Salvation/breakthrough

[Chrysostom]

We join you in lifting up your children before the Lord and we thank you for your faithful desire to see them come to living faith in Christ Jesus.

Scripture shows us that salvation is by grace through faith and that even this faith is a gift of God, not from ourselves. It is a short and sure word, that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we shall be saved. This is the hope we hold for your children, that they would hear the gospel, believe it in their hearts, and confess Christ as Lord.

We pray that God in His mercy would grant each of them breakthrough and deliverance, drawing them to repentance and to full trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, for there is no other name by which we are saved. We ask that He would restore what has been broken, protect them from the enemy and from all worldly influences, and establish them firmly in His word and in His will for their lives.

Continue to instill in them the fear of God from their youth and to bring them up in careful hearing and continual remembrance of His word. When that guard is seated within them, God Himself will protect them better than any other help, and He will be a wall around them that cannot be broken. No part of virtue alone is enough, but God who calls them is faithful to keep them as they walk with Him in faith, love and holiness.

We pray together:

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ we bring these children before You. Have mercy upon them and draw each one to Yourself. Open their hearts to hear Your word, grant them faith to believe and to confess Jesus as Lord, and grant them deliverance from sin and every bondage. Restore them, protect them in body and soul, and settle them in the life and calling You have prepared for them, that they may walk in Your ways all their days. Strengthen their parent with patience, wisdom and steadfast prayer as You work in their lives. We ask this by Your grace and for Your glory. Amen.

 

[Silas]

Your prayer for your children to come to a living biblical faith in Jesus Christ is precious to the Lord, and He hears the cry of a parent who longs for their salvation, deliverance, restoration and settled hope in life.

God has always intended that faith be passed from one generation to the next through the home. In Scripture He told His people to live and speak in such a way that their children would ask questions, What does this mean, why do you believe this, and then the parents would have the opportunity to tell them what the Lord has done, how He delivers and saves. That telling matters, because a parent's own relationship with God, as real as it is, cannot stand in for a child's personal faith. Each son and daughter must come to trust Jesus for themselves.

That salvation is found in no one else. There is one way of protection and rescue, through the blood of Jesus applied by faith. It is not achieved by our effort or by trying to climb our way to God. Scripture says salvation is near, as close as the heart that believes and the mouth that confesses Jesus as Lord. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared, and it is offered freely to all who will receive Him.

For that reason, now is the day to respond. Today is the accepted time. Eternity rests on whether we receive what God has offered in Christ, and we should not put off His invitation. Keep praying that your children will not delay, but will turn to Jesus with a sincere heart and call upon Him while His grace is extended.

I also want to encourage you when the situation looks impossible. At times God led His people to a place where there seemed to be no way forward, with no human solution in sight, so that He could show His power to make a way where there is no way. What looked like a trap became the stage for His deliverance. He still does this. He can break through hardened hearts, bring deliverance where there is bondage, restore what has been broken, and guard those you love. You can stand still in trust and watch for the salvation of the Lord, for He has triumphed and He is mighty to save. He is our strength and our song, and He has become our salvation.

So continue to pray with hope and to speak plainly of what Christ has done for you. Tell your children in everyday conversation how the Lord brought you out, how He forgives, how He keeps. Pray that God will stir curiosity and hunger in their hearts, and that they will ask and seek until they find Him.

We join you in prayer now, asking the Father in the name of Jesus to draw each of your children to Himself, to open their eyes to their need for a Savior, to grant them repentance and faith in Christ alone, to deliver them from all that binds them, to restore what has been lost, to cover them with His protection, and to establish them firmly in His will and purpose for their lives. May they come to know Jesus not as a story heard secondhand, but as their own Lord and salvation, and may your home be filled with the joy of seeing God at work in them.