“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16.

Satan’s Campaign

Satan has launched an aggressive campaign against our children. He attacks them relentlessly through our media system, our political system, our school system, and sometimes even our family system. Our kids are bombarded with his lies and propaganda almost constantly.

We cannot imagine the temptation and pressure to yield that our children endure daily. How will they escape Satan’s snare? Christian workers in the media, political arena, schools and families face almost insurmountable odds.

Our Campaign

But God is still able. He has called us to prayer. His way is not the flashy, clamoring method of the world. It is the “powerful and effective” prayer of one right with God.

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven” James 5:16, Matthew 18:19-20.

As we come into the presence of our God and present our children to him in prayer, God hears, and he promises to respond. The Bible teaches that our prayers have the power to bind Satan’s attack against our children.

God instructs us to pray one for another, and to agree in prayer. God makes special promises to respond to the united power we manifest as we blend our hearts in prayer.

Many mothers have led heroic campaigns for their handicapped children, their missing children, or in honor of their deceased children. But to combat Satan’s campaign against our children, our campaign must be a campaign of prayer.

If our children are wayward, this is especially important, because if they are not “meshing” with other Christians, they can easily be forgotten by the Christian community. We are prone to remember and pray for those people whose need is brought to our attention.

As mothers, we must be a “prayer advocate” for our children. We must keep the passion burning in the hearts of other Christians for the needs of our children, especially our wayward children. We cannot allow them to be forgotten.

Challenged Campaign

We’ve seen that whenever a parent came to Jesus in the Bible, sincerely seeking help for their child, God met the child’s need. However, those parents had to place their faith in God, and to be in right relationship with him. The Bible says:

If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his ommands and do what pleases him.

Psalm 66:18, James 4:3, 1 John 3:21-22.

What does it mean to “had cherished sin in my heart?” It is to know there are certain areas in my life where I am not going in the way God would have me go, and to be unwilling to allow God to help me change these areas.

Satan challenges our commitment. God’s promises are only for those who give him control. When we defend certain territory in our lives, we find that those areas we defend do not provide the fulfillment we seek. When we are willing to trust God with control in every area, even those areas we cherish, we will find what we really want.

We cannot even know what we want on our own. God cannot work things out for best for us as long as we take control and work them out our way.

A good illustration of this is the prayer of this mother for her sons:

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.

“What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave– just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Matthew 20:20-28

This mother and her sons came worshiping Jesus. So what was wrong? She was not in right relationship with God. She sought her will for her sons, not God’s will, and this is sin.

She was not acting in faith either. She was attempting to deceive Christ into making a commitment off guard so that when he announced his kingdom it would be too late to renege. She did not understand that the kingdom is heavenly and that it is ruled by love.

We must be in right relationship to God if we would get our prayers answered. If we are not walking in the way God would have us go, our prayers are simply words. Our first prayer must be for God to cleanse us.

We must come as Hannah did when she said, in essence, “I accept whatever God brings forth with my child” (See Session 4). God’s goal for our children is that they live for him. He has instilled that same goal in us as Christian parents. As our prayers blend with God’s will for our children, we can know God will do what is right for them.

This leads us to the second requirement for answered prayer. We must come in faith. Satan will challenge us here too. We must stand firm. We must believe that God will do what he says.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him.

Mark 11:24, 1 John 5:14-15.

Victorious Campaign

We can “know that we have what we asked of him.” God may not do what he has promised in the way we think he should. He may not do it at the time we think he should. But these things are sure: God will do it as we wait on him. He will do it in a manner which far exceeds our plans or imaginations. He will do it at the most appropriate time. And when he does it, we will marvel at the perfect wisdom of his way and his time.

Application

God is always faithful to answer. But we are not always faithful to pray. God, forgive us.

We renew our commitment to fight for our children in prayer. Strengthen us for the battle. We will not let our children go. We will bind the power of Satan through prayer as long as there is breath in us. We will fight for our children, and we will win. For our God is able!

Thought to Remember

Satan is playing tug-of-war with our children, but with him it is not a game. It is a demonic attack. Our part is to pray. God’s part is to answer. Satan attacks this plan, not on God’s side but on ours. He knows the only way to thwart God’s answer is to halt our prayers.

Questions for Discussion

1. What important campaign should we lead for our wayward children?
2. Why involve others in prayer for our children?
3. What are the two conditions we must meet for our prayers to be effective?
4. Can something so easy really work?
5. Can something so difficult be worth the effort?

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This article is Copyright ©1981-2010 by Lois Turley from the original website "Hope Undivided" (no longer in existence). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Labels: Bible Studies, Blog, Called To Be A Mother, Motherhood