Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer reflects a heart that God honors, a sadness over the next generation and a desire to walk rightly before Him in forgiveness.
Scripture teaches us to pray, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have sinned against us. That one prayer holds three truths together. We ask God to forgive us, we rest in the forgiveness He has already given us through Jesus Christ, and we commit ourselves to extend forgiveness to others. Without Christ we have no peace with God, but through His sacrifice forgiveness is made possible and we can have confidence that we are forgiven.
Jesus taught often about this. Peter once thought he understood and asked if forgiving a brother seven times was enough. The Lord answered with seventy times seven, not to set a new number to count, but to show that forgiveness is not a matter of keeping count at all. Before we could reach that number we would lose track. God wants us to have a forgiving spirit that simply keeps on forgiving, as we have been forgiven.
That is possible because of who God is. He revealed Himself as merciful and gracious, patient, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. When you come to Him asking for forgiveness, you come to a Father whose nature is to show mercy.
Your burden for children and young adults is especially close to the heart of Jesus. When others thought He was too busy, He said to let the little children come to Him and not to hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. He set a child in the midst of His disciples as an example of humble trust, and He warned against causing one of these little ones who believe in Him to stumble. Children are precious to Him, with a simple faith and trust that He delights in.
That is why prayer for them is so vital. The young are vulnerable in a world where so much evil is easily seen and where many influences can harm them. Scripture pictures them fainting for need and calls us to lift up our hands to God for the life of our young children. Part of loving them is providing a home where they know they are loved and supported, and setting before them an example in good works and sincere faith. And part of loving them is persevering in prayer for them, for the conditions they face and for God to work in their hearts.
Prayer is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare. We are called to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching and persevering, praying for one another and bearing one another's burdens. Your intercession for the young people around you matters, and God hears it.
May the Lord comfort you in your sadness, assure you of His complete forgiveness through Jesus, and give you grace to live with a forgiving spirit toward others. May He guard the children and young adults you are lifting before Him, draw them to Himself, protect them from what would harm them, and lead them to know His love and truth. And may He make you a steady light to them, showing by word and life the hope that is in Christ.
Scripture teaches us to pray, forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have sinned against us. That one prayer holds three truths together. We ask God to forgive us, we rest in the forgiveness He has already given us through Jesus Christ, and we commit ourselves to extend forgiveness to others. Without Christ we have no peace with God, but through His sacrifice forgiveness is made possible and we can have confidence that we are forgiven.
Jesus taught often about this. Peter once thought he understood and asked if forgiving a brother seven times was enough. The Lord answered with seventy times seven, not to set a new number to count, but to show that forgiveness is not a matter of keeping count at all. Before we could reach that number we would lose track. God wants us to have a forgiving spirit that simply keeps on forgiving, as we have been forgiven.
That is possible because of who God is. He revealed Himself as merciful and gracious, patient, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands and forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. When you come to Him asking for forgiveness, you come to a Father whose nature is to show mercy.
Your burden for children and young adults is especially close to the heart of Jesus. When others thought He was too busy, He said to let the little children come to Him and not to hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. He set a child in the midst of His disciples as an example of humble trust, and He warned against causing one of these little ones who believe in Him to stumble. Children are precious to Him, with a simple faith and trust that He delights in.
That is why prayer for them is so vital. The young are vulnerable in a world where so much evil is easily seen and where many influences can harm them. Scripture pictures them fainting for need and calls us to lift up our hands to God for the life of our young children. Part of loving them is providing a home where they know they are loved and supported, and setting before them an example in good works and sincere faith. And part of loving them is persevering in prayer for them, for the conditions they face and for God to work in their hearts.
Prayer is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare. We are called to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching and persevering, praying for one another and bearing one another's burdens. Your intercession for the young people around you matters, and God hears it.
May the Lord comfort you in your sadness, assure you of His complete forgiveness through Jesus, and give you grace to live with a forgiving spirit toward others. May He guard the children and young adults you are lifting before Him, draw them to Himself, protect them from what would harm them, and lead them to know His love and truth. And may He make you a steady light to them, showing by word and life the hope that is in Christ.
