Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
3Â John 2-4Â (NIV)
I am a very, very, very blessed woman. All of my children, biological and those born of my heart, know and love the Lord, as do their spouses. Grandchildren are being raised to know Jesus and see Him as Savior and Friend. There is nothing better that I could ask from the Lord.
In my ministry I have been asked often to pray for people re: their children. Many tears drip on altars as mothers, fathers, grandparents, and siblings cry out to God for their loved ones to accept their need for salvation and choose Jesus as the Way. “What can we do?â€
Prayer is the obvious answer but difficult when the prayers continue over years with no obvious response. So often we quote Abraham’s story to encourage persistent prayer. Even the apostle, Paul, confessed that he begged God to answer his prayer for relief from his ‘thorn’ and God told him that His grace – unconditional love – would be enough when the thorn would not be removed.
Living out our life with Christ before our loved ones is, I believe, the best action. By that I mean, living my life in Spirit and Truth. Living it when I am strong in faith but also when I struggle. Don’t hide the struggles but allow people to know that I have areas that I need help! I turn to God. I turn to those God has placed in my life. It is in those times that God shows Himself and those who are running from Him or questioning will watch and see what will happen. And that is when Jesus plants those good seeds and waters them and they grow roots. We don’t always ‘see’ it all. But God does. Remember: no matter how much I love and how much I desire their salvation…God wants and loves MORE!
Welcome questions. Don’t feel as if you must know all the answers or argue theology like a part of the Celestial Debate Team! I personally do not argue with someone Scripture for Scripture. That is not my strength. My strength is in my experience with Jesus. It is how He has walked with me through horrendous seasons and remained faithful and true to whom He professes to be and who He is. Questions are good. A person who stops questioning is one who has closed their mind and is not seeking. A seeker – that was me once upon a time! Refusing to hear my questions is what drove me from Jesus. Questions and seeking brought me home.
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.                                      Philippians 4:4-7 (NIV)
Father, I touch and agree with my brothers and sisters for the salvation of those who do not now know You. I ask, Father, that You send people into their path who walk with You in Spirit and in Truth. I ask, Father, that You touch that tender place deep in their hearts and that they know that they have felt the hand of God. I ask for healing in their life, Lord. I ask forgiveness when we have treated them wrongly, with condemnation and judgment in Your name. I ask, Jesus, that Your blood cover that sin. I am sorry that we did not love them as You loved us. Open our hearts to hear Your words and receive Your love so that we may share those healing and loving words with others, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
