Like you, I have prayed for the health of my children. Like you, I have prayed for my children to excel in school. Like you, I have prayed that my children would do well in sports. Like you, I have petitioned the Lord for Christlike characteristics to be displayed in my children; attributes such as, patience with their siblings, obedience to myself and their mother, respect for their elders, teachers, and other authority figures in their lives. I have also, especially for my daughters, been praying for their spouses that they haven't even met yet. I have worn holes in my jeans asking that my children would be caring, that they would have servant hearts, and that they would display humility. All of these things I am certain you have spent time praying your own children to display.
I would contend, however, that as parents who genuinely want the best for their children we can at times ask for the wrong things, or perhaps a better way to say it is that we have elevated secondary things to first importance in our prayer lives.
Consider how Jesus prayed for Peter in Luke 22:31, 32, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."
There are a couple of very important things that jump out at me from this passage. First of all, Jesus was well aware that Peter would fail miserably and sin against Him in a very devastating and personal way. As parents we should fully anticipate that our children will also, sometimes rather consistently, fail miserably and sin against us in devastating and personal ways as well. There is a real probability that not only will our children refuse to acknowledge us, but even more painful they will also likely at some point in their live choose to deny their Creator and Savior Jesus Christ.
We should not necessarily take this as some commentary on our ability to parent. If Jesus' most personal disciples can deny Him and it not be a commentary on Jesus' ability to raise up others, neither should we take it as a commentary when our children choose to deny everything that we have brought them up to believe either.
The second thing that so clearly speaks to me from this passage in Luke is how Jesus prays for Peter, the one who He knew would deny Him and reject the faith. Jesus didn't pray for Peter's physical well being, but rather Jesus' main concern was for Peter's spiritual well being. Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would be restored.
All our prayers for our children that I mentioned in the first couple of paragraphs are all well and good, we should want health for our children. We should want them to excel in all that they endeavor. But, if our first prayer for our children is not that when the inevitable difficult times of their faith journey come about, that their faith would be restored we are missing the mark; we are praying for more tangible things and neglecting the most important things.
Parents let us not be neglectful in how we pray for our kids. Spend time praying for their faith to be strengthened. Even better yet, spend some time with your spouse praying for the faith of your children. And like Jesus, pray before hand for your children that when the difficult times in life come, that their faith would be restored and that because of the strength of their faith they would be an encouragement to others.
God bless you, and may God bless your children.
1 comment:
I would add, too, that parents should begin praying for their children's spouses while their children are still young. I can testify that in my case, the Lord honored those prayers and blessed my boys with daughters-in-law that are Christ-centered, deeply loved by their husbands, and adored by their parents-in-law.
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