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pray pray pray pray pray....
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Next to the wonder of seeing my Savior will be, I think, the wonder that I made so little use of the power of prayer. ~ D.L. Moody
The boys have been asleep for two hours now, and it's time for my husband and I turn turn off the lights and go to bed too. But before I do, there's something i simply can't forget. I need to pray, pray, pray...
When I was pregnant with my first born darling, my friend Flora gave me the wildly anointed book, "The Power of a Praying Parent." And thus began my journey of praying scripture over my Sons. A couple of years before, however, my friend Summer gave me a similar book when I was engaged to be married, "The Power of a Praying Wife," also by Stormie Omartian.
Within the first year of our marriage I had not only prayed my way through the the book, I also got to see drastic fruit after a number of the chapters. One day I turned "randomly" to the chapter on Anger and prayed for my sweet husband. That night he came home and said, "You know what I noticed today?... I've been getting really angry at people lately. Random people. And I don't know where it's coming from."
The following day I felt led to pray the chapter that focused on Pride on my husband's behalf. That night after work he came quietly into the house and sat down at the kitchen table while I finished making dinner at the stove. Matt's never one to enter a room quietly, so I was startled when I turned around and found him there. He looked heavy hearted and so I honored his silence and served up our plates. It was then that he broke the silence with these words: "I think it's Pride." I put our plates on the table and sat down beside him before calmly asking, "What's pride?" He said, "I think it's my pride causing me to get so angry over nothing at work, even on the road these days." I nodded.
I share this story to illustrate a point... there is power in prayer. As we pray for our little ones, we may not get to see such drastic results, but the power is there, unleashed. God is powerful and at work if we are partnering with him on behalf of those we love or not, but what a privilege it is to say yes to him in this way.
Each of our children have struggles and personalities and strongholds that are uniquely their own. We, as their mothers, are most privy to what those quirks, hindrances and stumbling blocks are. It is an awesome responsibility that we get to lift them up to our Heavenly Father in prayer - to their Heavenly Father in prayer.
Praying for Asher is an exercise in perseverance, for he is LOVING this stage of disobedience. My prayers for him these days often sound something like this, "Lord, Your Yord promises that when we honor our parents you bless us with a long and good life. Please Lord, remember your child Asher. Help him to long to honor us and in time come to honor You with that same fervor. Thank you Lord for Your help, and for being faithful to keep Your promises to Your people. Amen."
Then I sing him, "On top of Spaghetti."
And Caleb, for Caleb I pray for deep heart-knowledge. "Lord," I pray over my boy as I tuck him into bed, "You know this young man wants to follow after You. Please penetrate his heart with your Word and your Spirit so that Caleb will have more than a head knowledge, but a living, breathing faith that impacts the lives of others for your Glory."
Then I sing Caleb his blessing, "The Lord, Bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you; and give you peace, and give you peace, and give you peace forever."
Brody struggled for months with bedtime fears and night terrors. During that time I spoke Truth to him and pray Truth over him daily. "Dear Lord, you have told us that we are to think about things which are 'good, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy,' please help Brody know what things are true, that he might dwell on them. Help him to know what is not true, what is not lovely or admirable or excellent and turn away from lies. You made him so wonderfully, give him the faith to believe that you don't make junk! May the truth of Your love be with him and guide him all his life long! Amen."
After that we sang this little made-up ditty together, "I have good words, i have good hands, i have a good God, I am a good boy..." He repeats it with me a number of times. And then we sang these words to the tune of He's Got the whole world in His hands:
He's got Brody and his bed, in His hands
He's got Brody's sleepy-head, in his hands
He's got Brody's two brothers, both big and small
It's time for Brody to sleep, so he can grow tall.
And then I prayed Deuteronomy 31:6 aloud over him:
"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them,
for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you.
He will not fail you or forsake you."
It was sweet of the Lord to allow me to see His power at work in my husband's life, as I prayed for him 10 years ago... but it is the same God who is at work in the lives of my precious sons.
It's been over two months since Brody has cried at bedtime.
Purpose, my friends, to pray. Purpose to know the deep needs in the lives of your children and pray. Pray for their salvation and their protection. Pray for their safety and their health and their healing. Pray for their purity and their friendships. Purpose to not stop praying. Purpose to be diligent in partnering with our ever-gracious Lord, who loves to answer our cries for mercy and help.
Purpose to pray. Purpose to sing. Purpose to bless. Purpose to love.
Leave a comment below and be entered to win a copy of Stormie Omatian's book, "The Power of a Praying Parent."
Categories: Raising Boys
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14 Comments
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Tracey
7:15 AM on January 17, 2012
I love what you prayed over and with your son in regards to bedtime fears. I have a daughter who's had similar struggles and, while she and I have memorized verses regarding this, I don't think I have prayed with her in this area as I should have. Thanks for the encouragement and the reminder that our God answers prayer!
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Melissa Winter
2:46 PM on January 17, 2012
What a blessing for God to show you such powerful evidence of your prayers reaching His throne in heaven! Our God is faithful!
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Julie
5:45 PM on January 17, 2012
I love Stormie Omartian books! I own one of them...The Power of a Praying Wife.
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Kelli
11:31 PM on January 17, 2012
I love your challenge. Purpose to pray. Thank you for this, my friend.
I love how you pray so specifically for each child (and for your husband). I am moved to be intentional about praying this way for my family!
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Julie Katerberg
1:21 AM on January 18, 2012
i love your heart!! I definitely need to read this book and be more purposeful in praying over my children. I pray for them but not over them. Thank you for this reminder and push to doing this.
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Ashley
2:48 AM on January 18, 2012
Thank you for writing this!!! Prayer is powerful and I am so thankful that God allows us to talk with Him directly, at any time!!! Let's keep praying! Blessings, Ashley
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Jana
12:37 PM on January 18, 2012
I read Power of a Praying Wife and loved it...this makes me want to pull it out again. I'll be adding Power of a Praying Parent to my list of books to get when we are back in the States. I had forgotten that she had that one too!
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Devotion Mama
1:39 PM on January 18, 2012
It's funny how often we can forget that prayer has no power if we aren't doing it. I love that DL Moody quote! BTW I've been wondering if you're on twitter. I'd love to connect with you. If you are shoot me a tweet at @devotionmama 
Ben has been having a terrible time at night too. I never thought to pray over that. It seems so simple that I feel silly for not realizing that before. I will start praying today!
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Wendy
10:19 AM on January 19, 2012
Congratulations Tracey A and Jana H, your names were stuck together when we picked names so you are both getting a copy of The Power of a Praying Parent!
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Hari
12:41 PM on January 19, 2012
Thank you for sharing, I loved all individual prayers, I can't wait to share with my boys
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Jillian
2:22 PM on January 19, 2012
I am so encouraged by this message. My 7 year old is having nightmares and dealing with a lot of fear surrounding dark and bedtime. My prayers for him are fervent. I know God hears and comforts and brings hope. And I loved reading your prayers for Brody, knowing that God is faithful to all our children. Thank you.
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