Pray God's promises over your children
- Amber Miller: A Word of Truth
- August 23, 2018
- 2698
Life is full of seasons. I’m not just talking about seasonal weather but so much more than that.
I was just thinking the other day how we are in a different season as parents than we were just a few years ago.
I took the boys to the pool, and it was the first time I could sit in a chair and relax. I remember being a bit envious of the moms who went to the pool and actually got to relax and read a book while their kids would swim.
Now here I was, relaxing while they were swimming, and it dawned on me I was in a slightly different season of life: a little more freedom and independence for the boys and me. I thank God for the season I am now in.
That season before, with those three young boys who were utterly dependent upon me for everything, was draining, exhausting and overwhelming. Don’t get me wrong. I love my boys, and I treasure moments during those times. I’m just thankful for the season we are now in.
This will be the second year now they are all in school. I have to say I’m enjoying it. It is nice to have a chance to miss my boys, and I feel like having a little bit of time to myself helps me to be a better mom.
I’m learning as they get older I have to slowly give them chances to spread their wings and fly. I cannot protect them forever but can teach them what is right and pray for them.
Just the other day they asked if they could go for a bike ride by themselves down our road and then onto the township road near us. I didn’t have an immediate answer. “Let me pray about it a minute,” I told them. “OK Lord, what should I do?”
I really felt impressed I was to let them do it, like God was telling me just what I told you: I can’t protect them forever and at times I have to give them opportunities to spread their wings and fly. So I did.
I set some rules and guidelines, prayed over them and then let them go. While they were gone, if I felt the urge to worry, I just reminded myself I prayed God’s word over them and they would be fine.
They returned to me just as they left but different in a way, seeming a little bit more grown up and proud they had been entrusted to the task and lived up to my expectations for them. I thought it was a growing experience for all of us.
I know I’m not always going to be able to be there to protect my children, but I can enlist God’s protection through praying over them. I’m not talking pray as in beg and plead with God to watch over my children, but rather pray God’s promises from his word over my children.
Ever since they started going to school, I’ve prayed over them, and I want to share with you parents some scripture to pray over your children instead of worrying about them. It is such freedom to pray over them and then release them to go to school, knowing God is true to his word instead of worrying about school shootings or if it is flu season.
I always pray over each one and make it personal to them. For instance “I thank you Father that no evil shall befall A.J., nor shall any plague come near him. I thank you that you give your angels charge over him, to keep him in all his ways. In their hands they lift him up, lest he dash his foot against a stone (Psalm 91:10-12). Thank you Father that you guard all his bones. Not one of them is broken (Psalm 34: 20). Thank you that greater is he that is in A.J. than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:4).
I pray not only promises of protection, but also God’s promises of excellence over them as well. “Thank you Lord that A.J. is the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, and that everything he sets his hand to prospers because you are with him (Deuteronomy 28:13, 8). Thank you Lord that you bless A.J., and your favor surrounds him as with a shield” (Psalm 5:12).
Parents, it is my hope you will lay down the worry and pick up the prayer. God cannot lie, and his promises are there for us to believe, speak out and grab hold of. He is just waiting for us to utilize what he has made available to us.
Amber can be reached at amberdeemiller32@gmail.com or through her AmberRiceMiller Facebook page.