Prayer: the unseen battle

Tonight we had Pappy Alain over for supper. He's a 75 year old man whom we love dearly. As he was sharing with us tonight, I thought that we are blessed to have him and Antoinette in our lives in Paris as mentors. What he shared tonight helped confirm to me one of the key roles to being a more effective father: prayer for my kids.

During the last several days, I've prayed more intentionally and earnestly for the children, in particular for my son. He's had his own particular challenges at school and in life. The solutions for these go beyond my control, knowledge, and wisdom. Perhaps out of desperation, I've prayed for him as I've woken up early.

This morning I prayed that he would engage more in the worship service. For several Sundays, he has been more passive and not really participated in the worship. I also prayed that if there were things that I needed to do to help my family be more engaged, that I would make the necessary changes. My 11 month old daughter got buggy during the early Scripture reading, so I ended up going with her to the front of the service while she was looking for flags and other things to explore.

Two girls older than our kids went forward to do some worship dancing. Our son ended up going up with one of them and doing some worship dance with her. He had a big smile on his face as she led him in the dance. That was my answer to prayer, as he was really engaged in worshiping in a way that means something to him.

Alain mentioned the importance of praying against any spirits that could be destructive to our kids. I think that I need to be doing this before school each day. In this way, not only will our kids benefit, but also all the kids in the school.

In summary, there's a lot more that can be done on the prayer level for our kids.