We have come to the end of our Thumbkin song. In the last post we talked about Mr Ring Man and today we are singing… Where is Pinky? Where is Pinky? This is our last finger of prayer.

When you think of the pinky finger what comes to your mind?

Yep!

Pinky promises!

The pinky promise is the promise of promises. It’s the ultimate can’t break no matter what promise. My husband and I try very hard to always keep our promises. We have taught our girls that if you promise something, you do it. We believe that if you say it, you should mean it. However as hard as we might try, there are times when circumstances beyond our control do not allow us to do what we said we would do.

We are not sovereign or infallible… so as parents we will fail as promise keepers with our children at times. There are promises that we simply can’t make because we don’t know what tomorrow holds. So we try to always point our girls to the reliability of the promises of God… because His promises are never broken.

Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.

1 Kings 8:56

I have had the great pleasure the last few years to pour this truth over and over into the children, including the toddlers and preschoolers, at our church. We are in the midst of Lifeway’s material, The Gospel Project for kids. In this study the kids begin in Genesis and go through the entire Bible in a three year span book by book. As they have gone through the Scriptures, they have seen how God has said what He meant, and meant what He said, and done exactly, to the T, what He said He would do when He said He would do it.

If God says it, it is as good as done.

I love asking the kids if God ever breaks His promises and hearing them shout, “Noooooo!”  I love asking them if God’s Word is true and hearing them shout, “Yeeeessssss!“

Many times as we look at the promises of God we want to just learn and teach about the ones that have God meeting all our needs. You no the one’s like Jeremiah 29:11, 

For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

These promises are important. They are much needed reminders for us and for our children… but in just a verse up from it we see the reason for this promise,

“For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”

Jeremiah 29:10 

Th promise of Jeremiah 29:11 came as a reminder to the people that God was not through with them even though He had to discipline them. You see this promise came as a result of another promise…

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares theLord, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Jeremiah 25:8-11

God had also made a promise to the people from the very beginning of forming them into a nation that if they obeyed Him and kept His Word they would remain in the land, but the moment they got to big for their britches and turned away from Him, He would indeed deal with them (Deuteronomy 28-30).

With our children and preschoolers the 70 years of captivity became the 70 year timeout, because timeout they get… captivity not so much. Part of remembering that God keeps His promises is remembering that when He says He will discipline us for not listening and obeying… He means it. He’s just as good on these promises as He is on all the others.

He gives us the promises like Jeremiah 29:11, to remind us that discipline does not mean He has forsaken us… but it is proof of His love for us. If God is letting you get away with a lifestyle of sin and you feel no guilt and experience no consequences… be concerned dear friend. You just might not be His…

You want to know one way that anyone around even in a crowded public place knows my kids are my kids? When there is a need for discipline or correction, the ones that belong to me become very evident. I can be kind and goofy and fun with a room full of strangers kids all day long, but when it comes time for correction, the strangers kids are handed over to their own parents, but I deal with mine.

My kids are the ones I invest not just fun in, but I invest discipline in. I expect more from my own… because I know what they know and I know what they have been taught. I know what they are choosing to ignore and disobey.

God knows what we know. He knows what of His Word we have heard. He knows if His Spirit resides within us… therefore He will discipline His own. His Word is His promise and His promises are kept… whether they be to put us in “timeout” or bring us out just like He said He would.

How important it is that we pray that our children would grasp this truth and that we teach them the promises of God… and the importance of obeying His Word… and that must begin with us expecting them to listen to and obey ours.

God doesn’t make empty promises or empty threats to His children… so neither should we.

This parenting thing can be kind of scary. Trust me I get it. So as we attempt to do this thing to the best of our ability, let us be sure to remember the promises of God ourselves…

As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’

Haggai 2:5

We don’t do this alone.

God is with us. If you are His child beloved, He is there to help you. The gospel is good for more than a past salvation experience… the gospel is good news for every day after.

And we preach to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this promise to our children in that He raised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘You are My Son; today I have begotten You.

Acts 13:33

The promises made to us by God are good. He made the promise to the fathers before us that He would send a Savior… and He did. He sent His Son, nailed Him to a cross on our behalf, and raised Him from the dead, just as He said He would so that we would have life with Him and in Him for all eternity… those promises He kept… and He has promised us that He will come again… and this promise He will fulfill to our children as well.

The thing about the promises of God is that the proof is in the promise.

For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.” And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.

Hebrews 6:13-18

Our hope is in Him.

Teach your children that their hope is in Him.

Pray Momma, that your children will lean hard into the unchangeable purpose and promises of God. Pray that they would place their hope in His Word and no one else’s. His Word can be trusted. His promises are solid and they can stand secure and strong on them. His promises can be patiently waited for because we know they are true.

Also see: Romans 4:12-20, Romans 11:29, Ephesians 1:13

Where is Ring Man?

Where is Ring Man?

Here I am.

Here I am.

How are you today sir?

Very well I thank you.

Run away.

Run away.

Well, here we are. We found Ring Man. So far we have looked at Thumbkin, Pointer, and Tall Man as we have used our hands to give us an outline to help us pray for our children. Ring Man gets his name because he is the finger that is usually adorned with jewelry, especially the wedding jewelry.

Now why this finger for the wedding band?

Here’s an interesting Chinese teaching on that 🙂

Did you try it?

Pretty neat ain’t it!

Now I suppose you might think that as I looked at Mr. Ring Man I chose to use this finger to remind us to pray for our children’s future spouses and the no sex before marriage purity prayer. We, in the church, are in the midst of the “purity movement” as we combat the “make love not war” movement that has swept over our society and culture like a raging tsunami. You will find me right there cheering this purity movement on, because it is a never ending battle in our present day.

Yes, by all means pray for your children’s future spouses. If they are already married, pray for your children’s marriages. They are and will be under attack. Satan hates marriage… it is the first blood covenant instituted by God (Genesis 2:24-25) and it most represents the picture of Christ and His church (Ephesians 5:31-32). Satan wants it destroyed. He wants this picture marred and faded and crumpled and twisted and torn.

However, as I looked at Ring Man, it was not physical purity that the Lord encouraged me to speak on… it was spiritual purity…

For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

2 Corinthians 11:2-3

Here’s the deal moms and dads. As much as I support the purity movement… here is where I find the problem with it.

Teaching our children that they are to guard their purity for the sake of their future spouses is setting them up for disappointment and delusion.

Here is why I say that.

No where in the Word of God, does God promise us a spouse. No where in the Word of God, does God promise us that we will never be the victim of someone else’s sin.

No where.

So moms and dads, let us NOT be guilty of speaking promises that our God never made.

If we place upon the shoulders of our children that purity is merely a physical thing… a gift to be offered to someone else… then what happens to their soul when that someone else doesn’t come or when a someone else steals that gift?

I will tell you what happens. Demonic condemnation. Satan is right there ready to fuel the flames of disappointment, delusion, and doubt… and he can even use the church to help him.

Yes, Jesus wants the rose.

Mom and Dad, you have no clue what lies in store for your children. You have no clue the choices they will make, how far God will allow them to stray in order to bring them to a walk with Him that is secure and sincere, or what God will allow them to experience in order to be who He needs them to be in the work of His Kingdom.

I can tell you in my own life that I spent years mourning my past… and the more I learned of God’s sovereignty the more confused I became because I knew He could have shut doors and kept me from that evil path… but He didn’t. He allowed me to walk it.

 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22:31-32

If you are reading this and think you are hearing me speak from a lily white past let me assure you that is far from the truth… I stand here in full confidence and boldness and tell you that yes, Jesus. Wants. The. Rose.

You can experience spiritual purity even if, for whatever reason, physical purity has been lost.

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
And who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood

Psalm 24:3-4)

If you are reading this and you find yourself standing at the base of Mt Sinai… that mountain of the Law of God, and you know that you are unworthy to touch it… remember beloved that the mountain we have come to is not the one that cannot be touched… we have come to Zion (Hebrews 12:18-29). Yes our God is still a consuming fire… but He doesn’t want you to be consumed by His fire, but with it.

He wants you to step into the fire that purifies… because of the hope that is ours in Christ.

And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

1 John 3:3

Pray that your children would be pure in heart.

It is the pure in heart that see God.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

***

He who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend.

Proverbs 22:11

I have no doubt that there are a many a church goer that is physically pure, but their heart is absolutely filthy. There are those whose physical purity might be in tact, yet they use this as a standard to condemn instead of encourage. They use this as a stamp of superiority instead of a blessing of grace.

I have no doubt that there are a many a church goer that is physically pure, even in marriage they are faithful physically to their spouse… yet their heart is covered in the deceit of hidden lusts as they hide in the vast opportunities of pornography and imagination.

So mom let your prayer for your children be for their spiritual purity. Pray that they not fall into the lies that it’s okay as long as its not done physically… and don’t let them fall into the lies of condemnation that because their physical purity has been lost that God is through with them.

Teach them that purity is about the heart, the mind, and the souls devotion to Christ… not a future spouse.

Teach them also to crave the purity of sound doctrine…

…in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

Titus 2:7-8

Teach them to long for the pure milk of the Word of God

…like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation

1 Peter 2:2

We live in a day of false gospel teachings and are surrounded by those who preach doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1-3). We are no doubt in the last days, the signs are all around us and with the quickly counting down of the last days comes the intensity of deceitful teaching. The line between what is true and what is false is becoming ever more blurred. It is imperative that you feed your children the pure milk of the Word and raise them up to chew the meat of it (Hebrews 5:12-14).

So we must teach our children to think on things that are pure…

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Philippians 4:8

because as they think within themselves so they are (Proverbs 23:7).

Therefore, when you see Mr Ring Man, don’t just pray for the purity of your children’s body, but pray for the purity of your children’s heart…

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

Matthew 15:19

It’s the condition of the heart that determines the course of the rest of the body… and beloved only God can cleanse a heart… and the very best part is that He wants to!

and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful

Hebrews 10:21-23

We are still singing our Thumbkin song… well I am anyway… not sure how many of you are still here with me 😉

Yesterday we looked at how Mr Pointer can remind us to pray that God would give our children ears and hearts that listen to His Word. We also saw how important it is that we teach them how to learn to listen to God and to show them by doing so ourselves.

We ended our post yesterday with asking “Where is Tall Man?”

Now in our day and age, Mr Tall Man has been given a bad rap. I made printouts to give to the ladies that attended the Mother Child Tea and I wanted to add a little cartoon like picture to each prayer page… and well let’s say finding an appropriate picture for Tall Man was difficult to say the least. I had to just go with a full hand print.

Take a look at your hand. Tall Man gets his name from the fact that he stands taller than all the other fingers on your hand. He stands taller than the other fingers but not in the sense that he looks down on the rest of them, but just tall enough to be distinct in his identity.

As you take notice of your tall man… pray that your children will stand tall in this present day. Pray that they would stand tall enough to be noticed… but not so tall that they are looking down on others… but tall enough that they are seen as distinct in their identity in Christ… just like salt and light.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 

Matthew 5:13-16

Oh how we need salt and light in this day!

I am currently reading a book on revival that will be released next month. In this book as the author discusses revival leaders he takes notice of an emotion expressed by God in the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 59:15-16 we read…

Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.
And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.

The word for astonished in the Hebrew is shamem and it means to be appalled, make amazed, to stun… This is the only time in Scripture that we have recorded that God expresses Himself as being appalled, amazed, stunned. You know this emotion I am sure… this is that emotion that usually has your mouth gapped open and your brows furrowed in that shocked and angered all at the time kind of way. And what causes God to express this emotion?

NO. TALL. MAN.

No one to stand up for truth and pray. No one to intercede for others. No one standing tall and firm and above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation (Philippians 2:15). Instead truth had stumbled in the streets (Isaiah 59:14) and is laying down in all the spit out gum, run over opossums, thrown out McD’s trash bags, broken asphalt, oil splatters, and mud holes.

Tall Man should never be afraid of getting dirty, but he can’t enjoy wollaring in it.

Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.

Micah 7:8

Oh Momma pray!

Pray that your children will stand tall. Pray that they will remember whose they are and for what they have been called. Pray that they are not negligent. Pray that they will be chosen (John 15:16) and pray that will remember always that they have been chosen to stand and to minister to the Lord and for the Lord.

My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.

2 Chronicles 29:11

Pray that they will stand faithfully and continuously.

Then the lookout called, “O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower, And I am stationed every night at my guard post.”

Isaiah 21:8

Pray that they will be men and women of high esteem and integrity regardless of what authority is over them. Pray that no matter what turn the governing authorities take they will remember that their first allegiance is always to their God.

He said to me, “O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

Daniel 10:11

Pray that no matter what temptations face them in this life, whether they be at work, in the church, or in the comfort and privacy of their own homes that they would remain alert and not be deceived. Pray that they would remain strong in the face of difficulties and distractions… and that they would maintain their distinction of different.

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

1 Corinthians 16:13

Pray Mom (and Dad) that God would teach you how to raise children that are “Tall Man” out in the real world… not just youth group super stars… not just, as Swindoll says, Sunday-go-to-meetin’ silver saints,

It’s easy to kid ourselves. So easy. The Christian must guard against self-deception. We can begin to consider ourselves martyrs because we are in church twice on Sunday—really sacrificing by investing a few hours on the “day of rest.” 

Listen, my friend, being among the saints is no sacrifice… it’s a brief, choice privilege. 

The cost factor occurs on Monday or Tuesday… and during the rest of the week. That’s when we’re “melted down and put into circulation.” That’s when they go for the jugular. And it is remarkable how that monotonous workweek test discolors many a silver saint.

“Sunday religion” may seem sufficient, but that’s far from the truth.

It’s the acid grind that takes the toll. Maybe that explains why words of the venerable prophet touch a nerve:

If you have raced with men on foot
and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses?
If you stumble in safe country,
how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?
(Jeremiah 12:5 NIV)

Doing battle in the steaming jungle calls for shock troops in super shape. No rhinestone cowboys can cut it among the swamps and insects of the gross world system. Sunday-go-to-meetin’ silver saints in shining armor are simply out of circulation if that’s the limit to their faith. Waging wilderness warfare calls for sweat… energy… keen strategy… determination… a good supply of ammunition… willingness to fight… refusal to surrender, even with the elephants tromping on your air hose.

And that is why we must be melted! It’s all part of being “in circulation.” Those who successfully wage war with silent heroism under relentless secular pressure—ah, they are the saints who know what it means to be melted.

(Also check out Act 5:20, Ephesians 6:10-18, 2 Thessalonians 2:15, 1 Peter 5:12 for Scriptures to pray over your children as you pray for them to stand tall, not just today, for all their lives)

Hmmmm….. now where are we?

Ahhhh….

Where is Ring Man? Where is Ring Man? 

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”

And let the one who hears say, “Come.”

Revelation 22:17

In my previous post, Praying for Our Children we found Thumbkin and we ended our prayer outline with asking, “Where is Pointer?“

Hold your hand up and take a look at that there Pointer. Now I don’t know about you, but for some reason something within me deeply feels that if I use this very finger and direct it intently at the one I am speaking and giving instructions to, it will somehow help my words to penetrate through a thick skull and stick into their brain so that they will actually be heard and observed.

You know… something like this:

Now as we looked at Thumbkin we talked about how important it is to not try and keep our children under our thumb, but to place them under God’s. We saw that we needed to impress His words on them and not our own… As we look at Pointer we must carry that same concept.

When you use that pointer finger to deliver instructions to your children remember to pray that they would have ears to hear and heart to heed the instructions of God. Our children’s willingness to listen to and obey their Heavenly Father is crucial.

Mom this must begin with you listening. This must begin with you obeying. If your children watch you ignore the Word of God and openly and unabashedly disregard His clear and simple instructions for life and holiness, then they are not going to heed His instructions either… or yours for that matter.

They might patronize you in your presence and entertain you with feigned obedience, but the moment you walk away or turn around or they are old enough to step into life without you, it’s as though you never spoke a word. They will do just as the people of Israel did in the days of the judges…

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25

If God had of wanted us to do what is right in our own eyes, He would not have given us His Word or recorded His law, precepts, statutes, and commands for us. There is no greater danger to a soul than to think we can do what is right in our own eyes… I mean think about it. That’s how this whole fallen mess got started in the first place. Adam and Eve wanted to use their own eyes to decide for themselves what was good and what was evil… and look where it got them. Look where it got their children.

Mom if you are making choices in your life and in your children’s life that is simply doing what is right in your own eyes and according to your own understanding… you are walking on very shaky ground… earthquaking ground.

Sincerity can never replace obedience and good intentions are never as good as following through with action. The, well I just thought’s, simply don’t cut it when eternity is at stake.

God gave us His commandments for our instruction.

Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction.”

Exodus 24:12

They are for us to hear and heed.

Oh that we would just listen. 

It was the finger of God that wrote out the commandments in stone for Moses (Exodus 31:18). I can’t help but imagine it was His Pointer.

As a woman of God, a mother to my children, and a teacher of the Scriptures to whoever will give me the opportunity, my prayer for myself, for them, and for all who hear… is that His Word would be received.

Please receive instruction from His mouth and establish His words in your heart.

Job 22:22

Let your prayer, dear mother, be that God Himself would open the ears of your children and seal His Word upon their hearts…

Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction

Job 33:16

Take note from the fallen parents in Scriptures… God recorded their messes so that we could learn from them (Romans 15:4). Solomon knew well the pain of not listening. He knew how easily the things of this world can distract, how effectively the enemy of our souls can deceive, and how quickly the desires of our flesh can destroy.  I can imagine it was with a heavy and fervent heart that he experienced the Holy Spirit’s breath upon his hand as he wrote out this charge to his son…

To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:1-7

Yes, beloved it is a fool that despises wisdom and instruction. I don’t know about you, but I don’t plan to be a momma who raises a bunch of fools… and I most certainly don’t expect to be one myself. God makes it very clear that we are stubborn rebellious fools if we refuse to listen to Him and if we don’t take His correction when He teaches us that we haven’t been paying attention.

Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.

Jeremiah 17:23

The simple truth is that God cannot fellowship with us if we are ignoring Him any more than we can fellowship with our children if they are ignoring us. Let our prayer for our children be that they would listen to the instructions of God.

Instead of pointing your children to your words and to your opinions and to your preferences point them to the Word of God. Point them to His thoughts and to His ways… because His thoughts and His ways are not yours (Isaiah 55:8) unless yours are lined up with His and if yours are lined up with His, then He is there to back you up. When they ask you questions, don’t shoot from the hip… take them to the Book. Teach them how to go to God to receive instruction… and most importantly, live a life that shows them what that looks like. God is just waiting to pour Himself out on those who are willing to listen.

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message.

Act 10:44

The Holy Spirit falls upon those who are listening.

Oh how I pray that we all are listening…

Next post…

Where is Tall Man? Where is Tall Man?

For this boy I prayed, and theLord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

1 Samuel 1:27-28

So after digging a little into the context of 1 Samuel and looking at the value of children and honoring God over honoring our children we come to the conclusion of my thought process as I worked through 1 Samuel preparing for my Mother’s Day message… 

As I pondered praying for our children and was asking the Lord for direction and seeking what He would have me share and how… He gave me my outline while in the shower one morning. He often meets me there. It’s one of the few places that a mother can find at least a few moments without interruption… sometimes anyways.

When I am seeking the Lord’s direction for a speaking engagement, He always gives me His outline first… and then I study with Him to fill in all the blanks. While in the shower the Holy Spirit brought a verse to me…

For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.

2 Timothy 1:5-7

Here is a verse discussing the spiritual influence of Timothy… and that influence came from His mother and grandmother. From there the Lord took me to the part of the verse that discusses the laying on of my hands… and I began to ponder on the hands of a mother.

With these hands I gently held my child for the very first time. With these hands I wiped away tears, spit up, snot, and even caught vomit while I rushed to get a sick child to the bathroom. With these hands I have bandaged boo-boos and tested foreheads for fever. With these hands I have clapped and cheered on my children finding their feet, taking first steps, putting together a first puzzle, going potty for the first time, and running the wrong away around the bases in their first attempt at sports. With these hands I have popped almost tantrum throwing legs and swatted rebellious little bottoms… and with the hands I have wrote thousands of pages of prayers for my children in my journal and folded them together in prayer, or placed them in my own hair about to pull it out as I found myself face down on the floor in utter desperation and frustration praying that my God would help me maintain my sanity and keep me from killing them.

As I looked at my hands, the Lord brought to my remembrance an old classic song…

That’s right… Where is Thumbkin 😉

This would be the basis of the outline that the Lord would use to teach me what I believe He wanted me to share concerning praying for our children. The Lord led me to teach prayers that would relate to children of all ages in all circumstances.

We begin with Thumbkin himself. When I thought of the thumb, my mind went to the phrase “has them under their thumb”. This is said about someone who appears to have the ability to control someone else or at least is trying to control someone else. Many times as a mother this could be said of us. Moms let me assure you now… you will not always be able to control your children. Yes as babies, as toddlers, and even up into the early teenage years you have the power to excerpt a certain amount of control over the external acts and circumstances… but their comes a day when they begin to think for themselves and they become accountable for their own choices and actions. You might already be in that place where this realization is hitting like a ton of bricks.

Perhaps you are watching your child begin to walk down a path of destruction… or perhaps they are already running, not walking, down that road… let me assure you that God didn’t miss that. He sees. You mom, might not be able to control the circumstances of your children… you can’t keep them under your thumb… but God most certainly can.

Mom begin today to stop placing your children under your thumb and place them under God’s. Trying to keep them under your thumb will only cause them to rebel and push away from your hands that have loved and cared for them. Remember how you held them with your hands that very first day. You did not hold them with clenched fist… you held them with soft, tender, OPEN hands. The way you received them from God must be the way you always hold them… with open hands. God loves them more than you do anyway… and His plans for your children just might not be what yours are for them. So trust Him. He has it under control.

Impress His Words and His will on them… not yours.

And remember sometimes God has to let them crawl around in their insanity and rebellion and pride in order to get them to come back to their senses and remember that He alone is God. This is where you lean hard into the sovereignty of God and know that He is indeed sovereign over all things… even sin.

 Thumbkin

“You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be asfrontals on your forehead. You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21

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For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. 

2 Chronicles 16:9

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I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You

Isaiah 42:6

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For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He watches all his paths.

Proverbs 5:21

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“But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ At that time my reason returned to me.

Daniel 4:34-36

Where is Pointer? Where is Pointer?

We will take a look at Pointer in my next post…