Praying for our students through the year - day 16 (P) Perseverance

Today pray for your child to have perseverance - doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. It is pressing on even when it is hard or when others oppose you. As our world drifts further into sin, Christians must have perseverance. Pray for your child to learn to never give up, no matter what obstacles they face; even if they are persecuted for their believe in Christ. As believers, we have power and strength from the Holy Spirit; during hard times He will help us press on. We need to pray for perseverance, for understanding of God's Word, and to not be led away by false teachers or temptations that try to pull us away from our faith. Pray your child will stand for what they believe and stay strong when persecuted. Pray they will boldly witness to others and share their faith. Pray they will lean on the strength of the Holy Spirit when tempted or persecuted and be open enough to come talk to you, as their parents, about their problems.  Pray they will persevere in this dark world around them and realize this is just their temporary home. 

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:1-5 NKJV

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

Praying for our students through the year - day 15 (O) Obedient

Today pray for your child to be obedient. Being obedient is being submissive to authority; yielding to commands, performing what is required, or abstaining from what is forbidden. 

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV

Obedience is commanded by God. Disobedience is a sin because it disregards the standards set by our Holy God. Anything less than FULL and COMPLETE obedience is a sin. Pray that your children will learn to not only listen, but to obey. James tells us in 1:22 to be doers of the word, not only hearers. As parents, we need to require obedience out of our children. This is not only a way for our children to show respect to parents, those in authority, to elders, and others, but also a command. Our love for Christ should be a great motivator for us to be obedient. Christ was obedient even unto death (Philippians 2:8). Pray your child will be diligent in following instructions: the instructions of their teachers, parents, those in authority, and most of all Christ. Pray your children will see an example of you passionately obeying and following God. Pray that your example will passionately inspire them to seek His Will and direction for their lives wholeheartedly. Pray your children will not do the right thing just because they have to, but because they truly desire to please God. Pray they will hide God's Word in their hearts so they will know what Truth is and what to believe and obey. Pray they will be taught Truth in all things and not lured away by this world. Pray they will obey the 1st time and not suffer the consequences of a life on detour because of disobedience. We do not want our child to be like Jonah and run the other way when God calls them to a difficult task, so teach them while they are young to be obedient in all things. 

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. 

Colossians 3:20

"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." Deuteronomy 6:6-8

Praying for our students through the year - day 14 (N) Neighbors

Today pray that your child will learn to understand who their biblical neighbors are. Pray they will understand their neighbors are everyone around them, including their enemies. Pray they will learn how to respect and treat others in a manner pleasing to the Lord. Pray they will learn to develop a self-sacrificing love. Pray they will learn to help others in need. The parable of the Good Samaritan is a great example of loving your neighbor in Luke 10:25-37. Pray your child will grow in a deeper understanding of Christ so that they may see and understand the greatest example of loving others. May we all be guilty of offering others help, comforting others, binding others wounds, visiting or caring for the sick and frail, and loving others with Christ-like love. 

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 

Mark 12:31 ESV

Praying for our students through the year - day 13 (M) Maturity

Will you join me in praying for maturity today?

1 Corinthians 14:20 says "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking...but in your thinking be mature."

Christian Maturity is something that develops with time. It is a process that begins when a person accepts Jesus as their Savior. The Apostle Paul said that spiritual growth is an ongoing process in Philippians 3:12-14 "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In order for Christian maturity to develop in our life, we must make a choice to read and meditate on God's Word, allow God to renew our mind, and then be obedient to what we learn.

Romans 12:1-2 says, "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

As we mature, we should learn to walk obediently with God. Maturity is making a choice to live by God’s ways instead of the world’s ways. Pray your student will develop christian maturity in their life. We should never stop growing; we need to keep learning and growing in our faith until the day the Lord calls us home.  Progressive sanctification is what gradually separates Christ's followers from the world and makes us more and more like Him. Pray this maturity will happen in your child's life.  Pray they will break free from the power and love of sin. Pray that your child will step by step, day by day, intentionally choose the right path. It won’t always be easy, so encourage them. They will have growing pains, but reaching maturity is worth the battle. Pray you will see evidence of their maturity by seeing them apply God's Word in everyday circumstances in their life. Pray your student does not stay in the same place in their relationship with God as where they were when they first got saved. If your child hasn't come to realize they need a personal relationship with Christ and that He is our Redeemer and Savior, pray they will mature to understand this soon. Pray your child will fall in love with God’s Word and want to read, meditate, and memorize it so that they can apply it to their life. Pray your child will put away childish behavior and mature into the person God has called them to be. Pray they will never stop growing!

Maturity Growth Markers: 

We will always have room for improvement, but the more time you spend studying God’s Word, the more you will want to do it. So let me ask you some maturity/spiritual growth questions. 

1. Is reading your Bible a “want to” or a “have to” decision? Do you enjoy God's Word?
2. How often do you pray? Do you enjoy talking to your Heavenly Father?
3. Do you ever read your Bible besides when studying for Sunday School or church? 
4. Do you study your Sunday School lesson? 
5. Do you pay attention in church and try to learn or are you busy on your phone, clipping your fingernails, or sleeping? Do you try to find jobs to serve instead of having to sit in service and be fed?
6. Do you have a desire to serve God and help others grow and deepen their understanding?

Take time to honestly evaluate your Christian Maturity.  Are you still milk fed like a baby or are your growing? Spiritual maturity should be a priority for us. 

"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil" (Hebrews 5:13-14). 

As a believer, we are not to always be milk-fed. Instead, we are called to grow and chew on the "meat" of God's Word. 

Praying for our students through the year - day 12 (L) Listening

Let us pray for listening ears today. We have 2 ears and one mouth for a reason...mine just tends to be a loud mouth sometimes! Do we listen twice as much as we speak? James wrote to us in the New Testament we should be quick to hear and slow to speak, but in a me first world this can be a difficult thing to teach our children. Sadly many of us are quick to do right the opposite of what James teaches--we are quick to speak and slow to hear. We stop listening so that we can start thinking about what we are going to say next to win the argument or just to keep the conversation going. When our babies are born we treat them as if the whole universe revolves around them and they are the absolute center of our attention; later only to have to teach them it doesn't. We need to pray our children learn to listen to God's Word 1st and foremost. We need to pray they learn to listen respectfully to others as a way to show Christ-like love. We need to pray they learn to listen to their teachers and others in authority over them. God hears our prayers...HE listens to us...if God does that for us, we should do the same for others. (See 1 Peter 3:12) A sympathetic ear may be just what a brother or sister, friend, neighbor, or even stranger is needing and we may be in that conversation for such a time as this. "Hearing" is not always listening...I have been guilty of saying yes or no to my kids when they were little when I was distracted with chores later to think 'what did they just ask me?', 'what did I just give an answer to?'. Have you ever left being with someone and tried to remember what the conversation was about, or when multiple people are waiting to talk to you and you can't remember all the questions you answered?...if not, maybe that's just me and my distracted listening skills...The point is we can HEAR and not really LISTEN! Our kids are the same way. We need to pray for them to develop good listening skills. Depending on the situation, taking notes helps tremendously with my listening skills and keeps me from being distracted by my surroundings. If we never stop talking an learn to be a good listener we may miss the most important Still Small Voice one day. 1 Kings 19:11-13

Here are some tips to improve listening - pray for your children (or you, or me!) to improve in these areas:

1. Pray for the ability to truly listen instead of using the time the other person is speaking to form your next thoughts.
2. Pray for the ability to not interrupt the other person, learn to let others finish their sentences. 
3. Help your children learn good visual listening cues that shows they are active listeners (ie. nodding their heads yes or no).

"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." Proverbs 12:15

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak" James 1:19a

Praying for our students through the year - day 11 (K) Knowledge

Today we are praying for our students to gain knowledge. Knowledge can be defined as the fact or state of knowing; the perception of fact or truth. To “know” something is to perceive it or to be aware of it. A well-informed and knowledgeable Christian possesses character and morals that have Godly influence. Such a person is always ready for action in the army of the Lord. While knowledge of the Lord (Biblical knowledge or wisdom) is the most important knowledge we can possess, learning is also important. Pray for your child to have a teachable spirit this school year. Pray they will listen and submit to their teacher's, coach's or manager's instructions this year so that they can grow in knowledge no matter how intelligent they think they already are. We should never stop learning. Pray your child will be aware of not only God's existence but also learn to have a deep appreciation for Him and desire a relationship with Him. Pray your child will have a desire to pay attention and learn at school, college or work each day as they study or train so that they can become all God has called them to be. We know from Proverbs 2:6 that the Lord gives wisdom and out of His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. We must seek it diligently and help our children learn to do the same. Wisdom and knowledge are something to be sought after. I am a nerd, through and through, I love to read and learn, but we must not get so caught up with learning that we do not put into action the knowledge we have gained. In Robby Gallaty's book Bearing Fruit  he states:

"Friends, we need to be careful that we are not so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good, as the old saying goes." Many don't need another Bible study guide to teach them theological truth; you need to invest the Bible you've studied into the lives of others around us. It is for this very reason discipleship is essential for spiritual growth."

Pray you and your child will be given the opportunities each day to use their Biblical knowledge and book knowledge to glorify God someway, somehow.  How can you help another grow? James tells us that if we lack wisdom and ask God will give it abundantly...have you asked? Proverbs 1 tells us about the beginning of knowledge. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." (vs.7)  Fear does not mean to be scared of God but to have respect for Him, His Word, His Will, His Way, His Authority - to worship and praise Him. God has infinite and absolute knowledge! Our knowledge will be flawed compared to His but we should still seek to obtain it...don't settle for mediocre and doing less than your best when God sent His Very Best One and Only Son for us! We should never seek knowledge for our own vainglory, but use it to bring about maturity in our lives so that we may better serve and glorify God.

"5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:5-8

"and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jon 8:32

Praying for our students through the year - day 10 (J) Joyfulness

Joyfulness is our prayer for the day! Joy is great delight caused by God. Our Father God provides exceptionally good and satisfying pleasure or delight regardless of our situation. Can you say that you truly have JOY down in your heart? Joy is not the same as happiness; which is based on our emotions and changes with our feelings and situations. Happiness is affected by the the world around us. Joy is within, from us abiding in Christ alone. Too often the worries of this world can turn our smiles upside down into frowns. We let today's stresses rob us of our joy. My 17 year old told me last night how life was so much easier as a child...he is still a kid in my eyes! Anyway, when he was young, the stress of the day all went away after a good night's sleep - the problems from the day before vanished. He said now, we just get a slight reprieve from them once we manage to fall asleep, then they are all still there the next morning. This makes my heart hurt that we can't take away the stresses that our children face, but we can model how to be Godly adults and deal with the stress of life. We will always have job/school demands, busy (or over-busy) schedules, chores, bills, deadlines, the list can go on...however we do NOT have to let these steal our JOY!  Teach them while you have them at home how to manage stress and not let the weight of this world rob them of their joyfulness. Pray Satan will not steal their joy by filling your child's mind with self-doubt, fear, anxiety, the need to fit in, or any other negativity. Pray they will learn true JOY comes from the LORD and is ever-present regardless of situations. Remind them of what  2 Samuel 22:2-4 says - the Lord is our rock, fortress, and deliverer; where we take refuge - we have a our Savior, worthy to be praised! If He can deliver us and provide us refuge and salvation that gives us enough reason to have JOY! Even with trials we can still have JOY! Look at Paul and Silas...is our joy contagious?  Pray it will be! Look at Acts 16:25-34 in verse 34 the jailers entire household rejoiced and believed after Paul and Silas prayed, worshiped, and witnessed. Wow, what an example for how we should joyfully live!

Pray that your family's faith will be seen as genuine and joyful; that it will portray the great love God has for us.  Let our lives reflect His love---He sent His one and only Son to die for us so that we could have a relationship with Him and be forgiven for our sins...this should let our JOY always SHINE no matter what is happening around us!

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

Philippians 4:4-7

Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. Psalm 35:9

Joy in Action

"Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning."

Psalm 30:5b

Josh Wilson sings it best in "Before the Morning": “My friend, you know how this all ends and you know where you're going, you just don't know how you get there so just say a prayer and hold on, cause there's good who love God, life is not a snapshot, it might take a little time, but you'll see the bigger picture. Would dare you, would you dare, to believe, that you still have a reason to sing, 'cause the pain you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming. So hold on, you got to wait for the light, press on, just fight the good fight because the pain you've been feeling, it's just the dark before the morning."