Investing in your children for eternity ~ prayer George Romney ~ Lady Hamilton praying "The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,
and His ears are attentive to their cries." Psalm 34:15
Babies are dependent on us for our very existence--our milk, our protection, our love and words and care, daily, every moment. When they cry, we, like God, are attentive and respond. It is the way we know their needs.When we respond to them with tenderness and an overflowing of our love, deep in their beings, they begin to understand that God is one who responds to their cries.
God has designed them to be fragile so that we can put an imprint of God's very hands and love and grace into the molding places of their hearts and minds, so that in "feeling" our love, they become predisposed to know and believe in His love and touch when they hear the stories of Him. Our constant service to them and pouring out of our lives when they are tiny, become a familiar pattern to their brains to understand His generous love, sacrifice and redemption.
But as our children grow, they become more able to stand on their own feet, to think for themselves, to begin making decisions that will have consequences. When we are young and our children are young, we have some sense that we are in control of their lives--that what we do and how we control them will determine what they will become.
However, the older my children become, I realize that apart from God's working deep in their souls, they will not follow His course of righteousness. I cannot control their lives, circumstances, or inform their decisions. There is a dark world of temptation, idolatry, despair, immorality at calling to them at every point. But I am not left helpless or hopeless. I can have a big impact on their lives and can help shoulder their burdens every day.
Over the years, I slowly grew into an understanding that unless the Lord stirs their hearts, quickens their minds to the scripture they have learned to love in my home, they will be sorely tempted to go the way of the world. And so, now, though I am in constant communication with my older children and encouraging and listening, I know that my biggest work in their lives will be before the throne of God.
Even as I see Jesus so often praying the whole night, and read that He prayed for Peter, and look at the loving, tender words of prayer in John 17, I know, too that I must model my life after His. The real work in my children's souls, the fingertips that will mold and shape their hearts, is that of the Holy Spirit. My work is to mysteriously engage with Him before God's throne, and it is there that the life of my children will bloom afresh. I share with you a small portion from one of my books:
The more time I spend with my Father in prayer, the better prepared I will be to help my children. And even more important, the more I can rest in the Lord knowing, by faith, that my children are in his hands. When I can trust in God's providence, draw upon his grace, join in the spiritual battle through prayer, and praise his name, all the other things I do as a mother seem to pale in significance. The more I grow as a mother, the more I grow convinced that the most important impact I will ever have on my children will be through my prayers for them. ~ Seasons of a Mother's Heart p. 201
"Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." Hebrews 10:19-22
What are you praying for your children? Write down one thing for each child and commit to approaching God's throne in confidence daily until Christmas Day. May the Lord bless you as you give your children the best gift ever ~ your prayers!