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St. Paul School of Leadership & Discipleship Lesson 212 - IF YOUR KIDS GO WRONG...DON'T GIVE UP! (God's Plans and Promises for You from the Book of Isaiah) By Frank Eiklor and the Shalom Team
"For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring." Isaiah 44:3 We all have burdens we carry for loved ones - sometimes so excruciating that we feel our hearts will break. This is especially true of Christian parents trying their best to live lives pleasing to the Savior even while one or more of their children decide they'd rather have "sin country." And if years go by with seemingly no answer to our agony of "Lord, please save and spare my son/daughter!" it's easy for parents to dry up inside and believe that they themselves are to blame for their child's choice of the world over God. That is the devil's proven way of creating parental discouragement and fostering unbelief that causes prayer to cease and hopelessness to prevail. But look at today's promise. Let the Lord of love - our Father whose heart we have often broken - first pour His water of life over our own dry and thirsty hearts. Then begin praising Him by faith, not by sight, for His promise to pour out His Spirit upon your offspring. God wants them saved far more than you and I do. Let's act like it! We are to be God's conduit of unconditional love to our kids. Sometimes that must include tough love that knows where and how to draw the line against sin. But we must also believe that God has not given us children in order for us to give up on them. The father of that prodigal son never gave up on God's promise to reach his boy, even though that wayward lad first had to reach the pigpen. So whether our children are living all the way for God - or living a million miles from God - the promise is ours to believe, to confess, and to see fulfilled! My prayer: "My greatest longing, precious Father, is to see my offspring choose only You and Your will for their lives. Make me first an example - then give me faith to believe." "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
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