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).

Warrior Prayers...Day Three

Prayers for Day Three…

I can see it in my 13 year old son’s face these days.  He has mom and dad telling him what to do; he has teachers telling him what to do; he has coaches, scoutmasters, grandparents, pastors…all telling him what to do. His eyes reveal his feelings:  he thinks that he is ready to be his own boss.  Let me assure you…He is NOT.  But you know what?  Neither am I.  I am so thankful that I am under the authority of my husband and ultimately my Father.  There is much freedom in submission.  There is much protection in remaining properly arranged.  It is our job to teach this counter-cultural truth to our boys.

Abraham submitted to Yahweh by his willingness to sacrifice Isaac.  Isaac submitted to Abraham on the mountain.  God rewarded their obedience and submission:  “in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”  (Genesis 22:18)

Another Son, Jesus, submitted to His authority by going to the cross.  Once again, Father God protected and rewarded the obedient Son: “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)

If our goal is to mold our sons into the image of Christ to the glory of the Father, then the attribute of submission to authority—parents, teachers, pastors, coaches—must be taught to them and modeled for them by us. 

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

Submission to Authority

May __________obey his leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over his soul, as those who will have to give an account. Let him do this with joy and not with groaning (Hebrews 13:17).

May __________ submit himself therefore to God. May he resist the devil, so he will flee from him (James 4:7).

May __________submit to laborers of the Gospel and to everyone who joins in the work (1 Corinthians 16:16).

May __________submit to others out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21).

May __________be subject to the Father of spirits and live (Hebrews 12:9).

May __________agree with God, and be at peace; so good will come to him (Job 22:21).

May __________ be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God (Romans 13:1).

May __________submit himself to the LORD (2 Chronicles 30:8).

May__________, who is younger, be subject to the elders. May he clothe himself with humility toward others, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

For freedom Christ has set us free; may __________stand firm therefore, and not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1).

Warrior Prayers...Day Two

Prayers for Day Two…

I had to discipline my youngest son tonight at Bruster’s. The thought flashed through my mind: “Why can’t he just obey??”  Almost immediately came the reminder from my Father, “Because you can’t.”  We are all sinful people whose hearts are absolutely intent on having our own way.  But, out of my love for Christ and His shed blood on the cross, I should be trying to conform myself into His likeness by obedience to His commands on a daily…hourly…minute by minute basis. 

Similarly, let’s remember that before we can truly change our sons’ outward behavior, their hearts must be filled with love for the One who gives them the desire and ability to obey.  That will only happen if we daily remind them of the awesome love of the Father who sent His Son to the cross.  We do that in word and in deed…by ourselves obeying the high call of motherhood.

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” ~John 14:21

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

Obedience

Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, may ___________ obey the LORD our God so that it will go well with him (Jeremiah 42:6).

May __________ obey his parents in the Lord, for this is right (Ephesians 6:1).

May __________ obey his leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over his soul, as those who will have to give an account. Let __________ do this with joy and not with groaning (Hebrews 13:17).

May __________ obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).

May __________ return to the LORD His God, and obey with all his heart and all his soul all the commands God has given (Deuteronomy 30:2).

May __________ walk after the LORD His God and fear Him and keep His commandments and obey His voice. May he serve Him and hold fast to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4).

May __________ stop his sinning and begin to obey the LORD his God (Jeremiah 26:13).

May __________ obey Jesus' commandments, and remain in His love (John 15:10).

May __________ show his love for Christ by obeying His commands (John 14:15).

May we be full of joy at __________'s obedience (Romans 16:19).