“In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life,To turn one away from the snares of death.” (Proverbs 14:26 -27 nkjv).
Are you worrying about your Children? Or are you praying and trusting God with every care concerning your children? As parents we carry great burdens in our hearts for our children. They are constantly in our thoughts regardless of their age. But we must not become so concerned that we worry more and pray less.
Our children belong to God more than they belong to us. The first important thing to bear in mind is that your child is a blessing from God as it was ordained from the beginning (Genesis 1:28). And equally important, God knows the details of your child’s life before conception (Jeremiah 1:5).
As parents we may feel that our children exclusively belong to us because we are the ones providing for their physical needs and giving them emotional support. But the Bible repeatedly makes it clear that children are an inheritance, an investment from God (Ps 127:4-5: Ps 128:3). They are wonderfully created by God and sent to this world to fulfill a unique purpose in God’s plan. Therefore, we must learn to trust God with their lives. God knows them more than we know them and loves them more than we can ever love them.
Guidelines For Godly Parenting
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, God has made us righteous. Now God wants us to reign and rule in life through His righteousness. (Romans 5:1 and Romans 5:17). And the means by which we do this is having faith in the Word of God. The Bible tells us the Word of God is good for training in righteous living (2 Timothy 3:16-17). As parents we have been entrusted with the responsibility to train our children in the way of the Lord so that it can be well with them (Proverbs 22:6). When a child is taught to honor the law of God they will grow up strong and confident.
Even if our culture is hostile to Christian values the Word of God is always the same. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) No matter the culture or environment the Word is infallible. As believers we are not supposed to live in fear of the culture but we are to know the Word and stand on the truth. The Word has the creative power of God to produce in our children what the Word says.
The decline in religious upbringing and the ‘End-Time’ deception have made the young generation of today vulnerable to the enemy’s attack. But no matter how turbulent the times we live in, Jesus has personally promised to be with us always. “Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 AMP).
So, we are to hold on steadfastly to our faith. But it is the responsibility of an individual parent to lay this foundation in a child’s life so that when they experience challenges in life they will have personal experience of the reality of their faith and become confident in God for themselves. No one else can do a better job of teaching or modeling these values to your child to help them build their lives on the foundation of Christ. We must pray for our children but that does not mean we neglect the responsibility to train them in the way of the Lord.
Enforcing Spiritual Authority
When your child is not acting right don’t get discouraged or react in the flesh. Instead remind yourself of the promises of God in the Bible. As a parent, nobody has more influence over your child than yourself. God has given you the greatest influence in your child’s life. You have been given authority to overpower negative influences seeking to gain control and destroy them.
Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
‘Serpent and scorpion’ is a Biblical symbol for the power of satan. The Oxford dictionary describes ‘Authority’ as, “The power or right to give order, make decisions, and enforce obedience”.
As a practical illustration to understand the power of who we serve and the authority in the name of Jesus, take for example, a Police officer standing in the middle of a busy intersection directing traffic with hand signals. We all know that they do not have the physical power to stop the vehicles. The drivers behind the wheels obey the officer’s instructions because they recognize the power of the State Authority that backs the Police officer.
Similarly, to exercise Authority in the name of Jesus is to have the empowerment of Jesus. The power of Christ in a believer is greater than the power of the devil in this world. We don’t have to tolerate the enemy. The weapons we fight with are mighty in God to pull down the stronghold of the evil one over our children. (2 Corinthians 10:4).
How To Pray Effectively
If you are feeling overwhelmed or feeling inadequate to pray for your child. You are not alone. This is a common concern with parents. But God knows our weaknesses and He is willing to help us. God is never busy or tired of hearing from us no matter how little the concern. Prayer is simply talking to God about what we are concerned about and listening for God’s response. Prayer is a simple two way communication with God.
First, Start with the Word of God: The best place to start is to pray the Scriptural promises of God. The Word of God is quick and powerful. The Word is full of life and the creative force of God. (Hebrews 4:12). Basing your prayer on the Word of God is the most effective way to challenge and defeat the enemy. Everything God does starts with the Word. In the beginning God started with the Word. He created heaven and the earth with the Word. (Hebrews 11:3). Even Jesus, when tempted by the devil, uses the Word of God as His weapon against the evil one. Repeatedly Jesus says, ‘It is Written’(Mark 4:1-11).
There is no power, human wisdom or psychology that can compete with or challenge the Written Word of God. Every Scripture has God’s breath in it. (2 Timothy 3:16). Exercising faith in the Word is God’s means for establishing His purpose in our lives. When we pray the Scriptural promises, we are reminding God of the promises He has already made.
Meditating on The Word: Once you understand this, you must feed and meditate on the Word daily. The Bible tells of how we need to protect our heart (spiritual heart) from the troubles of this world. In John 14:1 Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” In this world there will be troubled times with the family and different situations but God does not want us to let worries and cares of this world enter our hearts.
We must keep our hearts protected from being taken over by the troubles of this world. The heart is the center of our lives and whatever our heart is full of will control us (Proverbs 4:23). We become what we think most (Proverbs 23:7). If you allow the cares and worries of life to fill your heart you will be troubled. You will become anxious, hopeless and depressed. But when you embrace the Word of God as the first and foremost, above all other things into your heart by praying and meditating on Scriptures your heart will be protected from fear, cares and anxiety. Psalm 112:7 AMP says, “He will not fear bad news; His heart is steadfast, trusting [confidently relying on and believing] in the LORD.” The Word of God will comfort your heart and give you hope that things will change for good.
Second, Believe and Focus on The Solution: When you pray the Word you have no doubt you are starting with the solution. The Bible says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, 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 the petitions that we have asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15). And Mark 11:24 says, “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them”. God has given us His Word as His will to live by. Therefore when you pray the Word of God you are praying the solution. Praying the Scriptures is effective because there is no doubt in your mind that you are praying the right way and that God hears your prayer because you are praying in the will of God.
Third, Expect Good News: After praying, expect God’s intervention in your situation. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”
God loves it when we pray His Word back to Him because it shows humility to God. It is a sign that we trust God. We are humbling ourselves before God in agreement with His will to be done in our lives. The Bible tells us that God resists the proud but He lifts up the humble. “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:6-7).
Lifelong Commitment of Learning
Parenting is a journey of lifetime commitment of learning and overcoming. And the Lord is able to supply the strength if we refuse to give up. Obstacles are part of life and they are meant to be overcome. The people who ever succeed in life are those who refuse to give up until the game is over. In conclusion don’t stress yourself out trying to do it all by yourself. You can take comfort in the fact that God is for you and not against you. The Holy Spirit wants to help you with praying and the responsibility of parenting.
But perhaps, you are convinced you have left undone which ought to have been done. This is a true scenario with so many of us. You can trust that you are not alone. We all struggle with shortcomings. There are no perfect parents because there are no perfect humans. As a parent who has raised adult children there are things I wish I did differently if I knew what I know today about parenting. But what comforts me and perhaps has helped me the most in my struggles with parenting is that God expects us to do the best with what we know at the time or do what we have the ability to do under the circumstances and trust God with the rest.
Forgetting the Past And Reaching Forward
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9).
If you feel convicted about the past confess the fault to God and humbly receive forgiveness. You cannot undo past mistakes by carrying the weight of guilt about. The sad truth is that, we all carry baggage from the past without realizing we do and then we bring this into parenting. Unintentionally we can pass on this bondage unto our children in the form of fear, anger, bitterness, guilt, condemnation and insecurity.
You cannot set yourself free; only God can break this cycle in your life and set you free. God does not want you to carry any burden of the past. He wants you to give it to Him so that you can move forward into what God has for you. We must always learn to shift the focus away from our circumstances and fix it on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). If not, these things will hinder your future and can become a seed in your child’s life that can give access to the enemy to bring your child into the same bondage.
Pray and ask God to set you free from the pain of the past to live in the liberty of Christ. Pray and ask God to bring healing to the root of the problem and break the cycle or this pattern of spiritual bondage over you and in your child’s life.
The important thing about parenting is to understand that transitions and changes are part of the Journey. Parenting is a lifetime of learning. It is a life journey where one has to constantly reflect and make a point to correct where we missed it and get back on the right track as quickly as possible. God is able to heal and restore when we trust Him.
There is nothing entrusted to God that does not work out well. God can work good out of bad circumstances in your child’s life as His Word declares, “Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth (Jeremiah 30:17). Amen.
There is also a 30 Days Prayer Guide provided for praying for your children. Insert your child’s name in the blank space to personalize prayer. I hope you find this resource helpful. Please feel free to download your FREE copy here.