Prayer Of Gratitude For Parents

A Prayer Guide for Parents

Prayer Of Gratitude For Parents

  • Jamie Rohrbaugh
  • 2017Apr 18

Have you been concerned about your family lately? So often, we remember to pray for other people, but we forget to pray for ourselves and for those closest to us.

We simply forget the power of prayer and that God longs for us to be in prayer with Him! He especially desires for each of us to be in prayer about our family, the people closest to us on this side of heaven.

To help you pray for yourself and for your family, here is a short, bullet-point seven-day prayer guide that covers nearly every aspect of life.

Day 1: Honor

Scripture: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12)

Pray for your parents:

  • Ask God to bless them.
  • Pray that they would be treated with honor, dignity, and respect by everyone they encounter.
  • Pray that they also would honor all people.

Pray for yourself:

  • Pray that you would see your parents the same way God sees them and love them the way He loves them.
  • Pray that you would always show honor and respect to your parents.
  • Ask God to help you forgive all their failings from your heart.

Pray for your children:

  • Ask God to help your kids show godly honor to you (and any other parents) the way God’s Word prescribes.
  • Pray for your children to live long lives in the land their Father gives them.
  • Ask the Lord to give your children a keen sense of honor toward all their authority figures (pastors, teachers, etc.).

Day 2: Walk with God

Scripture: “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.’” (Matthew 22:37)

Pray for your parents:

  • If they are not already saved, ask the Lord to save them and draw them to Himself.
  • Ask God to help your parents to be hungry and thirsty for Jesus.
  • Pray for your parents to be people of prayer and of God’s Word.

Pray for yourself:

  • Pray that you would strive to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
  • Pray that Jesus would refill you with His Spirit and wisdom every day.
  • Ask God to make you a person of prayer and a student of His Word.
  • Ask God to show you how to disciple your children, so they also will love God with all their heart.

Pray for your children:

  • Pray for your children to be full of the Holy Spirit from the womb (or from now on).
  • Ask God to help your children hear the voice of the Lord behind them saying “This is the way; walk in it” and that they would never turn to the right or the left.
  • Pray that your children would have a magnificent obsession with the Son of God.

Day 3: Health and safety

Scripture: “Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.” (Psalm 91:9-11)

Pray for your parents:

  • Ask God to send His angels to watch over them, protecting them and all their belongings.
  • Ask Him to keep them healthy in every way, including by protecting their eyesight, brain function, and memory.
  • Ask God to help your parents make wise decisions regarding exercise, nutrition, and health care.

Pray for yourself:

  • Ask the Lord to send angels to protect you and every building and vehicle you are in.
  • Ask Him to help you make wise decisions regarding your own exercise, nutrition, and health care.
  • Ask Him to give you wisdom to guide your children’s time, so they will be healthy and not overloaded or stressed out.
  • Ask Father to protect you and your family from all diseases, keeping you completely healthy.

Pray for your children:

  • Pray angels would guard your children with a flaming sword that turns every way, turning them back from any dangerous path.
  • Pray your children would fill every inner craving with Jesus so they would not be tempted to look for sinful satisfaction.
  • Pray they would know God’s love intimately, and that they would be immune to every lie the enemy tries to tell them about who and what they are.

Day 4: Finances

Scripture: “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)

Pray for your parents:

Pray for yourself:

  • Ask God to provide richly for every need you and your family have.
  • Ask Him to help you steward His resources well.
  • Ask the Lord to give you the motivation to diligently take care of your finances.
  • Ask the Lord to show you how to teach your children a good work ethic and how to handle money.

Pray for your children:

  • Pray that your children would enjoy the process of financial stewardship; but that they would always love God, rather than money.
  • Ask God to give your children profitable business ideas even while they’re young, if He wants them to be entrepreneurs.
  • Ask God to give your children an aptitude for math and business.
  • Ask the Lord to show your children in practical ways that He will always provide for their needs.

Day 5: Relationships

Scripture: “…[T]hat they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (John 17:21)

Pray for your parents:

  • Pray that all their relationships would be godly and harmonious.
  • Pray they would forgive all who have hurt them, reconciling relationships wherever possible.
  • Pray they would be kind and loving, speaking words of life to all people.
  • Ask the Lord to send your parents close friends with whom they can share their lives.

Pray for yourself:

  • Pray that you would forgive from your heart all those who have hurt you.
  • Pray that the Lord would show you how to heal any broken relationships.
  • Pray you would model humility, kindness, love, and encouragement for your children in all your relationships.
  • Pray for close, covenant friends with whom you can share your life.

Pray for your children:

  • Pray for God to lead each of your children to the spouse He has for them at the right time.
  • Pray that your children would remain sexually pure until marriage.
  • Pray for each of your children to love others and be friendly.
  • Pray that the Lord would bring your children the right friends and deliver them from the wrong friends.

Day 6: Use of time

Scripture: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).

Pray for your parents:

  • Pray that your parents would use their time wisely.
  • Pray that they would remain occupied, useful, and fully engaged in life throughout their latter years.
  • Pray that they would walk fully in their calling so they will have no regrets.

Pray for yourself:

  • Pray that the Lord would help you seek Him first every day, and that He would help you accomplish all that needs to be done after that.
  • Ask God to order your steps according to His Word.
  • Pray you would know clearly when to say “yes” versus “no” to commitments for both yourself and your children.

Pray for your children:

  • Ask the Lord to show your children the value of their spare moments.
  • Pray that they would develop godly pastimes that will benefit their lives in the long run.
  • Ask God to give your children a spirit of excellence.
  • Pray your children would be diligent in their schoolwork and other responsibilities.

Day 7: Legacy

Scripture: “… holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain” (Philippians 2:16).

Pray for your parents:

  • Pray they would stand strong in the Lord all the days of their lives.
  • Pray that they would leave a godly inheritance to their children and grandchildren.
  • Pray they would fully perform God’s purpose for their lives, leaving no task undone for which they were created.

Pray for yourself:

Pray for your children:

  • Pray that your children would know exactly what God has called them to do from an early age.
  • Ask God to give your children influence for Him.
  • Pray that they would be filled with the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the children to the fathers, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.
  • Ask Father to give your children His heart for the nations.

Beloved, these prayers are all Scripture. As you pray through each day’s list, expect to see God answer His Word. He is ready, willing, and eager to send help to you, your parents, and your children.

Jamie Rohrbaugh is an author, speaker, and Presence seeker whose heart is for the local church. Called to edify, encourage, and equip the Body of Christ, her passion is to see sons and daughters of all ages transformed by the love of Abba Father. Jamie blogs at FromHisPresence.

com® about prayer, revival, and the manifest presence of God. She is the author of four books and of numerous articles around the web. Jamie is a grateful member of the Redbud Writers Guild. She and her husband live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and together they have one cat.

Follow her on Pinterest, , or .

Image Credit: ©Thinkstock.com/monkeybusinessimages

Источник: //www.ibelieve.com/motherhood/a-prayer-guide-for-parents.html

How to Cultivate the Attitude of Gratitude in the Age of Entitlement

Prayer Of Gratitude For Parents

Close your eyes and focus on the darkness for a minute….

Please, seriously, just try it… what you’ll gain from this little exercise is well worth feeling silly for a bit.

For many people in this world, that is the daily reality. Every minute. Every day.

If one of them were to stop by and offer you a million dollars for your eyes, for your ability to continue reading, for your ability to see this world and watch your kids grow up… would you?

And yet, have you ever really appreciated your ability to see?

The Entitlement Trap and the Attitude of Gratitude

many of you, I’ve always felt jaded about sayings “count your blessings” or “be thankful for what you have” and so on. When I heard or read that I should be thankful for my ability to see or walk or whatever, I mentally rolled my eyes.

I took everything I had for granted. Worse, I felt cheated when I didn’t get more of what I wanted. Even though I have a wonderful child, I felt sad about my inability to have a second one. Even though I’m married to a really nice guy, I nagged him constantly about what he was not. Even though I had a great job, I hated almost every minute of it.

I hadn’t quite realized it then, but I had defaulted to a person who was constantly unhappy about what I didn’t have instead of being happy about what I did.

And then serendipity brought me to the blog Money Saving Mom. At the outset, the blog is about saving money. And that’s how I found it in the first place. My daughter was just born and I desperately needed diaper deals. So, I found a whole bunch of “deal blogs” and this was one of them.

As my daughter grew older and diaper deals were not relevant to me anymore though, I dropped the other deal blogs. But somehow continued to read Money Saving Mom. There was something different about this blog and its founder Crystal Paine.

Crystal is a devout Christian and writes often about gratitude and grace and such. And even though I am agnostic, I was attracted to how her faith was bringing her happiness and making her a calm, very able person (even though I didn’t know her at all!).

Around the same time, during a conversation with some friends, the topic of prayers came up. One of my friends, the one I least expected, admitted that she says a prayer every night before going to bed. She said it was a “habit” that her parents got her into while she grew up, and it gives her a lot of peace, so she still continues it to this day.

I was going through a very rough season in my life then and often felt lost and confused.

One night on a whim, influenced by Crystal’s insistence that being grateful makes your life much better and my friend’s admission that saying a prayer brings her peace, I said a prayer for my daughter as I put her into bed. She must have been around 2 years old then.

During the next few nights I found myself repeating the prayer. It calmed me down and went something this – “Thank you Lord for the wonderful life we have. Please bless us with health, happiness and peace. Amen.”

That prayer has stuck with us since! My daughter is 5 now. The prayer has been a part of our daily nighttime routine for over 3 years! Most of the time these days, my daughter is the one saying it.

After the first two lines as above she tacks on a custom list of things that she is thankful for that day.

Her list always has mama, dada and some of her favorite stuffed toys, followed by a rather long list of all the fun things she did that day.

Sometimes, I am preoccupied and the moment passes as rote routine. But often, I get pulled into her prayer. The sound of her voice grounds me and helps me appreciate what a wonderful life we do indeed have. It brings me a deep level of peace and calmness. Without a doubt, it has been the spark that has triggered a host of other changes that have transformed my life!

(Note: Normally, these days when I write a post, I try to include science-based evidence to ensure that this site does not deteriorate into a one of those hokum-advice self-help sites… you (and I) deserve better! Today’s article however, is a very personal one for me – so I am going to refer you to Jeremy Dean’s blog, a resource I use regularly, for evidence that gratitude can increase happiness and go with the personal nature of this post.)

Why Cultivate the Attitude of Gratitude

I’m not sure if this is true for everyone, but I’ve personally found that cultivating an attitude of gratitude isn’t actually easy.

Even to this day, many times I find that my first reaction is to whine about something that went wrong or is lacking, instead of feeling happy about what is right or what is already present. Sadly, it’s something I notice in my daughter as well.

So, I’m making a conscious attempt to be more grateful. Some specific places where I try to apply gratitude are –

  • Dealing with disappointment: For example, I’d always wanted to have two kids. It wasn’t in the cards for us. Even though I’ve kinda made my peace with it, I still find myself feeling a sense of disappointment and envy when I see/meet people with two kids. At these times, I try to remind myself how lucky I am to have one in the first place. I hang on to the words of Jennifer Gresham who struggled with this as well and put it so eloquently – “I won the lottery once. Who am I to complain I can’t win a second time?”
  • Dealing with criticism: When someone criticises me, I find it hard to accept. In particular when the criticism comes from my mother-in-law

    Источник: //afineparent.com/happiness/attitude-of-gratitude.html

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