Praying For Your Children To Live In God's Will

Good evening friends, I am just sitting down to blog at 9:30 p.m. We spent today making and sending Valentines for our friends and family. 

But more importantly, I wanted to share with you all about my Bible study lesson

 from this past week . . . 

I have mentioned before, that I am in an intense Bible Study Fellowship in which we are taking an in depth look at the book of Genesis. Each day of the week, we are given a set of questions and scriptures to go over. We are encouraged to complete each day's lesson for about 20 minutes or so on the assigned day. Well . . . I had one of those CrAzY weeks filled with a sick baby, a Downton Abbey Party and about a dozen other things that needed my attention! I am ashamed to say, that I waited until tonight ( the last hour or so to be specific) to complete this week's entire study and questions; which we will go over tomorrow!! 

Even with my shortcomings and foolish procrastinations, the Lord took this week's study and spoke to my heart and soul! 

Please allow me to share what I learned this evening during my quite time with my King . . . 

...This week's study was on Genesis Chapter 24.

 In a nut-shell: Chapter 24 of Genesis is all about Abraham sending a servant to go and look for a suitable wife for his son, Isaac. 

Below is a quick summary of the entire chapter and beautiful story that I found on Bible.org 

God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation. In order to enjoy that privileged position, he obviously had to have a son, and we have traced the struggles of faith that finally brought Abraham and Sarah their son. His birth was the highlight of their eventful and exciting walk with God. What happiness Isaac brought to their home! And he was such a good boy—dutiful, obedient, and submissive to his parents. Submissiveness would seem to be the only way to explain how old Abraham could bind the young man and lay him on the altar of sacrifice. God substituted a ram in that suspense-packed drama of obedience and faith; Isaac was delivered and the three of them were joyfully reunited as a family.

There is every indication that it was a close family unit. They loved each other dearly. Isaac mourning for his mother three full years after her death would be some indication of the love they felt for one another (Gen. 24:67).

With Ishmael gone, Isaac was the only child at home and his parents’ lives revolved around him. He never wanted for anything. Abraham had grown to be fabulously wealthy by this time, and the record reveals that he gave it all to Isaac (Gen. 24:35, 36). Perhaps there was even a trace of smother love and overindulgence in their relationship.

It is doubtful that Abraham and Sarah realized they may have been affecting Isaac’s personality and making him poor marital material by the way they were raising him. In fact, they had not even thought about marriage. They were enjoying him so much they seemed to forget that he needed a wife if they were to become the progenitors of a great nation. But after Sarah died, Abraham realized that he must take the initiative and make plans to find a mate for his son. That is not the way our children find their marriage partners, but for that time and culture it was a beautiful love story.

For Isaac and Rebekah, it was a tender beginning. Abraham was old when the story began. He called for his senior servant, the manager of his entire household, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you shall go to my country and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son Isaac” (Gen. 24:3, 4). The Canaanites were a vile race, cursed by God and doomed to destruction. God would not be pleased for Isaac to marry one of them. Although Abraham’s relatives in northern Mesopotamia had their idols, they were at least a moral people who knew about God and respected him. And they were descendants of Shem who was blessed of God.

It was the only logical place to find a wife for Isaac. While we do not choose our children’s mates for them anymore, we must teach them from their earliest days the importance of marrying believers (cf. 1 Cor. 7:39; 2 Cor. 6:14). It will help them find God’s choice of a life partner when the time comes for that important decision to be made.

So the old servant began the toilsome trip to the vicinity of Haran, where Abraham’s brother had remained after Abraham migrated to Canaan sixty-five years earlier. Abraham had assured the servant that the angel of the Lord would go before him. With that sense of divine direction, he stopped at a well in the town of Nahor, which happened to be Abraham’s brother’s name. And he prayed that God would bring the right girl to that well and lead her to offer water for his camels. It was a very specific request for exactly the proper mate for Isaac. And there is a lesson in it for us. The best way for our children to find God’s choice of a mate is to pray about it. They can begin as children to pray about the one whom God is preparing for them. Praying through those years will help them keep their minds on the one most important factor in their choice—the will of God.

Before the servant got to the “Amen,” God had the answer on the way. Rebekah, who was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, came out with her jar on her shoulder. Scripture says she was very beautiful, and a virgin. When she came from the well with her jar filled with water, the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” She said, “Drink, my lord” and she quickly gave him a drink. When he finished drinking she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” So she emptied her jar into the drinking trough and ran back to the well for some more, and she drew enough water for all ten of his camels (Gen. 24:15-20).

What a girl she was—beautiful, vivacious, friendly, outgoing, unselfish, and energetic. And when the servant found out that she was the granddaughter of Abraham’s brother, he bowed his head and worshiped the Lord: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His loving kindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, the Lord has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers” (Gen. 24:27).

It becomes obvious from the outset of this story that God is the real matchmaker in the marriage. When the servant related to Rebekah’s family the indications of God’s guidance, her brother and her father agreed. “The matter comes from the Lord,” they said (Gen. 24:50). No matter what kinds of problems a marriage may encounter, they will be easier to solve if both husband and wife have a settled assurance that God has brought them together. Difficulties can be overcome without it, and must be if God is to be glorified. But the nagging notion that they married out of the will of God will make them less than enthusiastic about working at their relationship with self-sacrificing diligence.

Rebekah faced an immense decision in her life—leaving the home and family she would never see again, traveling nearly five hundred miles on camel back with a total stranger, to marry a man she had never met. Her family called her in and said, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will go” (Gen. 24:58). It was her assurance of God’s sovereign direction that motivated her decision, and it revealed her courage and trust.

Even though this story is from the Old Testament of the Bible. I believe the Old Testament is the foundation and threads that weave us into the New Testament, and so I begin with bringing alive all the     teachings from both Testaments into my life. The lineage of the Old teaches us the who, what and where of the New Testament. It is like fulfilling the rest of the story. 

The story of Rebekah and Isaac impresses me very much. I remember it well  from my childhood , but now that I am a parent, I see many different facets of the same story. One in particular, is the importance of praying to God to choose your child's husband or wife. 

You can NEVER go wrong by trusting God!

Our children are not ours, they are entrusted to us, by God, to bring them up to glorify Him! 

The Bible says the Lord has a purpose and a plan for each of us before we are even born; when we are still in our Mother's womb. 

The other half of the deal is, we can quickly fall astray without asking God to lead our lives. God has given these promises to the Gentiles who believe in Jesus as their Savior, so I claim every gift God gives!!!!

My Mother told me, that when she first found out she was expecting me in 1982; she remembers leaving the doctor's office and entering the elevator praying to God to help her bring "this child" up to please and honor Him. Later, after she found out I was a girl, she began to pray over me to have a faithful and Christian husband.

Throughout my childhood, and up until the day I got married, I can remember asking God to prepare my future husband for me. 

When I was expecting our little Robert, I can remember praying over my tummy every night for our little baby to be brought-up in the Lord. As my tummy grew, so did our knowledge about this little baby. We eventually found out we were expecting a boy! My husband was thrilled of course to have a son! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to bring up a man who will love, honor and serve the Lord. We have prayed for Robert's future wife and claimed Abraham's promise over him each night. Abraham's promise was; when God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the stars and would prosper in God's love and favor. In return, Abraham obeyed the Lord and walked with him.

In Genesis 18:19 the Lord said; " For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised."

I hope I have shared some of the wisdom that I have gained tonight through this story. 

  

So with my son, I have a fresh, new slate... and with that I have the opportunity to instruct him in the ways of the Lord. I take my job very seriously! :) 

Here is a little clip of Robbie singing his good morning song to God. We can begin to plant the word of the Lord in their little hearts, even at a young age! :) 

Blessings,