PRAYING FOR YOUR FAMILY

As a young boy I remember my mom often in her room, reading her Bible and praying for us. Because of that picture in my mind, I associated the Bible and prayer together.

When I met Patricia, we shared this common thread in our lives: that God had led us by specific words from scripture. Particular verses at specific times had given us clear direction. They had become sources of hope and promise for us. For example, Psalm 145 had been God’s solace to Patricia when she was praying about leaving her home and family in California and moving to Mobile, Alabama. John 15:16 had been God’s word to me about coming to Mobile. I wanted to associate with men who produced fruit that remains.

Neither of us realized that it would be in Mobile that we would meet, marry, and raise our family.

The scriptures gave us a focus for our prayers,
directed our obedience,
and determined our destiny.

For each of our children, we asked Jesus for a “life verse:” a verse of scripture that would be a theme of his/her life and a focus for us to pray for them. For example, Patrick’s life verse is John 10: 27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” As we have prayed for Patrick through the years, this verse has given us focus.

How did we come up with these verses? We asked Jesus to guide us. We read. We listened. We discussed. We developed a growing awareness of a direction for our children. A couple of times, Patricia had a dream that gave us direction. We looked at several verses that might be possible choices. We chose in faith. This process was worth it for us and for each of our kids.
Many times, we have come back to those verses in our prayers, in our discussions with each other, and in our conversations with our children.

So take a big theme approach. Why did the Father give you children? For what purpose? If you have not gone through this exercise together, we highly recommend it. It will make you pray, it will help you pray. It is not a rifle-shot prayer: it is a big artillery prayer, a long-range launch. You must have those long-range launches to win the war of raising children in today’s world.

Whatever you do, pray for your children. . .
and pray with the Bible in your hand.