Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth: ‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow’ (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Care for the Family's book 'Raising Faith' has given lots of encouragement on how to be intentional in planting and watering seeds of faith in our children’s lives. We must never forget that it is only God who can make those seeds grow … but we get to partner with him in that incredible task!

Extracted from Raising Faith by Katharine Hill and Andy Frost.
Published by Care for the Family in association with Essential Christian (£4.99). cff.org.uk/shop

The power of prayer

We’ve shared many parenting principles and practical tips throughout the book, but we’ve saved the most important lesson until last. The truth is that we can do as much sowing, planting and watering as we like, but ultimately what will really make a difference is engaging in the power of prayer. God’s total desire is for his children to be in a relationship with him. So we can know without a doubt that when we pray this for our children, we are praying right in the centre of his will for their lives.

From their earliest days, Richard and I have tried to take a moment to pray for our four children every day. We used to pray for them all together in a pack, but we came to discover the power of praying for them as individuals, bringing their specific needs and requests before God.

As well as immediate issues – health concerns, fallings-out in the playground, struggles at school – as parents, we can try to look up and out and pray in bigger things for our children’s lives. We can look to the promises in the Bible and pray Scripture over them; we can pray ancient prayers of blessing; we can pray for Christian friends and people of influence to come across their paths at just the right time. We can pray for their character and for the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We can pray they will have the wisdom to make good choices and that they will be emotionally strong and able to recover from setbacks. We can pray for their future jobs, relationships and marriage partners – the possibilities are endless. But above all else, we can pray that they have soft hearts that respond to God’s love for them.

The Bible tells us to pray ‘on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests’ (Ephesians 6:18). There is no one or right way of praying that suits us all – our different personalities mean that we’ll find it easier to pray in different ways. Introverts may love praying on their own in their room with the door closed – what Jesus called ‘the secret place’. Those of us with more extrovert tendencies may find that extra challenging – though even we will need some time alone, but we can also pray using everyday family life as a prompt. We can pray for a particular child while tidying their room, or we might tiptoe into their room at night and say a short prayer of blessing over them while they sleep (not recommended for light sleepers!). We can pray as we sort out their clothes from the wash or as we load individual cups or bowls into the dishwasher. When one of my children has been going through a difficult time, I have often put their photo on my phone’s home screen. So every time I text, tweet, or take a call their picture is a reminder to pray. Be creative about setting up your own prompts to pray!

We’re playing a long game

It has been wisely said of bringing up children that, ‘The days are long, but the years are short.’ As any parent of adult children will tell you, the pre-school and primary years do go by so fast, so just as we nurture our children’s physical and emotional development, let’s try to seize every opportunity we can to sow seeds of faith in our kids’ lives in their early years.

The truth is that our task as parents is not to raise children or even teenagers, but to raise adults. This is a long game – something that is counter-intuitive in our instant, same-day, uber-society. These seeds of faith that are planted in our children’s young lives will slowly bear fruit and produce a harvest in the years to come. We can trust that their Father, the gardener, will play his part, and we can play our part in that process by praying – as people have prayed throughout the ages – that our children would know and respond as we have to his amazing love for them.

Source:  Care for the Family