PRAYERS FOR MY FAMILY

As a follow up to my post yesterday, I have been asked to encore my PRAYER FOR MY FAMILY which was published in Ch.12 of the second book in my LAND OF MORE Trilogy, "LIVING THE TREASURES IN THE LAND OF MORE."

The family is at the heart of our faith; my family is at the center of my world. 

God can hear the “groanings” (sighs too deep for words) which the Holy Spirit expresses on my behalf as He presents to God my prayers for a family member’s needs (Romans 8:26-27). There are times when I am both groaning and sighing. Children, no matter how old or how young, husband, wife, parents, siblings, grandchildren and great-grands are a constant focus for family prayers. It is a matter of the heart. Our children eventually leave our nest, our home, but they never leave our hearts. 

[At this writing,] our four sons are in their fifties and sixties now; two of them are already grandparents! Our ten grandchildren range in age from [fifteen to forty]; our [almost ten] great-grandchildren are "nearing birth," infants, toddlers and in elementary school. Thank God none of them is mentally or physically challenged; nevertheless they are all “special needs children” whatever their age, with personal, relational, educational, financial, physical—and at the top of the list—spiritual needs. 

It seems that I am continually praying one or another through one crisis or struggle after another. As a “single parent” for more than twenty years, I’ve carried that prayer burden for our extended family circle by myself. (Not really alone since our Catholic faith teaches that our loved ones can intercede for us from heaven. I believe my husband is continuing to pray for our family as he did while on earth.) Nevertheless, I feel a heavy spiritual responsibility from God to shepherd my family flock primarily through prayer.

There are times when I’m not sure whether what I face or they face is an assault from the enemy against which I should take spiritual authority, or a test from the Lord through which I or they should persevere and grow. Or whether a physical condition is a call for faith and healing prayer or is permitted by God as an opportunity to unite with the sufferings of Christ. The latter is a biblical (Colossians 1:24) concept I’m still trying to get my mind and heart around.

The most I can do, in fact, the very best that I can do, is to present each situation and each family member to my Lord and ask Him to carry out His perfect will in His perfect way in His perfect time for his or her good and for God's glory.

My prayer below has proved meaningful to me. The precise words are not important. The condition of my heart and my trust in God is what He hears when I pray whether with spoken words or with the intentions of my silent spirit.

Prayer for my family

O Lord, I intercede for Your grace and mercy for each member of my family—natural born, adopted, or in a blended family relationship, my young and adult children, and each spouse, my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and those yet to be born. 

Holy Spirit, draw each of their eternal souls to repentance and salvation and grant them eternal life through believing and receiving the promises of Your Holy Word. I ask that their guardian angels will protect and lead each one to his Heavenly Home.

Please protect my family physically and spiritually. Lead them in Your paths of righteousness, bless them with Your favor, give them their daily bread, and provide their needs. 

 

In the Name of Jesus I resist the devil on behalf of my family members. Deliver them from evil and the evil one. On the authority of God’s Word I ask that spiritual strongholds be torn down and any generational curses be broken. 

 

Because of Your love and faithfulness to Your generational promises to my godly forefathers and in agreement with their prayers, I thankfully receive Your favor and grace and mercy for myself and for my descendants. Through the synergy of our prayers united in the Communion of Saints, help me to pass on Your Truth and generational blessings to our posterity with vigor and faith.

I pray that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven both in my life and in the lives of each member of my family. Help us to be diligent to establish and bring forward a godly heritage to the children in our care and those yet unborn. Help us to faithfully and courageously fulfill the purposes for which You gave us life and opportunity in our particular time in history.

In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

FAMILY TREE

Leona Choy

I am part of what has been and what is yet to be.

Sandwiched in between is me:

I am the trunk of my Family Tree.

I have roots and also branches.

Generations from antiquity pass through me.

They have determined what I have become.

They are my history which has made me what I am.

New branches spring from me; they are my posterity.

I’ve had some choice in assisting and inclining them

toward the best of what they might become.

Yet they are still free to grow and change

within the range of their heredity and opportunity

and God’s special plan arranged from Eternity.

I pray for me—the trunk between—that I might be

a planting strong against the inevitable storms

yet bending with the wind if need be

passing on the best from roots unseen

but giving branches room to stretch and reach

upward to new heights

because I faithfully fulfilled

in my Family Tree

with the help of God

my trunk destiny.

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