The Bible - God's Word, given to us to help us understand who God is, who Jesus is, and how the Holy Spirit works. The Word - a love letter written by many writers who were led by the Holy Spirit and then sent to us by God to tell us how much he loves us. It is also written to teach us how to live in this world, and if read, will bring insight on how we can grow in our daily walk with God. And yet, so many never even pick it up. We have a love letter that has been written and then sent to us. Can you imagine never reading a love letter that has been sent to you by your dear ones? I think we would excitedly open it and read it over and over.
This idea of how this effects our children and grandchildren was brought home to me as I was in conversation with a young teen not too long ago. He attends a Christian school and we were in a conversation about Judas, and he did not even know anything about Judas!! Well, this has opened my eyes to another way we need to be praying for our children and grandchildren.
It seems the Bible has not been taught in many churches or in many Christian school settings except for maybe the popular stories of Christ's birth or the Easter story or perhaps Daniel in the Lions Den. But is the "meat" of the Word really being taught?? Are our children and grandchildren being taught how to live by observing Biblical principles? Or are they memorizing Scripture, like we used to do in Sunday School or Youth Groups, so that God's Spirit can bring it to our minds when we need it?? I'm not sure, but it seems that way, by the conversation I had with this teenager.
We need to pray that our children/grandchildren would grow to find God's Word to "be more precious than much gold and sweeter than honey from the comb." (Psalm 19:10) To pray also "that they might read God's Word and hide it in their hearts so they would not sin against God." (Psalm 119:11) We need to pray too for the christian leaders in their lives, that they would see the need to be teaching them Biblical principles, so they can know how to live in these days we are in.
