Weak of Prayer?

Every family confronts a day or season in the life of one of their children where grace is pit against the rebellious strong will of a son or daughter. It might be a toddler who refuses to stay in bed at night or a teen who continues in some secret sin. Whether young or old, once our methods have all been tried, without success, it is easy to fall into a place of doubt and resignation. Finally in desperation we might cry out to God, asking for help, but often even those prayers are marked with unbelief.

I know for me, I so often wait too long to pray and my faith is weak even when I eventually get around to it. But there are wonderful verses in God’s Word to strengthen our faith, perhaps none more simply direct than Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

John G. Paton, a missionary to the New Hebrides Islands in the 1800’s remembered just how influential his father’s prayer life was to him: “If anything really serious required to be punished, he retired first to his “closet” for prayer, and we boys got to understand that he was laying the whole matter before God; and that was the severest part of the punishment for me to bear! I could have defied any amount of mere penalty, but this spoke to my conscience as a message from God.”

I want to grow to the place where prayer is not my last resort but my first help. The best way I can serve my children and wife comes through lifting them up to the Lord. He is their help in time of need. If they are struggling in some area, better for them that I pray than simply seize on some practical method to fix their problems. Gospel centered instruction, rebuke, and discipline all play an important part as we train our children up in the Lord. But first, let us pray, for the God who listens and answers prayer is the greatest asset we have to help us in our parenting.

Week of Prayer: Tonight is our All Night Prayer Meeting. I Information about the Week of Prayer can be found here.