Isaiah 58 Fast Encouragement

Remember Isaiah 58:9-10 (italics are mine)
"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

In thinking about "malicious talk", gossip, and deceit (they seem to travel together) we came across the following verses yesterday during our family Bible reading in Proverbs: "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts. Like a coating of glaze over earthenware are fervent lips with an evil heart. A malicious man disguises himself with his lips, but in his heart he harbors deceit." (v.22-24)

How easy it is to become a part of gossiping and listening to gossip--as easy as eating really delicious food. I have done it countless times with many regrets. And gossip, unlike food, destroys us and others when we allow it to enter our hearts and minds and spew from our lips as words of death. I pray that all of us will speak words of life today--I am seeking God's strength to resist harmful and hateful words of gossip and to speak words of blessing and life--to others and about others. May God grant you and your family a home and hearts filled with words of life and give you strength to resist listening to and speaking words of gossip.

Today's prayer requests:
*Please continue to pray for Anderson's asthma, but also for his physical and muscular development. He is not able to crawl or sit on his own at this point, and needs daily physical therapy. His foster mom (for whom we are so grateful) does a wonderful job of doing stimulation activities for his muscles on a daily basis, but he needs more medical care than is available to him right now due to limited resources. Bringing him home as soon as possible will give him access to more resources in this crucial time of development!

*We have a specific sum of money that we need in a short period of time to pay the next required payment to our adoption agency. We know that God can provide, and ask you to pray for perfect timing and provision of what we need.