When children are not following the Lord—What do we do?

Wheatland Ministries

PO Box 697

Walkersville, MD 21793

Written by Lewis Turner

When children are not following the Lord—What do we do?

There are a number of parents who have seen their children not follow the Lord.  They become discouraged and do not know what to do.  Yet their heart cry still cries that their children would follow the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Many parents have shed tears for their children.  Did you know the Lord has seen those tears too? 

• He actually saves them.  Ps 56:8 says “thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle:  are they not in thy book?” 
• God hears and sees our cry.  It is precious to Him and in reality, those tears are like prayers.  Those tears come from the heart and God looks on the heart.  (See I Sam 16:7) 
• Ps 145:19 says “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him:  “He will hear their cry.” 
• God wants us to have hope that the situation is not hopeless.

God wants us to allow Him to be involved in our children’s lives.  As we obey Him, we will see Him work.  Consider the following Scriptures.  They can be used when you pray:

Is 41:9  I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.

            Consider asking God to choose your child.

Deut 30:6  Paraphrased:  “When we obey, God will cleanse our hearts and our children’s hearts to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart.”

            Ask the Lord to help us obey His word daily, and as we do, that He will work in out children’s heart to love Him.

Ps 90:16  “let Thy work appear unto Thy servants and Thy Glory unto their children

            This is a promise that we should consider asking for the Lord to reveal Himself and His work to our children.

Is 44:3  “I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”

            This is a wonderful promise and we should ask for God’s Holy Spirit and Blessing for our children.

Prov 11:21b  “The seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”

            Again, this is another powerful promise to thank the Lord for as we obey the Lord--we can ask that our children be delivered.

Prayer

Go ahead of us Lord.  Prepare the way and our hearts, so our desire can be fulfilled.  The desire that is given to us by you and your word.  We ask for the victory as you stated in I Cor 15:57.  “But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory,”—the victory of our children following Jesus.  In Jesus Name, we pray this.

Remember:

·         God is always looking for a way to give us a future and a hope.  See Jer 29:11.

·         He wants to hasten and perform His word.  See Jer 29:12. 

·         He wants us to call on Him to help.

Also, take time to seek out Godly mature prayer partners who will pray with you, and give Godly counsel.

Most of all, God cares about our children.  His word for our children is powerful and shows us what He wants for them.  Using God’s Promises for our children in prayer, follows the scriptural direction found in I John 5:14-15 which says:  “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:  And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

If you have not yet used scriptures in your prayers for your children, maybe it is time to consider including them in prayers for our children.  God will bless us when we do.

©2012 Lewis Turner