Stop Your Kid Prayer

By -
What do you desire for your children?  What request do you make of God for their future? 

Successful adulthood.  Loving spouse.  Homeownership.  Flourishing business.  Grandkids.

I'm sure we've all prayed along those lines when imagining their future and where God may take them once they leave the nest.  I've prayed this prayer even before my kids were conceived.  Envisioning and praying for success by today's world standards became effortless and simple. 

Last Friday changed my mindset.  The words that leaped off the page while reading, "Parenting Beyond Your Capacity" were profound and life changing.  The authors, Reggie Joiner and Carey Nieuwhof, suggest there are simply three prayers we should declare over our children.

  1. You want your children to become people who pursue a relationship with God.
  2. You want your children to become people who love others the way God does.
  3. You want your children to become people who see themselves the way God sees them.
Just imagine the magnitude of success established through these simple words.  Visualize the transformation in your child's self-image if they could see themselves as God sees them.  They would be able to know that they are precious in His sight despite their mistakes and shortcomings.  Even if you move beyond the parent-child relationship, it's just as impactful for the husband-wife relationship. 

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."
Matthew 22:37-40 (MSG)

We are to seek the kingdom of God first.  Everything else we desire will be added if we would just align our will with His will.  Pray in a different way and expect a radical change! (Posted by Renee)

Connect with us on Facebook or join the conversation on Twitter @doubleportionin.





Comments

  1. Cindy SmithMarch 17, 2012 at 1:00 PM

    Hi Renee,
    This week we linked page 158 of Parenting Beyond Your Capacity back to page 139.
    "-it has to be in you before it can be in them.
    Moses implies that before you ask who your children are becoming, you have to examine who you are becoming."

    Are you:
    1. pursuing a relationship with God?
    2. loving others the way God does?
    3. seeing yourself the way God sees you?

    As we pray these 3 things for our children, with great passion and faith, let's include ourselves in those prayers and, as we live it out, be blessed just like our kids are being blessed.

    Dueteronomy 6:6,7a Amplified Bible
    6And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be [first] in your [own] minds and hearts; [then]

    7You shall whet and sharpen them so as to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the [minds and] hearts of your children,

    Cindy Smith

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Renee ScottMarch 17, 2012 at 9:42 PM

      Cindy,

      I enjoyed reading this chapter of the book. At the end of it all, what matters is whether or not you are living in a manner you desire for your kids. If it's good for them, it has to also be good for you.

      Thanks for being an excellent small group instructor!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! We enjoy reading each comment. Stay inspired!

Popular posts from this blog

My Top 5 Tips To Stay Fit Without a Gym!

By -
Image
It's Fun Friday and I'm sharing some great workout tips.  Fortunately I've never struggled with working out (it's the good eating that always throws me for a loop).  I've always enjoyed going to the gym. So you can imagine when I moved to my rural community I was stressed with the fact that there wasn't a gym nearby.  Needless to say, I had to get creative on staying fit.  My business travel schedule, community and church obligations didn't make finding time to work out any easier.  I realized that my creative juices would have to flow on a alternative way to stay fit.  Here are some of my fun, no gym needed workouts: Walk/run intervals through the neighborhood Cardiovascular exercise is the foundation of most of my work- outs.  The light posts in my neighborhood provide a great way to walk & run in equal distance from the back to the front of the subdivision.  I will normally walk, jog, or sprint in intervals between each light post. Jump
Read more

Take A Lesson From Ants

By -
Image
I walked into my house and a portion of my floor was covered with little, black ants.  I instantly knew the kids had dropped some sticky substance on the tile floor. That mess attracted what looked like an entire nest of these little, pesky insects.  They were all moving around in unison enjoying what was probably going to be their lunch or dinner. Ironically on Sunday, a dear friend gave me a wonderful scripture about the lesson we can learn from ants.  Really, I thought, how can I possibly learn anything from something that annoys me so much.  I guess you know where I'm going with this.  There is a lesson to learn from ants about efficiency and productivity.   The ants didn't waste any time moving into action to retrieve whatever mess my boys left on the floor.  Not only that, they called all of their "ant" friends to help them in this insurmountable task. Are you a slacker?  Do you like to procrastinate?  Do you constantly have the attitude, "I'll ju
Read more

I Am Raising America's Most Hated...

By -
Image
BEWARE:  This is not your normal blog post It is not easy raising children.  But raising one of our country's most hated members of society brings more complication into the equation.  Let me clarify for you...raising a black male in America IS scary.  The world easily looks at color on a male as a deterrent to any intellectual ability.  Most men of color are viewed with the ability to only perform one thing - entertainment.  It could be a stand up comedian, singer, runner, actor, football or basketball player. Black males, unfortunately, only see the world through limited lenses.  Other races, ethnicities and gender can view the world with a vast amount of opportunities, but not if you are a black male.  You walk into a room or a packed elevator and people grab their handbags.  You walk next to their car and they lock their doors.  It's the overwhelming amount of negative images that have plagued and are fed into mainstream homes via our tv, social media and newspapers.
Read more