Praying for Your Children

I have heard a few stories over the last week or so that opened my eyes again about how important it is to pray for our children and their futures. The stories are not about people I know. They came from Dateline or some other news show that I watch from time to time. These shows were about adult serial killers or kidnappers, adults whose lives went seriously wrong. In all the episodes, family members were interviewed about the "guilty" person's childhood. In all cases, these adults were great kids, involved in church, very intelligent, and well-liked. Mothers, fathers, older sisters, and brothers were shocked at the decisions that their relative had made, but could all point back to something that happened in the Jr. High or High School years. That something was the wrong group of friends.

One man was introduced to Satanism by "friends" in his early high school years, and even though the mother and older sister saw disturbing things and disturbing changes in his personality they didn't really take action to change the situation. They said he was just "dabbling" in it. One man was introduced to drugs in Jr. High by the wrong group of friends. One man got involved in a gang in his early life and based his poor decisions on their expectations.

A verse comes to mind as I think about these stories...1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals." That is so true!

It is so easy to look at criminals and just be disgusted, but they each started out as a sweet, innocent child with a world full of potential, just as my girls have today. These stories make me look at my children and just wonder about their futures, their friends, and their decisions.

I do not want to just wonder though, I want to turn this over to God in prayer. I pray for my girls daily, but usually my prayers focus on the here and now, issues we are dealing with, sickness, etc I always pray for their salvation, which is a future event, but hearing these stories reminded me that I need to be covering so much more in prayer. If I don't pray for them, who will?

Here are a few prayer requests that I will be adding to my prayer list and you might consider adding them to yours as well....

• that they will be caught when they sin
• that God will provide godly friends and protect them from the wrong ones
• that they will have obedient hearts
• that they will have godly teachers and positive mentors in their lives
• that they will truly love God and will not stray from His path
• that they will be some of the most godly girls in their circle of influence
• that God will provide a godly husband and protect them from the wrong one

I would love to hear some of the things that you are praying for your children in the comment section. It just might be something that I haven't thought about.

Prayer is such a powerful weapon. It is one that we have been given to fight the enemy of our souls. And we do have an enemy...an enemy whose sole purpose is to destroy us and to destroy our families. I plan on fighting back!

Until next time...

Oh, on a side note...Gene is going on a Mission trip to Nicaragua in March. The cost is around $1500 so if you are looking for some mission work to give to, we would love the financial support. You can message me if you are interested. We would also covet your prayers.