God has given me a strategy that enables me to pray powerfully and effectively for my family and my children. In my previous posts, I shared the opening prayer of thanksgiving and the prayer concerning the belt of truth.  I’m including that part of the prayer in this post to help orient our thoughts before I continue with the next section of the prayer: the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation.

Father, I thank You for (and I speak the name of every member of my family including my husband, children, children’s spouses, and grandchildren).  I thank You that all in my family are covered by the blood of Jesus, and that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20).  I thank You that all in my family are engraved on the palm of Your hand (Isaiah 49:16), and therefore, no one can snatch us out of Your hand. (John 10:29). I thank You that You surround me and all in my family with Your glory like a shield, blinding the eyes of our enemy so he cannot see to hit his mark.

I thank you for the full armor of God, and on behalf of myself and all in my family, I buckle about my waist the belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14), for you desire truth in the inmost parts (Psalm 51:6). You have promised that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32).

The Breastplate of Righteousness and the Helmet of Salvation
I put on the breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) and the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17) which guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7), for we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).  Therefore, we set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  We set our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1-2).

The order in which I put on the armor is a little different than the order found in Ephesians.  God had a purpose for the order He chose when He wrote the book, but to me these three pieces of our armor  –  the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation – are the pieces that cover the three elements of the soul – the mind (helmet of salvation), the emotions/heart (breastplate of righteousness), and the will (waist or loins).  Since the soul is that part of us that is our identity, and since the soul is that part of us that is eternal, the soul is the primary target of the enemy. 

Satan stole our identity in the Garden.  When Adam sinned, all of mankind became sinful.  But that was our old identity.  When Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, He gave us His identity. When God looks at us, He doesn’t see what we were - sinners; He sees who we have become – the righteousness of His Son. That’s why our true identity is found only in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  
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After praying for the protection of my families’ identity (their souls), I continue with the portion of the prayer that covers their destiny.

Feet Fitted With the Readiness of the Gospel of Peace
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Father, I thank you that our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), that our feet are anointed, and that you have promised you will give us every part of the land whereupon we put our foot as our inheritance (Joshua 1:3).  I thank you that our feet are empowered by your Holy Spirit and thus enabled to climb on the heights (Habbakkuk 3:19), take our stand against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:11), and resist him until he flees from us (James 4:7).  I thank you for the assignment you have given our feet – to carry the good news of the gospel of peace (Isaiah 52:7) on all the mountains of society – government, business, religion, education, family, arts and entertainment, and the media.

As we look at this section of the prayer, it is easy to see that we are dealing with destiny – the purpose for which we were created. Our loving and creative Heavenly Father has woven into the fabric of our beings all the talents and abilities we will need to accomplish that goal. It matters to Him that we become fully equipped, trained, and made ready for the things we are called to do.  That readiness comes through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, allowing Him to transform us by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2), and spending time growing in our relationship with Him through reading His Word.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) That verse tells me that God has already planned, provided, and procured the destiny of each child before they were conceived.  That tells me that every child has a calling!  Every child was created with and for a purpose.  That is why I thank Him that our feet are anointed.  To be anointed means to consecrate, to set apart for a specific purpose.

The land of our inheritance is a phrase that speaks not only of physical health, wealth and possessions, but also spiritual health, peace and dominion (ruling over/possessing territory).  It speaks of the satisfaction we enjoy when we bring eternal gifts to the Father that honor Him and give Him glory.

In order for any child to achieve the destiny for which he/she was created, they will need the power of the Holy Spirit at work in them.  “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6) is what the Lord told the prophet , Zerubbabel when he faced the overwhelming task of rebuilding the temple after the Jews returned from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Your children will need that same power so that they are able to overcome every obstacle they will face in life (both the physical obstacles and the spiritual challenges).  It is the Holy Spirit who enables.  Climbing on the heights means being able to finish the race and achieve their God-given goals.   It means overcoming the enemy of their souls.

We are to take our stand against the devil’s schemes, resisting him until he flees from us.  We can look around today and see all the wickedness that Satan has stirred up against the family.  That is his scheme – to destroy the family.  The destruction of the family breaks down the society and then whole nations are overwhelmed with lawlessness.  Does that sound like the headlines on the five o’clock news? Our prayers matter!

The greatest assignment we have been given is to share the gospel – the good news of salvation to everyone, everywhere – on all the mountains of society.  That assignment is not just for the pastor or the Bible study teacher; that assignment has been given to each one of us.  Everywhere we go, we have the privilege of demonstrating what it means to be so loved by God that our lives overflow with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galations 5:22-23).  That is our identity in Christ.  That is the destiny we were designed to achieve.  We are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) on the earth. We carry the Light of His Presence everywhere we go. 

Next time: Having put on the full armor of God, we will learn about the weapons He has provided.

Blessings,
Linda

​In my last blog, I laid the groundwork for the strategy of praying powerfully and effectively for your families and your children. The principles covered in the first blog are:

1. Satan is the number one enemy of our children and, therefore, also our families. 
2. Parents have been given the assignment to pray for their children every day.
3. God has given parents spiritual authority over all the works of the enemy in the Name of Jesus and a better position legally concerning their children under the age of 18.
4. We begin our prayer with thanksgiving.
5. As parents, walking in obedience to the assignment we have been given, we will thwart the devil’s plans to destroy our children.

After the prayer of thanksgiving (provided in the previous blog), I thank God for the full armor He has provided as I begin to put on the armor of God, piece by piece. In Jesus Name, I buckle about my waist the belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14), for you desire truth in the inmost parts (Psalm 51:6). You have promised that we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (John 8:32).

What does it mean to have truth in the inmost parts?  What is the inmost part? The inmost part of our being is our soul. Our soul is that part of us that is eternal.  In my book, In the Round Pen, there is a chapter entitled “He Knows Your Name”.  In that chapter, I explain why the soul is so important.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. (Jeremiah 1:5) The Hebrew word translated “knew” in this verse is “yada”; and it means “to have an intimate, experiential knowledge of.” (Strong's 3045) God knows everything about you because you were with Him before the universe was created. That part of you that is unique and eternal, your soul – that is your mind, will and emotions – was with Him in an intimate relationship that both of you were fully aware of and fully enjoyed before He ever placed you in your mother’s womb."

It is the soul of man that Jesus died to save.  It is the soul of man Satan desires to steal, kill and destroy.  Jesus is the Truth, so we want Him in the innermost part of our being. How does He get in there? The answer is: we invite Him to come into our inmost being.  We submit our will, our rights and all control to Him and we ask Him to bring the Light of His glory into our souls so that the eyes of our enemy are blinded and he cannot see to hit his mark. When Jesus lives in our soul, the Truth and the Light occupies that territory and leaves no room for Satan to get a foothold. The darkness has to flee.

But what about the bad things I’ve done? The memory of those things is always with me.  King David had those same thoughts after he sinned with Bathsheba.  What David did was to appeal to the One who had made him.  Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psalm 51:7) Our God is a holy God and He desires His children be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:16). He doesn’t want us to remain in our sin or the darkness that enters our souls when we’ve tried to hide what we did.  He wants us to be clean.  And He has provided a way – through the cleansing of repentance, acknowledging that what we did was wrong and that He is justified in judging us for our actions.  The good news is that God would rather restore us to Himself than judge us for our sin!  That’s why we can come to Him anytime, anywhere with a humble heart and simply say, “Father, forgive me for all my sins.” He promises that when we do that, He will not only forgive us of our sins, He will put them under the blood of Jesus.  The blood literally blots out our sin!  But He doesn’t stop there.  He also promised He will remove the guilt of our sin (that’s the memory of our sin that Satan wants to use as a weapon to beat us up in our minds and make us feel guilty all the time so we can never live in the freedom Jesus provided for us on the Cross). But God says he removes that guilt as far away from us as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12).  If you think about it, if you start going east around the world you will find you cannot go west!  But if you go north to the North Pole, you will eventually go south to the South Pole.  God knew that Truth before He wrote it in the Psalms!

We buckle the belt of Truth around our waist. That word translated “waist” or “loins” in the Greek is osphyn and it means “the reproductive, creative capacity of the renewed mind”. (Strong’s 3751) The belt of truth then becomes the necessary protective and productive tool that enables our children to grow and develop properly in their bodies, souls, and spirits, and achieve all they were created for.  The belt of truth binds them to the perfect will and purposes of God; and because the belt is Truth (it is the Truth that sets us free from the bondage of sin and death), our children can be free to become all they were created to be.

Now do you see why it is so important to buckle the belt of truth around our waist every day on behalf of our families and our children? Now do you understand why Satan does not want us to pray for our children? He wants not only to limit or confuse their understanding of their identity – who they were created to be, but he also wants to detour and disrupt their destiny so they never achieve their God-ordained potential.

Thank you, Father, for giving us the belt of truth that we and our children may be free to live our lives in the power of your limitless Love!
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Next time: The Breastplate of Righteousness, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Combat Boots
Blessings,
Linda

​The Lord has been teaching me a different way to pray for my family that I have found to be powerful and effective.

In Genesis 3:15, God exposed the ulterior motive of the devil as it pertains to mankind – to destroy the seed of the woman.  We know that that verse refers to the ultimate Seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, but it also refers to every child ever conceived.  Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy what is precious to God, and your children are precious in His sight.  Therefore, your children – from the moment they were conceived – have been a target on which those spiritual forces of wickedness in high places have aimed their flaming arrows.  
In Ephesians 6:11, God tells us to “put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”  If you are a Mom or a Dad, you have an assignment to pray for your children that began the moment you became pregnant with that child. But, even before they were conceived, God provided a protective covering for that child so they could grow up and become all He created them to be. You working in unity with the Holy Spirit are that protective covering! God gave you authority in the Name of Jesus over all the works of the devil (Luke 10:19), and that includes his efforts to destroy your children. If your children are under the age of 18 (the age of legal consent), you hold the primary position in the spiritual realms against all of the enemy’s schemes.  Satan is a legalist.  He will take advantage of every child that is not covered in prayer; but he cannot prevail when Mom and Dad are on their knees praying with the boldness, courage and authority they have been given over the lives, identity, and destiny of their children.

In Psalm 100:4, God tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving, and that is where I begin my prayer.  Daily, I thank Him for every member of my family by name, including my husband, children, children’s spouses, and grandchildren.  I thank Him that all in my family are covered by the blood of Jesus, and that our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Luke 10:20).  I thank Him that all in my family are engraved on the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:16), and no one can snatch them out of His hand. (John 10:29). I thank Him that He has surrounded all in my family with His glory like a shield, blinding the eyes of our enemy so he cannot see to hit his mark.

Is that how you pray for your family? Can you see the battle strategy God is revealing to us? Could it be that the reason so many families are undergoing such persistent destruction is because Mom’s and Dad’s have NOT been praying with the mindset that they are in a battle against the forces of evil that are arrayed against their children? Could it be that if Mom’s and Dad’s begin to walk in obedience to the assignment they have been given that the enemy’s plans to destroy our children would be thwarted?

Let me be quick to say, my purpose for sharing these thoughts is not to condemn you; my purpose is to awaken you, to convict and convince you that there is still time to turnaround and begin again.  God has already provided a way to come into alignment with His plans and strategies through forgiveness and repentance because He desires that every member of your family be holy and whole, healed in their bodies, souls and spirits, so that they understand who they are and their purpose in this life. 

Next time: Putting on the armor - piece by piece.

Blessings,
​Linda