GUESTS
Praying the Scriptures for Your Children
By
The 700 Club
CBN.com - PRAYING THE SCRIPTURES FOR YOUR KIDS
The chief purpose in praying for our kids is to bring glory to God. “As parents, we all want to our kids to be blessed,” says Jodie. “We want them to have things like good friends or the college of their choice. When we realize that what we really want is to bring glory to God, praying for our kids frees us up to let God do just that.” When her children were younger, Jodie says that she felt her prayers were getting dull. “I began to look for new ways to pray,” she says. Then a friend suggested she use the Bible as a basis for prayer. “I looked for promises in the stories that I could borrow and turn into a prayer,” says Jodie. “My prayer life got more interesting and powerful.” She says when we pray words that originated with God, we can be sure they are truly lining up with His word.
Jodie says writing Praying the Scriptures for Your Teenagers was much more difficult from her earlier book, Praying the Scriptures for Your Children. For one thing, the issues that teens face are often far more serious than the things we pray about for our children: things like eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, and safety in the face of everything from self-injury to teenage driving. Many Christian parents have no problem believing that God will help their teen become a fine, upstanding adult, but they have a harder time mustering the faith it takes to get through a difficult weekend with their teen.
It is important for parents to pray the Scriptures for their teens because God's word is alive and active, and accomplishes His purposes in our kids' lives. When we use the words of the Bible as the basis for our prayers, we tap into God's power and align our desires for our kids with God's divine purposes for their lives. The end result, as evidenced by John 15:7-8, is that God gets glory and we/our children enjoy fruitful lives that are a million times better than anything we might have planned on our own! Jodie says, “If we could design a life for our children, it would pale in comparison to the plan God has for our kids.” Although three of her children are in their twenties, Jodie still keeps Praying Scriptures for Your Children by her bedside.
ALL CAN PRAY
“As a mother, I’ve always seen prayer as a natural part of the parenting process, and I have always prayed for my children,” Jodie says. For years her prayers ran along the “God bless Johnny” lines. She’d ask God for help but didn’t sense her prayers were having any impact. Then she got involved with the group Moms in Touch (she is now a cell leader), and learned how to pray the Scriptures over her children effectively. One interesting way is to insert your kids’ names in the appropriate places of scripture. Such as for Eph 4:32, “I pray that Hillary would be kind and compassionate toward others, forgiving others just as Christ God forgave them.” Jodie says not only are prayers like these more interesting and creative than the ones she used to come up with on her own, but, because they come straight out of the Bible, they carry the full weight and power of God’s word. Although they are grown, Jodie says her kids understand the power of prayer. She says they text her to pray about a situation they are facing. “They know about prayer firsthand,” says Jodie. “They know it works.”
Jodie has written her books to be used as a whole or in parts. Parents can go to a particular section to pray for a particular need. She’s also included prayer principles, and “Prayers that You can Use” at each chapter’s end.
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