Sylvia Gunter from The Father’s Business has compiled a list of scripture-based prayers to pray for children. She says, “These scripture-based prayers are dedicated to the most important responsibility and privilege of a parent or grandparent or teacher of all ages.”  Do you have your own list of scriptures that you pray for your children?  If not, please use Sylvia’s Praying for Children as a starting point for your prayers.

WD-40 has always been around our house and seems to be as valuable to a man as superglue is to a woman. But what does WD-40 stand for? I just found out from a post at Our Daily Journal that it literally stands for ‘Water Displacement 40th attempt’. “In 1953, chemist Norm Larsen was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion—a task which is accomplished by displacing water. Larsen’s unyielding tenacity and persistence paid off when he perfected the formula on his 40th try.”  I thought that was so awesome to see that the name of the product is a reminder to don’t give up.

I also found out from Our Daily Journal that chutzpah (khoot-spuh) is a Jewish/Hebrew word for headstrong persistence, unyielding tenacity, bold determination, and raw nerve. Right now my husband and I have several things concerning our children that we are imploring the Lord for with intense chutzpah. We will not give up until we see God answer. There are several examples of this in scripture and God was pleased with it.

In Genesis 32:24-29 Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!”  And God blessed him!

In Matthew 15:22-28 a woman comes to Jesus concerning her daughter’s possessed condition and she refused to leave Him alone until He healed her daughter.  Jesus commended her faith.

In Luke 11 Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray and told a story about being persistent in asking.

God is pleased when we trust Him so much we come to Him with chutzpah.  Keep petitioning God on behalf of your children!!!

Listen to this song and sing it with your children as you resolve to  Don’t Give Up (Royal Tapestry Records, 1985)

What do you do between the time your child rebels and the time he or she comes back to the Lord? In looking at the story of the prodigal son,  we have seen why the son left; and we have seen the father’s loving forgiveness when the son came back. But what do you do during the time of rebellion?

I went to a seminar years ago that dealt with this very issue. I’m sorry I don’t remember who led the seminar but one point stands out.

Truth   +   Space   +    Prayer   +    Unconditional Love  =  A Changed Life!

• Lay the proper foundation of the truth of God’s Word.
• Give them their space . . . let them take flight!
• Continue in warfare praying.
• Show them unconditional love when they return
• This will result in a changed life.

St. Augustine is held in great esteem in Christianity.  But he was not always saintly.  He fell into a rebellious lifestyle and fathered a child out of wedlock.  He was heavy into drinking.  His mother was a virtuous woman by the name of Monica. Sometimes she almost despaired; but she was greatly comforted by a Christian friend who said to her, “A son of so many prayers cannot be lost.” Some time after that he was converted and went on to be one of the founding fathers of the church.

Max Lucado has said, “God has too much invested in a wayward believer to leave them where they are!”

If you have a child who is adrift and wandering from the Lord, meditate and pray the following scriptures . . . there is power in praying the Word .

• 2 Tim. 3:14-15 (NKJV)  
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
• Proverbs 24:15-16 (NKJV)  Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;
    Do not plunder his resting place; 
 For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
• Proverbs 11:21 (NKJV)  Though they join forces, the wicked will not go unpunished;
    But the seed of the righteous will be delivered.
• Proverbs 12:7 (NKJV)  The wicked are overthrown and are no more,
    But the house of the righteous will stand.
• Isaiah 59:21 (NKJV)  “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”
• Jeremiah 24:5-7 (NKJV)  “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. [6] For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. [7] Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.
• Psalm 23:3 (NKJV)   He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
• Ezekiel 11:18-20 (NKJV)  And they will go there, and they will take away all its detestable things and all its abominations from there. [19] Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, [20] that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
• Jeremiah 31:16-17 (NKJV)  Thus says the Lord:”Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord,And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the Lord, That your children shall come back to their own border.

Prayer is the mightiest weapon in the universe.  Use it to reclaim your children.

http://www.trainupthechild.org/2008/11/17/keeping-thanks-in-thanksgiving-songs-and-psalms/

Another Thanksgiving idea:

http://www.trainupthechild.org/2008/11/16/keeping-thanks-in-thanksgiving-thank-you-god-list/

Our son Jon proposed to Mallory tonight!  She is an answer to 25 years of praying.  “We didn’t even know her name, but we were praying for her just the same, that the Lord would write His name upon her heart, because somewhere in the course of this life, our little boy would need a Godly wife.”  We are very thankful for God’s gift of Mallory to Jon and our family.

Please listen to this song.  We first heard it when our boys were very small.  It is a father singing about the little girl that will one day become his little boy’s wife.  Becca and I listened to it together when Josh proposed to her;  Mallory and I just finished listening to it together.

11-somewhere-in-the-world [mp3 download available at Somewhere In The World (LP Version)]

Pray for your children’s future mates.  God is faithful to hear and answer your prayers.  Thank you, Father!!!

I have recently discovered I am not super woman  – surprise, surprise -  and can not continue to work full time and adequately accomplish the  things that God has for me to do .

I am thrilled to resume my God-given role in the home again after working for five years.  Although I will greatly miss the people I have had the privilege of meeting and working with, and am sad to leave the children I have so enjoyed watching grow and learn, I know this is what God wants for me.

Right now I am thankful for the opportunity  to spend every day with our 11 month old grandson and his mom, Becca, and dad, Josh, as they have recently moved in with us.  In January they will move to California to answer their calling to be a positive influence in the entertainment industry.  Becca and I are duplicating some of my visuals (like Joe) for her to use with Grant.

I am now available to take calls any time of the day from Jer who lives in California, Jon who travels a lot, and Jenny who lives in Orlando.  This last week I loved  having all of the Daws clan (but Jenny  ) under the same roof as Jer has been home for a visit.  We have enjoyed our time together, but missed Jenny, of course.  We had fun Wednesday night as everyone carved a pumpkin and then Friday night as we made fondue,  complete with cheese appetizer and chocolate dessert.

Although our children are grown and don’t physically need us as much, our prayers are even more important in their lives than ever, as they face many challenges in this world.  Billy and I are able to spend more time in prayer for them and also for others each morning. Please give us the privilege of praying for you as well; just email your prayer requests to sheilahdaws@gmail.com

I am now free to be more of  a support and encouragement to Billy in ministry, which is what we have always enjoyed doing together.    Also, it has continually been such a blessing for us to use  our home as a place of encouragement and refreshment  for others and now I am able to do more of that.

Billy and I, and the family, are running on a regular basis and are changing some eating habits.  Becca and I are enjoying trying some new recipes.  I am researching the importance of what we eat  and the affects it has  on our health -  something I have been interested in for years.  I hope to start taking classes soon in regards to that.

I am typing up my book of activities I used in teaching scripture to my children through the years and now am able to fulfill Deuteronomy 4:9 by having a part in teaching my grandchild.   I will soon be sharing on this blog some of the material from the book.

Without my salary, we are in a position once again in our lives to see God miraculously provide for our needs as we exercise our faith in Him. God has led us to this point and “where God guides, He provides”  We have a journal full of entries of how God has provided for us through the years.

I am so thankful that God has given me this opportunity to be at home again, not that I deserve it, but that in His grace and mercy He has chosen to bless me with the desire of my heart.

God is good

He is always right

And His timing is always perfect

Click on this link somuch-scott to hear a fun, thankful song that the children love.   I couldn’t remember exactly how it went so I called our good friend and minister of music, Scott Eaton, and got him to sing it over the phone.  Start with your hands together and as you sing the song pull them further and further apart until your arms are wide open.  Bring your hands back together in a big clap before the last phrase.

You can sing this next song to  the tune of :”Frere Jacques” also known as “Are You Sleeping?”  Sing it with hands folded in prayer and head bowed:

We are thankful
We are thankful
Yes we are
Yes we are
Thankful for our food
Thankful for our family
Give God thanks
Give God thanks

This would be a good time to memorize Psalm 100 or any psalm of thanks.  If your child can’t read yet, try making a picture for the main words in the psalm to help in memorizing.

Psalm 100:1-5

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

Serve the Lord with gladness:

Come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;

We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,and into his courts with praise:

Be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting;
and his truth endureth to all generations.

About the 1st of November, I always put a large piece of paper and tie a pen on the refrigerator with the words, “Thank you God for” at the top.  Family members are encouraged to regularly write down something they are thankful for.  This has been a tradition for many years in our home. We enjoy writing our own and reading what the rest of the family has written.

Writing down your blessings can really change your outlook.  As the old hymn by Johnson Oatman says, “Count your many blessings; name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

What a mother-to-be eats during pregnancy feeds the child physically.  It is necessary for the baby’s normal, healthy physical development.  In the same way, what the mother takes into her spirit feeds the baby’s spirit.  Andrew Murray, in his book, How to Raise Your Children for Christ
, points out that in that holy time of mystery, when mother and child are still one, and influences from a mother’s spirit pass into the child, God says that the mother is to obey all that He commands. (Judges 13:14)  God wants the mother obeying His Word and thus feeding the child’s spirit with scripture.

It is interesting that there are 9 Fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23 and there are 9 months of pregnancy.  Take one Fruit each month of pregnancy to study, pray, and meditate on.  I did this with my 4 pregnancies and now I am praying with my daughter-in-law as she is praying the Fruit of the Spirit into her first child due in November (Grant William at 20 weeks pictured above).

Listed below are my notes from studying and meditating on the Fruit of the Spirit when I was pregnant.

1. Love – giving to others’ basic needs without having as my motive any personal reward

John 17:26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

2. Joy – the exultation of my inward being that results from genuine harmony with God and others

John 17:13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

3. Peace – harmony with God, others, and self

Philip. 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

4. Longsuffering – patience, endurance, inward strength to withstand stress

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count

slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

5. Gentleness – expressing personal care appropriate to another’s emotional need

Titus 3:2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

6. Goodness – righteousness, loving-kindness

Romans 11:22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

7. Faith – visualizing what God intends to do in a given situation and acting in harmony with it

Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

8. Meekness – controlled, humble, yielding my personal rights and expectations to God

1 Peter 3:4 rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a meek and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.

9. Temperance – self control, mastering one’s desires and passions, instant obedience to the initial promptings of God’s Spirit

1 Cor. 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.