Lately I've been reading about praying scripture intentionally over your children & how it can bring fresh perspective & power along with it. My hope in sharing is that it encourages your soul as much as it has mine ...
Jesus has promised that every prayer of a God-seeking person would be answered. "Everyone who asks receives." [Matt. 7:8] So, how good to know that when we as parents pray for our children, that we can be certain our petitions are always received & responded to! The Bible is a ready-made prayer book, so whenever we speak to God with the words of God, we move closer to the type of vital, effective prayer life we long for. And my heart longs for this ... !
With children who need to be prayed over daily ... sometimes hourly, it's vital for me to speak God's word when I lift them in prayer. My mediocre prayers just don't cut it for my children who I so passionately love! Praying the actual Word of God has helped me pray with confidence & expectancy.
It's me moving away from the "Lord, keep Noah safe today" prayer to the "Lord, You've promised to content fiercely with every circumstance for Noah's life [Isa. 49:25-26]. You have commanded Your angels to guard him [Ps 91:11]. Be Noah's champion today, as you've promised [Isa. 43:5-7]."
YES. YES. YES.
We don't pray to accomplish our parental goals; we pray to grow in wisdom, to recover ... & we pray to give thanks. We pray to stand in the gap & plead before God on behalf of our children - they NEED us to do so! Our concerns can make us so focused on getting God's help with our parenting tasks that we overlook the fact that He has also asked for our help. He has invited us to make a difference! Listen, I can not tell you how encouraged & blessed I have been by the book "Praying the Bible for Your Children" [Kopp] ... I highly recommend it.
Kopp states, "being a parent makes praying feel as necessary as breathing." YES.
My hope is that my prayer life, along with yours, will become our own heart-felt expressions & encourage us as moms to go deeper in the most important conversations of our lives!
This post along with what you posted on Instagram is so encouraging to me. Encourages me to get into God's Word more, to pray more intentionally over my son and even my husband. We are called to ministry in our home first and foremost, what a blessing that is. Thank you for encouraging us this morning and always.
ReplyDeleteHi Jess,
DeleteI truly appreciate you taking time to share that with me! You are absolutely right about praying intentionally over your husband too.
So glad you're enjoying following our posts ... it blesses us!
Vanessa
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oh this is SO good. Amen
ReplyDeleteYES!
DeleteVanessa
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What a great reminder to actually use the Word to pray. I too often pray "Lord please protect Braden & Ethan" and I need to be more specific. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes, I had been feeling the same way! Definitely check out the book I referenced ... I think you would be encouraged by it.
DeleteThanks for sharing with me!
Vanessa
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I've been listening to the gals who wrote Give Them Grace on Youtube... and your post ties in with them so beautifully! it's all about prayer and grace and love... ohhh what a journey we are on! your words are so encouraging! xoxoxox
ReplyDeleteYES! thank you for sharing that with me ... I'll check that out!
DeleteVanessa
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I work for the publisher, so I'll admit that right up front. But I enjoyed your post and also recommend a great book called "65 Promises from God for Your Child" by Mike Shreve. Each of the 65 topical entries gives you a promise from scripture, expands on it with a few paragraphs of teaching, and then gives you a prayer to pray based on that biblical promise for your child. Here's a link to the book on Amazon: http://amzn.com/1616389605
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie ... thank you for sharing that ... I would LOVE to read it!
DeleteVanessa
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