“It takes a village to raise a child”

— African proverb

This concept was true when I was going up. A parent would disciple a child on the way or in the neighborhood not necessarily related in any form. The child usually responded positively without any back talk. Today it is so different and difficult even when it’s your own child. In many communities, your social status often draws attention irrespective of whether you are interested or not. I can imagine what the family of this prodigal son mentioned in Luke 15 must have gone through; the shame, name calling, ridiculed, pain etc. In today’s world, this family would have been all over the news, on every social media blogs, discussion topics in gatherings, and even in the family etc.

Luke 15: 17- 20 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.”

Psalm 127:3-5 “Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.”

Proverbs 17:6 “Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children."

It does not matter the pit or how far our children have gone into the world’s pit. The Word of God is still true. Proverbs 11:21 “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”

The Bible is very clear about who children are to their parents; a crown. Who hates a crown? Heritage- meaning inherited from the Lord and a reward from him. They are a blessing to parents and not an object of shame. According to Proverbs 29:17 “Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire." This really looks like a set up because it’s not that easy to discipline children of this day and age. Very few young people listen to their parents or even trust God. They believe in themselves and time and again find themselves saying, “I wish I had listened” Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Sometimes parents have to live through deep pain from their. children. The same children that they were happy for when they were born. Today we find children making decisions that are contradictory even to the culture their parents grew up from.

John 16:21 “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

Prayer Points

Ephesians 2:20 “Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

1. Thank God for the life of every child around you. Praying for children is not a biological or family affair. All around us, there are children who are biological, spiritual, neighborhood, church environment etc. They are a blessing from the Lord, leaders and gospel preachers for tomorrow etc.

Ephesians 6:1-3 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

2. The command in Ephesians 6:1-3, has a promise attached to it but in the moment our children don’t care. Ask God for forgiveness and mercy in any way they have been disobedient to God’s commands and parents. Ask God to open their eyes to see the need to do right.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

3. Pray that God will grant grace to parents so they will continue to teach children the way of the Lord. For parents who have faulted, ask that they will repent and follow God’s commands.

2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

4. Prayer that parents will not give up praying for children. Ask God for this grace that abound in all circumstances; good or bad so that we pray without ceasing for our children.

Acts 16:1 “Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where he found a disciple named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman and a Greek father”.

2 Timothy 1:5 “I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”

5. Pray that God will bestow up women, the grace that was upon these two women (Lois and Eunice- mother and grandmother) who prayed for and helped sharped the spiritual life of Timothy. His mother was a believer and in bible times, it was not a mere name but a true follower of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3:13-14 “But as for you, continue in the things you have learned and firmly believed, since you know from whom you have learned them. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.”

6. There are ones who are young, really trying their best to serve God in this very terrible times. Pray that God will grant them grace of this revelation to walk into the truth they have been thought about God at home and at church, for it is what they need to become wise.

Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

Leviticus 17:11 “For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the LORD. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.”

7. We have been given the power that is in the blood of Jesus to overcome every thing irrespective name, origin, strength etc. Speak the blood every addiction, sexual immorality of all types, drunkenness, stubbornness, wickedness, unchurched, etc

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

8. Pray that the goodness of God will be made manifest upon the lives of our children. They are good gifts. God consecrated them from the womb. See the goodness of the Lord over the lives of our children. There was nothing that God created and gave to us that is bad.

Jeremiah 24:7 “I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart”

8, Pray that God will transform the hearts of our children so that they will desire to know and service him alone.

Luke 1:80 “And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel".

1 Samuel 2:21 “So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.”

Luke 2:40 “And the Child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him.

9. If you look at the life of John the Baptist, Samuel, and Jesus, you will see some similarities on how they were born, how they grew up, how God was with them from birth, and how they were used by God. Pray that God will also visit our children. Pray that they grow strong in the spirit of God. Pray that the presence of God will visit them. Pray that they will be filled with wisdom and grace.

Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”

10. Pray that our children will yield to that which God is doing within them so that they will fulfill the purpose of their existence on earth.

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

11. Our society today has no morals. In fact sometimes when you listen to the way children speak to their parents or adults, you will be so shocked. Let us pray that our children will think before they speak.

Proverbs 11:21 “Though hand join in hand, the wickedshall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.”

Psalm 40:2 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.”

12. The seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Declare that the right hand of God will come forth and deliver our children from any the pit of the enemy.

13. Pray that every child who has wandered away from this true gospel and family will come back to their senses and return to Jesus and family.

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

John 14:6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

14. There is something new growing in the church today that I believe is destroying our children. It’s called music- “worship songs”. Songs are meant to help us come close to God. Through them we can also be convicted. However, they will not replace salvation. Many just sing songs without repentance. Pray for genuine repentance by confessing Jesus in the lives of our children.

Numbers 6:24-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Psalm 121:8 “The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

15. Declare Numbers 6:24-24 psalm 127: 3-5 & Psalm 121:8 as a blessing over the lives of our children.