Moments Together for Couples 5/4

by Dennis and Barbara Rainey

Proverbs 14:26
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, and His children will have refuge.

As a parent you know that, no matter what you do to raise your children, God is ultimately in control of their lives. You want them to walk with Him, to have "strong confidence" in Him.

The greatest power you have is to pray for your children. But how should you pray?

First, pray that God will teach your children. I'll never forget when two of our kids were having a conflict. We tried everything-rewards, punishments, threats, and nothing worked. Finally we said, "Okay, Lord, we'll pray."

For two nights we prayed. On the second night, one child in the conflict had a dream that the other child had died. He came to us and said, "I was sad I'd treated him so badly." The problems stopped, just like that. In one night, God changed what we couldn't change in weeks.

Also, pray that you'll catch your kids when they do evil. You know what it's like: One of your children is lying or stealing or manipulating others, but you can't catch him in the act. Pray, "Lord, help me catch this kid. Give me some evidence." I've knelt beside the bed of a child we couldn't catch and laid my hands on him and said, "Lord, you know the truth in this matter. If this child is lying, I pray you'll help me catch him."

Does God answer these prayers? You bet He does. I think God has compassion upon the helpless parent!

The third thing is to pray with them. Just get down next to their cheeks, cuddle and pray. Pray for the important things going on in their lives, and pray for their futures-that they will walk with God, marry a godly spouse, etc. They love it. And so does God.

Prayer:

That God will give you wisdom as you raise your children, and that He will teach them what they need to grow in wisdom, and help you to catch them if they stray from what is right.

Discuss: What do you want God to teach your children? Write down at least two items for each child.

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