Prayer has been THE most important part of my parenting journey. But do you know why?
Prayer kept me connected when I wanted to run away. Praying God’s Word for my boys reminded me of His many promises and fueled my faith. I had just enough faith to believe He would be true to His word … so I prayed it back to Him over and over .
On my knees, God gave me peace.
On my knees, God gave me comfort.
On my knees, God corrected me … exposed my sin.
On my knees, God met my needs, healed my heart, and increased my belief in His goodness … and over the years, God has used my prayers to change the hearts of my boys. I believe it.
Prayer is the fuel of my motherhood, what puts me back together when I fall apart.
“I pray because I don’t have all the answers. I pray because I’m lost and can’t see the big picture. I pray because I’m desperate for a word-touch from the God who made me and because I can’t do this life thing without his direction. I pray because I don’t know how to raise these two boys to be the godly men I dream they will be, but I serve the God who does. Believing that has changed my life.” Praying for Boys: Asking God for the Things They Need Most.
There are four areas I find myself praying in for my boys most often:
That they would be men of God…
Men of purpose…
Servant leaders, and …
Men of integrity.
These things are more important to me than education, money, family, or fame … more important than anything else I can think of. They’re not rocket science, and I have no special insight into the Word of God that will make them happen. They’re just my dreams for God to make my boys into good men, and to be good men, they must be men of God. So let’s start there.
4 Verses to Pray to Help Our Sons Be Men of God
What is good apart from God? Only God is truly good (Mark 10:18), and sadly, even our best attempts at goodness fall pitifully short of God’s standard (Isaiah 64:6). It isn’t enough to be good as the world defines it. There are millions of “good” men out there. Men who love well, protect, serve. But if their hearts don’t belong to Jesus, it’s all for naught.
1. Lord, give (your son’s name) a heart softened toward you.
“Give him a new heart and a new spirit put within him. Remove the heart of stone from his flesh and give him a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26).
2. Lord, give (your son’s name) a clean heart.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).
3. Lord, let (your son’s name) desire you alone.
“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).
4. Lord, may (your son’s name) find his strength, and the true power of manhood, in you.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
Today, add these verses to your prayer time. As you do, allow God to change your understanding of what a good man truly is. If he doesn’t have a dad who is a model of these things for him, pray for dad too, and join me tomorrow as we pray to help our boys be men of purpose!
See my post on praying for your sons in the other three categories above: Men of Purpose, Servant Leaders, and Men of Integrity.
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Great article!