“ 3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. 4 Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.”
Children are one of the several gifts from God to parents. Genesis 33:5 “Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked. Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.” Jacob appreciates the gifts from God as any parent would. Children are meant to be a blessing and joy to the family. This has not been the case in so many families. The pain has even resulted to death. Recently, we heard of a young man who took away the life of his parents. This has affected the whole nation, not just the immediate family. The church must arise and work faster than the devil.
Jeremiah 31:15 “This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” The voice of Rachel is not a lone voice, but represents a communal voice across nations; mothers crying for their children who have been killed by modern day actions of the Herod’s in our societies, prodigal sons/daughter who have wondered away from family values and Christianity, stubborn children who have become influenced and conformed by the worldly patterns and thus disrespectful to parents. Therefore, as stated in Lamentation 1: 16 “For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed”, mothers who are not only biological have their eyes covered with tears of shame, disgrace and disbelief wondering when God will come to their rescue. Lamentation 2:19 “Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner.” It is time to arise and cry aloud in the place of prayer day and night for the children in our families, communities, churches, nation etc. We can no longer give deaf ears to the issues surrounding our children irrespective of whether or not we are related to them. Children’s adulthood is taken from them via rape and abuse of different types, some are killed in the process, some are kidnapped, others being influenced by profiles online and in the neighborhood, others by their peers, and some are just stubborn, others especially the Gen Z, think they know-it- all; outright rebellious to the word of God. We must pray until this prophecy is fulfilled: Isaiah 61:9 “ Their descendants will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
Prayer Points
Ask God to forgive and have mercy on our children especially the Gen Z, those who have wondered away from God in rebellion, conforming to the worldly ways of life instead of what God has laid in his word.
Declare these blessings over the lives of our children irrespective of what we see physically now, the word of God never dies but it’s a seed and when sown it grows: Numbers 6:24-26 “ 24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Deuteronomy 28:3-4 “3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.”
Declare these verses come to pass over them. As gifts from God, they add no sorrow: Psalm 127:3-5 “3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. 4 Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! He will not be put to shame when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.”
Pray that the Lord will accomplish his word for them in these verses; teach them his ways, established his peace and righteousness, as well as provide protection and security. Isaiah 54:13-14 “ 13 All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. 14 In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear.”
Proverbs 22:6 states “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it". However, sometimes even with all these investments children still go away. Pray that God will grant parents the grace and wisdom on how to pray for their children: James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you".
Parents have so much wisdom and sometimes when stubbornness controls our children, they fail to listen. Pray for the grace to listen to the counsel and teaching of parents as these will physically be manifested in their lives on a daily basis: Proverbs 1: 8-9 “8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake the teaching of your mother. 9 For they are a garland of grace on your head and a pendant around your neck.”
Pray that the Jesus the source of living waters will revive and transform the hearts of our children by pouring his spirit upon them so the will walk and grow in Christ daily in life: Isaiah 44:3-5 “3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. 4 They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams. 5 One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD,’ another will call himself by the name of Jacob, and still another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and will take the name of Israel.”
Pray that every blindness covering the minds of our children will fall off so they can see the light of the gospel and come to repentance: 2 Corinthians 4:4 “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Pray that God the Holy Spirit will help our children to stay away from the appearance of sin but rather offer themselves unto the righteousness of God: Romans 6:12-13 “12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
Pray that God will grant grace for our children to recognize and run away from any form of evil: 2 Timothy 2:22 "Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart".
Most often, especially today, children would want their own ways and those of their friends and not listen to what their parents would say. Pray that God will command/assignment his angles to guard them in all their ways so they will not get trapped in the ways of the world or the devil: Psalm 91:11-12 “1 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
Pray that God will keep our children from all harm and watch over them when they go out and come in: Psalm 121:7-8 “ 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.
Declare this verses on the lives of our children: Numbers 6:24-26 “24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’
Pray that God will help our children and grant them the grace of an undivided attention towards God and to love him with everything within them. Mark 12:30 “ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
According to Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope", God has a plan in place-good, future and hope in him but we know the devil always wants to intercept this plan and redirect our children to something else. Pray that they will choose to walk according to Colossians 1:10 “so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God”
Most of our children have grown in church around the word of God so they know what the word says. Pray that God will help them in their daily walk, so they can grow in the knowledge of God and keep them from falling into the trap of the devil: 2 Peter 3: 17 Therefore, beloved, since you already know these things, be on your guard so that you will not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure standing. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.