Becoming a Praying Parent

For those of you who have never read this book I highly recommend it!  I have had it for many years and have read it and prayed the prayers in it many times over my children.  

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Even before my boys were born like most Christian parents I prayed for them.  With my first son there were several times that the devil tried to cause problems with him during my pregnancy and immediately following his birth and we had to pray and stand against the attack from our enemy.  Once they were born I prayed for God to heal them when they were sick, I prayed for their protection and for blessings in and upon their lives but also like so many parents I truly did not understand the importance of covering EVERY area of their lives in prayer until I found Stormie's book "The Power of a Praying Parent".

Becoming a praying parent requires work and dedication.  It is a job to keep the details of our child's life covered in prayer.  I am not the perfect praying parent, I am learning just the same as you.  The important thing is that we pray.  We don't have to be perfect - God sees our hearts and will honor our faithfulness.

As we begin this journey together Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring to your mind the things you need to be in prayer about so you can begin making your own personalized list and pray for God to help you to be a praying parent. 

From the Book

(The following are quotes and passages from Stormie Omartian in her book "The Power of a Praying Parent"

Chapter One - Becoming a Praying Parent

What is Prayer and How does it Work?

**It's seeking the presence of God and releasing the power of God which gives us the means to overcome any problem. 

**When we pray we are humbling ourselves before God and saying, "I need Your presence and Your power, Lord.

**When we don't pray, it's like saying we have no need of anything outside of ourselves.

**God knows our thoughts and our needs, but He responds to our prayers.

Make a Personalized List

**It's not enough to pray only for the concerns of the moment;  we need to pray for the future, and we need to pray against the effects of past events.

**Ask God to show you how to pray for each child over the next 12 months.

Pray God's Word

**God's Word is "living and Powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12) and it pierces everything it touches.  God says His Word, "shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11). 

**When we employ God's Word in prayer, we are laying hold of the promises He gives us and appropriating them into the lives of our children. 

"It's the power of God that penetrates a child's life when a parent prays". 

"We don't even have to be parents.  We can be a friend, a teacher, a grandparent, an aunt, a cousin, a neighbor, a guardian, or even a stranger with a heart of compassion or concern for a child.  The child may be someone we hear of or read about in the newspaper;  the child may even be an adult for whom we have a mother's or father's heart.  If you're aware of a child who doesn't have a praying parent, you can step into the gap right now and answer that need.  You can effect a change in the life of any child you care about.  All it takes is a heart that says, "God, show me how to pray in a way that will make a difference in this child's life."  --  Stormie Omartian

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WOW, that is POWERFUL!

Are you ready and willing to take on this task of praying for our children? 

James 5:16 (b) (Amplified) says The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].