As a part of OJC, I was assigned to spend a week meditating on passages regarding the fatherless in Scripture and to hear the Lord's heart concerning this current crisis. The more I asked Father God for revelation about His heart toward the fatherless, the more He kept speaking to me about justice...not just good deeds, but the true justice of Jesus. This is the revelation I received and the presentation I later gave (slightly altered for my wordpress friends!) The sections I spoke are italicized between slides. I ask that the Lord would increase revelation of His heart towards you who were once orphaned and now have been restored...

1. The Father’s Heart “A father to the fatherless; a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families.” −Psalm 68:5-6

2. Justice is Jesus… Perfect justice in the face of Jesus That every orphan would know Him That all would be brought into His home

3. The Father’s heart is that every orphan would know Him. Justice does not end with every orphan being rescued or brought into a loving family, although that’s a huge part of it. Perfect justice is found in the face of Jesus. Perfect justice is that they would know Him and be brought into His home. Justice is Jesus.

4. Love in action… Justice is love in action. Justice is Jesus on a cross.

5. Justice is love in action. It is freedom for the captives, food for the hungry, homes for the fatherless…yes. But true justice is a Man. Justice is Jesus on a cross. Someone had to pay. In our disobedience, we were lost and dead in our sin. The judgment of death was rightfully upon us, and justice required we pay the penalty. But for love…the Father made a way. Love incarnate came down and took the full penalty of sin upon Himself. He bore the price of justice so that it is no longer required of us. He alone is Justice. He is the only way! We were once slaves to sin and bound by the enemy, but we now live in the freedom of the Father’s embrace. We have been welcomed home…sons and daughters of the Living God.

6. Our Call and Responsibility…

7. As those rescued and redeemed, the Lord has entrusted us with the responsibility of caring for the orphan and bringing them into His kingdom. Not that we can turn every heart, but that we would serve the least of these, and in so doing be a model of the Father’s heart; that through our lives they would get a glimpse of Him, which is true restoration.

8. Sons and daughters of the Living God Rescue. Adopt. Restore.

9. Rescue. Adopt. Restore. This is the intimate process the Lord has taken each of us through. We were orphans, lost in our sins, dead without any hope of salvation. And Jesus came and rescued us! Before the foundations of the world, the Father chose us in Christ. He sent His only Son to die on a cross that we might then be adopted into His family. And the crazy thing is that He didn’t stop there. He didn’t just save us from ourselves or the evil one, He saved us unto something! The Lord saved us unto full partnership and adoption into all He is and does. And thus began the process of restoration or sanctification we are all on…restoring us to full intent of who He created each of us to be; seated in heavenly places alongside His Son.

10. The Lord instructs and reminds us… “You shall not pervert the justice due the sojourner or the fatherless, or take a widow's garment in pledge. 18 But you shall [earnestly] remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. 19 When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.” Deuteronomy 24:17-19

11. That they would know Christ in the face of His children… Rescue. Adopt. Restore

12. Rescue. Adopt. Restore. In the same way the Lord saved each of us, it is also His heart for every fatherless child. As part of our salvation, we were not only welcomed into His family, but we were adopted into the family business. Justice gave all to save a desolate people…to save me and you; and now Justice calls us to do the same…to extend our hands, our hearts to the broken, to the fatherless and the widow. Justice is love in action. Justice is Jesus on a cross. And Justice now demands we do the same. Just as Christ brought us to life, we are now called into partnership with Him to deliver others.

13. The Ministry of Jesus… Isaiah 61:1-3, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

14. This is the ministry Jesus passed onto His church. Through salvation and adoption, we have been restored to humanity’s full intent and calling as co-heirs with Christ. I challenge you today to arise…on behalf of the voiceless, the fatherless. May we arise as a church to love the least of these with the same love that was poured on us.

15. For His glory…for His honor

16. That all would know His name… and be welcomed home.

18. Take in a foster child

19. Bring groceries to an adoptive or foster family

20. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister

21. Volunteer at a children’s home

22. Adopt an agency, family, or child in prayer“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” –Matt. 25:34-36

23. What does offering water look like for you? Is it becoming a voice through social networking? Is it taking a child into your home? Is it literally going into shelters and volunteering with the children? Or interceding to the heart of the Father on their behalf? We are not all called to adopt, but we are called to play a part. Ask the Holy Spirit right now what part you are to play in the restoration of His children?