1 Thessalonians Chapter 4

“For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thes. 4:7 NIV)

Prayer for Our Children

Oh God, please help my daughter and her future spouse stay sexually pure throughout the entirety of their lifetime, from the bloom of their youth to the end of their days. Protect them from impurity, perversion, and harm. Keep them from lustful temptation, and guard their eyes, thoughts, impulses, and bodies. Bless them with a faithful, loving, and lasting marriage that reflects the love and light of Christ. Help our little ones to live a life, holy and pleasing unto Yu. Make Your ways and Your instruction a delight to their ears and a joy to their hearts. May Your Word be a lamp unto their feet and a Light unto their paths. ...

Our house boasts a stately staircase that rises in statuesque dignity and flares open in stately fashion. If staircases could speak, ours would tell many tales and relay many memories. It would fondly speak of how Sweet girl learned to boom on her behind down the stairs, her little hand gripping the stair rail. It would tell with horror how Little one fell down the stairs with her father falling after her in a desperate attempt to catch or cushion her fall.

How it laughed as Sweet girl chased Mommy up the stairs and giggled when Daddy carried Little one up the stairs upside down like a sack of potatoes. With pride, it would boast of the day Sweet girl learned to walk down the stairs like a big girl with one foot following the other. How it would bear witness to the countless prayers said in the loft a few feet away from its’ head and how it would testify of its’ own silent, added “Amen.”
     
One precious moment it would describe with tenderness is Sweet girl’s first descent down the grand staircase in regal attire. She appeared at the top of the stairs in a new, beautiful dress of sparkly white and flowing flounces. Her eyes bright and smiling shyly, Sweet girl paused for one heartbeat at the stairs head and looked down. Cameras poised at the base of the stairs, ready to capture Little girl’s first dress reveal; ready to immortalize this moment in time.

Then, with fingers gently trailing on the curved wooden railing, Sweet girl extended a daintily clad little foot to begin the descent.

​Click-click, click, click, snapped the camera. Sweet girl bashfully turned her head, giving the onlookers and the camera a shy, half smile as she continued stepping. Click, click, click-click. She floated down the stairs, each step as delicate as butterfly wings. 

But in the flash and click of the camera, I was transported in my minds eye to moments of time in the future; events when Sweet girl would descend the staircase in similar glowing, shy, uncertain radiance. Like, Sweet girl’s blushing cheeks in her shy, yet eager walk down the stairs to the infatuated eyes of her first date. Or, when she appears at the stairs head, dressed in a beautiful prom gown and pauses with sparkling eyes, to catch the admiration of her awaiting escort. Or, the day, when Sweet girl descends the stately stairs with starry brilliance to the man who will soon be her husband.
     
​Click, click-click, click. And then, it is her wedding day. But this time, she does not walk alone. Her Daddy dressed in tuxedo and bow tie with tender tears in his eyes, proudly escorts a radiant bride down the aisle to her groom. Sweet girl’s glowing smile illuminates her face and her shining eyes seek only the adoring eyes of her betrothed. 

Click, click, click. One eye blink later, I am back in the present with Sweet girl, who in all her little girlness, steps off the last stair onto the wood floor and bounces towards me.

"Mommy,” she beams, then twirls, “do you like my pretty dress?" Sweet girl spins in a series of circles, giggling as she watches her dress flare and swirl. Click-click, click-click.

“Yes,” I smile, “I love your dress. Most of all,” I knelt down with arms wide for a hug, “I love you.”
     
How short a time we parents are entrusted with our children. Not only are we tasked with the job to train up our children in the ways of the Lord, but we are also to raise them up with the hope, intention, and expectation to leave their parental home unit and cleave to their future spouse. And in the very act of leaving and cleaving, it is God’s purpose and plan for our children, once wed, to create their own, separate family unit where, we parents, relinquish our hold and set them free. We are raising a child of God, a servant of the Lord, and a Godly future spouse. What an awesome responsibility we hold as parents! May we not only raise up Godly future adults, but may we also be equipping our children to stand pure in the face of sexual immorality, and teach them the blessings of Biblical marriage. In a world that glorify the lusts of the flesh, it is vital that we parents intercede in prayer on behalf of our children and instruct them in the ways of righteousness. This day, may we bend our knees and bow our heads in prayer for our children’s protection, for their purity, and for them to live lives that are holy and pleasing unto the Lord. 

A Parent's Prayer

Oh Lord, help me to pray more faithfully for my little one. Give me energy, focus, time, and strength to plead for my children’s present and future. Grant me Your words, your heart, and passion to daily intercede on their behalf. May You do a new work in me, through me, and with me this day, I pray, oh Lord.