Prayer for Manifestation of Joy- fruit of the Spirit

For today’s blog we will continue to pray for the manisfestation of the fruit of the spirit in our children. Please remember tthat whenever we pray we need to believe that our prayers are answered.
Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit that we will pray for to be manisfested in our children. Joy  is something that so many people long for, but never seem to be able to have and some who have joy they are not able to maintain it.
The Greek word for Joy is Chara pronounced khä-rä' and is translated as cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight - gladness, x greatly, (x be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully- fullness, -ous) (Strong’s concordance)

God desires us to have Joy in our lives, regardless of our circumstances.  He desires cheerfulness, calm-delight, gladness and exceeding fullness.  Happiness and laughter are sometimes mistaken for Joy, but they are not.  Happiness is short-lived; laughter is sometimes used as a cover up for pain, anxieties or even inadequacies.  Joy is a longer lasting thing and most times it comes with a knowing or assurance of who we are, who we belong to and knowing what he has promised us.

I Peter 1:8: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory

The fruit of the spirit is Love, Joy…… , how do we get this joy?

John 15:9 -11: As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.  These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

We only can get this joy from having a relation with Jesus Christ, from keeping his commandments and abiding in His love.  Joy will remain elusive if we separate ourselves from the Vine, or from his love.

Psalm 16:11: Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.  
Here is what having Joy does for us.  -   It strengthens us - Nehemiah 8:10b ……..the joy of the Lord is your strength.

So Let us pray:

Father, I thank you for (insert name) I thank you that you love them so much more than I could ever love him/her.  I am so grateful that you know how to give good gifts to your children.  I pray today for the manifestation of Joy in (insert name) the second fruit of the Spirit.  I pray that he/she will have the desire to study your word and in doing so will get to know more about you and what you desire from him/her. I pray that they will remain in your presence.  In so doing, they will have that joy that they so desire.  Help them to know that this joy will provide the strength that they need in difficult times, times of sorrow, times of loneliness.  Help me to model Joy before them so they see that this is possible.  In Jesus name Amen.

In His Service

Vilma

Prayer for the Manifestion of the fruit of the Spirit - LOVE

As usual it is always a pleasure for me to speak to you all through the pages of this blog.  I am also humbled to hear from some mothers of how blessed they are from reading the blog as well as my weekly in touch e-mails.  It appears that in order to comment on the blog itself you do need to have a g-mail account.  If you do have a g-mail account please feel free to post your comments on the blog site so that others will have the opportunity to read them as well.  If you do not have a g-mail account and do not wish to change your e-mail address, that is also ok.  I would like you to know that regardless I do continue to thank my God for all of you.

For the next few weeks I would like to concentrate on us praying for the manifestation of the fruit of the spirit in the lives of our children who are saved.  

I encourage those of you whose child or children are not saved to continue praying for their salvation.  In addition to praying, please member to share the word of God with them.  If you are not able to do so your selves please pray that someone will cross their path who will share the gospel with them.  As you pray this prayer, please ask God to prepare their hearts so that the next time they hear the word of God they will receive it.

From time to time when we speak of the fruit of the spirit, it is always good to remind ourselves that we are talking about one fruit and not many fruits.  In explaining this concept to others I usually ask them to imagine the fruit of the spirit as a tangerine.  This one tangerine has a number of sections. Together each section makes up the whole fruit.

 In the simplest of terms, we need every section of the fruit of the spirit for it to function as a whole.  If one section is defective or missing the fruit becomes defective and is less effective, than if it was a whole fruit.  If we were dealing with many fruits, we could easily discard what we do not want to be bothered with and still have whole fruits left.  This is not so when there is only one fruit.  The fruit of the spirit can be seen as those gracious habits that the Holy Spirit produces in the Christian.

Galatians 5: 22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

It is important that our Children walk in the Spirit so that they do not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Gal 5: 16-18).  The manifestation of walking in the Spirit is the fruit of the Spirit.  It is not a coincidence that Love is the first piece of the fruit to be mentioned.  It has been reported by some authors that this is so because Love encompasses all the other parts of the fruit of the Spirit.  Martin Luther was reported as saying that all of the other 8 areas of the fruit of the spirit are just a description of what Love in action looks like.  Love is a product of the Holy Spirit and not of our own efforts. We have the Holy Spirit and hence we have Love.  What we need is to have manifested in every area of our lives.

The word Love is from the Greek word Agape, and is often presented in the scripture as an attribute of God or as a Christian virtue.  Here it is used as a Christian virtue and is the only word in the Bible translated charity means love.  Love is said to be the chief test of Christian discipleship (John 13:35; Mat. 5:44; I John 3:14).  Agape love is a selfless love and it never stops giving and forgiving in spite of who has wronged us or treated us badly.  It holds no record of wrong.

How should we Pray?

Father I thank you for (insert name or names).  I thank you for the gift of Love in his/her/there life/lives.  I pray that this love will be manifested so that others may see and realize there is a difference in them. Through this love they will be able to lead others to you.  Father please help them to forgive those who have wronged them and in spite of how they may feel, they will keep no record of wrongs.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

In His Service,

Vilma

Praying for The Mind of Christ

I hope that as you prayed last week for your child or children’s mother you are rejuvenated and ready to start pushing again.  When I think of the word PUSH, I cannot help but think of other words like Effort, Energy, Posture, Excitement, Joy, Tiredness, and Pain.  I realize that it takes some effort to push something, I also realize that the amount of push that I will be able to do will be equivalent to how much energy that I have.  It is also true that I need to maintain the right posture to be as effective as possible, without hurting myself, especially when what I am pushing is large or heavy.  When I realize that I am getting somewhere, with what I am pushing I feel a sense of excitement and Joy.  After a hard day or week of work I do tend to feel tired and sometimes a bit of pain as my hands and knees may have gotten bruised and calloused along the way.  However, because I need to get somewhere, I keep going, I keep pushing until something happens!  So come on Let’s Pray Until Something Happens.

For this week, I would like to suggest that we pray for our children to have the mind of Christ.  We prayed initially for our children’s Salvation, then for them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and as they do that we pray that they will manifest the mind of Christ.

You may be wondering if this is at all possible.  Let us look at I Cor. 2:16 confirm that not only we can but that we have.  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him?  But we have the mind of Christ.

In Phil 2:5:  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.  Paul is essentially telling us to choose to have the kind of mind that Jesus Christ had.  What was the mind of Christ?  Let me suggest that the mind of Christ was one of humility, servitude and obedience to his Father.  Humility in that he left heaven and all its glory and became a man in obedience to his Father to die on the cross for our sins. Paul was not asking us to admire Christ but to imitate Him, follow or copy what he did and does.  When we have the mind of Christ we act like he does, we make righteous decisions and we frequently ask ourselves What Would Jesus Do?  We are not having the mind of God to become God, but we are changing our thinking so that we can become like Him.  We do not want our children to be unstable in their thinking, we want them to set the standard rather than follow every standard that people set for them, we want them to be leaders, not followers, we want them to walk in humility, knowing full well who they are in Christ.  We want this mind to transcend their relationships, their careers, and their education.  So many mistakes could be avoided in life, so many hurts could be averted, and so many more people would find comfort, if we would only exhibit the mind of Christ.

Let us pray:
Father, I thank you for my children, I thank you for their Salvation and their interest in growing in grace and knowledge of you.  Father I pray that as they continue to learn about you they will in turn exhibit the mind of Christ.  I pray that with this mind they will become obedient to what you are asking them to do.  I pray that they will think before they speak or before they act and ask themselves what would you do?  Father when they have your mind they will make right choices, they will influence and not be influenced, and they will not compromise, to be people pleasers, but instead will strive to please you.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In His Service,

Vilma

 Here is a good resource to use.  http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.

Prayer for my Chidren's Mother

It seems that the days go by so quickly, and before you realize it another week has come and gone.  I know that for most of us mothers wish that we could get at least 2 more hours in our day, especially those working outside of the home and also have younger children to take care of.  Sometimes we are the first person to get up, trying to get a head start on our day, and the last person to go to bed again trying to get a start on the next day.  You are so tired, that you hasten to say a sentence or two as your prayer as you get ready to crawl into bed; you remember you did not pray for your children today.  As you try to tell yourself how tired you are and how much you have done, you slowly drift off to sleep.  Is that the alarm?  This could not be, after all I just closed my eyes, wait a minute, it is 5:30am and it is time to get up and start all over again.

Maybe your children are all grown up and have moved into their own homes, and have their own families.  All of a sudden you have so much time on your hand.  So you volunteer to be on the usher board, deaconess ministry and teach Sunday school.  Oh wait I have a couple more hours to spear, so I run to this meeting, that meeting, is a member of this prayer group and before long; you are back where you were when the children were home, tired, and drained.  You lay across the bed for just a little bit, but gets awaken by someone snoring, oh that was me, I better just get on my pajamas and go to bed, and as my head touched the pillow, “lord thank you for today- Amen.  I should really pray for my children, but God knows how very tired I am, I will do it tomorrow night. Oh I did say I would read Vilma's blog tonight , ah well, I'll do it another time, when I am more awake.

Am I speaking to anybody?  This looks like it was written by someone with experience!  Yes I have been there, done that, but not wearing that T shirt anymore.

 What am I saying?  Praying for our children is a decision.  We must re-prioritize our lives so that we make the time to prayer regularly for our children.  So for today, how about we pray for our children’s mothers.  Let us pray for their wisdom, strength, and for their ability to make right decisions in their daily encounters.

Father, I thank you for my children’s mother.  I thank you that you love her so much to bless her womb with the gift of children.  I thank you that you trusted her to care for these gifts and to help propel them into their destiny.  I pray for the manifestation of her wisdom, her strength and her decision making.  Help her never to get weary in praying consistently and offensively for her children.  Father, I realize that I am praying for myself right now, not my children, but in order to do right by them, like David I am encouraging myself.  Father I give you the glory and I give you the praise and I thank you for answered prayers.

 In his service,

Vilma

Grace and Knowledge

I hope that this last week was a very productive one for all of you and that these weekly postings have been helpful and showing you a new perspective on how we pray and use our authority that God has given to us.  How are those saved children of yours?  Please remember to thank God daily for their salvation.  I should have warned you, do not be surprised if after you prayed for your unsaved children’s salvation, the devil  starts to create havoc  in their lives  and things start to look worse than better.  Hold on, things look worse before it gets better- do not give up!!

For this post I am suggesting that our prayer this week be focused on praying that our children will grow in the GRACE and KNOWLEDGE of Christ.  Let us look at 2 peter 3:18: But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  To him [be] glory both now and forever.  Amen.

What are we really asking for?  The word grace comes from the Greek word Charis (kha^’-ece) which means graciousness, that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, favor and loveliness.

The word knowledge comes from the Greek word gnosis- which means the act of knowing.

“But grow in grace” In other words increase in favor, graciousness and in your knowing of our Lord and Savior.  Growth can only happen if the environment is right.  A seed will grow if we put it in the soil, water it and give it plant food.  Growth will have no choice but to happen when the environment is right.

What is the environment for growth?  The word of God, and a prayer life.

2 Peter 1:2: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
Grace and the knowledge of Christ  puts us on guard and keeps us steadfast (2 Peter 3:17)You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness,(NASB) .

This was Paul’s prayer for the Colossians.  Let us look at Col. 1:9-10 For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; ¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

The more that our children get to really know God, and not just about Him, the more Grace and peace will be multiplied and the less likely they are to make mistakes, to doubt Him, and to lean to their own understanding or the understanding of others.  Grace and Knowledge of Christ will bring them comfort, and peace in the midst of any turmoil that they face.  It will also keep their Hope alive in their future with Christ.  
So as we pray please encourage them to read their bibles and to pray to God for themselves.  If they do not have a bible give them one as a gift, a simple study bible would be great.  If they are still living at home, build in a time for bible study, start out weekly and then gradually increase.  Please remember things do not happen in a vacuum, yes we will pray, but remember change comes from hearing the word.

Father, I thank you for my children that you have so graciously blessed me with.  Today, my prayer is for Grace and Knowledge for them.  I pray God that they will abide in your word and continue to develop their relationship with you.  As they read your word, please give them the capacity to understand it and apply it to their lives.  I thank you that they will remain steadfast and unmovable and will not be carried away by the error of those who are ignorant about you.  I pray that through their knowledge they will become the leaders you have called them to be and not followers. In Jesus name, Amen

In His Service,

Vilma

Prayer for Salvation

In my previous posts I explored some foundational principles to consider when we pray for our children.  These principles have helped my prayer life tremendously and I hope they were also helpful to you. Starting today I will suggest weekly prayer topics that we can include in our prayer time for our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, our neighbor’s children, the children in our communities, our state, our nation and the world.
I would like to suggest that for this week we focus our prayer on Salvation for our children. Later in the post, I will suggest other areas to pray for this week if your children are already saved.
Why start with Salvation?  I start with salvation because this is the beginning. Our salvation is what starts our relationship with God; this is what opens the door for all the spiritual blessings that God has promised to us, it ensures our future.

The word Salvation is a term that stands for several Hebrew and Greek words (Unger. 1988).The general idea of the term Salvation is safety, deliverance, ease and soundness. In the Old Testament the term refers to various forms of deliverance, both temporal and spiritual.  In the New Testament salvation is regarded almost exclusively as from the power and dominion of sin, Jesus Christ being the author (Unger 1988). This fact is supported by the word of God in Mathew 1:21 -And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Acts 4:12- Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Hebrews 5:9- And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.
The bible also tells us in John 14:6 -Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
It is important to realize that regardless of how beautiful, well portioned and intelligent our children are, or how successful they become in life, their basic nature is one of sin. They are a sinner and will need to be saved. Romans 3:23 supports this by saying: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Salvation is freely offered to all men but is conditioned upon repentance and faith in God.  People who are not Christians are not considered children of God and as harsh as it may sound they are not entitled to any of the benefits promised to the Children of God. Why am I saying this? It is important because when we pray and ask God to do for them or bless them and totally ignore their salvation we may be praying amiss.
Let me hasten to say whether we pray secretly or openly or get all our neighbors and friends to pray for our children's salvation we need to remember that this is will only be effective if we first share the word of God with them. Yes before you get mad, let me take you to the word in Romans 10:14 -How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
It is important that we share the word of God with our children. It is our responsibility to tell them about Jesus. If you do not feel adequate enough to do this, then get them in the environment so that they will hear the word. In the meantime, we should pray that their hearts will be opened to receive the word, and that it will take root before it is picked away, by friends, other relatives or situations. If your children are young, you need to start introducing them to God, by reading the bible to them, praying with them, and taking them with you to church. You need to model a life that represents Christ. You need to keep their environment rich with the word of God. Give credit to God for things He is doing in your life, your health, a job, for waking you up on a daily basis, for taking you back and forth in your daily travels. Do not keep God as a stranger from your children.
Some of us try to give our children everything to make them comfortable, to give them things that we ourselves were not privileged to have. We introduce them at an early age to music, sports, arts and so many other extra curricula activities, but when it comes time to take them to church, we allow them to sleep in because they are tired from their hectic week and need to rest to start the week full force on Monday morning. You do not have a monopoly on God, share Him. For those of us whose children are grown, it is not too late, when they visit or when they call find a way to share the word of God with them during your conversation.

 Father, I thank you that you so loved the world, that you gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I thank you God that you promise in your word that If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Father I thank you for (insert name) this/these gifts that you have blessed me with. I pray for (insert name) salvation, knowing that although you created them, they are not yet your son or daughter.  I pray that his/her/their heart will be receptive the next time that he/she/they hear your word, (from me or someone else) and will want to readily receive you as their Lord and Savior.

    After your initial prayer, keep in mind that God does answer prayer, knowing also that you have prayed according to his will (It is his will that no one should perish but that all should come to repentance. We also know that we must believe and have Faith that what he promises will come to pass. So start to thank God that he/she/they are saved and walking according to the principles of God. Remember to speak things that are not as if they were. See them as the righteousness of God and even when it may seem that nothing is happening remember in a previous post what we learned about Daniel and the two times that he prayed. Keep speaking Life and hold on for the manifestation of their Salvation.

If your children are saved please pray that they will remain faithful and on fire for God. If they are saved but have backslidden then you can focus your prayer for their return to the passion and love they first had. We will discuss this in more detail at a later time.

In His Presence,

Vilma

Positioning for Prayer

As I continue to set the stage for meaningful prayer for our children, I would like to look at some key scripture verses about prayer. The first thing that I would like to establish is that God always answers our prayers. Let us turn to Isaiah 65:24- Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear (NIV).   In Mathew 6 Jesus is instructing us how we should and should not pray and why. Look at what verse 8 says:  Do not be like them [the hypocrites], for your Father knows what you need before you ask him (NIV). Not only does He answer us immediately, but He knows exactly what we are in need of before we ask.
 Having said that the question becomes, if God answers our prayer immediately, why am I not seeing any results. Here is a possible explanation. Sometimes the answer to our prayer is manifested immediately but at other times the manifestation is delayed.  This is seen in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 9:1-23 we find Daniel’s prayer to God concerning the children of Israel who was coming to the end of their 70^th year in captivity. Daniel in his prayer was seeking God for specific instructions on what should be done. In verse 23 we see the immediate manifestation of the answer to his prayer through the angel Gabriel: As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision (NIV).
What did Gabriel say? - As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given.  However f we look just a little further in chapter 10: 1-3. We find a different scenario.  In these verses, Daniel is seeking God for an understanding of the vision he had concerning a great war that was to come. He waited and mourned for 3 weeks and it seemed that God did not answer his prayer. Let us take a look,
Verses 1-3:  In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision. At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks, ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over (NIV).
It would seem that the first answer came in 3 seconds and the second was taking 3 weeks. Listen what the angel said to him Verses 12-13 Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia (NIV).
God answered Daniel’s prayer but the answer was delayed by Satan (Prince of Persia). So sometimes it is not God who has not answered but there is some other force that is delaying the manifestation of God’s answer.  The bible clearly states in Ephesians 6:12-For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. We need to recognize that there are evil spiritual forces lurking around waiting for any opportunity to create havoc not only in your life but in the lives of our children.
     The other thing that I would like to discuss is the fact that when we pray we need to pray according to God’s will.  I John 5:14 mentions this: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us (NIV).
James 4: 2b-3 ………You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures (NIV). In the KJV instead of “wrong motives” we find the words “ask amiss” so my understanding is that even when it comes to our children we cannot just ask for things just to ask for it, neither can we ask with the wrong motives in mind. Our purpose should be that God’s will be fulfilled in their lives. What is the will of God you may ask? God’s will is in his word. In John 15: 7- If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. The more we study and live by the word of God the more we know the nature of God and what He wants of us. We cannot know God’s will if we are not in His word.
     Prayer is a very powerful weapon, but as with any weapon that we have we need to know how to correctly operate it.  The weapon is ineffective if we have no idea what to do with it. Frankly speaking we could end up hurting ourselves instead of hurting the enemy.  James 5: 16-18 also reminds us how powerful our prayer is. 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. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops (NIV).

So when we pray for our children, pray according to the will of God, pray having Faith that He will answer, know that some answers are not immediate and may come in a way in which we do not like, but also realize that the enemy will sometimes pull out all stops to hinder the manifestation of the answer to our prayers. We must also realize that if our earthly father knows how to give good gifts to their children, how much more your father in heaven will give good gifts to those who ask him! (Mathew 7: 9-11).

Father I thank you that you hear and answer my prayers.  Help me father that as I pray for my children that I will pray according to your will. Help me to understand how powerful a weapon my prayers are in the lives of my children and to know how to correctly use this weapon. Help me to recognize when the enemy is delaying the manifestation of answers to my prayers concerning my children, and that I should never get weary or despondent, but remain steadfast in the confidence that you have heard me and that you know how to give good gifts to your children. In Jesus name Amen.

In His Service,

Vilma