If you ever want a prayer to pray over your children or over your loved ones or over yourself, Paul gives it to us in Philippians 1:6
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
The doctrine of God's completing HIs work in us is not just a tremendous doctrine to acknowledge, learn and know, it is one of the most reassuring doctrines in Theology. What God started He will finish. You and I may struggle with that thought because of our life experiences (which tends to trump doctrine in the struggle in our mind). In life we see so, so many people who don't finish what they started. It has become vogue in our society to start big and finish little, if not at all. We see sports contracts based upon a reputation and the "beginning of life" and don't see them finish in the same manner. We see it, at times in ourselves. But, in God there is not that tendency to start and fail to finish. In this one verse He introduces a doctrine we can rest our souls upon. God will finish the salvation He started in us. It may not look like He will when other see how we "perform" in front of them. But, God is still working on us. Long before the Live Strong bracelets became vogue there was a movement in Christian circles for this phrase: BPGINFWM! It didn't take on as a popular movement but the letters stood for: Be Patient, God Is Not Finish With Me! Realize and rest in the doctrine of God sustaining work. He is NOT finished with you and me, as of yet. You can pray that prayer over you children today. They may not look like they are moving in the direction "you" want them, but if God began something in them, He will finish. He will finish it in a wayward spouse; He will finish it in a wayward church; He will finish it in a wayward teen. God is not finished so don't count Him out.
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