Pray For Christian Homes

By Judge Roger Snyder

    America's greatest need is to re-establish the Christian homes it once had. The family altar is eliminated from many homes these latter days. God always has blessed the home where parents and children gather once a day to read the Bible and pray together. That kind of home does not disintegrate.

    Christians should pray for the homes of God's people throughout the world, that His Word might be taught with such diligence and care as to turn the hearts of the children to Him. Pray the children might serve and honor their parents and God.

    We should pray that God would help us make our homes a place where He would unfold the beauty and grace we find in Christ Jesus. We should pray that He will fill our nation with Godly homes, where parents and children love and honor God, that we might again have a nation whose God is the Lord, and a people whom He would use to lead other nations to Himself.

    When God spoke the words of Deuteronomy 6:5, He set forth the duty of loving God with every faculty of our being: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." All that goes to make up our being, our innermost thoughts, our affections, our wills, every instinct--should be turned to God in joyful devotion. Our love for God should be such that it takes away all heaviness from the commandments and brings one into a happy submissiveness to His will. That is what is meant by loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

    I believe every Christian desires to make the pathway lighter and more pleasant for others. Jesus said, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and you shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:29-30).

    God has not promised us that we as Christians shall not have sorrow or trouble, or hardship, but on the contrary, He warns us that these things shall come upon us as well as upon those who love the world and worldly things.

    But He does promise His children (Christians) that when these things come to us He will be with us to strengthen and comfort us. When sorrow comes we shall know the power of His comforting love. He does not keep the burden from our shoulders, but He gives us strength to bear it. Whatever the trial may be, His grace will be sufficient in our time of need. To all who put their trust in Him He gives an inner peace that none of the circumstances of life can disturb.

    Character is the safety of church and state. It must be built in childhood through Christian training. "Train up a child in the way He should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Prov. 22:6). Take your children to Sunday school and church and you will not have to be getting them out of the jails and penitentiary later in life.