Praying for Your Child From Head to ToeMfano

## A Part In The Miracle I’ll admit, it’s easy to pray for certain behaviors for our children because it would make our lives a lot easier if they would just do what we want them to do and be who we want them to be. But prayer is not a means of gaining control over our children, to whip them into shape and make them the men and women we want them to be. Prayer is a means of relinquishing control of our plans and asking God to shape them into the men and women He wants them to be. Isaiah 29:16 tells us, “You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘You did not make me’? Can the pot say to the potter, ‘You know nothing’?” God is the Master Potter, and He certainly doesn’t need you or me to tell Him how to shape and mold those marvelous jars of clay we call ours. Oh, we’d like to. That’s for sure. But God’s ultimate goal is for that lump of clay to be fashioned according to His design and for His purposes, not ours. We “train up a child in the way he should go” according to godly principles (Proverbs 22:6a), but God molds the hearts of individuals. “We are the clay, you are the potter,” wrote Isaiah. “We are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). I am. You are. Our children are. God shapes and molds. We pray and intercede. James 4:3 warns about the danger of praying with wrong motives. Check your desire to control and create a “mini me” at the door of the prayer closet, and don’t let it in. As you pray, remember that God already has your child’s best interests in mind. Amazingly, He invites you to play a part in the miracle of maturing your child into the adult He created them to be. And as you pray, God aligns your desires with His desires, your thinking with His thinking, and your heart with His heart. Pray the following verses over your child: Arms—Health and strength: Exodus 15:2 Hands—Gifts and talents: Ecclesiastes 9:10a Ring Finger—Future spouse: John 17:15