Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Praying for Our Children

Transcript

Praying for Our Children · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we're going to talk about one of the most important things we can do for our children, and that's how to pray for them.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think we all tend to look at our immediate situations and needs when we pray for ourselves and our children.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: We can be overwhelmed with all we have to do in our daily lives as wives, mothers, perhaps in our careers, that when we do pray, our prayer funnel is very narrow and focused only on the urgent.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our child is sick and needs prayer for healing.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Our child is not doing well in school and needs prayer.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Our child is fearful.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Our child is being bullied, and on and on and on.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many daily prayers that we need to pray for our children, and these are all important, and we do need to pray for them on a daily basis.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But we also need to widen what I call our prayer funnel, to pray with a long-term vision for our children.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps that's impossible to do daily, but maybe schedule a prayer time once a week to do this, either alone, perhaps with your husband, or with a prayer partner.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The most important long-term prayers we can pray for our children is that they come to know Jesus and commit their lives to Him, that they learn to pray for themselves and learn to listen and obey God, that they develop a godly character, that they discover their gifts and talents and use them to serve God and others.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: We also need to consider the age of our child when determining what to pray for them.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Every age, from early childhood to teeners, even into adulthood, they have different challenges and so some of our prayers will need to change and expand to meet those needs.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: For example, in early childhood, we are basically in charge of our child's friends.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: But as they enter middle school, their choice of friends begins to be more their responsibility.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we can pray, Lord, may our child, and put their name in, choose their friends wisely.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: May others come into their lives who love you and will be a good influence on them.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's a list of prayers that I've used for my daughter in the index of a book I've written called Lord, it's boring in my prayer closet, how to revitalize your prayer life.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: These prayers are divided up into categories, and one category is prayers for our children.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: I love these prayers because they are all taken from Scripture.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is fill in your child's name.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that we are praying God's will when we use Scripture to pray.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a sample from that list.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, spread your protection over a blank.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: You put your child's name in Psalm five eleven.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Make blanks pass straight and may their feet not slip.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm seventeen five.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: May blank walk in integrity Psalm twenty six eleven.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Keep blank as the apple of your eye.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Hide blank in the shadow of your wings.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Psalm seventeen eight.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I will put a link in the notes to this podcast to download the full list which you can print out and pray for your child.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: As we close today's podcast, I'm going to pray a prayer over our children.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, you love our children with a love that is above and beyond even our love for them.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And you have a plan for each of our children, a plan to prosper them and give them a hope and a future.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: You knew and planned for them before they were even born, and you put them in our care to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to teach them your ways, to model a Christian life before them, to love and encourage and discipline them.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Help us to help them discover the gifts and talents that you have given them to serve you and others.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: We ask this in Jesus' name.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.