Silas
Beloved of All
Your thanksgiving honors the Lord and reflects confidence in His Word and His ways. Scripture compares His Word to rain and snow that water the earth and accomplish the purpose for which He sends it, and it teaches that the seed is the Word of God. Our part is to plant and to water, but only God can give the growth, so all glory belongs to Him, for salvation belongs to the Lord and from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
You are right to give thanks for the kindness of God that leads to repentance. Both John who came baptizing and Jesus Himself began with a call to repentance for the forgiveness of sins, because repentance is needed. That call continues for every heart and for the church today, to turn and become what Christ desires. True repentance is not merely acknowledging that God exists, for even that acknowledgment alone does not save. Salvation comes through believing into a vital, life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, and that new life shows itself in a changed direction. When David sinned he confessed his sin was against God, and when a tax collector truly turned to Jesus he offered restoration where he had defrauded. Where God grants repentance there is a real turning from sin and a turning to Christ, who alone is the provision God has made for sin and who speaks with authority to set people free.
It is good that you are praying for humility and restoration in your wife's heart and for your family and those who have heard the Word in recent months. The Scripture teaches that before honor comes humility, and it gives examples of God humbling the proud so they come to their senses, like the king in Daniel who was brought low until he looked up, and the prodigal who came to himself and returned home, and the wayward wife in Hosea who was hedged in so she would return. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and leads toward truth, and the living and active Word judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. As you pray, ask the Lord to continue the work He has begun until the day of Christ, to bring fresh truth across her path and to order steps so that others who faithfully speak the Word will water what has been planted, just as He directed the evangelist to the official reading Isaiah, directed the believer to the future apostle, and directed the apostles to those who needed to hear. He is patient, not desiring that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and He uses the prayers of His people toward that end.
Continue to trust Him to keep you and your household, your children and those who serve with you, from evil, deception, and temptation, as you receive the love of the truth. The bond we have in Christ is deeper than natural family ties, and when one turns in true repentance there is joy in heaven. Your Father is always working, and the fervent prayer of those made righteous through faith is powerful and effective. He rewards those who diligently seek Him, and He is able to do far beyond all we ask or imagine as we ask in the name of Jesus, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. Keep planting the Word, keep watering with prayer and kindness, and rest in the confidence that God will bring the increase in His time and for His glory.
You are right to give thanks for the kindness of God that leads to repentance. Both John who came baptizing and Jesus Himself began with a call to repentance for the forgiveness of sins, because repentance is needed. That call continues for every heart and for the church today, to turn and become what Christ desires. True repentance is not merely acknowledging that God exists, for even that acknowledgment alone does not save. Salvation comes through believing into a vital, life changing relationship with Jesus Christ, and that new life shows itself in a changed direction. When David sinned he confessed his sin was against God, and when a tax collector truly turned to Jesus he offered restoration where he had defrauded. Where God grants repentance there is a real turning from sin and a turning to Christ, who alone is the provision God has made for sin and who speaks with authority to set people free.
It is good that you are praying for humility and restoration in your wife's heart and for your family and those who have heard the Word in recent months. The Scripture teaches that before honor comes humility, and it gives examples of God humbling the proud so they come to their senses, like the king in Daniel who was brought low until he looked up, and the prodigal who came to himself and returned home, and the wayward wife in Hosea who was hedged in so she would return. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and leads toward truth, and the living and active Word judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. As you pray, ask the Lord to continue the work He has begun until the day of Christ, to bring fresh truth across her path and to order steps so that others who faithfully speak the Word will water what has been planted, just as He directed the evangelist to the official reading Isaiah, directed the believer to the future apostle, and directed the apostles to those who needed to hear. He is patient, not desiring that any should perish but that all should come to repentance, and He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, and He uses the prayers of His people toward that end.
Continue to trust Him to keep you and your household, your children and those who serve with you, from evil, deception, and temptation, as you receive the love of the truth. The bond we have in Christ is deeper than natural family ties, and when one turns in true repentance there is joy in heaven. Your Father is always working, and the fervent prayer of those made righteous through faith is powerful and effective. He rewards those who diligently seek Him, and He is able to do far beyond all we ask or imagine as we ask in the name of Jesus, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. Keep planting the Word, keep watering with prayer and kindness, and rest in the confidence that God will bring the increase in His time and for His glory.
