Lord, may each of these children come to know You as their Lord and Savior at the earliest age possible.  May they each be taught of the Lord, so that their peace would be great.          Isaiah 54:13               

 In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

We have prayed for the salvation of our children starting when they were in the womb, or at least since we first saw a picture of our adopted children.  We have always prayed that they would come to know the Lord at the earliest age possible. We want them to have very short testimonies!  Rather than speaking of all the time of being “lost”, we would love for them to speak of coming to Him at a young age.  Of course, everyone goes through difficult times which draw them closer to The Father, but how beautiful to run into people who are able to say, “though I’ve been through hard times which have strengthened my faith, I don’t really remember a time that I didn’t love the Lord.”  Though we trust in the Lord to bring about His perfect plans in their lives, we do hope and pray that our children feel that way.

 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:12

 “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

1Timothy2:3-4

Often, parents question whether their child’s salvation is “real”.  I personally believe that if we are praying fervently for our children to come to know the Lord at the earliest age possible, then why should we be surprised when they do?  When children come at an early age into relationship with Jesus, they may have times of renewal when they get older. In my particular story, I became a Christian when I was a little girl, when I knelt beside my bed and prayed with my Daddy.  And I believe that God saved me at that point.  However, when I was a teenager, I finally understood Lordship.  I went with my home church to a retreat when I was 13 years old.  At that retreat, I finally understood that Jesus want to be both Savior of our souls, and Lord of our lives.  There is a difference.  Having a Lord over every aspect of our lives involves a surrendering of our self-reliance and control. Many times, God shows me another area of my life that I have not surrendered to His Lordship.  He shows me through His Word, through prayer, and through other people.  At that point, I confess and pray and turn around. Neither you nor your child will ever experience all the wonderful things that God has for you, if you have never really met Him in a personal way.  There must be an acknowledgment of sin and of a need for a Savior.  I believe that our life in Christ is a journey; a wonderful, amazing, journey, which lasts our entire lives.  However, we simply cannot experience the journey, if we have not come to personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  This journey begins upon salvation, and is fueled by making our personal relationship with God the highest priority.  Just as in any relationship, there will be highs and lows.  An important time in my spiritual walk came when I realized that just because that “good feeling” went away, didn’t mean Jesus went away.  You may need to explain this to your child.  In Joshua 1:5, God says: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

I have been a Christian for over 40 years, and I have always found that verse to be true.

What about those times when you are on your knees, crying before the Lord?  What do you pray then? What scripture can you pray when you are sad, scared, and overwhelmed?

How do you cry out to the Lord when you don’t know the way out of a situation or you are afraid your children don’t know the way out?

I think every parent has times of desperate prayer.

Maybe you are paralyzed with fear.

Maybe you are heartbroken with disappointment.

Maybe you are filled with regret.

Maybe you don’t know what to do or even how to articulate what you want to happen or change.  Try this:

Think of every promise of God you can remember.  Get out your Bible and search the Psalms for words of truth and comfort and promise.  And remember what God says:

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:11

His Word will not return void.  It does have purpose in your life and in the lives of your children.  That is why we pray scripture based prayers.  If we are praying God’s Word back to Him, we know that we are praying prayers which line up with His ways and His will.  We must constantly remember that God truly does love our children more than we do.  If we are constantly surrendering them to His care, we must trust that everything that happens to them, good or bad, is filtered through His love.

To my knowledge and according to my study of the Word of God, I cannot recall a single time that a parent brought their child to Jesus and He didn’t do something.  He heard, He healed, He delivered.  He invited the children to come to Him and told the disciples not to forbid their coming, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

One of my favorite “parent stories” in the Bible is found in Mark 9.  A father brought his deaf and demon-possessed son to Jesus.  He told Jesus of the struggles and pain and desperate situation they endured.  And then the father said:

But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.”

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

                                                            Mark 9:22-24

And Jesus immediately delivered the boy and commanded that the evil never return again.

I have prayed many times:  “Lord, I do believe; help me with my unbelief.”  It is hard to believe sometimes, especially when it comes to our children.  And that is when the desperate prayers come in.  Desperate prayers are actually exactly what is needed at times.  In fact, scripture tells us to pray desperately for our children.  Lamentations 2:19 says:

Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;


pour out your heart like water
 in the presence of the Lord.


Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children….

I have experienced what it means to pour out my heart like water for the lives of my children.  That is how I feel when I have those moments of desperate prayer.  And yet, we pray with belief, all the while asking the Lord to help us with our unbelief.

What might a desperate prayer look like?  Maybe something like this:

God, You are Creator of the Universe, nothing is too hard for You.  I know You love me, Lord.  I know You love my children, even more than I do.  But I need Your help, Lord.  I need Your peace and Your presence.  I need You to come quickly to my aid.  I need You to hide my children in the shelter of the Almighty.  Lord, Your Word says to call upon You and You will answer with great and mighty things which we know not.  With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.  I trust in You with all my heart and I lean not upon my own understanding.  Only You can make our paths straight.  You, Lord, are the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  I believe You, Lord.  But help me Lord with any unbelief concerning my children.  I know You are able to do far more than I could ever hope or dream or imagine.  Do this, according to Your Word.  I pray all this in the  great and mighty and powerful name of Jesus.  Amen.  ( Jeremiah 32:17, Psalm 22:19, Psalm 70:5, Jeremiah 33:3, Mark 10:27, Proverbs 3:5-6, John 14:6, Mark 9:24, Ephesians 3:20, Psalm 119:65, John 14:14)

Trust in him at all times, you people;
pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.

                                                                                                                                   Psalm 62:8