What to Pray Wednesday

Dis-ci-pline:
noun: training to act in accordance with rules
verb: to train by instruction and exercise, to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control

Cor-rec-tion:
noun: something that is substituted or proposed for what is wrong or inaccurate; the act of correcting; an improvement

Pun-ish-ment:
noun: a penalty inflicted for an offense


My desire, as a parent is not to bring up a child that obeys my every command, thinks like I thinks or even grows up to practice the same religion that I do. Nope my desire is to raise up a disciple.

Dis-ci-ple
noun: a follower of the doctrines of a teacher or a school of thought
verb: to teach; train

I want my children to learn, obey and practice every word that Jesus spoke and God revealed through His Holy Word. Which is why I am now training myself to pick up the Bible before I pick up a Self Help or Child Rearing Book. After all God is the one who formed my children in my womb, so logic would dictate that He is the "go to" when I have questions, concerns and issues with them right?!?!?!

Some parenting philosophies I have formed while studying the Bible are: address first the heart then the actions, not expecting my children to be perfect (only Jesus was) and making my yeses be my yeses and my nos be my nos.

So the other morning when LJ spoke to me in a manner that was disrespectful, instead of nagging about him being disrespectful I decided that prayer would be more effective. I called him over to me and without explaining what I was doing, placed my hand on his head, closed my eyes and prayed over him something to this effect:

"Dear Father, I am so thankful for my firstborn LJ. I know that often when we are frustrated or in a hurry we forget that you ask us to honor our parents. God I ask that you soften LJs heart so that he is aware of the tone he is taking with me.Open my eyes that I encourage my son and not discourage him. Help his words be sweet like honey this morning and not bitter like vinegar. Guide us through today so that we may bring glory to your kingdom. In Jesus Name, Amen"

I enjoyed an immediate change of heart and was able to use  

cor-rec-tion instead of pun-ish-ment to dis-ci-pline him.  

Now if only everyday could work out so well. Now the question for this week is what verse or verses you you use in correcting and encouraging your children, leave it in my comments so that we can all learn and grow together!!!