Dear Heavenly Father,
You tell us in Exodus 34:7(NLT), “I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” You are reminding us of Your unfailing love and that it continually endures. You are also letting us know that our response to Your overwhelming love isn’t always what it should be. We sin against Your Will and many of us do not confront and repent of this sin, but we model it before our children. In this way, sin can be passed down from generation to generation. You want us to prevent this from happening by being obedient and praying, so that this sinful behavior is removed from generations to come.
Sin is a horrible burden, and one of the reasons many people persists in sin is because they refuse to link the harmful consequences that they face with their wrong choices, incorrect decisions, and bad behavior. They do not take responsibility and they refuse to acknowledge that You have empowered us through Jesus Christ to change our ways. 1John 1:9(NLT) says, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” You tell us to confess our sins to You, and You are faithful to forgive our sins. Through the blood of Jesus Christ, You cleanse us from all unrighteousness; this is because of our Redeemer’s finished work on the cross.
Our privilege and responsibility as believers in Christ is to walk in what Your Son has accomplished for us. We must be confident that You will partner with us to root sin out of our lives, because any and all sin holds us back. It keeps us from enjoying the good things You planned for us long ago. We shouldn’t rob ourselves by falling prey to the devil’s tricks and tactics to keep us in sin, and we shouldn’t want our children to fall into his traps either. Thank You for giving us a way through prayer and obedience to get our relationship with You on track, not just for ourselves, but for the blessings of those that will come after us.
Please open our eyes to see and our ears to hear, so that we can be attentive to the Spirit’s warnings and guidance. Please point out those things that we have allowed to slip by unnoticed in the past. Help us to acknowledge, confront, and repent of the sin that so easily traps us, so that we can put on the newness Jesus Christ offers. Whatever it is that the enemy seeks to hold against us and our bloodlines, whether it is abuse, neglect, sadness, depression, alcoholism, sexual immorality, other addictions and dysfunctions; whatever it is Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of his blood that was shed for our sins, we repent and receive Your forgiveness. Thank You for doing surgery on our hearts so that we have a clean heart and a new spirit.
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for giving the world Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins. Thank You for cleansing us from all unrighteousness through the power of his blood and thank You for Your leadership and guidance through the indwelling Holy Spirit. For these and all other blessings, we thank You. In the powerful and precious name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Praying for Generations”, written by K. Lizzie, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2020. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.