A Father’s Prayers for His Children - Purity 1327

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of an Eric Carle illustration of a penguin with its young comes to us from yours truly as I captured this work of art with my iPhone's camera during my visit to the Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts this past weekend. Although I saw this illustration used to wish moms a happy Mother's Day in the past, I would encourage you to check out the classic documentary film, uh, The March of the Penguins, to understand the importance of the father's role in the empire— emperor penguin's life cycle. After the egg is hatched, it is the father who protects the eggs from the cold. As the penguin grows and grows, the mother leaves the father with the egg to search for food. It's truly an incredible testimony to the importance of the whole traditional family unit as as life for the penguin just doesn't happen without a mother and father working together to survive. Well, it's Tuesday, and although I returned to work after a week's vacation yesterday, my shifted tour has me, uh, home to enjoy another day off today, as I am scheduled to work on Saturday because of a late-night reviewing of more teachings from Light University for my mental health coaching certification Yep, my quest for knowledge, equipping, and validation apparently knows no limits. I've decided to shift my daily workout down the road, enjoy an extra hour's rest this morning, and then similarly sort of mailing it in this morning with the blog and podcast in a sense, but not really. The consequences of administering tough love to my adult son recently resulted in his choice to move out of my home to his at his sister's place in Troy. He's been suffering from joblessness since January, listlessness and depression over the past few months, and I tried to inspire a change of mood by making him accountable for being responsible for himself, both mentally and financially. Although he initially agreed to seek employment, he decided to move out when he determined some of my demands to be unreasonable. I suggested he get a haircut And when he resisted, I feared his reluctance was a sign that he wasn't really with the restoration program, and I made it a condition for staying in my home. Rather than taking my money to get cleaned up, he opted to move out. Despite a few attempts to reestablish communication, I haven't heard from him since. While I am relieved that he is with loved ones who can support him, and that he isn't isolating alone in his former room upstairs, my heart goes out to Lord for him in prayer each morning with a request that God would turn things around in his life to make him flourish again. While I was worried that I may have pushed too far in trying to remedy my son's problem, the mental health coach training lesson on depression that I viewed last night caused me to be reassured that allowing them to sit and fester in my home as I had, I had been doing doing during his gap year after his high school graduation and his dropping out of community college after a semester or two, and for the first few months of his unemployment this year, was only enabling him. His purposelessness and depression didn't improve when left on its own, and I am hopeful that the change of venue will cause him to either get the help he needs, decide to get a job to care for himself, or to do both. Uh, the lesson on depression I viewed last night gave the example of a 35-year-old man living at home who had formerly functioned normally in his high school years but who had suffered losses and didn't adapt to the transition of college. He left school for home and never left home again. And approximately 15 years later, he's still being cared for by his parents. I don't know how my son is faring at his sister's place or if he is improving, but I know that his story will not be the same as this 35-year-old man whom I heard about. I'd been practicing what I thought was patience and understanding, and maybe I was, but now I realize that my letting my son "find his own way" could be considered enabling his irresponsibility. And feeding the conditions of his depression. But no more. For better or worse, no more. And I'm almost ashamed to admit the tremendous peace I have about his choosing to find his way somewhere else. But it doesn't mean I don't love my son and I don't— or I don't care about him. Fatherlessness and strained or estranged relationship with dads are a big crisis in our society. And as I minister to men, I have heard plenty of testimonies regarding prodigal children who have rejected their Christian faith along with their Christian fathers. One such father who has felt the pain of separation from his children is my friend Raif. Raif was a participant in the Freedom in Christ course I facilitated this spring, and I was honored to see the Lord work mightily during the course and in his freedom appointment to give Raif his freedom in Christ. When we lead others to experience their freedom in Christ, we often learn from them. In hearing about my problems with my son, Rafe shared the following prayers and Bible verses that he composed to pray for his children and for himself, for the things he had— from the things he had learned and applied to his life from the Freedom in Christ course. I share them today with his permission and encourage you to use them or to share them if you have difficulties with your children. And so the following is written by Rafael Guajardo, and it's entitled Prayer for My Children. And Rafe prays: I worship you, Lord. I praise you, and I say thank you, Father. You're so loving and kind and good, and I thank you so much for your grace and your kindness and your unchanging love for me and my family. Jesus, Jesus, you make the darkness tremble. Jesus, Jesus, you silence fear. My gracious Heavenly Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and Mighty Holy Spirit, there is nothing too difficult for you. You are so gracious, you're so full of compassion and goodness. You love my children more than I do. They are your children first and foremost, and I thank you for each and every one of them. I come in boldness to your throne of grace to lift up my children and grandchildren to you. And you can list your children or grandchildren by name here and then say, please save and deliver them for the glory of God. Please forgive them of any and all sin they have committed against you. I stand in the gap for them, and as their earthly father, I decree and declare in faith that they are saved. Healed and delivered by mercy, by the mercy of God and the blood of Jesus and the power of the cross. May they hate their sin and may be loathsome to them. May nothing of this world satisfy them. May they get sick and tired of what the world has to offer. Please grant them repentance. Open up their eyes and soften their hearts. May they sense your presence and be drawn to you this day. May they hunger and thirst for righteousness. I call upon their holy angels to do battle on their behalf. I put a hedge of protection around them now, a wall surrounding them. By the truth of your word and the authority I have in Christ, I take my stand against Satan, his demons, and all the forces of darkness. I come against and bind every spirit, every spirit of evil influence on them, and I loose the power and influence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I come against the spirit of confusion and loose godly wisdom to them in Jesus' name. I break down every demonic stronghold and power of the enemy over them in the mighty name of Jesus. I come against the spirit of rebellion, spirit of pride, the spirit of religion, the spirit of unbelief, the spirit of hypocrisy, the spirit of witchcraft, the spirit of homosexuality, the spirit of sensuality, the spirit of perversion, the spirit of fear, and the spirit of Antichrist, and any other ungodly spirit that is not from the Lord Jesus Christ. By his name and his authority, I command you to get off my children now and go to a place where Jesus Christ sends you. They are children of God, children of light, lovers of Christ and all that is good in the sight of the Lord. Father, expose the lies that they have believed about you and themselves. May they see the truth of you and your word. May they repent and seek your face. May they know and understand that they are in rebellion against you. May they know and understand that they are prodigals. May they know and understand their need for salvation. May their hearts of stone be broken. And may they be softened by your everlasting kindness. I condemn any ungodly words or curses spoken over them. I pray that you will take everything and anything out of their lives that is holding them back from having a personal relationship with you. I pray that you would take away ungodly relationships and friendships out of their lives today and replace them with godly people. I pray and condemn all ungodly demonic spirits influencing social media sites, books, shows, and ungodly influencers that are holding them back from the truth. I curse those demonic and heretical sites in Jesus' name. May the enemy— enemies' camp be in confusion and destroy themselves. Expose the darkness and the wickedness and give them eyes to see the truth and the light. Take away any ungodly or unholy things or objects to tarot cards, crystals, ungodly art or music from their lives. I break the demonic curses over them in Jesus' name. Now would you bring in all that is holy, true, and righteous in their lives? Draw them to the truth of your word. May they seek out goodness instead of evil. Please bring messengers of the gospel to them. Wherever they turn, may they hear the gospel bring your people to their schools and workplaces. Everywhere they turn, may they run into people that will love them with the gospel. May they be drawn to godly social media sites and speakers, teachers that would— that they would admire and respect. Bring in everything that is godly and holy so that they will be influenced to do what is right and good. I pray that your holy angels would continue to watch over them and keep them safe from all harm. Holy Spirit, please bring conviction of sin and grant them repentance, leading them to the knowledge of your truth so they can experience complete freedom in Christ. May they be healed from every wound they have experienced in the church and by their Christian family and friends. May they truly forgive those who have offended them and brought them harm. May they see that they, they There are good Christians out there who live in your truth and walk in your ways. Have mercy on them and bring them back to you. Use all of their gifts and talents for your glory. I commit them to your service. You are worthy of their lives. Glorify yourself in them. May they know who they are in Christ. May they know their true identity in you, oh Lord. May they be completely free in Christ. May they serve you in whatever capacity that you would want them to. By faith, I hold on to the vision you gave me of all of us standing before your altar with our hands lifted high, praising and worshiping you, Lord. As their earthly father, I pray that I will represent you in the most authentic way. Give me the, the father heart of God. Pour in and through your divine love. Pour in and through me your divine love, mercy, grace, compassion. Love them through me according to your word, your promises, goodness, mercy, and faithfulness. May they glorify you in all that they do, for you alone are worthy. I thank you in advance for doing your work of grace and redemption in their lives as for answering this prayer. I trust you completely with them. May you be glorified in their lives. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. And then great Rafe also shared the following scriptures, um, for me to pray for my kids. And, um, the first one is, um, evil people will surely be punished, but the children of the godly will go free. Proverbs 11:21, NLT. The godly walk with integrity. Blessed are their children who follow them. Proverbs 20:7, uh, 20:7, NLT. For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields, and I will pour out my spirit on your descendants and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass like willows on a riverbank. Isaiah 44:3-4 NLT. I will teach all your children, and they will enjoy great peace. You will be secure under a government that is just and fair. Your enemies will stay far away. You will live in peace, and terror will not come near. Isaiah 54:13-14 NLT. But the Lord says, the captives of warriors will be released and the plunder of tyrants will be retrieved. For I will fight those who fight you, and I will save your children. Isaiah 49:25 NLT. But now this is what the Lord says: Do not weep any longer, for I will reward you, says the Lord. Your children will come back to you from the distant land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord. Your children will come again to their own land. Jeremiah 31:16-17 NLT. Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the Lord arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse. Malachi 4:5-6 NLT. Love your enemies, do good to them, lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are thankful and— who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Luke 35, Luke 6:35-36, NLT. Peter replied, each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away, all who have been called by the Lord our God. Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39, NLT. They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved along with everyone in your household." Acts of the Apostles 16:31, NLT. May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children. Psalms 115:14, NIV. And finally, all your children insert your name here, Rafe, uh, will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. In righteousness you will see them be established. Tyranny will be far from you and them. You will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed. It will not come near you or your children and your children's children. Isaiah 54:13-14, NIV. The Lord loves my children. More than I do. That's everything from our good friend Rafe, and so I hope Rafe's prayer and Bible verses encourage you and inspire you to pray for your children and to trust our Heavenly Father to help them in the way they should go. Today's Bible verses, if you didn't get enough from Rafe's Bible verses, are, uh, comes from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Kruis. This morning's meditation verse comes from the section on death and eternal life, and today's verse is Romans 14:8 from the New American Standard Bible. The verse is: For if we live, we live for the Lord; or if we die, we die for the, for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Today's verse falls under the 9th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on death and eternal life, and that 9th point is In life and death, we are the Lord's. Today's verse encourages us that in both life and death, our purpose and our identity is grounded in Christ. The disciple's life is a surrendered life. We choose to live for God and shape our lives to follow him, for better or worse, in death and in— in life and in death, because we know that in Christ we are the Lord's. Nothing can separate us from the Father's love. So we need not fear, for God is with us whether we— wherever we go, regard— and regardless of the circumstances. Amen. Uh, let's see. And as always, we invite you to go to mtforchrist.org, where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word, morning and evening, through the New Testament. Presented by Stephen F. Alford. Today's devotional prompts us to read John 19, and from John 19, Alford shares a portion of John 19:16, which says, "They took Jesus and led him away." And Stephen Alford writes, Isaiah prophesies the same matchless grace of the Lord Jesus when he writes, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter." And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. Isaiah 53:7. Peter also says, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. 1 Peter 2:23. A little before this verse are the words, for to this you were called, because Christ also He also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps. 1 Peter 2:21. They took Jesus and led him away. John 19:16. What grace and humility are here manifest. He did not refuse to be led to the slaughter. Indeed, sacred love caused him to be led in utter weakness that I might learn. By his matchless example. And Alfred ends his devotional entry by praying, Lord, give me a measure of your grace and humility when I face those who would persecute me. Amen. And yeah, and sometimes, you know, our relationships, uh, we— for standing in the gap, for being a Christian, uh, in today's society, we face persecution. Persecution from those nearest and dearest to us, their rejection. I don't know if it's rightly called a persecution, but it sure feels like it, you know, that we're just trying to— we're just trying to teach people the way they should go according to God's Word, and we're rejected for it, and it hurts, and we have broken relationships over it. we suffer loss. And we understand, you know, at least I understand that the gospel, the religion, go against what I want to do personally, you know, my flesh. And when my youth, I wife ardently rejected the gospel just like my children have. And I don't know if that's a family curse or just the way of the world, but it's difficult. Because when you get some perspective, when you realize that the world fails to satisfy even though it tempts us, when you realize that, that ultimate reality ends in Jesus and ends in God. That this world and everything that's in it was made by God and will be reclaimed by God. And we will answer for how we use this life. When we realize that, we realize that the Kingdom of God is the only thing that matters. And that we, when we come into alignment with it, We try to follow the Lord and share the gospel, that's when we find our purpose and peace in life. And unfortunately, that answer is rejected by the spirit of this world. It hurts. So, so I offered my friend Rafe's prayers today and those Bible verses for any parents who are suffering from a loss of relationship with their their children, or just worried about them in general. Some mighty prayers, and it's a long prayer, but it's a good prayer. And, uh, Rayth gives you— Rayth gives you those, uh, those verses to help you to see that God has promises for us and his children, and that we should, you know, stand by faith on those things and fully accept At the same time, that our children are responsible for their own relationship with the Lord, but doesn't mean we can't pray for them. So even if they reject, we don't know the end from the beginning, and you know, our prayers change things. So we should try and let the Lord do— have his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So that's it for today. I have the day off. I have to figure out what I'm going to do. I have sort of ideas, but things have gone wrong already this morning, and I have to recalculate to see what I want to do with this day. But whatever it is, I'm going to rejoice that I'm alive and well in Christ, surrounded by love of family and friends and my spiritual family, even if it's not my biological family all the time. So, um, but we thank the Lord for his blessings and pray for blessings from everyone who's listening today. So let's pray those blessings. Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we thank you so much for our freedom in Christ. We thank you for the new life you've given us and the hope that we have every day because of you. Um, well, we, we pray for anyone who's listening today that you come alongside them in their prayer requests bless their walk of faith. Um, Lord, we pray for you to show them the way they should go and to bless them abundantly. And Lord, as for us, we pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see today and lead us in the way we should go. Make the best use of our time today to build us up in our faith and to, uh, to give us rest and peace and joy, all according to your will, of course. For us, Lord. And we thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.