When do you pray for your children’s future? Do you have a disciplined regular time? Do you pray for them when they obey, are unselfish and kind?
I find I pray when they’re being bad and I’m wondering what the future may hold for them. 
I’m not disciplined about praying for my children like I should be, and I pray for them when I think about it. And some days they get more prayer than others!!
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When I was little, I listened with wonder and a little confusion over stories of grown-ups who prayed so often they wore down their wood floors next to their beds and built callouses on their knees. I admired all-night prayer meetings, but I didn’t understand how people could pray so long.
I felt wonder because I recognized that fervent prayer was a wonderful thing.
I felt confusion because I didn’t know what they prayed about. When I prayed for everything I knew, I might be done in a few minutes. I could stretch it out by repeating everything a few times, but then I’d worry that this practice was a vain repetition.
Looking back, I recognize that some of my confusion was that I had fewer words as a direct result of my age, not necessarily a lack of understanding. There is a sense that a Christian child’s spiritual maturing follows the limitations of his physical and mental development. Basically, I didn’t need to worry that God’s approval of my prayers was based on an imaginary standard of adult maturity. He delights in the prayers of His children, no matter how long or sophisticated they may be!
For example, this morning I watched my son practice texting with his dad. He’s learning to read, and was delighted to be communicating with his dad this way, but he didn’t know what to say. So he kept typing words he knew, like “race car,” and then giggling with pleasure that he had communicated with his dad. Of course, Lee was tickled by David’s joy, and he took great delight in thinking up simple questions that David could read and respond to. It was fun to watch them both.
As a child, I loved verses that told me what God delights in. This one always made me smile when I read it:
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight. Proverbs 15:8.
My brother Tom introduced me to this passage a few years ago:
Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24
We think the only way to boast in our wisdom is to be proud that we’re wise and spiritual, but a preoccupation of our lack of wisdom or spiritual maturity can distract us from glorying in God and His character. May we simply delight in a God who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness and forget about ourselves.
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At the beginning of the year, our pastor challenged our church to memorize the book of Philippians, one week at a time. That’s two verses a week, which most of the time I think I can manage, especially seeing as how many verses are so familiar.
This week I’ve been learning this:
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11
Hard not to pray it for everyone you know when you’re up early with sick children. It’s reminding me of how little I pray for my children, and that I need to do better. It’s not a big change, but God has helped me to pray for my children more as a result of this verse.
How is God’s Word changing you?
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Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children,
Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.
While we shouldn’t display empty ritual for the purpose of showing our children how spiritual we are, there is a sense where it is good and right to be transparent when God truly works in our lives. I think it is right to allow some of our normally private spiritual life to be public for this reason.
This feels awkward. Right after the Pharisee post, I prayed for breakfast with the children. After we say thank you for the food, I usually pray for them (obedience or kindness), to be a blessing to any particular people we will see that day, and then for me. I want my children to understand that talking to God isn’t simply a ritual prayer (God is great. God is good.)
Now, normally when I pray for myself, I pray in the affirmative, as in Help mommy to get her work done, to be diligent, give mommy wisdom in situation X, and so on. This morning, my heart had been stirred to repentance by God’s word, and my natural inclination was to thank God for this gift, but because I was praying out loud, I found it difficult to actually say, “Thank you for your gift of repentance for my selfishness.”
I found it interesting that I could easily (by practice) say, “Help me not to be lazy” but find difficulty saying, “Thank you for helping mommy to see she was wrong to be lazy”
There’s a lot I don’t know… how transparent should I be? How deliberate should my transparency be? should I have specific thoughts/ facets of spiritual life that I want to share with my children in response to their needs, or should it be completely spontaneous? perhaps if I’m aware of the needs of my children (lack of understanding that confession is a part of prayer), God will give me the opportunity to model it (and the grace to recognize the opportunity).
Guess I need more wisdom… and I know where that comes from.
That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;
Psalm 78:6-7
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Why do we pray for our food? I was reading the Lord’s prayer this morning and asked this question of my children. Here is what I told them:
We tell God thank you for our food because Jesus tells us to pray each day (“this day” “daily bread”) for our needs.
And I’m reminding myself that this is why I must pray each day for wisdom and strength to be the Christian, wife, mom that He wants me to be. Sometimes I forget to ask (evidence of too much self-reliance).
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(in light of the previous post) Today, several times we talked about God seeing everything. When I prayed for breakfast, I told God thank you that he could see us eating breakfast.
Later, as we were driving home from the grocery store, I asked David if God could see us in our van, and he said, “no.” I simply said He could. I need a verse!
I wonder if he has the ability to comprehend such an abstract truth. This three-year-old boy seems a long way from being able to comprehend salvation!
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After watching F-15s and F-117s flying overhead for awhile, David, Bethel, and I drove home. We told God thank you for sending us to New Mexico where we could see fighter jets every time we go grocery shopping (and often from our backyard).
Then I remembered Psalm 78– how parents are to tell their children about our wonderful God and His wonderful ways. So I took a moment to tell David that Mommy and Daddy didn’t ask to come to New Mexico. We wanted to go other places. But God knew what was best for us, even though we didn’t. He always does! He knew how much we would love it here (really, all of us!). The we talked about how King David tells us that we will be happy (blessed) if we trust in God’s goodness, and it reminded me that God will provide…. a church, a babysitter, friends for the kids, and all of our daily needs. How can Mommy worry about these things, when God has proven Himself to be allknowing and all-loving?
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Evening Observations:
Last night, Bethel wanted to pull her suitcase around, and I wanted to get her dressed for bed. She was very (overly) tired. She did not want to lie down and kept a death grip on the suitcase handle. When I pried her hands off, she screamed. Here is what I did: I sympathized with her (“It’s hard to stop what you are doing”), and just kept on changing her. I don’t want her to think that her crying has any effect on what I do in these cases. I didn’t say anything about anger (although it was anger) because she wasn’t really rational to hear it, I think. Once I was done, I carried her into the bedroom and she was fine (she goes to bed well, actually).
Morning Observations:
I don’t require the children to close their eyes when they pray. I’ve told them why we do it (it shows repect for God and helps us not to think of other things), but I’ve figured that they’ll close their eyes to pray as they mature. And they do. It’s fun to see them imitating the prayer habits of their parents.
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What do my children imitate in me?
expressions, verbal clutter, mannerisms, habits (good and bad), food tastes, and many other things I’m sure we could identify.
Today we went to the dry cleaners. I needed to get a suit of Lee’s cleaned for his graduation on Thursday (and inspection on Wednesday). We realized on Sunday that there were some spots on it, and since yesterday was a holiday, this was the earliest I could take it in. After checking out one cleaners who didn’t do same day or next day service, and knowing that the time was getting late (9:45am) I stopped the car, and as is my custom, I pray out loud that God would give Mommy wisdom to know what to do, and help finding a cleaners in time that would have next-day service. (actually, David hears me pray for wisdom a lot!)
When we pulled up to a store, I heard David in the back saying, “Thank you, God, for Mommy finding a cleaners to get Daddy’s suit cleaned.” Now I wasn’t ready to thank God yet, since I didn’t know if I could get the suit back, but my heart did a double flip in gratitude with the knowledge that my son was responding to our custom of thanking God (out loud) when he answers our prayers. And we thanked God together when we got back to the car without Daddy’s suit. Would David have offered thanks if I didn’t make a conscious (and awkward, to be honest) effort to pray out loud for these “silly” requests? I doubt it. I pray that God would give me more opportunities like this, and that I would recognize them when they come.
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Here it is:
“Help the mommy to see evidence that the child is about to poop.”
Today after catching David before an , inspecting a large specimen spin away, and later rejoicing in the two-candy award, I asked David, “It’s a lot more fun to poop in the toilet, isn’t it?”
My dear son replies, “No, it’s not.”
To which I stubbornly repeated, “It’s a lot more fun when we poop in the toilet,” and to my relief, David’s eyes get a little glassy, and he agrees with me. Child-conditioning at its finest. We may be successful yet. (Update: the candy reward has suddenly become of interest. We’ll see how long it lasts!)
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