Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart for your children to know the Lord and to honor both parents according to the commandment is a right and good burden, and it is right to bring it to the Father in the name of Jesus, through whom we have direct access to Him.
Scripture gives a clear order for handling disputes among believers. The Lord Jesus taught that we should go first privately, then with two or three witnesses so that every matter may be established, and then tell it to the church. The apostle Paul taught that it is shameful for believers to take their disputes before unbelievers when there should be wise people in the church able to judge such matters. That is the first and best path, because the church is called to be the pillar and foundation of the truth, a royal priesthood called out of darkness to proclaim His excellencies, and to be salt and light in the world. When salt loses its savor it is good for nothing, and when a lampstand is removed its light is gone. For that reason the church must take sin seriously, not hating a neighbor in the heart but lovingly rebuking, and where there is persistent sin, rebuking before all so that others may fear, always with the aim of restoration and of teaching everyone to obey all that Christ commanded.
At the same time God has instituted civil government as His servant for good and as an avenger upon evil, bearing the sword not in vain. There are times when an appeal to the authorities, as Paul appealed to Caesar, is lawful and necessary for protection and for conscience sake. The two are not in conflict when understood in order. The church should act first in its spiritual duty, and the government has its God given place when the church neglects that duty or when matters of safety and legal right require it.
It is important to keep the spiritual battle in view as Scripture describes it. Our weapons are not of the flesh but are mighty through God to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That means our prayer is not that people would be destroyed, but that obstacles of hardness, deception and disobedience would be brought down, and that hearts would be softened and drawn by the Father, for no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him. We pray for the mother of your children, for the leaders of the church where she is, and for yourself, that all would be brought into harmony with the will of the Father, even as the Son did nothing of Himself but always did those things that pleased the Father and sought the Father's will.
Remember how God in His sovereignty moved the decree of an empire to bring Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that prophecy would be fulfilled. He is still sovereign over rulers and courts and circumstances, and He can make arrangements for His purposes to be accomplished even through governmental processes. You can trust Him to rule over both church and state while you walk faithfully.
Your desire to train your children as commanded in Deuteronomy to teach diligently when you sit and when you walk and when you lie down and when you rise, and as described in Proverbs to train up a child in the way he should go, and in Ephesians to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, is central to a father's calling. That training is a systematic, patient work, like teaching a child to walk. You expect stumbling and you are patient, you guard from falling yet you keep instructing, and the goal matters. It is not merely to make them successful in the world's eyes, but to make them wise toward God. The Scriptures warn that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and needs loving correction, and they promise that a wise child brings joy to a father.
Above all, Jesus has shown a special care for little ones. He took a little child and set him in the midst of His disciples and said we must become as a little child in simple faith and humility without ambition. He said whoever receives one such little child in His name receives Him, and that it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish, for their angels always behold the Father's face. He warned how serious it is to cause a little one who believes in Him to stumble. Your children are precious to Him, and your humble, childlike trust in Him and your gentle reception of them in His name is itself a ministry to them.
So we pray with you that God would be glorified above all, that His name alone would receive glory as He does what is right in His sight. We ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to give wisdom and courage to the church to fulfill its calling as salt and light and to speak the truth in love, to give softness and repentance where there is unyieldingness, to protect the innocent, to open a way for you to fulfill your God given duty to teach and nurture your children, and to help your children to honor both parents as God commands. We ask that where reconciliation has been delayed, there would be a quick settlement as Jesus urged, and that where government must act, it would act justly for good.
May the Lord keep you through His own name, help you to seek not your own will but the will of the Father who sent His Son, and help you to rest in the truth that the Son has revealed the Father to us and that the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Jesus and believed that He came from God. May He perfect His strength in your weakness and give you patience and peace as you continue to walk faithfully before Him.
Scripture gives a clear order for handling disputes among believers. The Lord Jesus taught that we should go first privately, then with two or three witnesses so that every matter may be established, and then tell it to the church. The apostle Paul taught that it is shameful for believers to take their disputes before unbelievers when there should be wise people in the church able to judge such matters. That is the first and best path, because the church is called to be the pillar and foundation of the truth, a royal priesthood called out of darkness to proclaim His excellencies, and to be salt and light in the world. When salt loses its savor it is good for nothing, and when a lampstand is removed its light is gone. For that reason the church must take sin seriously, not hating a neighbor in the heart but lovingly rebuking, and where there is persistent sin, rebuking before all so that others may fear, always with the aim of restoration and of teaching everyone to obey all that Christ commanded.
At the same time God has instituted civil government as His servant for good and as an avenger upon evil, bearing the sword not in vain. There are times when an appeal to the authorities, as Paul appealed to Caesar, is lawful and necessary for protection and for conscience sake. The two are not in conflict when understood in order. The church should act first in its spiritual duty, and the government has its God given place when the church neglects that duty or when matters of safety and legal right require it.
It is important to keep the spiritual battle in view as Scripture describes it. Our weapons are not of the flesh but are mighty through God to cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. That means our prayer is not that people would be destroyed, but that obstacles of hardness, deception and disobedience would be brought down, and that hearts would be softened and drawn by the Father, for no one can come to Christ unless the Father draws him. We pray for the mother of your children, for the leaders of the church where she is, and for yourself, that all would be brought into harmony with the will of the Father, even as the Son did nothing of Himself but always did those things that pleased the Father and sought the Father's will.
Remember how God in His sovereignty moved the decree of an empire to bring Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem so that prophecy would be fulfilled. He is still sovereign over rulers and courts and circumstances, and He can make arrangements for His purposes to be accomplished even through governmental processes. You can trust Him to rule over both church and state while you walk faithfully.
Your desire to train your children as commanded in Deuteronomy to teach diligently when you sit and when you walk and when you lie down and when you rise, and as described in Proverbs to train up a child in the way he should go, and in Ephesians to bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord, is central to a father's calling. That training is a systematic, patient work, like teaching a child to walk. You expect stumbling and you are patient, you guard from falling yet you keep instructing, and the goal matters. It is not merely to make them successful in the world's eyes, but to make them wise toward God. The Scriptures warn that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child and needs loving correction, and they promise that a wise child brings joy to a father.
Above all, Jesus has shown a special care for little ones. He took a little child and set him in the midst of His disciples and said we must become as a little child in simple faith and humility without ambition. He said whoever receives one such little child in His name receives Him, and that it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish, for their angels always behold the Father's face. He warned how serious it is to cause a little one who believes in Him to stumble. Your children are precious to Him, and your humble, childlike trust in Him and your gentle reception of them in His name is itself a ministry to them.
So we pray with you that God would be glorified above all, that His name alone would receive glory as He does what is right in His sight. We ask the Father, in the name of Jesus, to give wisdom and courage to the church to fulfill its calling as salt and light and to speak the truth in love, to give softness and repentance where there is unyieldingness, to protect the innocent, to open a way for you to fulfill your God given duty to teach and nurture your children, and to help your children to honor both parents as God commands. We ask that where reconciliation has been delayed, there would be a quick settlement as Jesus urged, and that where government must act, it would act justly for good.
May the Lord keep you through His own name, help you to seek not your own will but the will of the Father who sent His Son, and help you to rest in the truth that the Son has revealed the Father to us and that the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Jesus and believed that He came from God. May He perfect His strength in your weakness and give you patience and peace as you continue to walk faithfully before Him.
