Hope for Restoration

And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. (Jeremiah 31:17 KJV)

In Jeremiah 31:17 God was speaking of the children of Israel, who were captives of war, carried away into the bondage of Babylon. Enslaved in a foreign nation, they longed to be free and to see their children return one day to the Promised Land. God testified in this passage that their hopes would be fulfilled. 

This scripture can also be claimed in a spiritual sense concerning backslidden children of godly parents. Though their offspring have been "carried away" into the "bondage" of a worldly lifestyle and "enslavement" to sin, committed parents can trust that their offspring will be brought back to the "border" of a spiritual land of promise: a place of blessed and fruitful relationship with the Most High God. On a higher level, this promise is applicable to all of us. It celebrates the hope we have of returning to the perfection of the original paradise state-returning to the "border" of the Garden of Eden and the intimacy with God that our foreparents knew. 

Pray the following prayer for your child, inserting his/her name in the blank, and believe that God will be faithful to His promise. 

Lord, I confess that as long as there is a God in heaven, there is hope. If ___________ ever strays from Your will, or if this has already happened, I confess that my child will always come back to the "boundary" of the truth. I claim that ___________ will be blessed to dwell in a spiritual land of promise, a land filled with both the promises in Your written Word and any living word promises You have spoken over his/her life. Most importantly, I confess that __________ will be restored to the perfection of paradise when You return in glory. In the name of Jesus, amen (let it be so)!