Prayer is one of the most important, but overlooked parts of Christian parenting today. The mission of Million Praying Moms is to change that, helping moms make prayer the first and best response to the challenges of parenting.
According to LifeWay Research, somewhere between 66 and 70% of young adults who had attended church twice a month or more for at least a year during high school dropped out after high school*. And while we know that a certain percentage of them will come back in their 30s, the Church is still seeing a large percentage of its next generation leaving. Some leave because they go away to college, others because their work prevents them from attending regularly. But still others leave because they don’t feel connected with the message of their church, and this means something is broken. Maybe what’s broken is in the Church, or maybe it’s in our homes. I suspect it’s a combination of things much bigger than these two easy-to-blame institutions, but regardless of where the problem is, this number is sobering and should serve as a wake-up call for American families that now is the time to pray.
Why Pray?
The simplest, most basic definition of prayer is conversation with God. Tim Keller calls it a “conversation with God that He started.” In other words, God has invited each of us into a holy, and divine partnership, where we share our hearts, fears, worries, confusion, and requests, and He gives us His wisdom, comfort, truth, love, and guidance in return. It isn’t necessarily a fair partnership…He is still God, and therefore has the right to tell us yes, no, or wait (and He will do each of these things at some point)…but we get the most out of it by far. To think that we have the God of the Universe, Who created the hearts of our children, opening His arms in invitation to us, saying, “Seek wisdom here!” is overwhelmingly wonderful! What mother wouldn’t want to join in this kind of conversation to help meet the specific needs of her individual children?
Prayer moves God.
And this is a mystery. Just as there are seemingly contradictory scriptures that cause us to raise an eyebrow and wonder how they could all be true at the same time, God’s sovereign control combined with His invitation to His people to pray makes even the best of theologians scratch their heads. Why would we need to pray if God is in control of everything? And yet, there it is, on the pages of our holy scripture…
- “Pray without ceasing…” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
- “Seek his face…” (1 Chronicles 16:11).
- “Pray for one another…” (James 5:16).
- “When you pray…” (Matthew 6:6-9).
- “…in everything by prayer…” (Philippians 4:6-7).
Clearly God’s call, God’s invitation, God’s will is for His people, for parents, to pray.
I believe prayer is proactive. I believe it is action. A verb. It is doing something. Maybe the most important something we can do. If prayer were not action, it would be nothing. It would accomplish nothing. Do nothing. Mean nothing. And be worth nothing. Prayer is not passive. It is not a last resort. It is not a cop out, an excuse, or hands off. Prayer is the first and best response of the Christian parent to the challenges, depravity, and difficulties her children will face in this world, because she serves the God Who can, does, and reigns.
Prayer is battle.
Prayer is war.
Prayer is action.
Let’s Pray
Thursday, May 4, 2023 is the National Day of Prayer, an annual event that calls on people of all faith backgrounds to stop and pray for our nation. On that day, beginning at 7AM EST and ending at 7PM EST, the Million Praying Moms community will pray for the hearts of our children on the hours. Join us as we set our alarms to go off every hour, on the hour, for 12 hours that day.
Your commitment to pray is all that’s required. However, if you’d like a list of scripture-inspired prayers to use as a guide, please click here and download them for free now.
At 4:12PM EST, I will go live on the Million Praying Moms Instagram account for a corporate time of prayer. Please follow me there, and make plans now to join me for this time.
When I wrote Praying Mom several years ago, my secret prayer was for God to use it to create a literal army of praying moms, and that their efforts on behalf of their children, and the Kingdom of God, would change statistics forevermore. I believe our country, the world, and the Church need praying moms now more than ever if we are to see the number of young adults who leave the Church decrease. There has never been a better time to pray for the hearts of our children.
Join me on this upcoming National Day of Prayer.
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