“You cannot make anyone a Christian by your prayers or tears; only the Spirit can awaken faith.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
“The duty of parents is to teach the Word and pray, leaving the conversion of the heart to God.” ~ Richard Baxter
“Parents may sow, but God alone gives the increase.” ~ Matthew Henry
We are not promised that our children will be saved. We cannot “claim them to the Lord”. God is not giving new revelation by which He promises that your children will be saved.
A heart that cannot accept the reality that we are commanded to raise them up in the truth and trust God with the results, will find comfort in false—even heretical—doctrines that promise what their hearts desire.
The mind is not informed by truth so that the heart delights in what pleases God and the will sanctified to the glory of God. No! The heart desires that God must promise what it wants and cannot accept the will of God if it is contrary to ones own desire. It corrupts God’s Word to promise what it desires.
Every Christian parent wants their child to be saved. Not every Christian parent trusts God with the results. Not every Christian parent goes to God’s Word seeking truth but rather seeking ‘a word’ that can be twisted to promise what they desire. Prayer becomes a means to claim what they desire. It’s not faith! It does not honor God. It perverts His Word, abuses prayer to become a means of claiming what one desires and commanding God to do what they desire. It turns one’s own ‘good works’ and ‘faithfulness’ into a means to manipulate God to do what they desire because of what they’ve done for Him.
It is painful for a Christian parent to see their adult children walk away from God. Either we trust God and we pray sincerely and passionately on behalf of our children according to the will of God, or we show ourselves enemies of God when He does not do what we believe He must do because He can.
Do we really love God or do we love Him so long as He does what we believe He must do?
Friend, if you think you can ‘claim anyone to faith’, you are deceived. You are not God! You do not have that kind of authority over someone else. If that were so, why would you not just claim everyone to faith in Christ? God ALONE is Sovereign over salvation. Either we trust Him and we find comfort in that so that our prayers are not futile or we don’t trust Him and we think we must take authority from God and do it ourselves.
Pray for your children no matter their age. God is still sovereign!
Leaving Beyond - Grounded In Scripture 
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