Silas
Beloved of All
Your heartfelt prayer reflects a beautiful hunger for God and for His Word, and it is encouraging to see that desire both for yourself and for your family.
That longing is exactly where growth begins. Faith must come first, and then a life that follows God flows out of it. Just as Noah trusted God and acted on that trust, and Abraham believed God was able to keep His promise even if it required raising Isaac from the dead, true faith takes God at His Word and then walks in obedience to it. Your prayer for wisdom to know His will, as in Colossians 1:9, and for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Him better, as in Ephesians 1:17 and 18, is a prayer God delights to answer.
It is good that you are asking for that hope to be anchored in the Word while you wait. There are seasons when the soul grows weary and the eyes grow tired looking for God's answer, yet hope remains steady because it rests not on feelings but on what He has said. Loving His Word and keeping His commandments, choosing to turn away from every path that would pull you aside, is how that hope is guarded. When you invite Him to open your understanding as He did for the disciples in Luke 24:45, He gives light. The entrance of His Word brings light to those in darkness and understanding to the simple, and it becomes a comfort in affliction and a guide for each step.
Your desire for a sincere hunger for the milk of the Word in 1 Peter 2:2 and for daily bread in Matthew 6:11 is the mark of spiritual health. That hunger is nurtured by continual use of Scripture. As you stay in the Word through steady, systematic reading and meditation as Joshua 1:8 describes, and as you study to show yourself approved as 2 Timothy 2:15 teaches, your senses become trained to discern good and evil and you move toward maturity. You learn not only to hear the Word but to receive it as an engrafted seed in James 1:21 and to be a doer of it and not a hearer only in James 1:22.
Your prayer for unity in one faith, one hope and one baptism from Ephesians 4:4 to 6, and that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ from 2 Corinthians 4:6 would shine in the hearts of your loved ones, is a prayer in line with God's heart. He alone saves through faith in Jesus Christ, our one mediator in 1 Timothy 2:5, and He alone can draw those who are still lost and strengthen those who are walking with Him.
And your request for keeping from evil is also according to Scripture. Wisdom and the knowledge of His Word preserve and deliver from the way of those who would lead astray, and Jesus Himself prayed in John 17:15 that His own would be kept from the evil one, just as He taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 to be delivered from evil. As you walk in the light of His Word and share what you learn with others as Galatians 6:6 encourages, He is faithful to guard you from deception, from temptation, and from the schemes of the enemy.
May the Lord continue to awaken your ear to hear as a disciple in Isaiah 50:4, give you joy in the journey, and deepen your fellowship with Him and with one another as you talk together about what you read. May He grant you wisdom, surround you with favor as in Psalm 5:12, and keep you and your family in His care as you enter His gates with thanksgiving in Psalm 100:4.
Father, we thank You for this family and for this hunger for Your Word. Grant wisdom and revelation to know You more, open understanding of the Scriptures, create a deep thirst for Your truth, and give grace to walk in obedience. Keep this household from distraction and from the evil one, and let the light of Christ shine brightly in every heart, that all may be united in the one faith and hope we have in Jesus. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our only mediator, amen.
That longing is exactly where growth begins. Faith must come first, and then a life that follows God flows out of it. Just as Noah trusted God and acted on that trust, and Abraham believed God was able to keep His promise even if it required raising Isaac from the dead, true faith takes God at His Word and then walks in obedience to it. Your prayer for wisdom to know His will, as in Colossians 1:9, and for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Him better, as in Ephesians 1:17 and 18, is a prayer God delights to answer.
It is good that you are asking for that hope to be anchored in the Word while you wait. There are seasons when the soul grows weary and the eyes grow tired looking for God's answer, yet hope remains steady because it rests not on feelings but on what He has said. Loving His Word and keeping His commandments, choosing to turn away from every path that would pull you aside, is how that hope is guarded. When you invite Him to open your understanding as He did for the disciples in Luke 24:45, He gives light. The entrance of His Word brings light to those in darkness and understanding to the simple, and it becomes a comfort in affliction and a guide for each step.
Your desire for a sincere hunger for the milk of the Word in 1 Peter 2:2 and for daily bread in Matthew 6:11 is the mark of spiritual health. That hunger is nurtured by continual use of Scripture. As you stay in the Word through steady, systematic reading and meditation as Joshua 1:8 describes, and as you study to show yourself approved as 2 Timothy 2:15 teaches, your senses become trained to discern good and evil and you move toward maturity. You learn not only to hear the Word but to receive it as an engrafted seed in James 1:21 and to be a doer of it and not a hearer only in James 1:22.
Your prayer for unity in one faith, one hope and one baptism from Ephesians 4:4 to 6, and that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ from 2 Corinthians 4:6 would shine in the hearts of your loved ones, is a prayer in line with God's heart. He alone saves through faith in Jesus Christ, our one mediator in 1 Timothy 2:5, and He alone can draw those who are still lost and strengthen those who are walking with Him.
And your request for keeping from evil is also according to Scripture. Wisdom and the knowledge of His Word preserve and deliver from the way of those who would lead astray, and Jesus Himself prayed in John 17:15 that His own would be kept from the evil one, just as He taught us to pray in Matthew 6:13 to be delivered from evil. As you walk in the light of His Word and share what you learn with others as Galatians 6:6 encourages, He is faithful to guard you from deception, from temptation, and from the schemes of the enemy.
May the Lord continue to awaken your ear to hear as a disciple in Isaiah 50:4, give you joy in the journey, and deepen your fellowship with Him and with one another as you talk together about what you read. May He grant you wisdom, surround you with favor as in Psalm 5:12, and keep you and your family in His care as you enter His gates with thanksgiving in Psalm 100:4.
Father, we thank You for this family and for this hunger for Your Word. Grant wisdom and revelation to know You more, open understanding of the Scriptures, create a deep thirst for Your truth, and give grace to walk in obedience. Keep this household from distraction and from the evil one, and let the light of Christ shine brightly in every heart, that all may be united in the one faith and hope we have in Jesus. We ask this in the name of Jesus, our only mediator, amen.
