We know that praying for our children and our grandchildren is important, but do we live as if it’s important? Are we a people committed to praying for the next generation? Are you committed to praying for your children? For the children in your church?

How committed are you? Do you pray daily? Once a week? Once a month?

Holding back tidal waves

If we want to hold back the tidal wave (for lack of a better term) that is pushing the next generation further and further away from Jesus, then we must pray for the next generation! To be sure, holding back tidal waves is the Lord’s work, but He uses us in His work.

When I look back at pictures of our much-younger family, I think, “Wow! Those parents have no idea what’s coming.”

For those of you with older children, I imagine you, too, can look back at your younger family photos and agree. Things you didn’t see coming.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds, let alone 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years down the road. One day, you will wake up and your children will be 25, 40, 65 years old. Praying for our children is not just for today; it is not just battling for their present. Praying for our children is for tomorrow; it is a battling for their future because we have no idea what their future holds!

Did your parents pray?

I am the beneficiary of parents who prayed. I’ve come to understand the power of their prayers wasn’t in the prayers themselves; the power of their prayers was in the One they prayed to.

There is something about the Lord that blows my mind away—something I can’t fully comprehend; something I can barely make sense of with words, but something I’ll try to share because I want you to be blown away too!

God’s not bound by time.

We are bound by time. He’s not like us in that. We’re here on the timeline of life that He created. We cannot move beyond where we are except at the rate that time moves. He’s here in this time with us, but He’s also out there, off the timeline, and He’s also here, all over the timeline. All at the same time.

That means when my parents prayed for me as a baby, then as a teenager, and as a new mom, God didn’t just hear their prayers then. He still hears them. When they prayed 30 years ago for strength and for courage for me, God still hears that prayer and He is still working to give me strength and courage, even in this very moment.

If you had praying parents and they’re gone, God still hears every prayer they ever prayed for you.

I’m right here on the timeline of life. If I pray today, “Lord, love my son. Protect him from the evil one. Fill him with wisdom and joy,” the Lord hears it right now in this moment, and He heard it 16 years ago when my son was 5, and He hears it 60 years from now when my son will be 81, before my son even gets there. He hears our prayers from the dawn of creation to the end of time.

So, if you pray one time for your children, God hears that prayer always!

Now, I am not recommending that you only pray once for your children. But I am recommending that you sit and think about who it is that we pray to and be blown away! Because, if we really begin to understand who He is and what He is capable of, how can we not pray for the next generation?