Prayer Guide for Parents

I made this guide with the help of many people, for the parents of my students.  I used my own parents as a huge source to make this. I thought I would post it if anyone would want a guide or ideas or something new as they pray for their children.

Parent’s Prayer Guide
Prayers for Our Children

1. For salvation. (Include possibility that a past profession was not sincere. Pray that if this is true, God will be merciful and convict child of sin and their need for the Savior.)

2. They would be able to know how much we love them and even more how much God loves them.

Ephesians 3:14-19 (NIV)
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

3. Spiritual growth. (Kids need to believe things because God say it in His Word--not because parents or a church says it.)

Ephesians 1:17-20 (NIV)
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,

4. That their children would not be conformed to this world and its culture. They need courage to stand up and be different--even different from some who claim to be Christian. We pray that they would make a difference for Christ in this world.

5. That they may be transformed by having their minds renewed through the Word of God.

Romans 12:2 (New American Standard Bible)
2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

6. That God would open their eyes to areas of their lives that do not please Him. Also that they will admit, confess, and forsake their sin by God's power. (Psalms 119:18)

Psalm 32:1-7(NIV)
1 Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.[b]
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.

7. That they would surrender themselves as a living sacrifice to be used by God.

Romans 12:1 (New International Version, ©2011)

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

8. Pray that they will understand that--if they are truly saved--Jesus has already won the victoy over Satan through His death, resurrection, and ascension. They need to claim that victory over Satan's temptations. (Romans 16:19-20)



1 Corinthians 15:56-58 (New International Version, ©2011)
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

9. Pray that if their child has been taken captive by believing the lies of the Devil, that God will give them repentance so that they can acknowledge the truth and escape Satan's snare. (Ephesians 4:27, Acts 5:3, Acts 26:17-19)

10. Give them respect for their parents, teachers, and authority -- and give their teachers a love for them.

11. Name specific areas that your child needs God's help in -- This may vary with each child -- such as common sense, laziness, irresponsibility, lying, being disrespectful, being fearful or extremely shy.

12. Pray for their physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual safety.

13. Pray that they will have only the truth in every area of their thinking.

14. That God will give them Christ's wisdom, courage, discernment of right and wrong, the love of Christ, the grace of God to handle false accusations and the injustices of the world.

Philipians 1:3-6; 9-11(NIV)
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

15. That God would give His direction and purpose for their lives.
Prayer for us as Parents
1. Change our hearts so we are closer to you. Help us be good examples to our children. Help us draw closer to you. Help us come to you and seek you daily in our own lives.

2. Help us not to discourage them to much, but still train them in what is right. (Proverbs 22:6) Help us know what to say to our children, when to say it, and when to not say anything and just pray.

Ephesians 6:4 4 Fathers,[b](Or parents) do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

3. Help us to be humble and ask forgiveness to our children when we do make mistakes.

4. Give us Guidance and Wisdom now in raising our children so we will be able to completely delight in our children. (Proverbs 23)

5. Help us take this role and responsibility you have given us seriously. Yet, help us still surrender our children to you for you are the potter you are forming and molding the. Lord, help us also to be moldable to your desires in our own life. (Isaiah 29:16, 41:25, 45:9, 64:8, Jeremiah 18:1-6, Romans 9:20-21)

6. Help us confess our sins before you. Help us be righteous before you so you will listen and answer our prayers for our children. (James 5:15-17)

7. We thank you Jesus, for paying the price for our sins so we can be seen righteous before you. We know that none of that would have been possible except through your gift. (Romans 5)

8. Help us teach them about you (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

Series of First Steps

I have been thinking quite a bit about our time here and the feedback we get. I do often here things like "I don't know if I could do that!" or "You are one of the few families I know who could have done this" or even "How did you do this?" At this point in the process I don't know if I could give a complete answer, but recently I have been thinking about the start of this whole journey.

About a year and a half ago Joy and I, independently and then together, heard God say "Go". We didn't know where he was telling us to go, but we knew he was saying "Go". On this occassion, we felt we needed to listen. So what did we do, we took the first step and we said "We are going". This was months before a country or destintation had been chosen. God had said something and we decided to listen. We took the First Step. We decided in our hearts to take the first step of obedience and everything since really has been a roller coaster that I don't think any of us will understand for years to come if ever.

Now regretfully I can say on other occassions I have felt God leading me to do many things throughout my life and many times I have ignored that urging. I failed to take that first step. Maybe the step seemed to big, maybe too impractical, maybe it just wasn't convenient at that time or I was really too busy in life to give it a second thought. I hate now to think of all of the things I missed out on by not taking those first steps.

I really think life with God is just a series of first steps. We either take them or we don't. We here Him speak and we say "Yes" or we say "No". It really is all about the first step. Often when we take it, the rest of that journey is a roller coaster ride of seeing God work in our lives and the world around us. Taking one first step often leads to being presented with another and then another first step. As long as we continue to take that first step, the question of whether we will continue to take it in life becomes less and less in doubt. We begin to learn to wait on God for direction for every step. I dare say this leads to a beautiful dance. A practice in faith where we the bride are led around the dance floor quite gracefully by our incredible dance partner. Following God we are allowed to take part in something so exquisite that reflecting upon it simply blows our mind.

I want to be a man of first steps.

The Art of Clarification

I'm learning a lot through teaching, especially second language english learners, and through learning a second language, the importance of Clarifying yourself. 

When I was in my Bible classes in college I already knew that I did not want to be one of those people that used big long Christian words because they now knew what they meant and felt so good about themselves using them.  I figured I wouldn't do anyone any good and probably turn more people away than anything else.  I decided to study for the test, but after the test I would purposely forget them.  It's easy to forget something and even easier to forget something when it's purposely done.  That has worked out really well for the most part.  I'm so glad I did that. 

Now teaching junior highers, some with little Bible background, and in their second language, it is even more important to keep it simple.  I find myself having to say things a different way, not just once but many times.  Then add a picture to go along with it and use a lot of gestures.  What I think is common sense, isn't to other people.  Especially when you are from different cultural backgounds and especially if you are a 12-15 years old. 

I remember a time I hired a young teenager for some gardening.   He was raising money for a bicycle.  I took him out to one of our garden beds and told him that he could weed that bed and I would pay him.  A couple hours later I came out only to find that not only did he get rid of the weeds he cut down all of the bulbs that just came up.  They hadn't flowered yet and he thought they were weeds.  I could give other examples of those types of things with kids and teens.  On top of being young teens these kids are using their second language.  I've already had my share of blunders trying to get around in a "second language" and thinking I understood, but was really way off. 

I've had even more desire for people to spell it out for me.  Just let me know exactly what my expectations are or what I should expect.  Just today I had a new Yellow Pages brought to me.  (Which I only learned a few months ago they existed.)  He asked me for the old copy.  I repeated in my poor Spanish to clarify.  Then went and got it.  Next, he was as clear as he could be,  "One tip" (teep).  I knew what he wanted and assummed that I was suppose to tip him, seeing you are suppose to tip for everything.  Some people only make money off the tips.  But he told me exactly what was expected of me.  I like that.

I have done notebooks with my students.  While I thought I told them what I expected from them, I clearly have not.  I remember a teacher I had in junior high and then in high school.  When she had us in junior high she was ridiculously strict.  She was really anal retentive about how she wanted her notebooks done.  Mrs. Tidball if you ever read this blog I understand!  I get it!  I really do!  Your were just teaching junior highers!  Back to these notebooks.  I have gotten such crazy things turned in to me.  I kept saying, if I teach again I would change this or that, especially the notebooks.  I have decided that I shouldn't wait until "if I teach again", but try it now.  It's not too late to make it so I don't want to burn every single "notebook" that is turned into me.  To re-clarify to my students again and maybe again and again how they will do the notebooks.  To keep practicing "the art of clarification", because we all need it some time or another.