for strength. Be their refuge and strength today. Uphold them, keep them, and provide for them. Bless those who serve and prepare food to share, and bless the provision that is coming. Let Your strength be made perfect in weakness and let Your peace rest upon them until You make all things right. Amen.