I pray for my children all the time. I know that you do the same for yours. I pray for their safety, their health and their friendships. I pray that they will find success on the tests that they take and for their success in the gym and on the court. I pray about their college choices and their future spouses and children. I have been able to witness God answering those petitions with “yes’s” and “no’s”.
Our family has been able to rejoice in the blessings of having relatively healthy kids. They are doing fine in school and have great friends, but they have bombed exams, wrecked their cars, lost their games and their tempers. They have had broken bones and broken hearts. My prayers for them change as much as the seasons do, but the one prayer that I pray daily is that each of them would come to know and love Jesus Christ.
All four of our teens are in different places in their spiritual lives, but just like me… and just like you… they all need more Jesus. As their mom, there is nothing I desire more or pray more about than my hope of spending eternity with them as my very own brothers and sisters. I long for an eternity where our greatest desire and privilege is to spend all our time in a Jesus praising relationship. This promised and beautiful joy-filled heavenly adventure is what we were all made for. Our chief end is to glorify the Lord and enjoy Him forever. I will relentlessly pray for their spiritual lives until the day I die. I am certain I will also continue to pray for their relationships, health, safety, tests and all the other circumstances that fill their daily lives.
I am obviously looking forward to heaven, but while I am still here, I haven’t always been great about in rejoicing when God says “No”. I can paste a smile on my face and quote Romans 8:28 just as quickly as anyone else who’s circumstances are laterally discouraging, but I sound like Eeyore:
“Well… God said “No” about something I have been praying really hard about (sigh) and of course, He is good and something better will come out of this because God knows better. Even if I NEVER know what the good thing is… I trust God. (sigh)I love Him and He knows it. He knows what is best for me… lalalalala (sigh)” Romans 8:28 is a comforting verse and there is powerful truth preached in it, but I think that it is often applied like a Band-Aid when well-meaning Christians cannot make sense of a painful situation.
Romans 8:28 offers so much more than the glossy fix of a Band-Aid. When you break it down, it is the most encouraging answer to my greatest prayer of “Just Give Me Jesus.” This petition that I pray daily for my kids is answered so beautifully in this well-known verse:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV)
I love God and the “good for me who loves Him” is to become more like Him. God is good. I know it. If I love God, I want to know Him and I want to become conformed to his image. There is nothing I should want more, and there is nothing I should want more for my children. His purpose in creating me (and you) is that we would glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. God gets the glory when we become like his son. He uses everything in our lives for our good with that purpose.
When we petition God for anything, He hears us. He hears and cares about every single one of the prayers we offer up to Him. Every answer He gives is His perfect way of conforming us to Christ. God uses ALL things for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to His Purpose. So….. your kid bombs the ACT: Good! God is using it to conform her to Christ. Your child arrived safely home when you prayed for travel mercies: Good! God is using this to conform him to Christ. When we grasp how big God is and how He hears all our prayers and uses ALL THINGS for good, it becomes much easier to rejoice. We can replace our Eeyore voice with a song of jubilation, because there is nothing we should desire more than to become more like Jesus. There is nothing we should want more for our children than for them to know and love Jesus more everyday. All of this is truly good stuff.
“What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who buy something, should live as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” 1 Cor 7:29-31 <abbr> (NIV)
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment.” Matthew 22:36-38 (NIV)