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

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. Their heart cry is that their children 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 and 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.

Ask 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.

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

This is a promise and we should ask the Lord to reveal Himself to our children.

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

This is a promise and we should ask for it for our children.

Ps 102:28 “The children of Thy servants shall continue and their seed shall be established before thee.”

Give God Praise for this promise. Remember it refers to Thy servants. We need to obey the Lord in our lives.

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

Again, another powerful promise to thank the Lord for.

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. Lord, you give us the victory as you stated in I Cor 15:57. “But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory.” We ask for 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, I would encourage seeking out prayer partners who will pray with you, and give Godly counsel.

©2005 Lewis Turner

Prayer is an Act of Love

Foundation of prayer: God’s Love

Look at I John 4:8. It states: “God is love.” The greatest two commandments found in Matt 22:36-40 are:

• To love the Lord our God.
• To love our neighbor as ourselves.

These commandments are relational and show us how God wants us to live. Our life should reflect His love. – God’s Love is a sacrificial love that sent Christ to sacrifice His life for us. That demonstration of God’s love shown by Christ, shows that we should love others with a love that is willing to make significant sacrifices for others. Christ said ‘By this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have ‘love one to another’ John 13:35. When we show that love, we are also lifting up Jesus. Lifting up Jesus, is lifting up God’s love, and there is a wonderful thing that will happen when we lift Jesus up. John 12:32 says ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ That is a wonderful promise. Christ gave us an example of this love by his demonstrating sacrificial love coming from the heart of God, by dying for us on the Cross. The source of that sacrificial love is God, Who is love.

How does that Love relate to prayer? If we want to see God’s love in action when we pray, then we must let God’s love must be a motivating factor behind each prayer we pray, which may involve action -- sacrificial action as part of our prayer. When we do, prayer becomes an act of love.

God wants us to depend on Him for His power which operates through love for others, whom we come across in our lives. God’s power is in His love that shed Christ’s blood for us a Calvary. That love has made a relationship with God possible and it can direct our prayers in the way of love.

We should ask ourselves when we pray, do we want to see the Love of God encourage and work in others?

copyright 2006 Lewis Turner