Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a deep trust in what God has said about His own Word and His own kindness, and that is a good place to stand. Thank you for bringing this burden before the Lord so faithfully and for wanting what He wants for your wife and your family.
Scripture teaches that godliness with contentment is great gain. That is true riches. Other kinds of riches cannot be trusted and can be lost quickly, and we brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out. A person who is always wanting more is not truly rich, but the person who has learned to be like God in character and to be content in Him has something of eternal value. To be godly is to be Godlike, and that mystery was made known when God was manifest in the flesh in Jesus Christ. Bodily discipline has some value for a little while, but training yourself toward godliness has value for this life and for eternity. It is right to pray that your wife would seek that kind of life, that righteousness and godliness would be at the center of her heart, and that with it she would know contentment, honesty, a reverence for God's Word, and a quiet peaceable spirit.
You are also praying rightly when you ask that God's kindness would lead to repentance. Romans teaches that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Repentance is not just feeling sorry or even weeping because a blessing was lost. True repentance is a change of mind and heart that turns from sin and turns to God, and it shows itself in fruit. John the Baptist called people to bring forth fruit that demonstrates repentance, evidence that a real change has taken place. Godly sorrow works that kind of repentance, a sorrow according to God that leads to a hatred of evil and a love for what God says is right. That is what you are asking for when you pray for a fear of the Lord, a trembling at His Word as Isaiah describes, and a love for truth that judges every way of falsehood to be wrong.
God has given a beautiful picture of how He works in hearts. His Word does not return empty, but like rain and snow that water the earth and cause it to bring forth life, His Word accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it. The seed is the Word of God. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. You have been planting and others have been watering, and you can trust Him to bring the increase in His time. He is patient, not willing 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. He orders the steps of His people and He brings the right truth and the right person across another's path at the right moment, as we see when He led Philip to the man reading Isaiah, and when He sent one believer to find Saul, and when He directed Paul and his companions to where help was needed.
It is also true that before honor comes humility. The Lord in His mercy humbles those who need to be humbled so they may come to their senses, as with Nebuchadnezzar who was brought low and then restored when he lifted his eyes to heaven, and as with the prodigal who came to himself and returned home. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, and the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. As you keep praying, you can trust the Father who is always at work, and the Son who is at work, to continue any good work He has begun until the day of Jesus Christ.
Continue to pray fervently, for the prayer of a righteous person through faith avails much. Pray that the Lord will keep your wife and your children and all who have heard the Word, that He will restrain evil and protect from deception and temptation and the evil one, and that He will cause a love for the truth to take root so that there is salvation and growth. Pray that she will listen to faithful pastoral counsel, that she will embrace her calling as a wife and mother with joy, that her home would be marked by godliness and honesty, and that she would walk in the fear of the Lord which hates evil.
The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and He hears prayer offered in Jesus name, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. He is able to do beyond all we ask or imagine, and to Him be all glory. May He give you peace and hope and contentment as you trust Him, and may He share those riches through you with others. We join you in asking that He will do this for His glory, for salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
Scripture teaches that godliness with contentment is great gain. That is true riches. Other kinds of riches cannot be trusted and can be lost quickly, and we brought nothing into this world and we can carry nothing out. A person who is always wanting more is not truly rich, but the person who has learned to be like God in character and to be content in Him has something of eternal value. To be godly is to be Godlike, and that mystery was made known when God was manifest in the flesh in Jesus Christ. Bodily discipline has some value for a little while, but training yourself toward godliness has value for this life and for eternity. It is right to pray that your wife would seek that kind of life, that righteousness and godliness would be at the center of her heart, and that with it she would know contentment, honesty, a reverence for God's Word, and a quiet peaceable spirit.
You are also praying rightly when you ask that God's kindness would lead to repentance. Romans teaches that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Repentance is not just feeling sorry or even weeping because a blessing was lost. True repentance is a change of mind and heart that turns from sin and turns to God, and it shows itself in fruit. John the Baptist called people to bring forth fruit that demonstrates repentance, evidence that a real change has taken place. Godly sorrow works that kind of repentance, a sorrow according to God that leads to a hatred of evil and a love for what God says is right. That is what you are asking for when you pray for a fear of the Lord, a trembling at His Word as Isaiah describes, and a love for truth that judges every way of falsehood to be wrong.
God has given a beautiful picture of how He works in hearts. His Word does not return empty, but like rain and snow that water the earth and cause it to bring forth life, His Word accomplishes the purpose for which He sends it. The seed is the Word of God. One plants, another waters, but God gives the growth. You have been planting and others have been watering, and you can trust Him to bring the increase in His time. He is patient, not willing 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. He orders the steps of His people and He brings the right truth and the right person across another's path at the right moment, as we see when He led Philip to the man reading Isaiah, and when He sent one believer to find Saul, and when He directed Paul and his companions to where help was needed.
It is also true that before honor comes humility. The Lord in His mercy humbles those who need to be humbled so they may come to their senses, as with Nebuchadnezzar who was brought low and then restored when he lifted his eyes to heaven, and as with the prodigal who came to himself and returned home. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, and the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. As you keep praying, you can trust the Father who is always at work, and the Son who is at work, to continue any good work He has begun until the day of Jesus Christ.
Continue to pray fervently, for the prayer of a righteous person through faith avails much. Pray that the Lord will keep your wife and your children and all who have heard the Word, that He will restrain evil and protect from deception and temptation and the evil one, and that He will cause a love for the truth to take root so that there is salvation and growth. Pray that she will listen to faithful pastoral counsel, that she will embrace her calling as a wife and mother with joy, that her home would be marked by godliness and honesty, and that she would walk in the fear of the Lord which hates evil.
The Lord is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, and He hears prayer offered in Jesus name, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. He is able to do beyond all we ask or imagine, and to Him be all glory. May He give you peace and hope and contentment as you trust Him, and may He share those riches through you with others. We join you in asking that He will do this for His glory, for salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.
