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Intention

We are created by God to be in family.

Scripture

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” – Ephesians 3: 14-15 (NIV)

Reflection

One cold winter’s night in Melbourne in 1913 there was a loud knock on the door of Bethesda Hospital in Erin Street, Richmond.

It was near midnight but one of the nurses stopped what she was doing and hastened to the door. When she opened it, there was no one there. She glanced around, and to her surprise, she saw a baby’s basket near the doorstep. She hurriedly picked it up and brought it in out of the cold wind.

Removing the covers, she found a tiny newborn baby girl. There was no note, nothing to show where she came from or who her parents were.

I know this story well because that baby was my mother. She was eventually fostered into a wealthy home in Melbourne, provided with the good things of life, but never adopted.

The hospital named her Erin Richmond, after the street and suburb where she was abandoned. That name was registered on her birth certificate, and later on mine.

Like so many others, she spent her life yearning to know her mother and father. Who were they and why did they give her up? Was her mother unmarried (a great shame in those days)? All efforts to trace the parents proved fruitless.

The pain in my mother ran deep, and many years later her life ended tragically.

We are created by God to be in family and that is the heart cry of all of us. In my mother’s struggles there was an understanding that if she could never know her earthly father, she wanted to know her heavenly one and to know that He loved her and watched over her.

“My father and mother abandoned me. I’m an orphan! But You took me in and made me Yours.” – Psalm 27:10 (TPT)

My personal fight against the evil of abortion is because I am so grateful to my unknown grandparents that they never aborted their baby. Her life gave me life and will continue to do so down the generations.

“But Lord, your endless love stretches from one eternity to the other, unbroken and unrelenting toward those who fear you and those who bow facedown in awe before you.

Your faithfulness to keep every gracious promise you’ve made passes from parents, to children, to grandchildren, and beyond. You are faithful to all those who follow your ways and keep your word.” – Psalm 103: 17-18 (TPT)

Prayer

“Father, we declare the truth of your word: To the fatherless, He is a father.

To the widow, He is a Champion and Friend. To the lonely, He gives a family. To the prisoner, He gives freedom.

Until they each sing for joy!” – Psalm 68: 5-6 (TPT)

Thank you, Father, that you will never leave us or forsake us, and that one day through Jesus Christ we will dwell in your family for all eternity. Thank you that Jesus’ last act on the Cross was placing his mother in John’s care, to be loved and protected for her remaining days on earth.

Forgive us where we have failed in looking after those in our own families and help us to love them as you have loved us. We pray for the salvation of our families, that their hearts will cry out Abba, Father!

31 Days Prayer Points

1. Pray for the restoration of FAMILY, FATHERHOOD and MOTHERHOOD in our nation. Malachi 4:6
2. Pray for healing for MARRIAGES, protection for CHILDREN and restoration of the sanctity of LIFE. Isaiah 58:12
3. Pray for Revival, Renewal and Reformation for Australia, that our nation might return to God. 2 Chronicles 7:14

We invite you to support this month-long Prayer & Fasting campaign to raise up prayer for Family and Nation. Every donation to the Canberra Declaration helps us spread the word and make a stand for Family, Faith, Freedom and Life.

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