Steve Gaines

By Steve Gaines, Ph. D.

This week my wife Donna and I were present for the birth of our second grandchild. By the time Weston Gaines was born, we had already prayed for him a great deal! Children are a gift from God, and we were so blessed to welcome this precious one into our family.

Each of our four children has unique temperaments and talents. We had to customize our parenting skills and approaches to each child. Proverbs 22:6 says that we must “train up a child in the way he should go.” Our children may live in the same house, eat the same food, breathe the same air, and be exposed to similar experiences, but they are delightfully different! It will be the same way with our granddaughter Alivia and her new little brother.

Despite the differences in children, they each need prayer. Donna and I have found that our prayers for our children are most effective when we pray Scripture verses for them. A special verse we pray is Isaiah 54:13: “All your sons will be taught of the Lord; and the well-being of your sons will be great.”

We pray that all four of our children—and our two grandchildren—will be taught of the Lord. We ask the Lord to teach them through His indwelling Spirit and His inspired Word. We also ask Him to allow their well-being to be great. We ask Him to bless them with peace, prosperity, and favor. We want them to be godly and not merely “good.”

If you have children, pray! The devil is out to destroy their lives. God has placed parents as spiritual shields to protect them from the enemy’s attacks. Dad and mom, enter the battle. Go to your knees, lift up your voices, stand on God’s Word, and intercede for your children. They need your prayers today. You must not let them down!