Mommy and the Joyful Three 12/21/10
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Do you plan to set aside more family time? Have a more organized home? How about just a clean car? All these could easily apply to any mom or dad. My own New Year’s resolution is simple; I intend to pray more.
As parents, prayer sometimes is the only help we can give our children. My own mother is a prayer warrior. She prays unceasingly, but she also has a special hour set aside every morning just to pray and spend time meditating in God’s presence.
She used to tell me that her prayers and faith were all that got her through my teenage years. Now that I am a mom, I completely understand.
Not too long ago, I read a story about a mom who prayed every morning for her son. She would send him off to school with his lunch and her prayers. She could have never known that those prayers would be his armor; he was in a car accident one afternoon after school.
She prayed as a precaution and God heard her. And her son was miraculously unharmed. This mom devoted every morning to prayer with no knowledge of what she was praying for or against; she only knew that she had to pray God‘s protection over her son.
We have no way of knowing what each day may bring, but we have an ability to work against all the trials and circumstances that will come our way with prayer. As parents, we can guard our children when they are with us and pray for extra protection when they are not.
A couple of things about prayer that we should all remember:
Pray with great confidence.
I love what 1 John 5:14-15 has to say about praying confidently.
Confidence and faith are key when you talk to God. When you pray for your children, you are showing that you know He is in control; you are putting your trust in Him and putting your children in His hands. Give them over to God with your prayers and let Him lead and protect them.
Prayer should not just be as needed.
Praying should be a constant in our lives as parents. It cannot be a Band-Aid to our problems; it should be our safety net already there for us before we fall.
Make prayer personal.
Praying is an intimate conversation with the Lord, when you bring him request, give him thanks, or sometimes just talk. He asks us to come as we are, so lay your feelings and anxieties before Him and allow God to be your comfort and your peace. He wants to be there for us. When you pray this way, it allows you to communicate your thoughts in a manner that draws you closer to God.
Pray with thanksgiving.
I have also learned from my own mother that we should be thankful before we even know the outcome. Mom would thank God for our good days at school before we left for school. She also thanked him for our safe arrival home before we even arrived. She did this to show her faith in the protection that God gives His people.
Make prayer a family affair.
Praying as a family is not only a great way to encourage each other and show you care, but it also teaches your children the importance of sharing their lives with God. Make prayer an important part of you and your spouse’s day and your children will learn this as well.
With all of the uncertainties in life there is one certainty we do have as parents, God hears us.
I wish you all a Happy New Year, full of many blessings and abundant prayer!
Be Parents That Pray
"All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." - Abraham Lincoln
What are your New Year’s resolutions? Do you plan to set aside more family time? Have a more organized home? How about just a clean car? All these could easily apply to any mom or dad. My own New Year’s resolution is simple; I intend to pray more.
As parents, prayer sometimes is the only help we can give our children. My own mother is a prayer warrior. She prays unceasingly, but she also has a special hour set aside every morning just to pray and spend time meditating in God’s presence.
She used to tell me that her prayers and faith were all that got her through my teenage years. Now that I am a mom, I completely understand.
Not too long ago, I read a story about a mom who prayed every morning for her son. She would send him off to school with his lunch and her prayers. She could have never known that those prayers would be his armor; he was in a car accident one afternoon after school.
She prayed as a precaution and God heard her. And her son was miraculously unharmed. This mom devoted every morning to prayer with no knowledge of what she was praying for or against; she only knew that she had to pray God‘s protection over her son.
We have no way of knowing what each day may bring, but we have an ability to work against all the trials and circumstances that will come our way with prayer. As parents, we can guard our children when they are with us and pray for extra protection when they are not.
A couple of things about prayer that we should all remember:
Pray with great confidence.
I love what 1 John 5:14-15 has to say about praying confidently.
This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him".
Confidence and faith are key when you talk to God. When you pray for your children, you are showing that you know He is in control; you are putting your trust in Him and putting your children in His hands. Give them over to God with your prayers and let Him lead and protect them.
Prayer should not just be as needed.
Praying should be a constant in our lives as parents. It cannot be a Band-Aid to our problems; it should be our safety net already there for us before we fall.
Make prayer personal.
Praying is an intimate conversation with the Lord, when you bring him request, give him thanks, or sometimes just talk. He asks us to come as we are, so lay your feelings and anxieties before Him and allow God to be your comfort and your peace. He wants to be there for us. When you pray this way, it allows you to communicate your thoughts in a manner that draws you closer to God.
Pray with thanksgiving.
I have also learned from my own mother that we should be thankful before we even know the outcome. Mom would thank God for our good days at school before we left for school. She also thanked him for our safe arrival home before we even arrived. She did this to show her faith in the protection that God gives His people.
Make prayer a family affair.
Praying as a family is not only a great way to encourage each other and show you care, but it also teaches your children the importance of sharing their lives with God. Make prayer an important part of you and your spouse’s day and your children will learn this as well.
With all of the uncertainties in life there is one certainty we do have as parents, God hears us.
I wish you all a Happy New Year, full of many blessings and abundant prayer!
About This Blogger
Erin James is a freelance writer, mother of three, and author of CBN.com's Mommy blog.