Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a beautiful desire to see those you love, especially the older ones entrusted to you, walk closely with the Lord and experience His grace in every part of life. That desire itself honors God, for without faith it is impossible to please Him, and He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Scripture is clear that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It is not earned by effort or by keeping a set of rules. The Holy Spirit is received as a gift when we trust in Jesus Christ, and that same faith is the way God continues to work in us. You cannot deserve His Spirit or His healing, you receive by believing. At the same time, a genuine faith is never empty. It shows itself in how we live. Just as Abraham was counted righteous because he believed God, and that belief then led to obedience, so our trust in Christ will naturally lead to a changed life, to honoring parents, to continuing in the Word, and to bearing fruit. Works do not create faith, but true faith will produce works.
You asked for health and wholeness, for renewed minds, for provision for life and godliness, and for growth from spiritual milk to solid food. Those are good and biblical prayers. God does provide everything we need for life and godliness, and His will is that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we prove what is good and pleasing to Him. He wants the Word of Christ to dwell richly in us, to be retained in our hearts and then lived out as doers and not hearers only. That growth takes time, moving from the elementary principles to maturity, being rooted and grounded in love, having the mind of Christ, and letting the Spirit produce His fruit in us.
In praying for healing and protection, it helps to understand the difference between a passive faith that says God is able and an active faith that trusts Him now. Many times our faith needs a point where it becomes active, where we say, I believe God will do this. The woman who touched the hem of His garment, the blind men who answered that they believed He could heal them, these show how faith becomes active and God responds. Laying on of hands or anointing with oil is not a transfer of power in itself, but it can be a place where faith is released to trust Him in the present moment.
Yet even great people of faith have known lapses and seasons of weakness. Faith does not guarantee that we will never face sickness, disappointment, or sorrow. Some who are commended for their faith died still trusting, others suffered greatly for that same faith. The Lord sometimes gives a special measure of faith for a particular moment, and at other times He calls us to keep trusting through trial. If you or your loved ones feel weak in faith at times, do not be discouraged. God looks at the faith itself, even when it is small, and He honors a heart that looks to Jesus alone. Salvation and every blessing comes by grace through faith in Christ alone, with nothing added.
So continue to pray as you have been. Ask the Father, in Jesus name, to pardon, to heal according to His mercy, to crown your lives with compassion, to satisfy you with good things, and to keep you from the evil one. Ask Him to open the eyes of your understanding, to give wisdom and revelation by the Spirit, to strengthen you in love so that Christ dwells in your hearts by faith, and to open your minds to understand the Scriptures and to hunger for them. Ask Him to guard those you love, to give peace within their walls, to sanctify them in the truth of His Word, and to cause His Word to spread and bear fruit in and through them as you share it in a way they can hear.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. May He cause you and those patriarchal and matriarchal figures you love to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to abide in Him and let His words abide in you, to continue in His Word and so prove to be His disciples, bearing much fruit to His glory.
Scripture is clear that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It is not earned by effort or by keeping a set of rules. The Holy Spirit is received as a gift when we trust in Jesus Christ, and that same faith is the way God continues to work in us. You cannot deserve His Spirit or His healing, you receive by believing. At the same time, a genuine faith is never empty. It shows itself in how we live. Just as Abraham was counted righteous because he believed God, and that belief then led to obedience, so our trust in Christ will naturally lead to a changed life, to honoring parents, to continuing in the Word, and to bearing fruit. Works do not create faith, but true faith will produce works.
You asked for health and wholeness, for renewed minds, for provision for life and godliness, and for growth from spiritual milk to solid food. Those are good and biblical prayers. God does provide everything we need for life and godliness, and His will is that we be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we prove what is good and pleasing to Him. He wants the Word of Christ to dwell richly in us, to be retained in our hearts and then lived out as doers and not hearers only. That growth takes time, moving from the elementary principles to maturity, being rooted and grounded in love, having the mind of Christ, and letting the Spirit produce His fruit in us.
In praying for healing and protection, it helps to understand the difference between a passive faith that says God is able and an active faith that trusts Him now. Many times our faith needs a point where it becomes active, where we say, I believe God will do this. The woman who touched the hem of His garment, the blind men who answered that they believed He could heal them, these show how faith becomes active and God responds. Laying on of hands or anointing with oil is not a transfer of power in itself, but it can be a place where faith is released to trust Him in the present moment.
Yet even great people of faith have known lapses and seasons of weakness. Faith does not guarantee that we will never face sickness, disappointment, or sorrow. Some who are commended for their faith died still trusting, others suffered greatly for that same faith. The Lord sometimes gives a special measure of faith for a particular moment, and at other times He calls us to keep trusting through trial. If you or your loved ones feel weak in faith at times, do not be discouraged. God looks at the faith itself, even when it is small, and He honors a heart that looks to Jesus alone. Salvation and every blessing comes by grace through faith in Christ alone, with nothing added.
So continue to pray as you have been. Ask the Father, in Jesus name, to pardon, to heal according to His mercy, to crown your lives with compassion, to satisfy you with good things, and to keep you from the evil one. Ask Him to open the eyes of your understanding, to give wisdom and revelation by the Spirit, to strengthen you in love so that Christ dwells in your hearts by faith, and to open your minds to understand the Scriptures and to hunger for them. Ask Him to guard those you love, to give peace within their walls, to sanctify them in the truth of His Word, and to cause His Word to spread and bear fruit in and through them as you share it in a way they can hear.
May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. May He cause you and those patriarchal and matriarchal figures you love to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to abide in Him and let His words abide in you, to continue in His Word and so prove to be His disciples, bearing much fruit to His glory.
