back to school prayers for parents | day two | 1 Cor. 10.6-10

This is the second installment in a series I’m writing in honor of Back-to-School time at the Reeves’.  School supplies, backpacks, lunch boxes, haircuts, doctor check-ups, new clothes, even manicures and pedicures for crying out loud… (in the living room, not the salon)… but I am convicted that all that preparation for back-to-school, though good and awesome and fun, must be matched by the only preparation that will matter in the end:  prayer.

Today’s prayer comes from 1 Corinthians 10:6-13.  The passage is a list of warnings.  Cautions.  Heads-up.  Danger ahead.  The warnings come from history; history indeed has a tendency to repeat itself.  Sometimes I feel like my kids are growing up in a world that is altogether different than what I grew up in.  In this passage, Paul reminds us that human beings are the same as they’ve always been.  And that humanity has the same enemy it’s had from day one; no new tricks.  And that God. Is. Faithful. 

Yesterday.  Today.  Tomorrow.

When I’m overcome with fear for my kids growing up in this world and want to check them out of school, move to the middle of nowhere, and hide them under a tent until they’re thirty-seven, this gives me peace and comfort.   And brings me to my knees, equipped with words to say.   Let’s pray…

“Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did…”

Lord, I pray for what ________________ sets her heart on.  I pray that she not set her heart on evil things, but set her heart on You.  She’s terribly blessed… a safe home, people who love her, good friends, a closet full of clean clothes, every school supply she needs, so much food that she can make choices each day what to eat.  I pray she not set her heart on any of it.  Protect her heart, Lord, from the cancer of indulgence.  Protect her from setting her heart on the counterfeit gifts the enemy offers.  Protect her from setting her heart even on Your good gifts… Set her heart on YOU alone.  You are the only One who satisfies.

“Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written:  ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry...’”

Lord, I pray that as ________________ grows and matures, her daily life would not consist of just fulfilling her own desires, but that she would live with a purpose that is greater than herself.  I pray against entitlement in her heart, in world that bombards her with one message:  You do not have enough.  Lord, help me model healthy contentment, honest joy, and genuine thankfulness.  Call her.  Set her on Your mission.  Protect her from all idolatry, especially the worship of self.  You are the only good God.

“We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did – and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died…”

Do you see a spiral?  Do you see a downward pattern?  First, they set their hearts on things, rather than on the Lord.  That led to straight-up idolatry, which, in the purest sense, is worship of self… living to eat, drink, and play… to fulfill their own desires and lusts.  This led, of course, to sexual sin. 

No one can receive the gift of sexual purity and intimacy when they live to please themselves; it goes against the very nature of this gift of all gifts.  (Yes, I’m talking about sex.)  What Matthew Henry said in 1607 about the Israelites in B.C., still rings true today:

“And spiritual whoredom did in many cases lead to bodily prostitution.”^[1]  It’s a heart issue.  It’s forever been, and will forever be. 

Sexual immorality translates to every age and stage of history, from the Garden on.  Lest we 21^st century parents think that the Bible writers would not have understood the sexual condition of our children’s world today, it is the same.  Paul writes to 1^st century believers in Corinth, the home of the temple of Venus, where thousands of women devoted their entire lives to live and worship.  Thousands.  We’re not talking nuns.  They were called priestesses.  Their daily act of worship?  Prostitution. 

Can I just repeat that line from Mr. Henry?  “Spiritual whoredom leads to bodily prostitution.”  Granted, I’ve got my College-Pastor’s-Wife heart on display here.  I can get fired up about this subject.  Because pure sexual intimacy – God’s most extravagant gift and tool, given for our life and enjoyment, as well as for the visibility of His clarified glory – Satan in all his ugly jealousy has targeted to twist to our destruction and the blur of our Lord.  Why does Paul mention that 23,000 people died?  That’s what sexual sin does.  Kills.  And it makes me mad. 

Lord, I pray You protect ________________’s purity so that as she grows, she falls in love with You, she lives with a purpose greater than herself, and in Your perfect timing she experiences the pure gift of intimacy in a marriage that gives her the greatest happiness and gives You the greatest glory.  I pray the same for her future husband, wherever in the world he is growing up today.

“We should not test Christ, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes…”

Lord, I pray for ________________ that she won’t test You, but that she would trust You with all her heart.  Lord, protect her.  Protect her heart; protect her mouth!  That she would not say things about You she will later regret. 

“And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel…”

With the mention of this specific sin I can imagine every mother in America standing to her feet, raising her hands and shouting, “AMEN!”  It’s the warning against “grumbling,” or as other versions call it, “complaining,” or “murmuring.”  Enough said. 

Lord, I pray You’ll protect ________________ from the temptation to grumble, murmur, and complain.  (And please protect me from that, too, as it’s surely a “caught” behavior.)  May we both do everything today without grumbling or arguing, so that we may become blameless and pure, children of Yours in a warped and crooked generation.  Make us shine among this generation like stars in the sky, as we hold firmly to the Word of life.  You.

(I borrowed words from Philippians 2:14-16 for that one.)

“These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.  So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!  No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind.  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

This is my ultimate prayer today, Lord.  That You’d protect ________________ from temptation today.  I stand firm on her behalf on Your promise, that You will not allow her to be tempted beyond what she can bear today.  You will not push her past her limit.  Thank You, Jesus.  Either her trials will be proportioned to her strength, or You’ll supply strength in proportion to her temptations.  And by all means, Lord Jesus, when she is tempted today, open her eyes to see the WAY OUT You’re providing.  Give her feet the “umph” to r un.  Give her heart the strength and the trust to chase after You alone, the One who’s been chasing after her all her days. 

I’m often tempted to think that we are facing some extraordinary difficulty in raising our kids.  The fact is, we’re not.  Raising kids in the world today is so stinkin’ hard.  Very few parents talk about how hard it is.  Don’t be jealous of those who don’t believe (or won’t admit) that it’s so stinkin’ hard.  “If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!”  It’s hard. 

But…

Human beings are the same as they’ve always been.  And humanity has the same enemy it’s had from day one; no new tricks.  And our God. Is. Faithful. 

Yesterday.  Today.  Tomorrow.

Amen.

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^[1] Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: Complete and unabridged in one volume (1 Co 10:6–14). Peabody: Hendrickson.