Do you engage widows and orphans?

"Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

When was the last time that you went out to help an orphan or a widow? When did you last engage them in the world they live in? Or did you find some safe haven to minister to them? Did you send them food, clothes or money through some sort of charity? Or did you actually take time to spend one on one time with them?

After reading this verse several times I felt as though I was missing something. I know that for myself that when I think of an orphan I picture a young child without parents. I looked up the definition for orphan though and it also states that it is one that is without protection. I also looked up widow and it comes from a word that means be empty. Now when I look at widow and orphan with these definitions in mind I see another set of people to minister to. How many of you know someone that is empty inside? I was one of them for a great number of years until I came to the Lord. How about one that does not have protection from the enemy? Every day I run into people like this and it grieves my heart that I cannot do more for them. How many people do you run into like this? He calls us to engage them were they are, yet we need to be cautious of this in not becoming who they are. Work is a classic example of this for me. I work in a construction related field and there are guys that are empty and without protection. I love these guys dearly, yet they can make a sailor blush in the language they use and the stories they tell. I am called to minister to them, but not fall into the trap they are in. I do confess that I do get caught up in this from time to time and find my self partaking in the stories and the language. This is were I call for your help in ridding me of the talk that is not of our Heavenly Father. He has removed a great deal of this already, yet I hold on to it for some reason or another. I ask for your prayer as I engage the culture that we are in and I will also pray for you as you become bolder in your faith as you start to minister to the widows and orphans that surround you.

God Bless,

Rick