Day 16: Their Hope and Future

Lord, may these children know that Your plans are to prosper them and not to harm them, to give them a hope and a future.  May they seek you with all their hearts. Jeremiah 29:11-13          In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

We have prayed for the future of our children from the time we first held them.  In fact, I began praying for my birth children when they were still being formed in me.  And I began praying for my adopted children from the time I first laid eyes on their photos.  It is never too early to pray for the future of your children.  When I say future, I mean future far away and near future.  Pray for God to bring them the friends that He has selected for them.  Pray for the teachers He chooses for them to have.  Pray for their future spouses when they are still babies.  Pray for their passions in work and hobbies and talents.  Pray that their purposes in life will be revealed without too much floundering or aimless wandering.  Pray most of all that they themselves would trust the Lord to guide them to the good future, full of hope and prosperity, that He has planned for them.  (Just a note:  prosperity means flourishing and thriving.  It can mean wealth, but God’s view of wealth is very different than ours.  If we are blessed with wealth, we are blessed so that we may be a blessing to others.  Sure, I hope my kids are able to make a good living, but more importantly, I want them to flourish and thrive and have the wealth of joy.)

This is a great verse to memorize for yourself, as well as help your children memorize.  They need to know that God has good plans and purposes for them, and they will find these plans and purposes when they seek Him with all their hearts.  May we be certain of this truth in our own hearts and minds.  May we savor this truth and may it lead us to peace and trust.

         Day 15: Their Safety

Lord, may these children know that no weapon formed against them shall prosper, and that You give Your angels charge concerning them to guard them in all their ways.        Psalm 91:11; Isaiah 54:17          In Jesus’ Name, Amen.           

So, here’s the prayer that we all want to pray.  Our first prayer for our children is usually about their safety.  I confess that I have probably prayed more for the safety of my children than anything else.  And yet, there are plenty of other heart-things to pray for, which in reality are more important than physical safety.  And yet, we would be remiss in not praying for their physical safety and the Bible has plenty of promises to pray.

The prayer listed above is one of my daily prayers for my children.  I usually begin this with, “Lord, I plead the blood of Jesus over them, and I pray that You would guard their hearts, their minds, their souls, and their emotions.”

This whole “pleading the blood” is “Christianese” which may be misunderstood.  Why do we as parents “plead the blood of Jesus” over them?  Because we understand that the victory began when Jesus shed His blood for us and for our children.  A price had to be paid and Jesus paid it for us.

“There is power, power, wonderous working power in the blood of the Lamb…” as the old hymn says.  When we plead the blood, we are acknowledging and remembering the powerful sacrifice of Jesus, which fulfilled every promise of God.  We are remembering that if He was willing and able to die for us and then rise again, then taking care of our children is not too hard for Him.

Revelations 12:11  says, “And they overcame him (our enemy, the devil) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…”

There is power in the blood of the Lamb and there is power in speaking forth (the word of our testimony) and believing the truth found in God’s Word.  Releasing our children to the protection of God is one of the hardest surrenders of this earthly life.  And yet, He is able to keep what we have surrendered to Him.  He is able to guard and protect much better than we are.  Only He sees the whole picture.  And the middle of the will of God is the safest place to be.

                Day 14:  May They Know Truth

Lord, may these children walk in truth and be led by the Holy Spirit, who will guide them into all truth. May truth invade every area of their lives and may they recognize the counterfeit plans of the enemy.  May they wisely use truth as a means of discovering who they are and what direction they should go.  May they boldly speak truth, however may their words be seasoned with love.  As they speak truth in love, may they become great leaders of those around them, leading in what is true, good, and right, while at the same time maintain a humble heart, loving others and wholeheartedly following You.   John 16:13; 3 John 4, Ephesians 4:15  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

In our world today, truth is a hard thing to maintain.  Our society tends to stress that each person can define their own brand of truth.  This is a sad and unstable approach, and it is not truth at all.  Let’s invite our children to explore truth found in the Bible.  Let’s pray that they will be hungry for truth and will be able to easily discern truth through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And yet, truth should be lived out with love and humility.  If truth has made our hearts haughty and mean, we drive people away from the truth we want them to see.  And we can do that to our own children as well.  Ask the Lord how you can hold out truth to the children around you in a way that is inviting and appealing, while at the same time uncompromising.  This is tricky and can only be achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I tend to be one who would love to shield my children from the harshness of this fallen world.  But we cannot shield them forever and if we do, we will not equip them properly to handle the world.  I wholeheartedly advocate monitoring what our children see and hear and plant in their minds.  However, when they are older I have let them learn to discern truth for themselves with my guidance.  For example, if they tell me a scenario that happened at school, rather than lecture, I may say, “What is wrong with that situation?”  Or when they are older, if there is a show on television which is not necessarily bad, but still has messages that I do not want them to accept at face value, I will allow them to watch it, but require that they look for 5 ways that the subject matter goes against what we know to be true, good, and right.  Please don’t take that as an endorsement to let your children watch too much or unhealthy programs, but even the cleanest, best of the lot still may send mixed messages, and we must teach our children to be strong in discernment.

Mostly importantly, you cannot guide your children to truth if you don’t understand truth yourself.  Pray for the Lord to open your eyes and understand truth.  Seek truth and wisdom and they will richly reward you.  Spend time each day in the Word of God and in prayer, and if you do, the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth.

Then you will know the

truth

, and the

truth 

will

set 

you

free.

                                                                                             John 8:32

.

             Day 12: Generous Hearts

Lord, give each of these children a generous heart, for we know that You love a cheerful giver.  May their hearts be focused on all the abundant heavenly treasures that have eternal value, not in the passing earthly treasures of this world.                  2 Corinthians 9:7

                                                               In Jesus’ Name,  Amen

Our society today constantly sends the message that we need more, more, and more.  We need better, bigger, newest, latest.  I am very guilty of buying into the lie of more and better for me, me, and me.

And that is the same society that shouts these false messages to our children.  If I fall prey to this, and I know better, how much more easily will our children fall prey to this “More for Me” mentality?

The only way to counteract this constant message is to give.  We must model for our children a generous heart.  They should see us be generous with our treasures, our talents, and our time.  If we value heaven over earth, they will learn to do the same.  If we hold loosely to our earthly treasures, they too will hold loosely to theirs.  Let’s pray for generosity to be imbedded into our personalities and the personalities of our children.

In addition to praying for your children to have a generous heart, ask the Lord what you can do with your children to model that.  Is there a needy family you could help?  A neighbor for whom you could bake cookies?  Is there someone to whom you could offer food, clothes, or toys?  Let’s not wait until next Christmas to show our children what it means to be generous.