John 17:1-26
Pastor Mike Sanders
Someone once said, “There is nothing more you can do until you have first prayed.”
How true that is when it comes to raising our children in the 21st Century. Let me give you some practical suggestions on How to pray for our children & grandchildren.
Pray that they will share in His life. Vs. 1-5
To share in His life means that they would receive eternal life. Nothing is more important for our children than to obtain eternal life through Jesus Christ.
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15 KJV Our prayer is that our children will demonstrate humbleness and repentance as they receive Christ as Lord and Savior.
Pray that they will be sheltered by His name. Vs. 6-12
The name of Christ is a name with authority. Christ has authority over ever principality and power. We must pray that Christ would protect our children from the evil in this world through His power, presence, and provisions.
Pray that they will be shielded by His Word. Vs. 13-19
The word “sanctify”, like the word “holy” comes from a Hebrew root meaning “separate”. How does God’s word sanctify us? By filling us with the joy of the Lord and strengthening us to stand strong against evil.
An old deacon used to pray every Wednesday night at prayer meeting for his wrongdoing and concluded his prayer the same way: “And, Lord, clean all the cobwebs out of my life the things that are gathered there that ought not to have been there. O Lord, clean all the cobwebs out of my life.” It was too much for one fellow in the prayer meeting after hearing the deacon one too often; so when the old deacon said the same prayer the next time, the fellow jumped to his feet and shouted: “Lord, Lord, don’t clean the cobwebs. Kill the spider, kill the spider.”
We are called to be set apart for God’s purpose and plan for our lives. We are supposed to be “set apart” in our behavior but “sent out” into our relationships.
General Douglas MacArthur prayed for His son this way: “Lead him; I pray thee not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Build me a son Lord whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high. Give Him humility so that he may always remember the simplicity of greatness, the opening of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.”
Pray that they will be shaped by His Example Vs. 20-26
- United with other believers
- A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God asks “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”
- Obtain maturity through unity
- Proclaim God’s love through unity
“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;” Philippians 1:9 KJV
In a Peanuts cartoon Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels, threatening him with her fist if he did not. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy, “Individually they’re nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “Which channel do you want?” asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
Prayer is the first and final step in the process of developing our children.
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