Skip to content How to Properly Pray (For Your Children) - Fighting for the Children, Part 4 Aug 24 · 50 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 You are listening to Waters Church podcast. Waters Church is a multisite, multigeneration community of faith on the East Coast of America. Now for a message from our pastor.0:13 So let's get into this message as we continue, and it's all to tie it together that it's not just words. We want to fight for the what?0:25 Children. We're gonna fight for the children. So take out your notes. Here's the title of the message, how to properly pray for your children. Now some of you might say, don't have any0:37 children. Don't worry. We want you to learn how to not just properly pray for your children, but we want you to learn how to properly pray for yourself. Amen? Amen.0:49 Because the enemy wants to attack you as well. So if you say, well, I don't really have children and, this doesn't apply to me or my children are grown. First off, when your children are grown, don't stop you don't stop1:00 praying for them. In fact, I would suggest that you pray for them a little harder. Amen, somebody. Because this old, older adults, they get a little bit more, advanced in their rebellion tendencies. But nonetheless,1:13 we want to be praying for them. But here's the deal, we need to properly pray. We need to properly pray. Some of you don't know how to pray. We're gonna teach you how to pray today. And I believe that if you can apply1:23 this to praying for your children or yourself or someone else's children, maybe you maybe you know somebody who's got 1 of those children. And you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? Pray for them.1:37 And what does that look like? Colossians chapter 1 gives us an outline. Remember that this is war. Our children are at war. The enemy knows it more often and better than the church. A couple of1:49 things that are just kind of destroying kids today. You you understand that the mind and the neurological pathways are pretty much set by the age of 10.2:01 This is scientific data, and it doesn't mean that you can't learn anything beyond 10. It just means the how you look at life, how you receive information, how you respond to2:13 stimulus outside of you and inside of you, those patterns are set well before you go to high school, well before even the midst of elementary school.2:25 And the enemy, I have you he he must know this. He must be aware because he targets kids like never before, like no 1 else. And all we have to do is look at2:37 the statistics regarding our children over the past couple of years. You understand that pornography is a serious problem in our culture. And the and this went to the supreme2:49 court, and they fought for the right to produce this absolute filth in the under the guise of the freedom of speech. The enemy took that decision and decided to front3:01 load it for kids. Kids are exposed to pornography. Over 50 percent of them are exposed to pornography before the age of 13. This is a serious problem. If a child is exposed at a young age, he most likely or she will3:13 struggle in that area, wrestling with those images and thoughts, and it will shape their approach to human sexuality for the rest of their life. At the same time we've seen with the colleges3:25 and the educational system, the high schools, even the elementary schools have been trying to force into our children's ears and eyes. All these confusing confusing really3:36 demonic philosophies that the enemy wants to put into our children's hearts. I mentioned at the first part of this series about drag queen story hour. You ever notice how they gotta go to3:48 talk to kids and not much going to the nursing homes? Kind of interesting that they're always targeting children. George Barner wrote a fantastic book, a great resource I would admonish4:00 every parent to get it. It's called Raising Spiritual Champions. And he talks about the fact that the, the the best age, the most effective age to disciple children is before the age4:11 of 13. So you've got young children, game on. This is your season. This is your time to fight for those children. I have a couple more4:23 just, data sets here. We have a serious major health crisis, mental health crisis amongst teens. 40 percent of our teenagers, according to the CDC, are persistently sad, lonely, and4:35 depressed. 40 percent. Now I think a lot of that has to do with the lifestyle that we've given them, video games, screens. Kids don't know how to go outside and play anymore. How many4:47 remember going outside and playing? My mom would get mad at me if I came inside. Come on. She was old school. Go outside, do something. I would go out into the woods with a hammer and nails and build a fort 204:59 feet high up in a tree. Taught me how to bruise myself, cut myself. I got a scar right here. I got a scar right here to this day because I was sawing a branch off of that5:11 tree, sawed through the branch, sawed partly through my thumb. Ran home to mom. She said, go back outside. You're not done playing. No. She didn't. She helped me out. But nonetheless,5:23 depression, serious problems. I was shocked to find this out. 20 percent seriously considering suicide. Nearly 1 in 10 of high schoolers today attempt suicide according to the CDC statistics. This is5:35 sad. Social media continues to prove itself unsafe for children again and again and again. I was so excited when my my youngest school, decided to impose a5:47 fine of 50 dollars for every time a child's phone goes off at any time during the day. And I was driving to school and I was asking him to look something up on his phone and he said, no. No. I can't. I said, why? He5:57 said, because I'm gonna get fined if I show up with that phone on. I'm like, amen. Amen. This is a serious health crisis. Now we have the age of AI. Now I don't know if anybody heard this news6:09 this week, but Meta, the parent company of what we know as Facebook, started by Mark Zuckerberg. He's trying to catch up with ChatGPT and Google AI, their Gemini AI bot, and they came up with their own Facebook6:21 or Meta AI bot. Now this you combine it with virtual reality. Basically, it's a fake world that we are creating with fake responses to fake personalities in AI.6:33 Who knows the damage and the toll this will have on our culture? But we already know this past week that they were caught not putting up the proper guardrails for6:45 children in reacting or correspond or connecting, with this AI bot. And according to the reports, this AI bot has6:56 offered young children as young as 13 explicit sexually explicit conversations back and forth with that child and misinformation about serious health7:07 crises. This is a war, and we've gotta fight for these children. I brought up in the beginning of the series that the armor of God, the spiritual7:19 warfare passage in Ephesians chapter 6 is on the heels of all of those, household codes regarding how wives relate to their husbands, husbands7:31 relate to their wives, children to their parents, parents to their children, workers to their employees, employees to their work, to their employers, all all kinds of those relationships. And then Paul says, now arm up.7:42 Get yourself the armor of God. Fight the good fight. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual powers of wickedness in heavenly places. And at the end, after he lists all the battle7:54 armor, the helmet of salvation, flesh plate of righteousness, belt of truth, feet shattered with the preparation of gospel peace, shield of face, sword of the spirit. And then verse 18, what does he say? Praying. Come8:02 on. Somebody say, praying. Praying. When do we pray? Always. At all times. And then how do we pray? The In the with all8:13 prayer and supplication. This is a fight. Our battle is serious, and we've gotta do some hunting for the devil in our prayers. You don't negotiate with the8:25 world when it comes to your children. You don't negotiate. You got hard and fast rules. You got standards that you set for your home. You got standards that you set for your teenagers. And if they are under8:37 your roof and they're not teenagers, they are still children. Amen, somebody. Amen. Rules, boundaries, margins, and listen to me. Ready? No negotiation.8:49 Amen. I heard a story about a hunter who went out to go get himself a bear. Took his shotgun. Wanted to go get himself a bear because he wanted a fur coat. So he9:00 finally, after a day of long of hunting through those woods, he found himself a bear. And he picked up his shotgun and he cocked it and he thought, okay, here we go. And the bear said, no, hold on just 1 second.9:12 It's a true story. What are you what are you after? What was what's the deal? He goes, I just want your fur. I want a good fur coat. He goes, well, all I want is a good meal.9:25 And the bear says, surely, we could come to some sort of compromise. Like I said, true story. So after a few more moments of negotiation, the bear got his meal and the man got his fur9:37 coat in that order. You can't negotiate with the devil. You can't negotiate with the9:49 most precious possession that you will ever be given by God, your children. But we need to learn how to pray because prayer brings the power of God into our lives. Are you ready? Write this10:01 down. Proper prayer should do 3 things for parenting. Number 1, prayer partners us with the power of God. And I don't know who here can agree with this statement. I'm sure all parents can. But10:12 nothing will improve your prayer life like having children. You'll you'll learn to pray like you've never prayed before when God gives10:24 you kids. You you probably remember what it was like when you brought that firstborn home, and there it was now. They just left you with a human.10:37 No manual. Remember the first TV I got, I got a manual this thick. The first child I got, nothing. Good luck. Good luck raising this very complicated instrument, this very complicated biological10:49 unpredictable, you know, thing. Prayer. Father, I need your power. Neil Anderson on prayer. He says it like this. He says that prayer is the most tangible demonstration11:01 of our dependence upon God. To the extent that you depend on God will be the amount of prayer that you offer to God. Number 2. Okay. Number 2. Here we go.11:13 Prayer places my children in God's hands. When I pray for my children, I have an opportunity to say, father, to myself and to the Lord and to and to my children,11:25 these children are not mine anymore. They are yours. Now how many know sometimes you're so glad to say that they're not mine anymore? They're these are God's. You're God's problem. But this is what Sam11:37 this is what ham Hannah said. Hannah was Samuel's mom. And at first Samuel, after she gave birth to the son, whom she prayed for, in verse 27 in first Samuel chapter 1, she says, for this child I11:48 prayed and the Lord has granted me my petition that I asked. Therefore, I have lent him to the Lord. He is not mine. He is the Lord's. And as long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord.12:00 Parents, you gotta get that mindset about your children. These are God's children. God has let me borrow them, but I am not God for them. He is their creator. He is12:12 their maker. And so, Lord, I give you the children. Number 3, prayer plants seeds in my children's future. I always say this about prayers, and this is why some of you12:24 need to get a hold of a better prayer life because you don't understand that prayer is seed season for an eventual harvest season in your life. And I would dare12:36 suggest this to someone here. You are presently harvesting the prayers of your past or lack thereof. When you pray,12:48 you plant a seed in the in the soil of your future. What keeps most people away from prayer is 2 things. Number 1, they don't feel worthy. Good news, you don't have to be worthy because the gospel of God's grace13:00 makes you worthy through Jesus' blood. No one's worthy. I'm not worthy. You're not worthy. There's not an elder in this church that's worthy. Jesus is worthy. And he closed us in his13:11 righteousness. He makes us worthy. Amen, somebody. Amen. So we come in the name of Jesus. That's why we pray in the name of Jesus because we don't come in our reputation. We come in his name13:23 reputation, and we pray and we plant seeds. Here's what Galatians chapter 6 says. The 1 who sows to the flesh will reap corruption, but the 1 who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap13:35 eternal life. You will reap what you sow. What seeds of prayer are you sowing into your children's lives now? And I'm not talking about even if they're born yet. I'm talking13:46 about when they will be born. For some of you, you don't even have children yet. You're not even married yet. It's not you don't have to wait till you have kids to start praying. Pray before you even have them. Pray13:57 before you even get married. Start sowing those seeds now. Start sowing those seeds when when when my children were young, and they were asleep early, and we would put them to bed early14:09 because kids need sleep. Amen. Amen. Amen. When I'm I'm trying to release some parents in this series. How are you and the missus14:21 ever gonna cuddle again if they don't get to bed? So 7 o'clock, 7 o'clock, they were in bed. And, you know, later on in the evening, would sneak into14:32 their room and I would just lay my hand on their heads. And I would pray over those children. I would pray and I I would do this on a regular basis. Father, I pray that this child becomes a14:44 mighty man or woman of God in their generation. That was my prayer. In fact, sometimes I would up the ante and I would say, father, I pray that they would become the greatest man or woman of14:56 God in their generation. Amen. Why not? You have not because you ask not. Amen? Amen. So I wonder, who's not praying? Plant the seeds. You say, well, it's too late for me. My kids are already revised.15:08 No. Start planting seeds now. And you might you might have to wait. You might have to wait. The second thing that keeps us from prayer, not just unworthiness, but not seeing the answers right away because we are the15:18 minute generation. We're the instant gratification generation, and that's not how God works. God is not on your calendar. You're on his. So you gotta plant today and wait for15:30 ages sometimes before you see the harvest come in. I for any parent in this room, you've got a child that is wayward and is wandering right now, and you feel like it's15:42 too late. It's not too late. We serve a God who is always on time, who is the master of resurrection stories, who can bring the wayward home, who can cause the lost to15:54 be found, who can open blind eyes and break hardened hearts open to the gospel of God's grace. There is no 1 that God can't save. So don't let the devil tell you it's too16:06 late. Pray those prayers for your kids. But here's the question, what are proper prayers for children? What are proper prayers? I got 3 points to this end. Number 1,16:17 avoid superficial prayers for your children. As I prepared this message, I myself was challenged because I16:29 realized as a parent, and maybe this is your story too, and maybe as I say it, you're going to come to the realization for yourself. I never thought about this, but I realized while I studied this week that I actually16:41 am more prone to pray superficially for my children than I am for myself. You understand what I'm saying? A superficial prayer like,16:53 you know, I I I don't say, God, give me money. I've never said that. I've never said, God, I need more money. Send some I prayed that for my children. Maybe because I want them to stop taking my money. I don't know. But17:05 I've never prayed, God, you know, make me handsome. I don't think there's improvement to be made. Amen, somebody. No. I'm just kidding. I've never prayed those superficial prayers for myself, but I realized17:17 that I have slid, unfortunately, into superficial praying for my children. And I I don't know what that is, but this week, I repented. This week, I repented17:29 because when I think about superficial prayers, I I wrote a couple examples down, like, might need to hear these. God, I pray that my children will be happy. Now, of course, we all want17:41 our children to be happy, but qualify it. I don't want my children happy in sin. I don't want my children happy in17:53 rebellion. And and this so here's actually a better prayer. Father, I pray that my children are only happy in you. Amen. How about this 1? If they're wayward right18:05 now, father, I pray that my children are miserable in their waywardness. And some of you you can't say amen to that because you're like, oh, they're poor little, you know, sacred little, you know, crystal18:16 ball hearts. I don't wanna hurt them. Let them be hurt. Let them be hurt now rather than in hell later. Amen. Another superficial prayer, God make them successful.18:29 That's not a bad thing. Success is not a bad thing, but I don't want my child succeeding in things that don't matter. And then before you know it, the success becomes everything to them. How about this 1? God, keep my18:40 children safe. Yeah. Pastor, you don't pray for that? No. Keep them strong because the world is not safe. That was the that was the18:52 biggest frustration that I had with the COVID pandemic. Stay safe. Be safe. Praying for your safety. There's no such thing. That's what I'm saying. You can wear 6 masks to protect you from COVID, walk out the door, get19:04 struck by lightning. There's no such thing as safety. You wanna pray for safety? It's not gonna happen. But pray that God will make them strong. How about this? Sometimes unsafe19:15 conditions make them look to God. I think about the prodigal son. The prodigal son never came back to the father until he was in unsafe, unsanitary19:27 conditions. I've said this many years, over the years of pastoring this church, and many parents, you don't like me saying it. I don't care. I'm gonna say it again. When your children are wayward, you19:39 don't pray for them to be okay. You pray for them to be wrecked. You pray for the famine. Because the prodigal son did not even look back to home until the famine hit and19:50 his friends left him, and he ended up getting a job feeding pigs pig food and wanted to eat the food himself. The father knew what was going on. Did he say, oh, just deliver him. I just want him20:02 safe in his sin. No. I want them stressed out in their sin so that they will look to the savior. Amen. And listen, don't subsidize20:14 sin. Some parents, you need deliverance here. You bail them out time and time again. They're wayward and you send them money.20:26 Why? Are you crazy? Let them struggle. Cause them to be upended in their self sufficient because they're not really self sufficient if they're asking you for money, are20:38 they? So let them struggle. Let them run out of money. Let them worry about what am I gonna do because what did the prodigal son say? It's much better to be a servant in my father's house than to20:50 be out here on my own stubborn will. Don't subsidize rebellion in your children. How about this how about this, superficial prayer? God, keep them from failure.21:02 Why is that wrong? Because they will fail. They'll fail somewhere. You failed. Father, I pray that they learn from their failures. I pray that they grow spiritually21:13 deeper. Or this this this terrible prayer. God, give them everything that I couldn't have. Oh, friend. No. No. No. No. No. You must avoid superficial prayers. Okay. I'm21:25 excited today. We're breaking new ground with preaching at Waters Church. Are you ready? Yes. Oh, you're not that ready. Are you excited? Yes. I've got a new tool. I'm so21:36 excited. Ladies and gentlemen, Screeny. This is my preaching partner, Screeny. This is say hi, Screeny. No. Forget it. I'm just kidding. Here we go.21:48 Check this out. I wanna show you something from the New Testament about some kids who were prayed a superficial prayer by their mom. This is so cool. This is so cool. Our22:00 team is amazing. Matthew 20 20 to 22, then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons and kneeling before him, she asked him for something and he said to her, what do you want? How many of you would22:12 just love Jesus and said, hey, what do you want? And what did she want? She said, say that these 2 sons of mine are to sit, 1 at your right hand and 1 at your left in your kingdom. That is a superficial prayer.22:25 Jesus, I you're doing some amazing healing, signs, wonders, raising the dead. I want my James to be at your right. I want John maybe John was at the right. James at the I want my sins to be important. And I22:37 love Jesus' response. Jesus answered, let's see if this will work. Ready? You do not know what you are asking. When you pray superficial prayers over your22:48 children, you have no clue what you're really asking for because you can't map out what's gonna happen tomorrow. Here's what you can do. You can trust that God knows what's best for23:00 your children. And God has a plan and purpose for your children, and some of that plan is filled with problems. And listen to me, some of that plan is filled with pain.23:13 Raise your hand if you learned more from your pain than your pleasures. Why would you want your children free from every play pain? They'll never learn. Again, this is what I'm saying. Parents,23:25 listen to me. I realized in my own life, I was praying superficial prayers for my children way more than I would ever pray for myself. I think it's, you know, the natural, we just want to make sure that they're okay23:37 and everything. Write write this down. When we pray superficially, we ask for what soothes today, but may sabotage faith tomorrow.23:49 You don't know what you're asking. And he asked he said, you don't are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink? And and and and we're able no. No. No. No. They weren't able at that time because they were all23:58 gonna deny Jesus at the last supper after he was arrested. They weren't ready for that. They weren't ready for that. So you gotta watch out the superficiality of prayers.24:09 There's a proverb that I love. It's from Proverbs chapter 30 verse 8 and 9. Listen to this text. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful. In other words, just provide my needs because if24:21 I'm full, I might deny you and say, who is the Lord? But if I'm poor, I may steal and profane the Lord. In other words, father, just provide what is necessary for me.24:32 That is a great prayer for your kids. Provide what is necessary for them. I love what Jesus does in John chapter 17, his great high priestly prayer for the disciples. He says, I do not ask that24:44 you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil 1. Father, don't don't keep them out of this world. They need to be in the world. Your children need to be in the world. You I get24:56 the homeschooling movement, and I'm actually a fan of homeschooling now. I used to not be, but then I saw what the students were learning at schools, and I freaked out. I said, no. Go homeschooling. I've changed. But25:07 your homeschooling should include regular doses of exposure to the world along the way so that your children learn how to stand for Christ in a culture that may not like25:19 him. That's the prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples. Think about it. Jesus said, oh, God. I'm so scared about their future. I'm so worried. You know, I've heard Peter. He is really out25:31 there, Lord. He is really out there, Father. He's gonna blow it. No. No. No. No. Don't keep them out of the world. Just keep them from the evil 1. And then look at this verse 17. Sanctify them in the, what?25:43 Your word is truth. Got time for some more TV time. Are you ready? Let's go to the book of Luke chapter 22 verses 3125:55 to, 32. Look at this. What does Jesus say to Simon at the last supper? Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you. He's talking about the temptation to deny Jesus.26:07 But what does Jesus say? He wants to sift you. But I have what? Prayed. Prayed for you. Simon, Satan is imagine this. Satan is coming for you, child.26:20 Satan is coming for you. And ladies and gentlemen, bad news. Satan's coming for your kids. Maybe not the Satan, a demon of hell, 1 of his lieutenants, who knows? What does Jesus say? I26:32 have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. I always get a kick out of the fact that Jesus doesn't say, but I have prayed that the father will stop Satan26:44 from doing it. Doesn't say that, does it? And understand this. This is good theology. Satan is under the sovereignty of the father. Satan can do nothing26:56 the father doesn't allow him to do. We get this from the book of Job. When Satan and God have this argument about Job's righteousness, and Satan asks for permission to terrorize Job, and27:08 God says, okay, do it, but watch him not deny me. So Jesus says to Simon, I am praying for you that you're I'm not praying that you avoid Satan. I'm praying that he27:19 doesn't have the last word over your life. And that when oh, I love this. The hope. You have turned again. Now you're gonna be stronger. Don't let what soothes today27:31 sabotage faith tomorrow in your children. I was gonna have you write this down, but I didn't think it was that great. But now I'm thinking about it, I probably should have you write it down. Sometimes, you need to27:43 stumble to stay humble. Oh, you see, it was good. I should have kept that in the notes. Sometimes you need to stumble to keep you humble. And we all know27:55 that right before this moment, Simon was like, Lord, I will never deny you. I will never deny you. I am with you. And everybody else claimed the same thing. And Jesus is like, mm-mm. Nope. Nope. Nope. It's not gonna28:06 be it's not gonna be that great for you, Simon. Got bad news for you. Okay. So avoid superficial prayers. Here's point number 2. Practice scriptural prayers. And notice it's in parentheses28:18 for your children because this should be what you do for you. Wives, this is what you should do for your husbands, husbands for wives, neighbors for neighbors, small group friends for small28:30 group friend. In other words, saturate your prayers with what? Scripture. A couple of weeks ago, somebody came to me and said, pastor, I'm praying for the church, but I would28:42 like you to write down some things that we could pray for regarding the church. I said, I don't have to write anything down. God has already written down everything he wants for his church. Open the28:54 bible, maybe you've never done this before, but this is a fabulous spiritual discipline. Open the bible, preferably to the New Testament, and read29:05 it and pray it. So I thought about for your children, we we need to do this. Now now what you have to understand, in Colossians chapter 1, if you still have your bibles open, you will see29:17 that what I read to you earlier is just simply a prayer. It's a prayer that that that that that Paul writes down. He writes down this prayer for the for the church in Colossians.29:30 Colossians is not a book. It's a letter. It's a letter written by the apostle Paul to a church in Colossae in the first century. By the way, the church was not started by Paul. It was started by a guy named Epaphras.29:40 Epaphras was probably converted in Ephesus when Paul preached the gospel there. He traveled 100 miles maybe to his hometown in Colossae. He started a church there. The church was born because the the the the Lord's29:51 gospel works no matter who's preaching it. Come on somebody. Amen. Church is born, but they got problems. They got some difficulties because the the city of Colossae was a very intellectual city as well as a mystical30:01 city, had a lot of pagan religions, pagan idolatry. And so there's a small little struggling church, and Paul writes this letter, and he lets them know, I'm praying for you. And now here's another way that God convicted30:13 me about my prayer life. I was thinking about what Paul does in the New Testament and what you see every time he writes a letter to a New Testament church. He writes up in the front of the letter, I am praying for30:24 you. You want a couple of examples? Check this out. In the New Testament, we can go to the book of Ephesians chapter 1, and we can take a look at verse 15 to 17. And he says, for this reason, because I've heard of your30:36 faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease, same words in Colossians 1, to give thanks for you, remembering you where? In my prayers. In other words, church, I'm praying for you. There's30:47 so many other examples of this. We can go to Philippians chapter 1. Check out chapter 1. Let's just go right through verse 6. This is Paul and Timothy writing to this church. What does he say? Verse 3, I thank my God in30:59 all my remembrance of you always in what? Every prayer of mine for all of you, making my prayer with joy. And this is the passage we love. I'm sure of this. He who began31:11 a good work, and you will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. We can go to the book of first Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 2 and 3. Check this out. We give thanks to God always for all of31:23 you constantly mentioning you. Constantly mentioning you in our prayers. How about the book of Romans chapter 1, verses 9 to 10. Check this out. For God is my31:35 witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that without ceasing, I mention you always in my prayers asking that God's will by God's will, may somehow succeed in coming to you. In other words,31:47 if you care about people that you produce, pray for them. Amen. If you don't pray, the devil will pray.32:01 Do I need to spell that out? This is this is the imperative of holy scripture. So when Paul prays for the Colossians in chapter 1, and we're dealing with just32:13 4 verses today. In verse 9, here we go. Write this down. Letter a. Pray. This is a good this is a good model for praying for your children. Pray that God fills their minds with his will.32:27 Now where did I get this point? I got this point, listen to me very carefully, By reading the scripture, understanding it, and praying it.32:39 Read it. Understand it. Pray it. Read it. Understand it. Pray it. Let's try. Reading it. Understand it. Pray it.32:50 Very good. So pray for your children. Well, who do I pray for? Not success, not safety, not keeping no. God fill their minds33:03 with your will. Check what check out what Paul says. I love this. He says, so from the day we heard of your faith, we again, we have not ceased to pray for you asking that33:15 you may be come on. What is this? Filled with the knowledge of his will. Now I looked up this word filled in the original language.33:27 Whenever you see actually the word filled in the in the New Testament, important, context here, the the idea of the word plero in Greek means to fill33:39 in in order to control. That that that that you think about it this way. There's text where it says, he was filled with grief. That means that his grief controlled him. If33:51 he positively, Ephesians 5 18 says, be filled with the holy spirit. In other words, the the idea is not just let it come into me. No. Let it be, listen to this, the34:03 controlling influence over my life. What a powerful prayer for your children. Father, I pray that34:14 my children are controlled in their minds with what you want them to do. Now he doesn't leave it there, does he?34:26 Check out the rest of the verse. In all spiritual wisdom and understand. So 2 tools that Paul outlines that are necessary for these spiritual34:38 children to be controlled by the will of God. They need spiritual wisdom, and then they need understanding. Wisdom is working it out.34:51 Wisdom is knowing the difference through, through understanding and wisdom to to or understanding and acknowledgment of what's true and right, and then working it out and then understanding35:03 is how do I apply this? How do I apply this wisdom from what God has given me to know? So here's a prayer. Ready? Father, I pray, my children will be filled with your35:15 will, have wisdom to work it out, and the skill to apply it to their life. That's a pretty good prayer, if I do say so myself.35:26 Where did I get it? Where did I get it? Scripture. You you could do this with almost any passage35:38 of the bible. So instead of praying what's on your mind, pray what's on God's mind. Amen, somebody? Amen. Okay. 2 quick points left from this passage.35:50 Letter b. Write this down. Pray that God is fully pleased with their lives. Pray that God is fully pleased with their lives. Let's go back to the text. Verse 10.36:03 I'm praying that they are filled and controlled by the knowledge of your will with spiritual wisdom understanding so as and I always love to say, you've got to look for the so that's and the so and and the so that's in36:13 the New Testament so that they walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing. Next 2 words, everybody. To him. My children36:26 are not in the business of pleasing me. They're in the business of pleasing God. Here's why this is so important. It is a I don't know if it still happens, but I'm sure it36:38 does to some extent. It was probably more in the last generation, but a lot of times, fathers will push their sons into the endeavors that they themselves failed at.36:50 I want them to be the quarterback. I want them to be the all star basketball player because I, you know, blew out my knee when I was 17 and I was I was robbed. And so unintentionally,37:02 you are trying to live vicariously through your child, trying to put on your child what was really on your heart. Can I tell you something? Your child does not have to live out your dreams.37:14 They're not yours. They're his. Amen. Now I'm thrilled to announce that my both of my oldest children work at this church, and they wanna work in the church, it looks like for37:25 their lives. Amen. Amen. That is a wonderful blessing. But never once did I ever tell them that that's what I wanted for them. I did, but I never put it on them. I never wanted37:37 my children growing up with this expectation of if dad is really pleased with me, I'll work at the church. No. No. No. I I just prayed, father, you do what you want with them37:49 so that their lives please you. Here here here's a fact. Write this down. God has greater purposes in mind for my child than I do.38:02 And the other reason why I I didn't really worry about, my children working at the church was because was because I understood that they didn't need to work at the church. Come38:14 on somebody. They didn't need to work at the church to serve God. Amen. Y'all should say that because y'all don't work here. Alright. Jeremiah, this38:26 is a passage that we love. I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope. Oh, we love that. We put that on our coffee mugs. Okay. Great.38:36 Great. Great. Great. Great. But look at this. Look at the verse right before it. And this is why I love this TV. Oh, we're gonna do some teaching now. Thus says the Lord, when38:48 how many years? 70. 70 years are completed for Babylon. I will visit you. In other words, I'm not hanging around. You're going to Babylon. You're going to38:59 exile, but give me 70 years. Wow. Kinda puts that verse about God's purposes and plans in perspective, doesn't it? As the39:11 nation of Israel was being judged for their sins, God says, I know the plans I have for you.Show more
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