For several months now,
before I preach, I invite the children of new3c up to the front of the church,
and I pray for them. It’s become one of the treasured moments for our
congregation each Lord’s Day. I pray that the Lord would open our kids’ hearts
to the gospel, that they would treasure Jesus more than anything in this world,
that the Holy Spirit would empower our faithful Sunday school teachers to
preach the gospel, and that God would raise our children up to lead the Church
and nation in the future. Recently while I was praying
for them, it was hard to hold back my emotions. In that moment, God was
reminding me how He’d graciously caused me to fear Him and love Christ while in
church as a young boy. It hit me – where I stood that day as a pastor was profoundly
influenced by what the Lord did in my heart as a child.
When we pray for the
conversion of unsaved individuals, it’s often for the adults in our lives that
we know – and so we should. But I think we’ve forgotten to value, pray for, and
labor in a field of evangelism that’s right under our noses – both in our homes and
in the local church – that of our children.
No comments:
Post a Comment