Praying for Children, Part 1

Since our family has been struggling with health issues including Carly's hospitalization last week, neither Larry nor I have been able to post here. Nothing too serious and she's on the mend. It has been, however, a time for a lot of prayer and reminders of the value of praying friends. In Carly's Care Page today I wrote:

"...the prayers of compassionate, genuine, tenacious friends availeth much and preach deeply into our hearts of God's love, power and mercy towards us."

The Christmas after Carly was born, I gave Larry the book "Praying the Bible for Your Children" because I had also been appreciating David and Heather Kopp's "Praying the Bible for Your Marriage." Both have been updated and reprinted since then and I'm very thankful because I believe them to be important prayer tools. Valued resources in our own library, I got to thinking I will quote a series of prayers for the next several days as a way to give us some time to regroup as a family while continuing to keep us all on our knees for the children in our lives and the marriages we hold together before the Lord.

Speak, Lord — I'm Listening...

Based on 1 Samuel 1:3-8-10

O Lord God,

Please call my children to You by name as You called Samuel and as You have called me (Isa. 43:1). Thank You that You promise to knock patiently on the door of each heart in this family (Rev. 3:20). Thank You that You pursue us (Ps. 139:5)! You did it for me—do the same for each of my children.

Yes, pursue them, Lord. Keep calling them—as You did with Samuel—until each child has said, "Yes, Lord. I'm listening."

Your promise of salvation is for children of all ages—in fact, for everyone who answers Your call (Acts 2:39; Rom. 10:13). Thank You for Your promise that as my children hear You and believe in You, they will pass from death to life (John 5:24)!

May I be like Eli, who encouraged Samuel to say yes to You. May I never hinder my children from responding to You (Mark 10:14). May I never say, "Not now, honey." Or, "You're too young."

And far beyond the first "Yes, Lord!" may my children listen carefully to Your voice and answer quickly as long as they live.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

From "Praying the Bible for Your Children" by David & Heather Kopp.

Coming up tomorrow..."Sweeter Than Honey" and a prayer from Psalm 19.

Let's Wave Our Swords!

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. JOSHUA 1:8

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. HEBREWS 4:12

I started 2011 on an unexpected reading adventure. Perhaps knowing how this process is blessing me will also inspire you in some way. As I share my own experience, please consider adding your voice to the discussion. Larry and I want this blogging experience to be an interactive discussion for the purposes of spurring one another on while also bringing glory to God our Father.

Somewhere around the first of January I made the spontaneous decision to read the entire Bible in 90 days. Since I’m a bit of a realist, I have never seriously considered attempting this before. My decision was made, in part, out of anger — anger with the enemy. I’ve been desperate for progress with Carly’s challenges lately and am trusting that my “waving of the sword” will incline the Lord to respond powerfully, decisively and mercifully. Since Carly’s nights have been extraordinarily challenging, I have also had ample opportunity to lay beside her for hours on end in the quiet glow of my iPod reading from an “app” that guides and tracks my daily readings. Sometimes we both even listen to lullabies based on scripture from a CD my sister gave her for Christmas. I could practically be an Apple commercial cuddled there multi-tasking like that from my iTouch!

I’m finding this an exciting journey! Right there in the middle of the night — in the middle of a dark room and sometimes very dark circumstances — I can email myself verses that are enlightening, challenging or comforting. During the day, I’ve been compiling these verses into a list that will be like a “pillar of fire” to continue guiding and strengthening me for each twist and turn. This will be something I’m going to remember for years to come.

Do you find yourself grappling to understand God’s leading in some area of your life?

What strategies do you use most often when trying to figure out the way to God’s will and satisfying living? Though we can be tempted to lean on family, friends, a self-help book, a long walk or lakeside sunset for enlightenment, God assures there is great reward in saturating ourselves in His Word.

If you haven’t already considered it, know that from the Bible you will hear God’s voice more clearly and better recognize His promptings. Consider beginning and/or ending every day feasting on His Word. Maybe a 90-Day Reading Plan isn’t something you can tackle right now but how about a Psalm-a-Day plan or reading the book of John?

Tell Us! — In what ways is God watering your life with his Words lately?

ISAIAH 55:10-13

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.”

Let Grace Break Through!

I’ve been looking back on some notes on marriage lately. There are so many couples, particularly those in Christian leadership, who are facing serious battles because the enemy is working hard to strike strategically. We must stand firm, folks! We must band together in prayer, encouragement, and even exhortation with one another.

In his book, “This Momentary Marriage,” John Piper wrote something that I think is absolutely critical for us to grasp:

“…the main meaning of marriage is to display the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church. In other words, marriage was designed by God, most deeply and most importantly, to be a parable or a drama of the way Christ loves his church and the way he calls the church to love him.”

Due to sleep deprivation at our house, grace has sometimes been more difficult for Larry and I to extend towards each other lately. I certainly resonate with Pastor Piper’s description that marriage is a DRAMA!

Piper cautions us against becoming so familiar with a passage like Ephesians 5:23-25 that we fail to see how amazing it is!

Look at Ephesians 5:23-25:

The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

And now look at how Piper expounds upon it:

“What is the most important meaning of marriage? It is found in the words: “as Christ…as the church…as Christ.” The ultimate meaning of marriage is not in marriage itself. It is not in the husband and not the wife and not the offspring. The ultimate meaning of marriage is in “as Christ,” “as the church,” “as Christ.” Marriage is a magnificent thing because it is modeled on something magnificent and points to something magnificent. And the love that binds this man and woman in marriage is a magnificent love because it portrays something magnificent…The greatness of marriage is not in itself. The greatness of marriage is that it diplays something unspeakably great, namely, Christ and the church.”

There are some reading this now who will say, “but my spouse has treated me so poorly, even abusively, that it is time for the end of anyone’s reasonable extension of grace.” To this I must remind us all that God’s love is rarely REASONABLE and that the whole point of grace is that it is UNDESERVED! What was that Jesus said, “…seventy TIMES seven…?”

This is not to say that we throw away healthy boundaries or completely ignore sin. It is simply to challenge those who are hurting to reconsider that the ugly drama unfolding in your marriage is portraying the same kind of ugly drama that unfolded when Christ was crucified. Our battle isn’t against our spouse. It’s against SIN. Mankind sinned — over and over again, in fact — and yet Jesus surrendered Himself so that we might live. He loved us FIRST — BEFORE we loved Him.

When we do battle on behalf of our marriages, it’s about so much more than preserving a family unit or making some heroic comeback. It’s about fighting a magnificent battle to display the greatest picture available of what Christ’s love for His church looks like. It is EVIDENCE to a hurting and torn-up world that Christ’s love BREAKS THROUGH and ALWAYS WINS.

I will even be bold enough to say, we all need to go have some intimacy with our spouses tonight if for no other reason than to claim one of Christ’s most powerful tools in our arsenal for strong marriage. And that kind of WARFARE is the battle at its most gorgeous!

Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.