Boy-Mamas, we did it!  Here we are on Day 21 – can you believe how the time has flown?  I pray this challenge has blessed and encouraged you as you pray for your sons, husbands, and your own hearts.  We have been witness to so much change these past few weeks – stories of growth and change, stories of persecution and attack from the Enemy, stories of brokenness and salvation.  It’s been so good to travel this leg of the journey along-side you.  Brooke’s thoughts for today center on Humility, so I’d first like to point our challenge participants to a great resource on Honesty – Focus on the Family has an incredible online space with a parenting community to foster discussion, articles and advice from counselors and the faith-leaders of our culture, and great activities to foster growth and change in the lives of your family members!  If you’d like some great tips and activities that connect with the topic of honesty, head over here!  Let’s get on to Brooke’s words of encouragement as we prepare our hearts for this last day of our challenge…

“It’s day twenty-one.  The LAST day of your prayer challenge.  Are you a mixture of relieved and sad all at the same time?  What an accomplishment! (What an amazing amount of work!)  If you’re finishing today you deserve a pat on the back!  Think of all the work that has been done on behalf of your sons!  Congrats mom!  You might have noticed that there are actually twenty-two prayers in the Warrior Prayers eBook.  I chose humility as our last day’s topic because it is such an amazing posture of the heart.  Scripture just seems to scream God’s favor over those who are humble in heart.

• James 4:10 says that if we’re humble before the Lord, He will lift us up.
• 1 Peter 5:6 says that if we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, He will exalt us.
• Most importantly, in Psalm 149:4 we find that it is the humble who are adorned with salvation.

Do you see that?  A humble heart is required for salvation.  Just as Jesus humbled Himself unto the cross, we must admit that we’re sinners, admit that our own way isn’t the right way, and humbly ask for forgiveness before salvation comes.  Do you show humility before your sons?  Do you always have to be right?  Always have to win?  Pray and ask the Lord for specific ways you can show humility today so that when the time comes, your sons will know how to show it too.

Sisters, thank you.  Thank you for staying the course and praying through these topics for your son.  No one will intercede on their behalf as much as you do, so don’t take your responsibility to train and encourage them lightly!  I have been so blessed by your advice, your authenticity, and experiences.  I cannot wait to join you again for another time of concentrated prayer for our “warriors” – in the meantime, please connect with our FB Warrior Prayers community or our specific FB groups based on life circumstances and stages to keep the conversation going!  We’re blessed to be on this journey together.

Day 21 | Action Steps

• Read | Read through “The Power of Forgiveness” (pg. 42-43) and work through any (or all) of the Study Questions that enhance your time in this challenge!

• Pray | Work through the 10 prayers on Honesty (pg. 44) and the 10 Prayers on Humility (pg. 45) using whatever method works best for you!

• Comment | As we wrap things up, please take a moment to share how this prayer challenge has impacted your heart and the hearts of your warriors!  What prayer topic hit home the hardest or where did you see God’s hand move in your home?  We love to hear how He is working in the lives of our sisters!  Blessings, Dear Ones.

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or prayer requests please email me at alle.warriorprayers@gmail.com

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21 Days of Prayer for Sons Challenge – SURVEY

Today’s topic is paramount and should be the foundation for all our other prayers for our Warriors.  The character development we’ve been asking God to instill in our hearts and in the lives of our sons means nothing without the framework of salvation.  Apart from a life rooted in Christ and His saving work on the cross everything else is just a desire to live a “good life.”  And I know we want more for our men.  So here is Brooke’s encouragement for today:

“There is NOTHING my heart years for more than my sons’ salvation.  To quote from the ebook: ‘Day after day you will parent, intentionally seeking the heart of your son.  But until the King of kings and Lord of lords turns his heart of stone into a heart of flesh, your son’s actions will be motivated by what is pleasing to him, rather than what is pleasing to the Lord.’  Everything hinges on this.  Oh, we can pray for protection, good friends and influences and positive fruit-bearing experiences for our sons along the way.  But until their hearts submit to Jesus they will continue to choose themselves and their own way.  Elyse Fitzpatrick, in her book entitled, Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus, says, ‘There is no easy way to say it, but it must be said: parents and churches are not passing on a robust Christian faith and an accompanying commitment to the church.’  Take a moment today to look long and hard at your parenting.  Is it Gospel-centered, or have you allowed the world’s ‘stinking thinking’ to creep into your home?”

Day 20 | Action Steps

• Read | If you haven’t already, read through “When Hearts Soften” (pg. 38-39) and work through any (or all) of the Study Questions that enhance your time in this challenge!

• Pray | Work through the 10 prayers on Salvation (pg. 41) using whatever method works best for you!

• Comment | We have many mamas in our prayer challenge community who are praying for the salvation of their sons – young and grown.  If you have a son in need of a saving relationship with Jesus, leave a comment with your prayer, we’ll join you today!  If your sons are followers of Christ, take a moment and leave a comment to pray for someone else who is asking God to capture the heart of their son!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or prayer requests please email me at alle.warriorprayers@gmail.com

This past month, I’ve seen a new emotion develop in my 14 month old, Augustine.  While these times of growth and discovery always fascinate me, this one…well, I could do without it.  I’m starting to see those signs of temper tantrums and anger crop up when we tell him “no” or he doesn’t get his way.  As we start to scoop him up to redirect his actions in love, he throws his little head back, bats at us with his tiny arms, and wails (the lungs on little kids continually amaze me!).  So, I got online with my local library and reserved about 10 books on faith-based parenting (mostly Dr. Dobson) in the hopes that I can get ahead of this behavior and help guide Auggie through this – I know that some of it is a stage, but I don’t want to let this go unchecked and have a problem on our hands later on down the road.  In my research I stumbled across a great group of articles at Focus on the Family that deal with the problem of anger in our children at various age-stages.  Here are the links if you care to read further:

When Children Become Angry
I Need, I Want: Infant and Toddler Anger
Uncovering the Pain Behind Your Child’s Anger
Managing Tween Anger
Is My Teen Just Angry or is She an Angry Teen?
Anger Busters for Kids
Next Steps/Related Information

Encouragement from Brooke:

“So much of the Christian life is a choice.  Every day (multiple times a day) we’re presented with a choice to choose God or choose ourselves.  Anger is a perfect example.  You can just feel it coming, can’t you?  Anger is an almost total body experience.  Muscles get tight. Temples throb.  Jaw clenches.  Explosion feels imminent…wooing us into believing we have no choice but to react.  But it’s not true.  We almost always have a choice when it comes to anger.  We can choose to embrace it and sin.  Or choose choose to put it away, and instead choose kindness, self-control, compassion, and love.  Man!  It seems like every single thing we’ve prayed for so far starts with what’s in our own hearts!  I’m afraid anger is no different.  Today, when you’re tempted to sin in anger, ask the Lord to show you the way out (He promises He will) and choose grace and love instead.”

Day 19 | Action Steps

• Read | Read through “When Hearts Soften” (pg. 38-39) and work through any (or all) of the Study Questions that enhance your time in this challenge!

• Pray | Work through the 10 prayers on Anger (pg. 40) using whatever method works best for you!

• Comment | We’ve all been there.  Anger is common to all.  Share your best tips for keeping your cool when those guys grate on your last nerve!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or prayer requests please email me at alle.warriorprayers@gmail.com