Our Greatest Role–prayer

“I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants.” (Isaiah 44:3, ESV)

When each of our five children were born, I began to pray for their future mates (if it was God’s will that they marry). I prayed that they would come to know Christ at an early age; that God would surround them with fellowship and keep them in His way. I also prayed for the parents raising them–for wisdom in parenting, for encouragement and for the means to disciple their kids. Selfishly I hoped there was someone out there praying this for me. I needed it.

Then I met Norma.

Her son and our daughter were close to becoming engaged. I happened to be in her city, so she invited me over. As we got to know each other I shared my prayer with her and she responded, “Susan, I’ve prayed the same thing! Little did we know we had been praying for each other for years when we didn’t even know one another.” We burst out laughing with joy that God had indeed been at work.

It seems obvious that we should pray for our grandchildren but doing it when there are so many needs and little people can be intimidating. How do we even begin? Is there a simple plan?

Raising our own five kids felt overwhelming to me and to John. An older mentor advised us to take time to think through the needs of each child once a year in five areas of growth: mental, spiritual, emotional, social and physical, and turn that into our prayer list for the coming year. For example, an emotional need: for our eleven-year-old middle child to feel special in our large family; mental: for a middle school son to learn discipline in study habits; spiritual: for a child to develop the habit of personal Bible study, etc. When our twins were babies, a huge physical need was that they would sleep through the night! (They didn’t until they were nearly two. I thought I would die from nearly ten years of sleep deprivation.)

Today we follow this same template with our adult kids and grands. I have a prayer notebook and I assign each of our five families a different day of the week. On their day I pray in detail for their needs. We ask our adult kids to send us the needs they have for each of their children so we can pray specifically. One preteen girl needs relief from sleep anxiety, a middle schooler needs a close Christian friend, a high school boy needs to realize the unique gifts God has given him, etc.

Needs are constantly changing so every year we ask our kids for new lists for their children and for themselves.

There’s a wise piece of advice found in Proverbs 27:23: “Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds.” I take this as a mandate to study my kids and my grands. How has God packaged this one–as a leader, a sensitive child, creative, reflective, etc.? Their “packaging” will become clearer as they grow. Ask their parents how they perceive their child at this stage in his life. Thinking in this way will inform our prayer life.

A Promise and a Prayer:

“Our God is near us whenever we pray to him.” (Deuteronomy 4:7, NIV)

Father, I realize that prayer is the number one thing I can do for my grandchildren, but this call can feel overwhelming. I need a simple prayer plan and the discipline to follow it. Today help me take one step in creating a simple plan.