Many years ago, I was a part of our church’s Prayer Team. After Sunday service, my wife and I would be stationed at a place in the sanctuary to pray for people. We had this weird experience that almost every week, the same person come forward asking for the same prayer request. After praying for her each week, she seems fine but the following week, we see her again. And guess what, she would ask to pray for the same issue.

Temporary Relief

Our prayer appears to give her relief temporarily and then, we’re chasing after the same issue again the following week. We spin around the bush and go after the same usual suspect. The same weeds in her life keep cropping up. They’re like dandelions and crabgrass. We nuke them to the ground with weed eater but in a few days, they come back again.

Finding the main root

As I shared with you 2 weeks ago, we need to deal with the root of the problem to realize healing. All of us deal with this, whether you are a client or a volunteer at a food pantry; it does not discriminate. We see this same pattern at the food pantries that FHL incubate. There are people who are not only in crisis but in chronic crises. They operate their lives in constant emergency and finding themselves in the same situation as before. Why? The main root is too deep and it has countless root hair or root stems that manifest themselves in endless different ways.

Pluck it!

The Lord created us and He knows the root of the problem. When we find ourselves getting stuck in the same deep-seated issue, we should ask God to give us grace to identify the root cause. Once we identify the root, we pray in the Name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, our Advocate, will walk us through to pluck the root of the problem to bring us to healing.

Although there may be countless root stems, once we pull out the main root, every fiber of the weed will die out. This is the reason why we teach the pantries to help others beyond food. No, we’re not counselors but we try to walk along side each and every person to Jesus through prayers and by presenting the Gospel of Christ. If the person is willing, God will reveal the root issues of their hunger, both physically and spiritually.

No matter how big the root is, God is bigger. And one more thing, food is not the answer to hunger, God is.

PS. You may have already received a call from FHL to thank you for your support and to offer prayers. We just prayed for you yesterday at our weekly staff meeting. Please let me know if I could be of assistance in asking God to getting (if any) to the root… He can pluck it. He is the Gardener and He is the Healer.

God bless you and I thank God for you,
Merlin

Image source: Mango tree root system, wikimedia commons