BECOMING INTENTIONAL ABOUT PRAYER Be honest. Many of us shorten our prayer time when we feel overwhelmed, disconnect from Jesus to check our social media, or let our minds wander during quiet time. I confess I’ m guilty of these charges.
If we are going to battle victoriously for the souls of our children and grandchildren, we need to stay in tiptop spiritual shape. We must nurture and maintain a strong relationship with the Lord through a healthy diet of God’ s Word. Mark it on your calendar.
PRAYING DAILY I met a grandfather who told me about his great aunt, six generations removed. She was born in the Ukraine and spent her entire life on her knees— not in a convent or cathedral, but in the fields, harvesting potatoes. As she worked, she prayed for her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and the generations coming after them. Six generations later, all her descendants have devoted their lives to Christ.
Praying for your family can be daunting when you have multiple grandchildren. I recommend using one of these strategies:
1. Commit to praying for your grandchildren every day. 2. Set an alarm reminding you to pray.
3. Create a prayer calendar, assigning a day of the week for each grandchild. If you have more than seven grandchildren, assign each an entire week.
4. Ask your grandchildren for their prayer requests. If they’ re too young, ask their parents. Make this a habit. 5. Include prayers in cards you send. 6. Write prayers for your children and grandchildren in your Bible. This creates a beautiful legacy to leave your family.
7. Create a photo-prayer journal or scrapbook for each grandchild at the start of a new school year. Record your prayers, along with a photograph of the grandchild’ s first day of school. Pray that they are able to concentrate, make wise decisions, persevere under pressure, get along with others, and stand up for what is right. Present them with their journals at the end of the school year.
8. Say brief“ whisper prayers” for them throughout the day.
If we are going to battle victoriously for the souls of our children and grandchildren, we need to stay in tiptop spiritual shape.
9. Ask one or more grandparents to pray regularly with you.
10. Thank God for answered prayers.
PRAYING PERSISTENTLY Jesus masterfully employs parables to illustrate lessons and divine truths. In the parable of the Friend at Midnight, He compares God with a man who refuses to get out of bed and supply his neighbor with food. Unlike the hardhearted man, our heavenly Father is sympathetic to our plight. He is compassionate, merciful, and the essence of sacrificial love. We can approach Him anytime, assured that His door is open.
Jesus uses this parable to demonstrate how we should pray. He tells us to be as relentless in our prayer life as the persistent neighbor is in obtaining bread. Jesus follows this parable with a well-known verse:“ And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you”( Lk. 11:9). The Greek translation means to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep knocking. Don’ t stop!
According to the Apostle Paul, our weapon in the spiritual battle for our children and grandchildren is the“ sword of the Spirit, the Word of God”( Eph. 6:17). Our prayers become powerful and effective when we embed them with God’ s Word, known in religious circles as“ praying Scripture.”
Examples:
1. Father God, I pray that( name your grandchildren) will“ obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ”( 1 Thess. 5:9).
2. Father God, I pray that( name your grandchildren) will realize they are your“ workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”( Eph. 2:10).
3. Father God, I pray that( name your grandchildren) will“ flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart”( 2 Tim. 2:22). Find more verses to pray for your children and grandchildren at christiangrandparenting. com / free-resources.
MODELING PRAYER TO THE NEXT GENERATION Passing our faith to grandchildren is not always easy. Many of us are separated from them by distance, divorce, broken relationships, misplaced priorities, unwarranted suspicions,
34 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW