Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer for your son to be raised in the love and training and admonition of the Lord is exactly what Scripture calls a father to do. The word in Ephesians 6 is to bring children up in the nurture of the Lord, and the wisdom literature echoes this as a father speaking to his son, saying hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother. That is the pattern you are seeking, to teach him diligently and creatively, whether through watching the stories of the Bible together, through language learning together, or through daily conversation. God honors that faithful sowing, and He corrects and trains those He loves as a father does his son.
You also pray that his mother would come to a thorough repentance, that she would become sick of sin and turn from it. That is an important distinction to pray for. Scripture shows the difference between sorrow over consequences and true repentance. One man in the Bible wept bitterly because he had lost the blessing, but what he sought with tears was not a change of heart, it was the blessing itself. He found no place for repentance because there was no real turning. True repentance is different. John preached a baptism of repentance that meant a changed life, and he told the religious people of his day to bring forth fruit that proves repentance is real. The axe is laid to the root of the tree, and a life that has truly turned will show it in fruit, in a new direction, in a forsaking of the old way. So we pray not only for tears or regret, but for that deep change of mind and heart that turns from sin and turns to God, like the son in Luke 15 who came to himself, saw the emptiness of his way, and arose and returned to his father. That kind of repentance is what brings joy and restoration.
Part of that restoration is seen in God's design for marriage. The counsel given to sons is to let your fountain be blessed and to rejoice with the wife of your youth, to find your satisfaction within the covenant of marriage and to keep that gift confined to that covenant alone. It is a beautiful gift not to be spilled elsewhere. When we pray for a wife and mother, we pray for her to embrace that holy calling, to love purity, to walk in faithfulness, and to join you in raising your son in unity before the Lord.
You are right also to pray for protection from deception and from the evil one. Jesus taught us to pray deliver us from the evil one, and He prayed for His own that the Father would keep them from the evil one though they remain in the world. There are many voices that deceive, false believers who have a form of godliness but deny its power, deceivers who lead astray, and temptations that appeal to fear and lies. The way to be kept is to remain in Christ and in His Word, to test what you hear, and to stay close to the truth of the gospel. That gospel is the record God has given concerning His Son, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life. There is no life apart from Jesus, and keeping your home centered on Him is the safest protection for you and your son.
So I join you in prayer. Father, in the name of Jesus, keep this son in Your hand, let him be taught and trained in Your Word, give his father wisdom and creative ways to make truth alive to him day by day. Grant to his mother a true and thorough repentance, a godly sorrow that leads to a real change and brings forth fruit, that she would loathe sin and turn to You with her whole heart. Guard them both from deception, from false teaching, from evil people and from temptation, and keep them from the evil one. Draw this family together in Christ, that their home would be built on Your Son in whom alone is eternal life. Amen.
You also pray that his mother would come to a thorough repentance, that she would become sick of sin and turn from it. That is an important distinction to pray for. Scripture shows the difference between sorrow over consequences and true repentance. One man in the Bible wept bitterly because he had lost the blessing, but what he sought with tears was not a change of heart, it was the blessing itself. He found no place for repentance because there was no real turning. True repentance is different. John preached a baptism of repentance that meant a changed life, and he told the religious people of his day to bring forth fruit that proves repentance is real. The axe is laid to the root of the tree, and a life that has truly turned will show it in fruit, in a new direction, in a forsaking of the old way. So we pray not only for tears or regret, but for that deep change of mind and heart that turns from sin and turns to God, like the son in Luke 15 who came to himself, saw the emptiness of his way, and arose and returned to his father. That kind of repentance is what brings joy and restoration.
Part of that restoration is seen in God's design for marriage. The counsel given to sons is to let your fountain be blessed and to rejoice with the wife of your youth, to find your satisfaction within the covenant of marriage and to keep that gift confined to that covenant alone. It is a beautiful gift not to be spilled elsewhere. When we pray for a wife and mother, we pray for her to embrace that holy calling, to love purity, to walk in faithfulness, and to join you in raising your son in unity before the Lord.
You are right also to pray for protection from deception and from the evil one. Jesus taught us to pray deliver us from the evil one, and He prayed for His own that the Father would keep them from the evil one though they remain in the world. There are many voices that deceive, false believers who have a form of godliness but deny its power, deceivers who lead astray, and temptations that appeal to fear and lies. The way to be kept is to remain in Christ and in His Word, to test what you hear, and to stay close to the truth of the gospel. That gospel is the record God has given concerning His Son, that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life. There is no life apart from Jesus, and keeping your home centered on Him is the safest protection for you and your son.
So I join you in prayer. Father, in the name of Jesus, keep this son in Your hand, let him be taught and trained in Your Word, give his father wisdom and creative ways to make truth alive to him day by day. Grant to his mother a true and thorough repentance, a godly sorrow that leads to a real change and brings forth fruit, that she would loathe sin and turn to You with her whole heart. Guard them both from deception, from false teaching, from evil people and from temptation, and keep them from the evil one. Draw this family together in Christ, that their home would be built on Your Son in whom alone is eternal life. Amen.
