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Praying the Powerful Word of God
With fervency and insight, Fern Nichols urges moms
to reflect on the eternal impact of praying God’s
Word into the lives of our children. At the
Southeast Stand Firm Conference in August, Fern
exhorted us, “Don’t rush through the Scripture
request as you intercede for your children.”
Following is an excerpt from her talk.
From Fern’s Heart
I
want to reinforce what we do in our Moms In Touch
group during the time we pray for our children. We
take God’s Word, and we pray God’s truth. We focus
on one child at a time. We listen to the Holy Sprit.
How does He want us to pray for that child?
We’re very good at coming to God and telling Him
what we want, aren’t we? Hopefully, we’re praying in
the power of the Holy Spirit, and we’re praying what
God wants, but many times we do have “great
suggestions” for Him, don’t we? Mothers just do. But
God’s Word is God’s Word. It does not change. It’s
from His heart. It’s His will. It contains His
promises, and all His promises are found “yes” in
Jesus Christ.
What I noticed in our Moms In
Touch groups was that when we prayed a Scripture and
a specific request, we would often race through the
Scripture request, because, boy, do we have a lot we
want to tell God about that specific request. And I
thought, wait a minute, something is
backwards here. God’s Word is what will not return
void. God’s Word is the power. God’s Word is God’s
heart for my child. And we were just going by it
quickly, so here is a powerful suggestion: pray the
Word for that child, linger over that Word, ask the
Holy Spirit, “God, in this verse, what are you
saying? What do You
want to happen in my child’s life?”
I want to share with you
an illustration of Scripture-praying for your child
using Psalm 23:3, and to demonstrate, I’ll use the
name “David.” (Remember to break into twos and
threes for your Intercession time.)
Guide David in paths of righteousness for Your
name’s sake.
Take that little verse. Father, guide David.
Take a little time to think about it. Guide David.
Oh,
Father, there are so many things on this earth that
are going to want to guide David. There are going to
be times when he will want to guide himself, because
he thinks he’s got the answer. But I pray in Jesus’
name that David will seek Your guidance first.
See
what I mean? I’m still on the first word. Take time
to stop and think and ponder and look at the words
in the verse. When I pray this way for David, there
will be ideas in this verse that I won’t even think
of, because I’m just one part of the body. But, my
prayer partner is another part of the body. Praying
Holy Spirit-directed prayers, she will pray in those
ways I never thought of praying, and my spirit
agrees with her.
That’s why we pray short prayers; we don’t want one
person praying all around the world. We want to hear
from the rest of the body so we hear what Jesus is
saying. The other mom might pray …
Oh,
God, guide David in paths of righteousness, that he
would walk aright, that he would not be a prideful
man.
What a joy to hear another mom love my child through
prayer. She prays for my child as if she expects
victory! And it splashes on me.
We
put the Scripture face to face with the enemy.
That’s exactly what Jesus did. Every time Satan came
up to Jesus, what did He say? IT IS WRITTEN. It is
written. This is your will for my Son.
Guide David in the paths of righteousness for YOUR
name’s sake, not for his glory, not for me to say I
have an awesome son, but for Your glory, for Your
destiny, for the will and the plan that You have for
his life. You created him for a purpose, Oh God,
help him not to miss it.
See how exciting this is?
And we haven’t even gotten to the specific request.
Specific things may come out as you are praying
concerning the verse, but you will still have time
to pray your specific request for that week. And,
before you do, pray the same Scripture in the same
fashion for the other mom’s child.
Don’t gloss over it, don’t race through it, linger,
and pray God’s own words, pray God’s truth, pray
God’s will for your child.
Fern Nichols is Founder and President
of Moms In Touch International
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