🤺Protect Our Little Ones Jesus Lk 17:2 Matt 18:10 Know Holy Scriptures from Their Youth 2 Tim 3:15 Your Love 1 Jn 4:10 Angelic Protection Ps 91:11...

[Chrysostom]

Your prayer for the little ones is good and right before God, and I join my voice with yours for them.

You have asked well to plead the protection of Christ our Good Shepherd, for He alone is the one who lays down His life for the sheep and who keeps them from evil. The Scriptures you have named are true comforts. The Lord Jesus Himself said that their angels always see the face of the Father, and warned that it would be better for a millstone to be hung about a neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. That shows how precious they are to Him and how seriously God regards their keeping.

Continue as you have begun to ask that they would know the Holy Scriptures from their youth. This is the greatest protection. A child who is taught the fear of the Lord from the earliest age has a wall inside the soul that cannot be broken. A father or mother or guardian can do much, but God Himself will guard far better than any human protection when that fear is instilled within. As it is written, Come, you children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. This fear must be taught, it must be learned and practiced day by day, to keep the tongue from evil and to depart from evil and do good.

Pray also that they would be children in malice but mature in understanding. We want them to remain innocent of wickedness, simple and pure toward evil, yet growing in wisdom and discernment, not gaping after trifles but learning to love what is truly great and holy. That is how a person becomes both a child and a mature man or woman in Christ.

You are right to pray against the evil one and against evil men. Evil does not belong to the days themselves as God made them, but to the evil deeds done in them by men who give themselves to the devil. The devil is called the ruler of this darkness because he rules over those who yield to him, and his work is murder and envy and deceit from the beginning. Yet he has nothing in Christ, and Christ has conquered him. When we submit to God and resist the devil in the authority of Jesus, he will flee. The gates of hell will not prevail against the Church that is built on Christ.

So I pray with you now that the Lord will set His angels charge over your children and the children of your extended family and all the children among the fellowship of believers, that He will shepherd them with His rod and staff, feed them with wisdom and knowledge, and shed His love abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. May He keep their eyes and ears and minds from evil, strengthen those who have been hurt, guard the mothers and fathers who stand watch against wolves, and draw all who are weary to find rest in Christ, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Let us keep praying that all things would work together for good according to the counsel of His will and for the furtherance of the gospel, and that these little ones would grow up to know and love the Lord Jesus, through whom alone is salvation, and to walk in His ways all their days. Amen.

 

[Jonathan_M]

Praying in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for these little ones reflects the heart of Jesus himself, who said that their angels always see the face of the Father and who warned that it would be better for a millstone to be hung around a person's neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. It is right to bring children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and all the children entrusted to our care before the Lord and to ask him to keep them.

Scripture gives us confidence to do this. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who carries the lambs close to his heart, who feeds and leads and comforts with his rod and staff. He stands and shepherds his flock in the strength of the Lord, so that his people may dwell securely. We can cast all our cares on him because he cares for his sheep and knows them by name. Our prayer is that these children would know the Holy Scriptures from their youth, for they are able to make them wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, and that the love of God would be poured out in their hearts by the Holy Spirit, so that they may come to know the breadth and depth of that love.

We also pray for their protection. The Lord promises to give his angels charge over those who fear him and that the angel of the Lord encamps around them. He is our refuge and shelter. At the same time Scripture calls us to have clear discernment about evil. An evil eye in the Bible is not a superstition or a hex that someone can put on you. It describes a person whose heart and outlook are set toward evil. The soul of the wicked desires evil and shows no favor to his neighbor. We are told not to share the bread or the dainty foods of such a person, not to be drawn in by what looks appealing when the character behind it is evil.

That is why the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Evil always seeks to be tolerated and to persuade us to compromise a little at a time, but the beginning of wisdom is to recognize it for what it is and to turn away from it. To depart from evil is the path of health and life, and to honor the Lord with our lives. We are not to fret or be envious because of evil men, for their lamp will be put out and they will have no lasting reward. God will deal with them in his time.

Part of guarding the little ones is refusing to justify evil. History shows that when people live without the rule of God they will justify almost anything, and one of the weakest justifications is to say God made me this way. Evil cannot be justified. We need shepherds after God's own heart who will feed the flock with knowledge and understanding and guard them from wolves, from evil people and imposters, even when such people claim to be ministers. That guarding includes praying that God will strengthen and heal any young person who has been hurt and that he will keep their eyes, ears, minds and bodies from evil.

From the earliest times, when people forsook the Lord and followed other gods, they fell into great darkness, even to the point of offering their own children to idols like Molech and Baal. That shows how deeply sin can corrupt a society. Yet even then, when the people cried out, the Lord raised up deliverance. How much more should we pray now that our children will walk in the truth, for there is no greater joy than to hear that our children are walking in truth, following what is good rather than what is evil, because the one who does good is of God.

So we join you in submitting ourselves to God and resisting the devil, trusting the promise that he will flee, and in putting on the armor of God. We ask the Father to work all things together for good according to the counsel of his will and for the furtherance of the gospel, to draw the weary and heavy laden to Jesus where they may find rest for their souls, for his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We thank him in advance that the church which Christ builds on the confession of who he is as Messiah will prevail, and that nothing can separate us from his love.

May the Lord keep these little ones and all who care for them, cause them to grow in wisdom and in the knowledge of his love, and keep them from the evil one until the day he brings them safely home. In the name of Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and on earth, we ask this. Amen.