Power of a Praying Parent

My son is away at a Christ in Youth Conference this week. I am very happy for him to be spending this time with hundreds of other teens, concentrating on his relationship with the Lord. I am especially hopeful for the timeing of this conference as it is right before school starts and the time he will get his drivers license.

I have been having a hard time dealing with the fact that my son is growing up. The thought of him having his drivers license and being out in the world on his own is really making me anxious. Will he make good choices or will he give in to peer pressure?

One day a friend was sharing with me something in her "Power of a Praying Parent" book by Stormie Omartian. I have one good book about praying for children called, "Praying the Scriptures for Your Children" by Jodie Berndt, but felt I should get Stormie's book too. There really is something to praying from God's Word. Anyway - yesterday morning I read the Chapter from Stormie's book called "Developing a Hunger for the Things of God". It was so good and the prayer at the end was everything I could ever want for my son. So I prayed it: Father, I pray for Dustin to have an ever increasing hunger for more of You. May he long for Your presence-long to spend time with You in prayer, praise, and worship. Give him a desire for the truth of Your Word and a love for Your laws and Your ways. Teach him to live by faith and be led by the Holy Spirit, having an availability to do what You tell him to do. May he be so aware of the fullness of Your Holy Spirit in him that when he is depleted in any way he will immediately run to You to be renewed and refreshed. I pray that his heart will not have any allegiances or diversions away from You, but rather that he would be repulsed by ungodliness and all that is in opposition to You. May a deep reverence and love for You and Your ways color everything he does and every choice he makes. Help him to understand the consequences of his actions and know that a life controlled by the flish will only reap death. May Dustin not be wise in his own eyes, but rather 'fear the Lord and depart from evil'. (Prov 3:7) I pray that he will be reliable, dependable, responsible, compassionate, sensitive, loving, and giving to others. Deliver him from any pride, laziness, slothfulness, selfishness or lust of the flesh. I pray that he will have a teachable and submissive spirit that says, "Yes" to the things of God and "No" to the things of the flesh. Strengthen him to stand strong in his convictions. I pray that he will always desire to be an active member of a Christian church that is alive to the truth of Your Word and the power of Holy spirit-led worship, prayer, and teaching. As he learns to read our Word, write Your law in his mind and on his heart so that he alwys walks with a confident assurance of the righteousness of Your commands. As he learns to pray, may he also learn to listen for Your voice. I pray that his relationship with You will never beome lukewarm, indifferent, or shallow. May there always be a Holy Spirit fire in his heart and an unwavering desire for the things of God. Thru Jesus I pray - Amen

Then last night he called about 11:30. He asked what I was doing and after I answered that I was sleeping, I asked how his day was. He said "Great! He went onto tell me about their lesson on Peter and how we need to be sold out for God and not afraid to take everything out of the box for Jesus. Don't hold anything back or try to hide things. He told me the message was the kind of message you would hear on the last day of being at a conference and that the kids were really changed already by what they heard. He told me he called because he wanted me to keep praying for him and for his friends. THis about made me cry. It was just such evidence of God at work and answering my prayer that morning. God is so good.

I have concluded that I cannot always be with my son. I cannot always know what he does or tell him which choice to make. But I can pray for him and God can and will be with him. The Holy Spirit is alive in my son and He will be his helper. I will have to remind myself of this over and over. It is hard as a mother to let go and let your child to go into the world. But ultimately, my son belongs to God - and He loves him even more than I do. That is how he loves each of us. So much He sent his Son to die in my place, in your place and in my son's place. Now that's love.