THE SYNERGISM OF GENERATIONAL PRAYER

At this writing, our four sons are either in their late 50’s or early 60's; our 10 grandchildren range in age from 13 to 36; our 7 great- grandchildren are pre-school and elementary school age. 

Our ever-expanding family circle includes spouses, ex-spouses, in-laws, blended families, and new families in formation.

I suggest that all of our children, regardless of their ages or conditions, or in whichever generation, are “special needs” children. They all have some kind of personal, relational, physical, mental, emotional, educational, material, or financial challenges. At the top of the list are their spiritual needs. 

Since I’ve been a widow for 21 years, single-parenting is a challenge. I am presently the eldest in our extended family circle, so I have a solemn responsibility given by God to shepherd my family flock spiritually, primarily through prayer. We are blessed that both my late husband’s paternal grandmother and my paternal grandmother prayed for the spiritual welfare of their descendants. Or putting it another way, they prayed forward for the branches and twigs that were yet to sprout on their family tree. Those “yet to be born” as David the Psalmist expressed it. That is all of us!

Our family members are spiritual heirs of the efficacious prayers of our ancestors. Those prayers did not diminish in power through the ages past and will not become less potent in ages to come.

It is for me to carry forward the lighted torch of prayer for my generation while I have mortal life on earth. Beyond that, I expect to continue joyful intercession for them and for future generations of our family in God’s presence after I am birthed into Life Eternal.

MY PRAYER FOR OUR FAMILY

O Lord, I pray for our family, not on the basis of my own righteousness but because of Your love for them and the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ for them. 

As the matriarch of our family, I come before You to intercede for Your grace and mercy upon each one in our family—our children, (no matter what their ages) and their spouses and children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren including families whose relationships have broken, and for new families in the making. I ask for Your Holy Spirit to draw their eternal souls to repentance and salvation and grant them eternal life in accord with the promises of Your Holy Word. I pray that each member of our family, biological offspring or in a blended family relationship, will through an act of their free will become a child of Your covenant. I pray that the Guardian Angel You have assigned to each of us for our lifetime will protect and guide us all safely to our Heavenly Home.

I ask You to protect our family physically and spiritually. Lead them all in Your paths of righteousness and in Your perfect will toward his or her special destiny. Bless them with Your favor, give them their daily bread, and prosper them according to their needs and for Your glory. 

On the authority of God’s promises in His Word I ask that negative spiritual strongholds of evil principalities and powers be torn down and any past generational curses be removed. In the Name of Jesus I resist the devil on behalf of our family. Deliver them from evil and the evil one. Banish his power from their lives, their bodies, minds, souls and properties.

I call forth Your bountiful blessings, O Lord, upon our family in agreement with the prayers of our godly ancestors. I receive and embrace Your favor and grace and mercy for myself and for my descendants because of Your love and faithfulness to Your covenant promises to our forefathers. Through the synergy of our prayers, I pass on our generational blessings with joy and vigor and faith to our posterity.

I pray that Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven in my life and in the lives of each member of my family. Help us to be diligent to establish, maintain, and bring forward a godly heritage to those in our family now and to those yet to be born. May we courageously and faithfully fulfill the purposes for which You gave us life and opportunity in this designated time in history that You have ordained for us. 

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