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PRAYERS OF A GODLY MOTHER
There are some very important people that live at your house. Sometimes they make messes and break the family treasures. They also track a lot of mud through the house, dirty a lot of clothes, and create more housework in a day than you can accomplish in a week. If you’re not careful, you can loose sight of how precious they really are, and just what God intends them to become…
Raising kids is more than just feeding them and clothing them for 18 years. It’s more than just paying their education and teaching them to drive. It is more than just keeping them out of the traffic and from falling down the stairs… “Raising our kids should be an investment of our time, our wisdom, our experience and a sharing of our love and ourselves.” It can be the greatest blessing or the greatest heart-break of your entire life. How it turns out in the end depends mostly on what you are willing to invest in them in the beginning, and all through the years when there is no end in sight.
In the heart of every child lies the faith to believe in something big that God can make of their lives, before the world has erased and reprogrammed their minds to fit in its mold. Mothers have been given an awesome responsibility to train their kids for the Glory of God. Remember once again that God created mankind first of all to love Him, to spend time with Him and to Glorify Him… As Mothers train their kids, you need to remember that it is the main purpose of their lives, as well as your own, to point them in that direction.
“Lo, Children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is her reward.
As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man: So are the children of the youth.” (Psalm 127:3-4).
The arrow when placed in the hand of a skillful marksman is a powerful weapon, to withstand the attack of the enemy, and secure victory in the battle. How much more are our kids a threat to the plans of the devil if Mothers will be skillful as well as prayerful in directing their lives and pointing them toward a God-Ordained Goal in this Spiritual Warfare we’re engaged in.
My own dear Mother went to be with the Lord last March. She was a woman of prayer and had such a great influence on my life. I thank the Lord every day for her love, prayers and heart for God and her kids. Mothers don’t wait until your kids lives are wrecked, when they are wandering into the world and far from God. Learn to pray for them every day, even hourly, while they’re growing up.
Whether your child is learning to walk, read or learning to drive, they desperately need your prayers. You can’t see every trap that the devil has set in their path for them. You can’t always identify every person who would influence your kid to turn away from you and away from God. You don’t always understand God’s plans and purposes completely. But, God knows the beginning from the end. Hard as it is to imagine, He loves your kids more than you do. Get in touch with Heaven, and become partners with the Lord in raising your kids. There is no greater guarantee you have to claim in behalf of your kids then the promise that God hears and answers prayer.
The most important converts of a Mother’s whole Christian Life are her kids. The Lord has given her the privilege as a Christian Mother to teach them and encourage them as much as any other convert. I’m afraid sometimes that Christian Mothers see their responsibility to others [Spiritually] without seeing their Spiritual Responsibility to those who call her “MOM.” You have a bigger opportunity in the discipline, training and teaching of your kids than any other person that the Lord allows you to win to Christ.
A very important part of their training at home is what they learn about the home, marriage and God-given love, and how their teen-age years fit into God’s whole plan. It ought to be something that you and your kids talk about often. But more important, it is ‘caught’ than ‘taught’. Living in a world where ‘family’ can mean any group of people living under the same roof in any kind of sinful situation. Your kids desperately need the background of a loving, stable relationship between their parents to help them form their own ideas and philosophies that will shape their family relationships someday.
Remember our friend in Proverbs 31 [Virtuous Woman]. She was truly in touch with her family. It says, “She looketh well to the ways of her household.” By household, I mean the people of the household; her family…Mothers should look well, keep a close watch, know their direction, what’s on your kid’s minds, and know what is important to them [their ups and downs]. Looking well means a constant watchfulness over a constant changing of their needs, of what they are going through, what they are learning, and decide whether it’s time to give them a hand of applause or a shoulder to cry on. Your families need a MOM who cares enough to be involved and interested in their lives, working together as God’s Junior Partner in raising your kids to live for Him.
It is my prayer that our dear wives and the Mothers of our kids will have a heart for God. Seeking the welfare of our households by being Godly Mothers who Pray and are Partner’s with God in raising our kids and serving our families. And, that their labor will bring Honor and Glory to God. Our homes will be better, and our churches will benefit because of it. And then, our families will pass it on to the next generation that God may be well pleased.
“Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working,
which worketh in me mightly. (Colossians 1:29)
May the good Lord Jesus Christ bless your homes, churches and ministries is my prayer.
Love & Prayers In Christ,
Bro. Randy Davis
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Discouragement is no respecter of persons. In fact, discouragement seems to attack the successful far more than the unsuccessful; for the higher we climb, the further we fall. We are not surprised then when we read that the great Apostle Paul was “pressed out of measure” and “despised even in life” (2Cor. 1:8)
Great as he was in Character and Ministry, Paul was human just like the rest of us…Paul could have escaped these burdens except that he had a call from God (2Cor. 1:1) and a concern to help people.
What was Paul’s secret of Victory when he was experiencing pressures and trials? His secret was God. When you find yourself discouraged and ready to quit, get your attention off of yourself and focus it on God. [I too had to find Paul’s secret]. Out of his own difficult circumstances, Paul tells us how we can find encouragement in God. He gave us three simple reminders.
First, Remember What God Is To You (2Cor. 1:3). Paul could not sing about his circumstances, but he could sing about the God Who is in control of all circumstances…Paul found that praise is an important fact in achieving victory over discouragement and depression. “Praise Changes Things” just as much as Prayer changes things.
Second, Praise Him Because He Is God! In Eph. 1:3, Paul Praised God for what He had done in the past, when he “Chose Us [In Christ]” (v. 4) and blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings. In 1Peter 1:3, Peter praised God for future blessings and a living hope. But in 2 Corinthians Paul praised God for present blessings, for what God was accomplishing then and there.
Third, Praise Him Because He Is The Father Of Our Lord Jesus Christ…It is because of Jesus Christ that we call God “Father” and even approach Him as His children. God sees us in His Son and loves us as He loves His Son (John 17:26). “We are beloved of God (Rom. 1:7) because we are accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6 says whatever the Father did for Jesus Christ when He was ministering on earth; He is able to do for us today. We are dear to the Father because His Son is dear to Him and we are citizens of “The Kingdom Of His Dear Son [The Son Of His Love] (Col. 1:13). We are precious to the Father, and He will see to it that the pressures of Life Will NOT DESTROY Us…
Fourth, Praise Him Because He is The Father of Mercies! To the Jewish people, the phrase father of means originator of…God is the Father of Mercies because all mercy originates with Him and can only be secured from Him… God in His Grace gives us what we do not deserve, and in His Mercy He does not give us what we do deserve.
Fifth, Praise Him Because He is God Of All Comfort! We must not think of the word comfort in terms of “Sympathy,” because sympathy can weaken us instead of strengthen us. God does not pat us on the head and give us candy or a toy to distract us from our troubles.
When you find yourself discouraged because of difficult circumstances, it is easy to look at yourself and your feelings, or to focus on the problems around you. But the first step we must take is to look by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and realize all that God is to us (Ps 121:1-2). Our help cometh from the Lord.
Sixth, Remember What God Does For You (2Cor. 1:4, 8-11). To begin with, He permits the trials to come. And in this letter it is translated Affliction (2:4, 4:17), Tribulation (1:4) and Trouble (1:4, 8). Paul like many of us at times felt hemmed in by difficult circumstances, and the only way he could look was up.
In verses 5 and 6, Paul used the word suffering which was also used for the sufferings of our Savior (1Peter 1:11, 5:1). There are some sufferings that we endure simply because we are human and subject to pain; but there are other sufferings that come because we are God’s People and want to serve Him.
We must never think that suffering is an accident. For the believer, everything is a divine appointment. There are only three possible outlooks a person can take when it comes to the trials of life. (1.) If our trials are the products of fate or chance, then the only recourse is to give up. Nobody can control fate or chance. (2.) And if we have to control everything ourselves, then the situation is equally as hopeless. (3.) But, if God is in control, and we trust Him, then we can overcome circumstances with His help.
Seventh, God Enables Us To Bear Our Trials (2Cor. 1:9). God wants us to trust Him and not our gifts or abilities or our experience, or spiritual reserves. Just about the time we feel self-confident and able to meet the enemy we fail miserable. “For when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2Cor. 12:10). When you and I die to self, then God’s Resurrection Power can go to work. However, dying to self does not mean idle complacency, doing nothing and expecting God to do everything. You can be sure Paul prayed, searched the Scriptures, consulted with his associates, and trusted God to work. The God who raises the dead is sufficient for any difficulty of life! He is able, but we must be available. Paul did not deny the way he felt, nor does God want us to deny our emotions. “We are troubled on every side; without were fighting’s, within were fears.” (2Cor. 7:5).
Eighth, God Delivers Us From Our Trials (2Cor. 1:10). God doesn’t always deliver us immediately, nor does He deliver each child of His in the same way. James was beheaded, yet Peter was released from prison. Both were delivered, but in different ways. Sometimes God delivers us from our trials and other times He delivers us in our trials.
Ninth, God Is Glorified Through Our Trials (2Cor. 1:11). God works out His purpose in trials of life. If we yield to Him, trust Him, and obey what He tells us to do, difficulties can increase our Faith and Strengthen our Prayer Lives. Difficulties can draw us closer to other Christians as they share their burdens with us. Difficulties can be used to Glorify God, so when you find yourself in trials of life, remember what God is to you and what God does for you.
Tenth, Suffering can also help us to minister to others. In every Church there are mature saints of God who have suffered and experienced God’s Grace, and they are the great encouragers. If we become bitter and rebel against God our trials work against us instead of for us…Learning God’s Truth and getting it into our heads is one thing, but living God’s Truth and getting it into our Character is quite something else.
The important thing is to fix your attention on God and not on yourself.
1. Remember What God Is To You –
a. Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
b. The Father of Mercies
c. And the God of all Comfort (2Cor. 1:3)
2. Remember What God Does For You –
a. That He is able to handle your trials
b. And make them work out for your good
c. And His Glory
3. Finally, remember What God Does Through You –
a. And let Him use you
b. To be an encouragement to others
You MIGHT BE DOWN, BUT YOUR’RE NOT OUT…
So this Resurrection Sunday as we celebrate the Death, Burial and Resurrection of our dear, precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, let it also be a reminder that we have Resurrection Power [His strength] that even when we are down we can get back up again because we are not out.
We pray for each and every one as we serve and labor together in our dear, sweet Lord’s Vineyard. May God continue to have His divine hand upon your life and ministry is my prayer.
Love and Prayers In Christ,
Bro. Randy Davis
(Isa. 40:31)
