Being a Christian parent is hard work. It's blood, sweat, and tears. But, praise God, He has given you some powerful weapons to help you be victorious in raising your children for Him. One of the most important things you can do for your kids is to pray for them.

Now, we aren't talking about little prayer that you memorize and recite once in a while. We are talking about spending time daily in prayer with your heavenly Father- a time when you press in and ask God to set a hedge around your children and keep them from the enemy.

In Matthew 15:22-28, we find the story of the Canaanite woman whose daughter had a demon. The women came to Jesus and begged Him to deliver her child from the demon. Now, it wasn't the daughter who came to Him for help. Maybe she couldn't come, or wouldn't.

For whatever reason, it was the mother who came, and she was determined to get help. She cried out to Him, pleading for Him to help her daughter, for as a Canaanite she had no covenant right, but she had great faith.

His disciples didn't like the way she was crying out to Him, so they said: "Lord, make this woman leave us alone. She's following us around, crying and making a scene. You've got to do something!"

But Jesus said," I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.... It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs" (Matt. 15:24,26). He was saying to her: "I've been sent to help the Jews, and you're not a Jew. You're a Gentile. The Jews think of you Gentiles as dogs. It isn't right to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."

Now if He said those things to some of us today, we might get a little huffy and say, "How dare that preacher call me a dog! If He doesn't want to help me, I'll go somewhere else. The nerve of that guy! He probably couldn't help my daughter anyway!"
But that little mother knew Jesus was her only hope. She had already put aside her pride.

She didn't care what Jesus called her as long as He helped her daughter, so she said Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs, which fall from their masters' table (v.27). In other words, she was saying, "Lord, just give me a crumb. That's all I need, because even a little of Your mercy is enough to help my daughter."

Persevering Prayer Moves the Heart of God

Talk about faith and perseverance! That's the kind of prayer that moves the hand of God. Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt" (v.28). And her daughter was set free from Satan at that very moment!

Do you want your child set free from Satan's influence? Are you willing to put aside your pride, get on your face before God, and pray until He answers? That's what it will take. You have to be willing to pray for your child every day, every week, every year until he (or she) is rooted and grounded in Jesus Christ.

You may say, "I've been praying for my child for years, but he's still living for the devil. What should I do?" Or maybe you say, "I wasn't a Christian when my kids were small, so I didn't raise them to serve God. What can I do now that they're grown?"

Just keep praying for them. The final tally isn't in. As long as your children are still living, you keep praying. God will honor your prayers. We believe strongly in the power of prayer, so pray for them and claim them for God.

Ask God to build a wall of protection around them and keep them from every kind of harm: sin, sickness, disease, infirmity, drug addiction, alcohol, accidents, perversion, any plague that might come nigh their dwelling (Ps. 91:10). That covers every force that can come against a child physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

And, you know, because of your prayer, one of these days your son or daughter may come directly to you and say something like this: "I accepted Jesus because you prayed for me. You claimed me for God and put God's mark on me. You rebuked Satan in my behalf, and I'm here today because you did. I thank God for you, for your love, and for your prayers."

Moses became a great man, but the roots of his greatness went back to when he was a child. He had parents who instilled the faith of God in his heart.

Many of the young children in churches today come from parents who believe God and pray for them. These are their roots. One young man, after being healed of polio, said, "I had a prying mama!" And one young lady said, "My grandmother held me before God!" Isn't that beautiful?

Don't give up on your children. As long as they have breath, there is hope. So claim them for God!



Source: How To Raise Your Kids In Troubled Times by Buddy & Pat Harrison.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers