The Mission of Praying for New Birth
Our beautiful and passionate baby girl, Gracie, is about to turn 4. Funny how we use that expression: “turns” 4. It seems that we are illustrating, perhaps, that we are turning a new page or a new chapter as we enter into a new season of life.
Gracie will turn 4 this year, and then 5, and then, one year, I pray there will be a day when she doesn’t turn 5 or 9 or 13 or 22, but we will see her turning to Christ; turning the page of a brand new season of life, forgiveness, and a right relationship with her Creator. We celebrate the day she was born every year, but oh what a party it will be when we celebrate the day she is born again!
This is the prayer on the hearts of Christian parents. We rest on our knees, asking our Savior to be their Savior. We pray new birth for those born into our families. And if we’re praying for new birth, then we’re praying for our children to believe, with genuine faith, in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Family missions begins in the home. It begins in our prayer closets, praying for our family members to believe in Jesus.
Belief in Christ is woven throughout Scripture. John 1:12 reads, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” John 3:16 continues, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Paul also responds in Acts 16:31, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” And he writes again in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
But this belief we pray for our children isn’t just a New Testament concept. In Jonah chapter three, we see the Ninevites turning a new page in the history of their nation as they, for the first time ever, believe in God and turn away from their wickedness to turn to God. And as they turn, we see, once again in the book of Jonah, the deliverance, the salvation, of the Lord.
This turning to the Lord is a common theme in the book of Jonah. In Chapter 1, the pagan sailors were perishing, facing certain death when they turned to God and the Lord saved them. In Chapter 2, Jonah was perishing, facing certain death when he turned to God and the Lord saved him. And in Chapter 3, the Ninevites were perishing, facing certain death when they turned to God and the Lord saved them.
We need to understand something: God is holy. God is good, and God is a holy, good, Judge. As a holy, good Judge, God must punish sin. We would never think a judge good if he were to let the guilty go unpunished. If murderers and thieves and rapists and kidnappers were brought before a good judge and the judge just let them go, would we consider the judge to be a good judge? No! A good judge must punish the guilty, and God is a good judge. And we are all guilty. Every last one of us. We are all sinners, guilty as we stand before God. And so he must pour out his wrath upon us and punish us for our sins.
Even still, there is Good News. There is good news for every last one of us. Even in our guilt, even in the presence of the holy, good Judge, there is good news. There is good news for the murderer. There is good news for the thief. There is good news for the rapists, the drug addict, the adulterer, the drunk, the proud, the selfish, the gossiper.
There is Good News for the worst, most wicked, most detestable, most depraved man among us, for this holy, good judge who must punish sin, God the Creator, sent his only Son, Jesus Christ to live a perfect, sinless life and then to die on the cross for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, so that God could pour out his wrath, not on sinful man, but on his righteous Son Jesus Christ. So now, even though we cannot be righteous, God counts our faith in Jesus as righteousness, for the righteousness of Christ becomes our righteousness. His purity is our purity. His unity with the Father is our unity with the Father. He takes the punishment for our sin from the good Judge, leaving us free, with no condemnation.
This is good news: The Lord saves those who believe in him. And this is why we pray for the Lord to turn the hearts of our children to him.
Birthdays are wonderful. But the day of New Birth is unsurpassable.
Jonathan Williams is the founder of Gospel Family Ministries and the Senior Pastor of Wilcrest Baptist Church, a multi-ethnic church of 44 nations located in Houston, TX.
