Warrior Prayers...Day Ten

Prayers for Day Ten…

Usually I just want to get to the bottom line.  Tell me what to do and I will do it.  Give me the rule and I will follow it.  In Matthew 22,  a lawyer in Jerusalem also wanted to get to the bottom line:  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (vs. 36-39)

Love God.  Everything else flows out of that love for the God who created you, who died for you, who has prepared a place in eternity for you. 

Love others.  To grow in Christlike-ness means to grow in love.  Christ loved others.  He did not baby or coddle, but he loved the people.  In love, He met their needs…the most essential one being their need for a Savior.

Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Love

May__________ not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15).

May our sons love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).

May our sons love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22).

May our sons, when they become husbands, love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself (Ephesians 5:28).

May the Lord make __________increase and abound in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

May __________know that this is love, that we walk according to His commandments (2 John 1:6).

May __________not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth (1 John 3:18).

May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to __________ (Jude 1:2).

May __________ love the LORD his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might (Deuteronomy 6:5).

May __________know that this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10).

Warrior Prayers...Day Nine

Prayers for Day Nine…

Showing honor means treating another respectfully because we value them highly.  The only way we can appropriately honor others is by properly arranging our lives…putting God, others and ourselves in the rightful places.  In meekness, we must first put God on His throne, in the supreme position of authority.

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

When we truly recognize that apart from Christ we are nothing and that we regularly fall short of God’s holy standard, then we can “in humility count others more significant than” ourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” 1 Peter 2:17

In order for our sons to grown into men of honor, they have to show honor and respect to all people.  In humility, we must teach them to recognize how insignificant we all are apart from the grace of God.  The only good thing in us is revealed when we are clothed in the robes of Christ’s righteousness. 

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12

Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Honor

May __________ know that both riches and honor come from God, and that He rules over all (1 Chronicles 29:12).

May __________fear the Lord, and receive honor (Psalm 15:4).

May the LORD bestow favor and honor upon__________. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

Lord, be with __________in trouble; rescue him and honor him (Psalm 91:15).

May __________ honor the LORD with his wealth and with the firstfruits of all his produce (Proverbs 3:9).

May __________be wise and inherit honor (Proverbs 3:35).

May __________ honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor (1 Peter 2:17).

May __________honor his father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise (Ephesians 6:2).

May __________honor the face of an old man (Leviticus 19:32).

May __________do good, and receive glory, honor and peace (Romans 2:10).

Warrior Prayers...Day Eight

Prayers for Day Eight…

We all know the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in John 13.  The fact that Jesus—the King of Glory, the Savior of the World, the Son of God—would stoop down and wash the dirt and grime and filth off the feet of those men is mind-boggling.  However, what makes it even more amazing to me is that He washed all of the disciples’ feet…even Judas’, the one who was going to betray Him. 

It is easy to serve those who are appreciative and those who seem worthy of our effort.  But those who are rude and disloyal, hateful and mean?  Surely God didn’t mean for me to risk rejection by reaching out to them.

But He did.  After all, He served me, the chief of sinners, by dying for me. 

“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners —of whom I am the worst.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

If our goal is to mold our sons into the image of Christ to the glory of the Father, then we must teach them that Godly men lead by serving.  Men with servants’ hearts have been taught to serve in their home.  Give your son the opportunity to serve his grandparents, his siblings, your neighbors.  Give him the opportunity to serve the unlovable, the undesirable, the one who might reject him.  Give him the opportunity to serve now…before that day when he stands before God, his family and friends and pledges to lead his new wife with a servant’s heart.  He will thank you.  If he doesn’t, his wife will.

Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Servant’s Heart

May__________ be a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ (James 1:1).

May __________follow Christ; and where He is, may __________be also. If anyone serves Christ, the Father will honor him (John 12:26).

May __________be like Moses, faithful in all God’s house as a servant (Hebrews 3:5).

As the Lord’s servant, may __________not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:24-25).

May __________not use his freedom to satisfy his sinful nature. Instead, may he use his freedom to serve others in love (Galatians 5:13).

May __________use his spiritual gifts to serve others, as good stewards of God’s varied grace (1 Peter 4:10).

May__________ serve wholeheartedly, as if he were serving the Lord, not men (Ephesians 6:7).

Let__________ be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and let him offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28).

May __________be a servant, for the greatest among us shall be servants (Matthew 23:11).

May __________fear the LORD his God and serve him only (Deuteronomy 6:13).

Warrior Prayers...Day Seven

Prayers for Day Seven…

Purity is old-fashioned. 

Thank the Lord for the old-fashioned virtue of purity.  Purity of heart, purity of mind, sexual purity.  That’s what I desire for all of my children.  That’s what I desire for the future spouses of my children.  That’s what I desire for me. 

I assure you, if you don’t talk about purity with your precious children, they will not remain pure.  The world will bombard them with sexual imagery and lies.  You speaking truth to them in this area is their only hope.    God has entrusted your sons to you and it is your job to take every opportunity to remind them that they are the temple of God and that God tells them “keep yourself pure” (1 Timothy 5:22)

I encourage you to read two books:  Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot and Lady in Waiting by Jackie Kendall & Debby Jones.  I read both of these books when I was in college and wished I had read them in high school.  The timeless truths located in the pages of these books will help us as we parent our children through the years of their lives when there hormones are out of control and they are being bombarded with all sorts of sexual imagery from every direction. 

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body…You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:18, 20

Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Purity

May __________have love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).

May __________hope in God and thus purify himself (1 John 3:3).

May __________have religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unstained from the world (James 1:27).

May __________think on whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, may he think about these things (Philippians 4:8).

May __________be like the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

May there be no violence in __________'s hands, and his prayer be pure (Job 16:17).

May __________be pure, because even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright (Proverbs 20:11).

May __________'s love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that he may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ (Philippians 1:9-10).

How can__________ keep his way pure? By guarding it according to God’s Word (Psalm 119:9).

May__________ be blameless and innocent, a child of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation (Philippians 2:15).

Warrior Prayers...Day Six

Prayers for Day Six…

I want to be able to whole-heartedly give God all of the glory for anything good in my life and in my sons’ lives.  But it is a struggle.  As soon as someone compliments one of my children, pride in my parenting skills begins to swell.  That is never good because God loves His children too much to let them wallow in arrogance.

If there was ever a man who had reason to be prideful, it was Jesus. But…”, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:6-8)  If our goal is to mold our sons into the image of Christ to the glory of the Father, then we must teach them that pride must be put to death daily.

C.J. Mahaney defines pride as “when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon him.”  In contrast, William Farley defines humility as “the capacity to see myself in God’s light, in the context of his holiness and my sinfulness.”

It is simple.  God is everything.  We are nothing. 

Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Pride

May __________not have a haughty spirit, for pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).

May __________be lowly in spirit and obtain honor, for one’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor (Proverbs 29:23).

Lord, make __________turn from doing wrong and keep him from pride (Job 33:17).

Lord, please break __________‘s proud spirit (Leviticus 26:19).

May __________take advice and gain wisdom, for with insolence comes nothing but strife (Proverbs 13:10).

May __________not be a “Scoffer” the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride (Proverbs 21:24).

Lord, give us the pleasure of taking great pride in__________, being filled with comfort (2 Corinthians 7:4).

Let __________test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor (Galatians 6:4).

Let not the foot of arrogance come upon__________, nor the hand of the wicked drive him away (Psalm 36:11).

Let __________talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from his mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed (1 Samuel 2:3).

Warrior Prayers...Day Five

Prayers for Day Five…

I might have to stop on this day and pray it over and over for my oldest son.  Those of you who have lived through puberty with your sons understand what I am talking about…because 13 year old boy equals foolish. 

Foolish behavior is annoying.  To God, foolishness is much more. Jesus listed foolishness among the 13 things that corrupt or defile a person in Mark 7:21-23: "It's what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart.   [Don’t you just love that description?!!?!]   There is the source of your pollution." (The Message) 

We are not raising fools.  We are raising warriors.  Battles have never been won by the class clown, the joker, the man who scoffs at knowledge & authority.  Battles are won by men who love righteousness, cherish wisdom and submit to authority.  Our sons are on the front lines.  Let’s pray for them to lay down foolishness and take up the full armor of God.

 Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Avoiding Foolishness

May __________ avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless (Titus 3:9).

May __________ have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; for they breed quarrels (2 Timothy 2:23).

May __________ not participate in filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:4).

May __________ hear these words of Yours, act on them, and avoid being like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (Matthew 7:26).

May __________ be more like a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to take advice (Ecclesiastes 4:13).

May __________ not be foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures (Titus 3:3).

May __________ leave the presence of a fool, for there he will not meet words of knowledge (Proverbs 14:7).

May __________ not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is (Ephesians 5:17).

May our sons be like a poor person who walks in his integrity rather than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool (Proverbs 19:1).

May __________ have a wise man’s heart inclining him to the right, and not a fool’s heart inclining to the left (Ecclesiastes 10:2).

Warrior Prayers...Day Four

Prayers for Day Four…

My greatest desire for my sons, after salvation, is to be able look at them in my twilight years and see that they have developed into men of integrity.  All of the other desirable characteristics are embodied in integrity—love, patience, trustworthiness, loyalty, perseverance, good work ethic, strength. 

Kenneth Boa said this about integrity:  “God is integrity. He does not merely act with integrity; integrity is his character. But what about us? The biblical virtue of integrity points to a consistency between what is inside and what is outside, between belief and behavior, our words and our ways, our attitudes and our actions, our values and our practice.”

Friends, a man of integrity doesn’t just show up.  A man of integrity is grown from seeds sown into the life of a boy of integrity—the same boy who is watching to see if you are a woman of integrity.  Show him that integrity is a virtue that is valuable and one that is pleasing to the Lord by consistency in your values and your practice, your attitudes and your actions, your words and your ways. 

“The righteous who walks in his integrity— blessed are his children after him! Even a child makes himself known by his acts, by whether his conduct is pure and upright.” (Proverbs 20:7, 11) 

 Commit to praying the following prayers for your sons or grandsons today.

Integrity

May __________walk before You, as David his father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that God has commanded him, and keeping His statutes and His rules (1 Kings 9:4).

Till he dies, may __________never put away his integrity (Job 27:5).

May __________ponder the way that is blameless and walk with integrity of heart within God’s house (Psalm 101:2).

May __________show himself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in his teaching show integrity, dignity (Titus 2:7).

Like Joseph, may __________hear the word of the Lord and obey (from Luke 1:27).

Like Daniel, may __________resolve not to defile himself (from Daniel 1:8).

Like Paul, may __________learn to be content in any situation (Philippians 4:11).

Like Timothy, may __________set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Timothy 4:12).

Like David with Goliath, may __________stand up for the living God (1 Samuel 17).

Like Abraham, may __________obey God in faith (Genesis 12).