This world is really scary.  I know you probably already knew that.  But sometimes I am overwhelmed by how bad things seem to have gotten.  The stories that really affect me are stories of evil things happening to children.  It breaks my heart.  Sometimes I cry and ask God why these things are happening. It almost makes you want to not have children.  Well, that was how I felt.  But, I clearly remember when God spoke to me about having children.

Before I was even married, I remember having a discussion with a woman on an airplane.  Yes, I am one of those people that talks to EVERYBODY.  So if you sit on a 3-hour plane ride next to me, I am going to talk to you.

We talked about a lot of things, but we came around to her children and grandchildren.  I remember us talking about if she liked being a mom or grandmother more.  Of course, she said grandmother.  You get to spoil them and don’t have to focus on the discipline part all the time.  She said that it can be hard being a mom and how things had changed even from when she raised her children.

That is when I said that I don’t know if I want to bring children into this crazy world. We talked a bit more about that.  And then, I heard it.  It was so clear that there was no way that I could have mistaken it. I heard a voice say, “If you don’t have children who will minister to My people.”

Wow.  It still gives me chills.  That one statement showed me just how important children were to God.  Just how important my children would be to God.  It impressed upon me that he had a plan for MY children.

I know that these are all things that we “know” about God.  But when he speaks to you so clearly, you don’t just know them, you KNOW them, you believe them, and you take them very seriously.

The clarity in which he spoke to me, would shape the decisions I made about my life and my children’s life.  Because of those words that were spoken to me on that airplane and the teaching my husband and I received about children, I decided to stay home with my children instead of going back to a job that I really loved.

I needed to be home with them to teach them diligently and to talk to them when I sit in the house, and when I walk by the way, and when I lie down and when I rise up. (Deuteronomy 6:4-7)

Now I know that not every mom is able to stay home with their children, but there is one thing that we all can do.  We can, should, and need to pray for our children.

I always see on Pinterest, posts like 31 prayers to pray for your children or 10 prayers every mom should pray for her children.  But there are not any posts about WHY we should pray for our children.  And for me, if there is not a why and I don’t understand how important it is, then I am just not going to make it a priority.

This might be you also.  So here are 3 critical reasons why we should pray for our children.

God has entrusted us with our children’s lives.

First of all, we have to believe that God has given us the children in our lives.  Even when there is an “accident”, it is not an accident to God.  Whether you had them naturally or adopted them, these children were given to you by God.  (Genesis 33:5)

But you can’t just do what you want with them.  Everything is the Lord’s, the earth and all that live in it.  (Psalm 24:1)  So that means that our children are His.  He has just entrusted them to us.  In other words, we have a responsibility to God to take care of what he has given us.

Just like the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  The ruler left his servants with talents or money.  To one he gave five, to one he gave two and to another he gave one.

When the ruler came back, he asked his servants what they had done with the talents he had given them.  When the servants gave him back the talents, he was only happy with the two servants that had actually increased the money.

These two servants had not only taken care of what the ruler had given them, but had made it better.   They were good caretakers of the ruler’s things, and that pleased him.

This is true in every area of our lives, especially our children.  God has given us these children (some 5, some 2, and some 1) and we have to be faithful over what he has given us.  We have to make it better.  It is our responsibility.

I don’t know about you, but that is a very tall order.  They come into our lives such small helpless things, and we have to take that life and make it grow, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

We have to pray for our children so that we know what he wants us to do with that life and so that they can please Him.

When we pray for our children, we are impacting hundreds of lives.

Now you may be thinking, really 100’s?  Yes, 100’s.

We have to realize that when we pray for our children and raise them in the way that God wants them to grow, we are not just affecting them but their children and all the people they come in contact with.

That kind of thinking means that we are generationally minded.  It is not just me, my family, us four and no more.  Your impact does not just stop within the walls of your home.

The Bible says that a good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children.  (Proverbs 13:22) When we hear the word inheritance we often think of money.  But there are far more important things to God than money.

Matthew 6:19-20 talks about laying treasures in heaven where moth nor rust destroys.  Now last I checked, no one could take the money in the bank with us to heaven.  So what was God talking about?

The inheritance that God is most concerned about is not money or riches.  He is concerned about faithfulness, truth, love and passing down the principles of God.  These are the treasures in heaven.

When we pass these treasures, this inheritance, down to our children, then they can pass them down to their children.  And their children can pass it down to their children.  But not only that, they are able to be a light that shines for him and make an impact on people they work with, go to school with, marry, etc. (Matthew 5:16)

Who knew that the prayers we pray for our children were so powerful and far-reaching, right?

We need to pray for our children because there is a war going on for the lives of our children.

Okay.  This is important.  We as believers have an enemy.  We are in a war. It says in 1 Peter 5:8 that our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

I know some of you may not believe that there is a devil.  A 2009 study done by the Banda Group says that 76% of Christians don’t believe that the devil exists.

But that is the devil’s greatest lie.  He has gotten so many people to believe that he doesn’t exist.  If you don’t believe that someone is attacking you, then you are not going to know how to defend yourself or you are not going to fight at all.

Ephesians 6:12 says to put on the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  Why?  Because we don’t fight with other people (flesh and blood), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  These high places are the in the heavens or the spirit world.

Now just because we can’t see the spiritual realm doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist and that it does not affect our lives.  It’s just like germs.

Not too long ago, people did not know anything about germs.  They did not know they existed. They did not have the ability to see them.  However, just because they did not know about them and did not see them, does not mean that the germs did not make them sick or affect their lives.  This is also true about the war that is going on in the spirit world.

In Daniel 10:7-14, Daniel sees a vision of an angel talking with him.  This angel tells him about how he was delayed in getting to Daniel because the king of Persia (a principality) had detained him.  What is so interesting to note is that, in verse 7, though the other men with Daniel were not able to see the angel, they still felt something and grew afraid.  This shows that there are not only battles happening in the spirit world, but they affect us.

In 2 Kings 6:11-20, we see another example with Elisha.  The king of Syria sent horses, chariots and a great army to capture Elisha.  When the army arrived, Elisha’s servant became afraid. And rightly so.  Elisha told him to not be afraid because there were more with them than with the enemy.

Elisha prayed that God would open the eyes of his servant to see in the spirit world.  When the servant’s eyes were opened he saw the mountain was full of horses and chariots protecting Elisha.  God’s angels protected Elisha and caused the army to search elsewhere for him.

There are so many more stories in the bible of heavenly armies and battles (Genesis 32:1, Deuteronomy 33:2-3, Zechariah 14:5 and Matthew 26:53)

Bottom line.  We have an enemy.  We are in a war.  We should be praying for our children.  We need to be asking God to send his angels to protect our children and guide our children in this spiritual battle that is all around them.

Needless to say, I cannot tell you how important it is to pray for our children.  The Bible says that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective (James 5:16).  We need to be praying those powerful and effective prayers every day over our children’s lives.  God has great plans for our children’s lives.

What scriptures do you use to pray for your children?