I try to pray for my kids and their families daily, sometimes twice, first thing in the morning, and when I go to bed. And, I will pray for them during the day as needs might occur to me. I’m often too mindful of how little I prayed for them and with them when they lived with us – except those ‘Help me, God,’ prayers that are essential when you are a parent.
In the morning I find myself a bit more attentive to God about how to best pray for them. Sometimes I will say a general prayer of blessing, but often something occurs to me about each of them that results in a custom prayer.
But, many times a theme emerges, a theme about their experience with the love of God. I imagine them enjoying a great sense of God’s love, and that shapes my prayer. As I pray that, I become aware of what might be obstacles to them experiencing God’s love and I pray for those things.
“Lord, ______ is swamped with enormous responsibilities right now. Break into their crowded day and surprise them with your love.”
I think that a campaign is developing in my life about experiencing God’s love.
This Sunday, at the Gathering Church we will look at one of the most famous passages since the Reformation, Ephesians 2:1-10, the saved-by-grace-not-by-works passage. Although, we will not be looking so much at the mechanics of a restored relationship with God, but, rather, the motivation of God described in the passage.
My new mantra: We want to love well because we have been well loved.