“Now I lay me down to sleep…”
“Keep my children safe…”
“Please, God, protect my child from harm…”
“Don’t let him suffer, Lord.”
“Keep him healthy…”
“God is great, God is good…”
I can fully admit that as a mommy of little ones, I sometimes pray out of fear. Here’s a little peek into what you may hear as a fly on the wall in my “prayer closet” when I am praying out of fear:
“Oh, God, please don’t let Rylie go down that path of destruction.”
“God, please protect Caleb from the world as he goes on the school bus today.”
“God, please keep all four of my kids healthy and free from pain.”
It’s not that these prayers are “wrong” per se. But they aren’t bold. They aren’t fearless. They aren’t said with faith. They aren’t dangerous.
If it were up to me, I would keep my little ones wrapped in a thick layer of bubble wrap and kept from anyone who could harm them. But is that really protecting them or is it hindering them? With each child, I dedicated them to God in front of our church and promised to help rear them in a godly way. We got all dressed up. We got a cute children’s Bible from the children’s pastor. We got nice pictures and went to a nice lunch. Nice. But the biggest mistake us mommies make is taking for granted the seriousness of what a dedication REALLY is. It isn’t just a cute tradition. It is a serious commitment where we say, “Okay, God. I’m giving this little person to you and trusting that You will use me as an instrument in helping him find his way. But ultimately, he belongs to You.” Yikes. For a control freak like me, that is scary. Sometimes I think we use God like Siri and ask him to help us along the way when we think we need him instead of just trusting that He is fully in control. Then we get annoyed at God just like we do with Siri when we don’t get the answer we were looking for. Ugh. It’s tough.
Well, here are four things our prayers MUST BE in order to move into a new level of faith and trust for ourselves and for our kids:
1. Our prayers must be BOLD.
In Acts 4, Peter and John are let out of jail after being persecuted. When they get back to their village, they could have easily asked God for protection or even justice, and that would have been understandable. Instead, we read in Acts 4:29- Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. The word boldness here in Greek means cheerful courage. When was the last time you prayed a prayer of boldness over your children? God loves when we turn up the risk and pray for His perfect plan rather than our neat and comfortable plan. Stop being wimpy and acting as if our kids can’t be used as mighty instruments for His kingdom.
2. Our prayers must be OUT LOUD.
It is important that we pray in our quiet time with the Lord, but it is equally important that we pray aloud for our children to hear. Praying aloud can strengthen and encourage our children who are listening. In John 11, we read that Jesus thanks his Father for hearing him. He says, “I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” Our words are so important. If we pray out fear, our children will develop those same habits. One of the greatest lessons I have learned to model for my children is to pray for people as soon as I hear about a need. Instead of saying, “I’ll be praying for you,” I like to say, “Let’s pray for that right now.” This shows my children that it is not odd or awkward to pray for people in the moment. Have them pray for each other and for you, too.
3. Our prayers must be full of PRAISE and THANKSGIVING.
My pastor taught me that the Lord’s prayer is something we can really model our prayer life after. We should always begin our prayer time in praise. Thank Him for all that He has done. Thank Him even in the midst of hardship. Thank Him for his mercies. Thank Him for your children. Praise Him for your strong willed daughter 😉 Modeling this for our children can show that even when times are tough, we can still praise our loving Father. His mercies are new every morning! When we only pray when we need something, this sets up bad habits for our kids.
4. Our prayers must be EXPECTING.
When praying for a need, especially for healing, I have recently learned to pray with expectation and with authority. Don’t say, “God, if it is your will, then please heal her.” Of COURSE it is God’s will to heal. Pray with boldness. Speak healing over that sore back. In Jesus’ name pray boldly for healing in that loved one’s body. There wasn’t a single person that Jesus came across that he didn’t heal. Why would it be different today? Our faith is so conditional in America. The miracles and wonders are so scarce because we don’t expect it to happen. We need to change that. Imagine if we actually believed God could heal your friend who is blind or heal that family member of cancer. Well, why not? Start expecting Him to move!
My prayer for each person reading this is that they would sense an urgency in praying bold prayers with expectancy. May you speak boldness over your children’s lives. May you truly hand them over to God trusting that they will be world changers because of their trust in Jesus.
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