Praying for Your Children (Part 4)

By now, if you have been reading my blogs regarding how I pray for my family each day, you've noticed it represents a philosophy of parenting as much as a simple prayer list. In fact, it's a philosophy of living! That's why, when I finish praying these requests for my children and grandchildren, I often pray them for Sue and me. Thus far, we have prayed for our family to:

F = Be faithful and fruitful

A = Be active in sharing their faith, and anointed as they do

M = Be morally pure and have mates that are godly

The “I” in the acronym of F.A.M.I.L.Y. touches on two of the most difficult areas of parenting. I pray each day that the Lord would insulate my children (not isolate them) from the world, the flesh, and the devil; and that they would have integrity of heart (1 Kings 9:4; Psa. 78:72). Insulation without isolation has been the battle of the ages when it comes to raising children. But the invasion of the world and spirit of this age, via the modern forms of communication, have almost eliminated gatekeeping; even parental protection is nearly impossible. No longer can we shield our kids from exposure to the world; but we can shield the heart from appetites for worldliness through prayer, while modeling a genuine disinterest in entertainment, material things, and fads of all kinds. Combating the flesh is clearly a work of the Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit and [you will] not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). How many of us train our children how to walk in the Spirit? To the contrary, are we exemplifying what it means to walk in the flesh? What about the devil? Our children would tell anyone that every night we would always include one request in our nightly prayer time. Simply, “Lord, would You put a hedge of protection from the evil one around our family? Would You bind the enemy in the power of Your name, Lord Jesus, and Your blood?” A funny thing happened one night when we were praying for a hedge of protection around our family. I was very tired and I fell asleep praying with my family. As I faded, I was trying to be faithful in this focus. I was awakened by laughter. When I asked what was so funny, they asked if I knew I had just prayed for a wall of hydrogen around our house! We laughed, but to this day, they will never forget how committed we were to praying for God’s protection from the evil one. Finally, we were always concerned that integrity would not be measured based on external assessment or what others perceived, but that it would be our own heart . . . what we know to be true before the Lord, not what others know to be true about us. A “good name” before God was far more important than a “good name” before others.

Comments