According to a recent study published by UNICEF, there are currently more than 100 million orphans around the globe. To put that number in perspective, the organization points to the fact that there are roughly 325 million people living in the United States. Additionally, there are only around 145 million people living in Russia. That means that there are nearly as many orphans on our planet as there are people living in Russia, and that the world’s orphans would make up approximately 1/3 of the population of the United States.
God’s Word speaks at length about how much He cares for orphans. Dating back to the Old Testament, God put special provisions in place that commanded His people to care for orphans as they came in contact with them. Today, God’s call for His Church to care for orphans has not changed.
While adoption, foster care, and other options are certainly great ways to care for orphans, they are not the only ways. Even if you don’t feel like you currently have the financial means to support organizations who provide care for orphans, you should pray for them. Today, ask God to protect, provide for, and bless those who are navigating life without parents.
Pray These Verses
James 1:27 (NIV)
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Isaiah 1:16-17 (NIV)
Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
Psalms 82:3-4 (NIV)
Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
Pray This Prayer
Heavenly Father, I am astonished at the number of children who have been left as orphans around the world. Whether they have been orphaned through violence, natural disaster, or some other means, I know that You know each of their names, their needs, and that You see their tears. Help me to take up their cause as my own. Show me ways that it is possible for me to put my faith into action to help them. If that isn’t financially feasible right now, keep their cause on my heart so I remember to continually lift them up in prayer to You. Protect those who have no protector right now. Provide for those who have no parents to provide for them. Encourage them and show them Your wonderful love in the darkest, scariest times of their lives. In Christ’s name, Amen.
Thank God
Heavenly Father, thank You for caring about those who the world often forgets. Thank You for seeing the tears and the struggles of those who have may lack an advocate in this life. Most of all, thank You for calling Your people to take up the cause of the orphans, providing them with the practical and emotional support that they so desperately need. In Christ’s name, Amen.