DAY 7 | PRAY FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR YOUTH AND CHILDREN

Pastor Matthew Tarkington | Senior Pastor | Faith4Life, Dallas, TX

Hey faith family, welcome back to 30 days of prayer. This is Pastor Matt from Faith4Life, Dallas and today we're going to be talking about praying for our youth and our children and we're going to use the word teen -T-e-e-n - to guide our prayers because it's relevant. It's easy to remember, First is the letter ‘t’ and it means that we want to pray that God would transform their hearts. We're praying for the heart of transformation for a generation. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new Spirit within you.” We're going to pray that God transforms their hearts so that they are tender to His voice, they're free from bitterness and open to His love and what God would have for them to do. The next letter is ‘e’ and we are praying that they are equipped with the truth and when we say truth, we don't mean man's opinion. We mean the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6:6-7 says, “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” We are praying that these children have leaders who are equipping them with what the Word has to say - that they are rooted in biblical values and they have discernment to stand firm against the ways of the world that is around them. The next letter ‘e’ - we want them to be empowered for their calling. We're not just raising good kids. We're raising kingdom-minded empowered individuals. Acts 1:8 says, “ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you” And we pray that they are empowered with the Holy Spirit to walk in their God-given gifts and talents and callings. We pray that our teens and our young people are bold to step out and operate how God has called them to and the last letter is ‘n’ - we pray that they navigate their world with godly wisdom and we pray that these teens and these young people would step into the world and navigate it with kingdom principles and kingdom wisdom. Psalm 119:105 says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” We pray that they would have discernment to make wise choices - that they would influence their peers for Christ. Now while we do this, there are three categories of teenagers we want to pray for. We want to pray globally for teen and young believers - kids and young believers all over the world. We then want to pray for those teenagers and young believers within our church community and lastly you want to pray for teens and for young believers within your family - the people that you know. So let's stand together. Let's pray this. Let's see power done.