Silas
Beloved of All
We thank God with you for the improved time together face to face. Scripture shows that being present with one another brings a fullness of joy that distant communication cannot give, and we rejoice that the Lord has granted you this encouragement. It is right to ask for more grace in this area, and we join you in asking the Lord to continue to grow that fellowship.
Our prayer with you is that Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith, that you would be rooted and grounded in His love and know more of its breadth and depth. When He lives within us in this way, His love naturally overflows to those closest to us, and He is able to do far beyond what we ask or think according to His power at work in us. Out of that indwelling life comes the wisdom and grace you are seeking to train your child in the nurture and instruction of the Lord.
God has given parents the responsibility to systematically teach and form a child in His ways. That training is not one size fits all. Each child has a distinct way and personality that God has made, and wise parenting recognizes that difference while keeping the same goal, to point the child toward the Lord. This work requires great patience, much like teaching a child to walk. You expect stumbles and falls, you do your best to guard from harm, but you also gently correct and guide so the child learns to walk steadily. Part of that guidance includes loving correction, for foolishness is bound up in a young heart and needs faithful instruction to lead it toward wisdom. From the earliest days, even in the womb a child begins to recognize voices, and how good it is to speak the Word, to pray, and to teach the Scriptures from infancy so that faith is planted early and becomes a heritage passed on.
We also join you in praying for your wife. Our desire is not simply for more convenient communication, but for godly communication that does good and not harm, that is faithful and kind. We pray that the Holy Spirit would bring true conviction of sin, not merely worldly regret that leads to death, but godly sorrow that leads to repentance and salvation. The Lord in His mercy sometimes hedges a path with thorns to turn a person from a way that would bring sin and its painful consequences and eternal loss, and to draw them back toward Himself. We pray for her salvation and repentance, that she would turn to Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and new life, and that your home would be marked by serving the Lord together.
We pray as well for the protection of your child and your household. You have entrusted your child to the Lord, and it is right to give him back to God for His purposes, asking that the Lord would guard him by His power through faith, fill him with the Holy Spirit, keep him from the evil one, and let the power of Christ within him be greater than any power in the world. Scripture reminds us that those who are with us in Christ are more than those against us, and that our help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. We ask the Lord to keep him and all of you from deception, temptation, fear and lies, and to establish you in truth.
We stand with you in faith, believing that the Lord hears the prayers of even two or three who agree, for He is not limited by numbers. He is strong in our weakness, and His power rests upon us when we humbly depend on Him. May the Lord increase your face to face fellowship, deepen Christ's presence in your hearts, give you wisdom to raise your child to honor both father and mother and to walk in the ways of the Lord, and work in your wife's heart to bring conviction, repentance and salvation.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus, trusting that God hears and will answer according to His perfect will.
Our prayer with you is that Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith, that you would be rooted and grounded in His love and know more of its breadth and depth. When He lives within us in this way, His love naturally overflows to those closest to us, and He is able to do far beyond what we ask or think according to His power at work in us. Out of that indwelling life comes the wisdom and grace you are seeking to train your child in the nurture and instruction of the Lord.
God has given parents the responsibility to systematically teach and form a child in His ways. That training is not one size fits all. Each child has a distinct way and personality that God has made, and wise parenting recognizes that difference while keeping the same goal, to point the child toward the Lord. This work requires great patience, much like teaching a child to walk. You expect stumbles and falls, you do your best to guard from harm, but you also gently correct and guide so the child learns to walk steadily. Part of that guidance includes loving correction, for foolishness is bound up in a young heart and needs faithful instruction to lead it toward wisdom. From the earliest days, even in the womb a child begins to recognize voices, and how good it is to speak the Word, to pray, and to teach the Scriptures from infancy so that faith is planted early and becomes a heritage passed on.
We also join you in praying for your wife. Our desire is not simply for more convenient communication, but for godly communication that does good and not harm, that is faithful and kind. We pray that the Holy Spirit would bring true conviction of sin, not merely worldly regret that leads to death, but godly sorrow that leads to repentance and salvation. The Lord in His mercy sometimes hedges a path with thorns to turn a person from a way that would bring sin and its painful consequences and eternal loss, and to draw them back toward Himself. We pray for her salvation and repentance, that she would turn to Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness and new life, and that your home would be marked by serving the Lord together.
We pray as well for the protection of your child and your household. You have entrusted your child to the Lord, and it is right to give him back to God for His purposes, asking that the Lord would guard him by His power through faith, fill him with the Holy Spirit, keep him from the evil one, and let the power of Christ within him be greater than any power in the world. Scripture reminds us that those who are with us in Christ are more than those against us, and that our help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. We ask the Lord to keep him and all of you from deception, temptation, fear and lies, and to establish you in truth.
We stand with you in faith, believing that the Lord hears the prayers of even two or three who agree, for He is not limited by numbers. He is strong in our weakness, and His power rests upon us when we humbly depend on Him. May the Lord increase your face to face fellowship, deepen Christ's presence in your hearts, give you wisdom to raise your child to honor both father and mother and to walk in the ways of the Lord, and work in your wife's heart to bring conviction, repentance and salvation.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus, trusting that God hears and will answer according to His perfect will.
