The Word Of God Is Powerful

The word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:12-13

THERE IS A LIMIT to the power of our words in our children’s lives. There’s a limit to our ability to see into our children and know what is really going on inside them. And there is even a limit to their accountability to us. The Word of God has the real power in their lives. His Word has the ability to penetrate their thoughts and motives. It prepares them for their ultimate accountability before him.

Often the challenge for us as parents is to trust that God’s Word really will accomplish his work in our children. Yet when we trust his Word to work, we can stop trying so hard to convince or coerce them. We don’t have to feel as if we’ve failed when we don’t see the responsiveness we prayed for. We can expect that God’s Word is working in ways and places that we can’t see.

When the Word of God goes to work in our children’s lives, it will expose shallow beliefs and faulty expectations that have become a part of their thinking. It will challenge their assumptions about how this life with God works. Idols will come out from behind the shadows where they can no longer be coddled and protected. The Word of God will help them see the ways in which they want to use God instead of love God. It will break through surface religiosity and even accumulated Bible knowledge to reveal the state of their souls and the incongruity of their behavior.

It is not up to us to create change in our children; it is up to us to bring them under God’s Word and then trust him to do the convincing and changing. And we know he will, because his Word is active.

Lord, work in ________ to place her life under the influence and authority of your Word. Lead ________ to make herself accountable to its expectations, to submit herself to its demands, to accept its truth. Humble ________ so that she might allow the Word of God to judge her thoughts and motives. Use your Word to shape her perspective, set her priorities, and show her what is truly valuable and beautiful.