Day 7: He is Able

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40 Days of Prayer for Our Children Parenting
Day 7: He is Able

 

Day 7:  He Is Able

Lord, I praise you, for I know that by Your mighty power at work within us, You are able to accomplish far more that we could ever hope, or dream, or imagine.  May you be glorified in each of the lives of these children.         Ephesians 3:20

                                                                                                                                                   In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Do you believe big things for the children in your life?  Do you believe that He is able… able to keep them from falling, able to transform them, use them, lead them, protect them?  He is indeed able—able to do far more than we could ever imagine.

This is one of those verses that I cling to.  It is hard to believe beyond what we see.  But, after all,  that is what faith is.  I often say to my kids when they are having a problem, “God is the Creator of the Universe.  This is not hard for Him.  Though this is a huge deal for us, it is easy for Him.”  Let’s choose to trust Him today, not just with our children, but with every aspect of our lives.  He is able.

Day 6: God-Esteem

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40 Days of Prayer for Our Children Parenting
Day 6: God-Esteem

 

 

 

Day 6:  God-Esteem

 

Lord, help these children to know that they are fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works!       

                                                                                                        Psalm 139:14

                                                                                                In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

We constantly hear that children need a good self-esteem.  But I want my children to have a good God-esteem.  I want them to see themselves as God sees them, a wonderful work of art—a masterpiece.  Self-esteem will fail them, God-esteem will not.

Maybe today you need to know that, too–that you are fearfully and WONDERFULLY made.  Fearfully does not mean in fear in this passage.  It means with respect.  God made you with great care and respect and He made you to be wonderful.  And you are.  And so are your children.

But we don’t always feel that way do we?

Just because we don’t feel something doesn’t mean it’s not true.

If the wind is blowing we don’t feel it if we are not outside.  But just because we are not outside, does not mean that it is not true that the wind is blowing.

Let’s get outside of ourselves and our negative thinking about ourselves.  Let’s believe God’s Word and let it transform how we see ourselves.  Feeling will follow after.  And our example of a good God-esteem will be an agent of change in how our children view themselves.

Day 5: The Fruit of the Spirit

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40 Days of Prayer for Our Children Parenting
Day 5: The Fruit of the Spirit

 

 

Day 5: The Fruit of the Spirit

(When you see “these children”, insert the names of the children for whom you are praying.)

 

Lord, may these children display the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.    Galatians 5:22

                                                                                                                     In Jesus’ name, Amen  

What a list of characteristics!  I look at that list and see much I myself need more of.  And yet, it is the fruit of the Spirit, not my fruit.  He will equip us and our children in the many places we are weak.  In our weakness, He is strong.  However, we must surrender to His Spirit—step aside and let Him work. This is our prayer for ourselves as well as our children.

We frequently pray aloud certain scriptures for our children and this is one of the most common prayers.  Over the years, they have heard us pray this verse over them so much, they all can easily recite the list of the fruit of the Spirit.  In addition, this list gives them a set of “surrender goals”.  Goals are something that we work towards on our own.  But we want them to have this list as “surrender goals”—areas they work toward surrendering to the Holy Spirit, that they may step aside and let Him do His mighty work in their lives.

Day 4: Choosing Joy

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40 Days of Prayer for Our Children Parenting
Day 4: Choosing Joy

Day 4:  Choosing Joy

(When you see “these children”, insert the names of the children for whom you are praying.)

 

Lord, give these children joy in your presence.  May this joy be their strength.   Nehemiah 8:10

                                                                                                          In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

There is a huge difference between joy and happiness.  Happiness is based on circumstance.  If everything is going just as I wish, just as I planned, then I am happy.  But joy is deeper.  Joy is not dependent on circumstance.  Joy is what Jesus brings to our souls, even when we are not happy.

As parents, we often wish happiness above all for our children.  That sounds like a noble  wish, but in reality we would be short-changing our children if all they ever felt was happiness.  So many wonderful attributes can only be learned in the hard times.  If our children only experience happiness, then they will be handicapped in their character.  And yet, the modern day parent, including myself, tends to work very hard to ensure that their children are happy every moment.  This result is inevitably a whole generation of self-centered, happiness-seeking individuals.  And this will eventually lead to an empty, meaningless existence—just the opposite of the happiness we so eagerly sought.

Don’t get me wrong.  I am generally a happy person.  And I want my children to be happy children.  In our 28 years of parenting, we have often ask our kids, “Are you having a happy childhood?”  It is very important to us that our children look back on their childhood with happy, fond memories.  But that is not all I want for them.  I want above all for them to seek joy.

J.O.Y.  Jesus, then others, then yourself.  This is the secret to joy.  And that secret does not always equate with happiness.

As parents, let’s be willing to let our kids experience a bit of unhappiness and in the midst of it, let’s point them to joy.

 

Day 1: Safety

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40 Days of Prayer for Our Children Parenting
Day 1: Safety

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.