My prayers

My last entry about Carie wanting to be like me when she grows up got me thinking about some of the prayers I pray for my children. There are so many, but the ones I share here were at the forefront of my mind as I wrote about Carie.

My prayer for all of my children is that they will love the Lord their God with all of their heart and all of their soul and all of their strength and all of their mind and love their neighbor as themselves. I pray that they will follow Jesus and walk in humble obedience to God as Jesus did. I pray that they will be honest with themselves and with God that they are not perfect -- they don't love perfectly, not God or His creation, nor are they perfectly obedient. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). I pray that they will realize "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). I pray that they will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved, hold firmly to their faith, and abide in Him. I pray that when they mess up they will confess their sins and know God's forgiveness. I also pray that they will realize that Jesus can sympathize with their weakness as He was tempted in every way yet did not sin and because of this Hebrews 4:16 says, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." I pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and that the fruit of the spirit will abound in them.

As Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-21, so I pray for my children, family, and friends:

For this reason I kneel before the Father,

from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power

through his Spirit in your inner being,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you,

being rooted and established in love,

may have power together with all the saints,

to grasp how wide

and long

and high

and deep

is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge

-- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more

than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us,

to him be glory in the church

and in Christ Jesus

throughout all generations,

for ever and ever!

Amen.