“Honour your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6:2-3 ESV
We are in the season of honouring the mothers and fathers that are in our circles of family and friends. Mother’s Day was last month and Father’s Day is approaching rapidly this month. On these festive days, restaurants, florists and greeting card companies do a “land office business”, mothers endure breakfast in bed (frequently consisting of burnt toast and lukewarm coffee), and dads receive a seemingly endless supply of ugly ties that likely will never be worn. But the tradition is good, and if the heart is in the right place, God is pleased by our attempts to be a blessing to our parents.
The verse from Ephesians above is a quote from the Old Testament Decalogue. The apostle Paul adds the parenthetical comment, “this is the first commandment with a promise”. How we feel and treat our moms and dads is very important to the Lord. In this chapter, Paul is dealing with God’s plan for family dynamics and his instructions to children, however old they may be, is to show honour and respect to their parents. Paul’s description in Romans 1 of the lawless and degenerate culture of those who rebel against God’s laws includes, along with gross immorality and other nasty expression of evil, the act of being disobedient to parents (Romans 1: 30). Apparently, this subject matters to God.
My wife, Margaret, and I are celebrating these two days with a fresh enthusiasm this year although both our sets of parents have “gone to glory” some time past. But we are anticipating the birth of our first grandchild later in the year, and our thoughts and prayers go out for our son and his young wife as they contemplate the joys and responsibilities of parenthood for the first time. Like matrimony, parenthood is not something to be taken lightly or casually. Moms and dads have been given a enormous task in raising their children in a Godly manner.
If your parents are still living, you probably don’t need me to remind you to pray for them. They may be in their twilight years, requiring more care and assistance than they have needed since they were youngsters. You may find yourself praying about their health issues, financial pressures, or the stress of moving out of their home into a support facility, or the loss of driving privileges. Perhaps they do not yet know the Lord and you are interceding for their salvation, especially at this stage of their lives.
But if you are like us and your parents are deceased, then how do we pray for mothers and fathers? If you have children who are now parents, then start with them. Many grandparents today are vitally involved in the lives of their grandchildren, driving them to sports and other activities, caring for them after school until they are picked up by one of their parents, babysitting, and probably praying for the children as they grow. But do we pray for the moms and dads that they will raise our grandchildren in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. Do we stand with them in prayer against the incredible pressures of our culture to hand over their education and preparation for adulthood to a decadent, secular state where, as one elementary school principle once told us, “The children will be freed from the narrow thinking of their homes and be prepared to be world citizens”? Young parents desperately need our prayers to navigate their children through the snares, pitfalls and temptations that the enemy has strewn in their way.
If you have parents of young children or teenagers in your parish, pray for them in their God-appointed roles as mothers and fathers. Many of today’s parents had poor or no modeling in their own home growing up, and now face an enormous task with little to no preparation. Pray that they will seek the Lord for His principles of child-rearing, not what secular “wisdom” our culture propagates. If there are single-parent families in your church, especially pray for the parent and seek the Lord for how you might be able to come along side this family and be a support. If you have no grandchildren of your own, ask the Lord to show you whether you might “adopt” some by being a blessing to a struggling family. Pray, pray, pray for parents who carry such a heavy load.
Besides praying a general blessing on them, how should we pray for these dear moms and dads? How can we practically and specifically intercede in a way that will make a difference? Let me make just a few of many possible suggestions:-
Praying for Mothers:
- Pray that mothers will have a deep sense of their calling by God to motherhood – this most fundamental and rewarding task/privilege, even on trying & stressful days.
- Pray that they will see their children as gifts from God, not as an inconvenience or a disruption from pursuing their personal goals.
- Pray for grace, strength and organizational efficiency for moms that is beyond their own natural abilities and gifts.
- Pray that mom and dad will be of one mind in terms of the nurturing and disciplining of their kids.
Praying for Fathers:
- Pray that fathers will see and accept their role in the family as servant leaders whose responsibilities include the spiritual well-being of all those in the family.
- Pray that the seductive lure of financial and career success will not consume fathers or inhibit them from fulfilling the call on them to Godly fatherhood.
- Pray the fathers will learn how to convey love to their kids, both verbally and in physical affection, so that, in their teen years, they will not need to seek such love and affection in the wrong places.
Praying for single parents:
- In addition to the above prayer points, stand with them in prayer against loneliness and rejection. Many are single due to broken relationships and struggle with a deep sense of inadequacy to parent on their own.
