Prayer that Moves Heaven – Mother’s Day Special

This is anagram lots this Mother's Day every mother in America made a commitment to daily pray for their children. What if every grandmother in America made a commitment to pray for her grandchildren. And what if when we prayed for our children and grandchildren. We just pray now I lay me down to sleep kind of prayers. But we prayed the Daniel prayer, a prayer that moves heaven and changes nations welcome to living in the light with Bible teacher and Graham once for today special edition joining and is her youngest daughter Rachel Ruth right to share memories of a faithful praying mother and grandmother Ruth Bill Graham and encourage all mothers and grandmothers to be women of the word and women of prayer being a mother is one of the hardest, most challenging, most rewarding, most discouraging, most thrilling, most depressing, most joy filled one of the most challenging positions you can hold and being a mother more than any other thing has taught me that I need God.

And I think it's put me on Mondays. More often than any other particular thing in my life. I'm so thankful that God placed me in a family, for I had a godly heritage and Psalm 16.

Six. David said that my lines of falling in pleasant places low. I have a goodly heritage and as I look back into my heritage.

I had grandparents who knew how to pray and who prayed for their children and grandchildren. I had a mother and father who prayed for their children and their grandchildren.

So I actually know that my life today is a answer to my mother's prayers. My grandmother's prayers and the prayers of those have gone before me and Graham lot. She reflects on her mother, Ruth, Bill Graham, one of my earliest memories was of my mother on her knees in prayer in the house that we lived in which we now call my father's house in Montreat, North Carolina.

My bedroom was on the second floor over the bedroom of my mother's bedroom which was on the first floor so it didn't matter what time I got up in the morning I got up very early in order to study for test for school. I would look out my window and I could see the lights from my mother's room reflect on the trees outside my window and I knew she was on her knees in prayer and at night when I went to bed. It didn't matter what time I went to bed. If I slept downstairs and one to talk to mother here just to say good night or something I would find her on her knees in prayer and when I did I knew not to stick around because she would not disturb her prayer time. She stayed on her knees until she finished, and it could be a couple of hours, and I knew firsthand that my mother was a woman of prayer and never saw my mother lose her temper, and that amazing with five children, one of which was Franklin who could give anybody fits but my mother never lost her temper. She had patients. She had joy she had strength and I know it came from her relationship with God that she developed through daily prayer and Bible reading and I know I am in answer to her prayers. One of her verses that she put inside a bracelet that my daddy had made for on the inside was a Bible verse that was Psalm one 1990 that God is faithful to every generation and she claimed God's faithfulness not only to her generation should sing it in the generation before her and she claimed it for my generation, and even for my grandchildren and so I have the joy of knowing that my mother was someone who prayed daily for me and she pray daily for my children.

God was gracious and gave me three children and the youngest of which is Rachel Ruth and she's joining me in this conversation on Mother's Day.

I'm just so glad to welcome her into this conversation want to tell you something about her before I pull her in.

Rachel Ruth was my third child. She has three daughters herself there involved in every kind of sport they play soccer they play tennis they are on the track team. They play basketball and she herself is a JV tennis coach once a month. She's responsible for the missions chapel in her school twice a day. On that day when Chas chapel. She does to services. She has 3 to 400 children in each service, and she's igniting the hearts of these little children to want to serve the Lord to be missionaries in the world. That's right between their own 2 feet and is thrilling to see the little labs changing as she brings them to the cross and they put their faith in Jesus and then they have that deep desire to go out and serve him so she does that. Then she teaches a Bible study in Chapel Hill North Carolina, which is the home of the University of North Carolina and Rachel Ruth teaches them every week from God's word, but she also is the chairman of my prayer team so I'm just so thankful to welcome her into this conversation and say that is a joy for me to have her and by God's grace that I have a daughter who's as precious as this, and is godly that God is using in such a wonderful way. Rachel Ruth welcome to this conversation and I'd like to know how you view prayer as a mother what prayer means to you on that is extremely humbling just to hear you describe what I've been living out to in I can tell you right now the thing that comes my mind is it's because of the heritage that began in it and if I didn't see my grandmother live out the life that she lived or see you live out the life that you lived. I don't think I would be doing what I'm doing today in and I see a genuine love for Jesus in your life. I sought intent as life and I think that's the difference maker. When a parent or grandparent is actually really living out what they're saying and what the Bible says my children called my mother Teta because of that was mother's name for herself. It's Chinese for old lady but is a respectful term. Rachel Ruth Wright remembers her grandmother tête-à-tête and the influence she had on her prayer life. I remember many stories of her praying that prayer is a huge part of my life and I feel like from difficulties and have gone through in hard things and I've been through it's drawn me to pray because you become so desperate that you get on your knees. Whether it was in ninth grade in just town the Lauren I can't do this.

I want to be a strong Christian, not a wimpy Christian in and then to see the Lord kind of bring hardship in my life to make me stronger but but it developed to prayer life in my life because things were so hard and so may times when you're desperate in, and when you're going through struggles you do cry out to the Lord and so I think he brings his interior life. To do that, that it's taught me to pray and pray they insert something that I wanted to pass on to my girls and one thing that I think the Lord is done with me because I have such a big imagination, and I think I can kinda picture things and see things and in so I the Lord will bring somebody's face to my mind or somebody's name to my mind and I'll begin to pray for that person and I know that God the Holy Spirit has placed that person in my mind and I've tried to be very faithful to pray every single time somebody comes in my mind, the Holy Spirit can put those thoughts into your mind to just be the photo pray.

I pray because Jesus becomes a man's brain and you just want to talk to them you want to tell him what's going on you want to tell him why you're sad today or why you're discouraged sure why your joyful you think it's so special. You've pinpointed a couple of very basic lessons, but sometimes lessons that people in this one is that prayer should be spirit led and I think we can get on our knees and go through our shopping list. You know, we can ask them for anything we want. He loves for us to come and bring our request but but he has things he wants to put on our hearts to pray for and that's the Daniel prayer the Daniel prayer was Daniel taking what was on God's heart.

The release of his people from captivity and praying that back to God to the fact that you're so sensitive and I've seen that in you, you're much more faithful to pray for things like that than I've been. And it's been very convicting because I see you when God bring somebody your mind that you're so faithful right then pray for the person and is exciting to me. Will we get to heaven to find out what God did in response to your prayers on no heaven was moved under no God was responding because he put that on your heart to pray.

So I think that's one thing you point out the other thing that is something we sometimes miss that one of the blessings of prayer is to develop that personal relationship with the Lord is not just to get things from him is not just a tick off the fact that today we prayed we worshiped and we interceded and we confess it's while were talking to them while were praying, led by his Spirit that we develop that close personal, intimate relationship that you and I know you as we reflect back on this past year. My husband, he moved to heaven was very sudden. It was unexpected in many many ways. The thing that carried me through in the thing that I think carried all of us through actually was our personal relationship with the Lord. If I waited until something like that happened to then suddenly turn to God and try to develop relationship and handle all that shock and horror and grief at the same time, I would've gone under a no and so my relationship with God is stronger today than I think it was before my husband moved because of what you also referred to the desperation you so aware that you need God and that also is the Daniel prayer because Daniel was desperate, he knew of God didn't answer his prayer to release his people from captivity. They would be released that kind of desperation can bear an enormous fruit when it is based on a personal relationship with God that you've been developing and been enjoying for quite some time. You don't wait to the crisis hits before you call on them.

So it's interesting that sometimes those desperate situations created us. In fact, it was in our devotional reading this morning. That's deep down, the earth, there is far that produces the coal and the coal produces the dominance and is the same thing true in our lives that the deep pain, the grief of fire that sometimes enters deep down our souls can create that which becomes very precious in God side and something beautiful for others to behold.

Can you share that story about that. That was so sweet kiss. I remember we are actually doing some more planning for the wedding and we had gone up to stay in her house in and I remember being in tears and crying a little band in to take him down the hall and she knew that because we talked earlier about it in just a little worried little nervous about getting married in tête-à-tête walks into the resume and she comes over and she just put some in my lap and I look at it.

She had written out one of her poems and it was about Mary, and she and she handed it to me and she said I wanted to get this to you and and then she prayed with me and in she talked with me about how we just need to trust the Lord in every situation that our husbands don't become God to us, but we need to allow God to help us with our husbands in. She did such a good job and that she was such a beautiful example. She just dove into her family loved her Bible love studying the word was always in prayer.

In fact, at the end of her life when she could move around that much. I'll never forget.

She said great truth. She said I'm like a mouse on glue board in and she had many literally mice on glue boards around our house.

But then, so I got the picture in my mind, but she said she was a mouse on a glue bar because she could move she could get out of her chair and in my somebody helped her she was in bed and she would just lay there in praying she said that's what she knew God was calling her to do at the end of her life and so she pray for each offense and would take specific prayer request in.

She was such a godly example in, and I remember sitting there on weekends when she got out of the hospital or when she was still confined in her chair and in I would just sit there for hours with the fire going in and we would discuss the Scriptures in and we would pray together is so full of life when she was in so much pain in what an example that was to me and I love the fact that to be godly, deeply spiritual, have a strong prayer life to know the word backwards and forwards does not mean you have to be pious, you don't have to be long face to sour or do you like your holier than thou. She had such a crazy sense of humor. She was so much fun and I think that's what made her so attractive because her sparkled even towards and as you know when we would go in her room. She immediately threw out her arms to us.

Her eyes were dancing. She would give a big smile and choose a hello how are you darling and then she would welcome us into her room and want to know what would been doing and even towards last and she couldn't even roll over in bed. She still had that joy in that sparkle and that response to us and I know that all of that was flowing from her personal intimate love relationship with Jesus. I was thinking the same thing because you can't be in the kind of pain that she was in fact there is one night when my sister and I had to leave the next morning early and we sent Ted to work and have to get to know and she told us to make sure that we woke her up in the morning before we left so she could say confined.

So, sure enough, the next morning we walked down the stairs we knocked on her door roll lightly because we didn't want to wake her up and we peaked in May, we walked in and we said to attend and she rolled over and she just immediately from a sound sleep, woke up with her eyes bright. She put her hand together this cute smile and she said you didn't. You woke me up and and she gave us a big hug, but that will never leave my mind, her face, her expression when she woke up from a sound sleep to be that joyful in the morning when I know she was in so much pain would it testimony for me going through different things to make sure that we always maintain that joint.

It comes from studying that the Bible that's what joy is it so you can explain anybody, because the Lord is gives you joy despite your circumstances and I've seen him do that with me time and time again and it is also assuming that flows onto my kids and I can teach my kids when they're watching and they know what's going on, a little bit in they can see that joy. Then they learn to also reflect that as well there that such a good point and mother would say she had these equips you, knowing she would say that you can't teach your children to enjoy eating spinach of every time they see you eating yours, you gag effect and so that we teach our children. Things are example much more effectively than what we tell them so they're watching us so we tell them and we back up with what we set with what we do, then that's effective but if you tell them one thing to another thing than they throw it out so it sets emphasis on godly influence so important for us to not keep what we've learned to ourselves. We've got to pass it on, and be excited about God's word and share it with our kids because they really are reflections about us and we have to be that example in we need to show them half the ruling it is to walk with Jesus daily and that is what I see my mom and I saw in tête-à-tête and in it something I will never ever let myself lose that I want to continue that fire so that my kids and my grandkids would see that fire in my eyes. One of the things that the Daniel prayer teaches and I'm glad that I knew about it may be before I even studied the Daniel prayer, but Daniel was reading his Bible and he was reading the book of Jeremiah and he came across a promise from God that after 70 years, God would bring the people back in captivity and it was that promise then that he prayed back to God. I think it's important as mothers and grandmothers that we search God's word for promise that we can pray back to him for our children and one was in Exodus chapter 15 and it was after the children of Israel had been delivered from Egypt and if you remember when they left Egypt, Pharaoh's army pursued them and they found themselves with the mountains on one side of the desert. On the other the Red Sea in front of them in here comes Pharaoh's army, God miraculously opened up the Red Sea. The children of Israel crossed on dry land. When Pharaoh's army pursued God collapse the waters and destroyed the enemy and so I felt like what God was saying if there was any horse and rider.

Any enemy that would pursue you.

That would keep you from the place of God's blessing that God would overthrow that person and so before just trust the Lord will take us through.

We can look back and see that the very things we thought or hindrance. Do all being in the place of blessing actually are used by him to usher you into that place of blessing because of the desperation aspect. You.

You can be facing cancer but it makes you desperate and you press through and you come out with a stronger relationship with the Lord so that promise of prayed back to the Lord, Lord, you promised you hold them to his word. You said that if there is somebody that's going to hinder my children from being in the place of your blessing for their lives, then would you overthrow them and so I just trust him to keep his word and then the other promise that he's given me is in Isaiah 44 in verse three he says I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendents and so I have prayed as I watched each one of my children go through really hard things.

Things that are are difficult for mother to watch them go through because of course as a mother I want them to be healthy, wealthy, happy and problem free.

But God is a better parent than me, so he knows it takes hard thing sometimes to make them into the people that would be filled with his glory and receive the fullness of his blessing, but I've prayed to him and just said, Lord, you've promise that you pour out your spirit on my offspring or my children. So would you pour out your spirit on them and you promised that you would bless my descendents and nothing that goes down to my grandchildren to Bell and Sophia and Reagan that he would pour out his Spirit on you and the girls and that he would bless the descendents that even would come after that.

So one of the things I think that makes prayer powerful is not just when we tell God what we want and what we would like, but we actually take what he is setting his word and we claim it and we pray it back to him.

Our God is a God who hears prayer. In fact, I remember this wonderful man who was a mentor to Joel Rosenberg saying that our God is our prayer. Hearing a prayer answering her miracle working a covenant keeping God so that when we pray to God were praying to someone who bends down his ear who listens to what we have to say who moves heaven and earth in order to respond and that's the Daniel prayer. Daniel was a man of God who poured out his heart.

He took God's word and end the neat thing right to Ruth. When Daniel prayed the prayer in Daniel chapter 9, he was in his 80s. That's the same age that that there was when she moved our father's house, and it doesn't matter what age, what generation, but he was a man reading his Bible, getting something fresh from and he prayed it back to God and God answered his prayer not only to give them the wisdom and insight that he needed for some of the things that God had already said to them, but three years later, God set his people free to move the heart of Cyrus to release the people from captivity in direct response to Daniel's prayer as he claimed to God's word and prayed it back to God. Rather, what you have to take God's word and your prayer time. You know and just open up God's word and pray his word claimed the Scriptures and then pray his word back to him and just see what God will do.

Now get up in the morning and praying for my girls are praying for my mom are praying for different situations and and I pray all through it in then that's when I open my Bible. After that, or I open my devotions, my daily light whenever it might be in our read through it and see God so many times immediately answer what I just prayed for. It happened to me last week and it happened to me yesterday in the morning and it's so thrilling because you just get that sense of him being right there in speaking to you that one of the things that happens when you start to spend time with the Lord you want to spend more time with the Lord.

And that was actually in the devotional reading this morning in the daily light which is a little volume that my grandmother gave my mother when she was 10 years old and mother gave me when I was 10 years old I gave each of you when you were 10 years old, never passing it down to your girls when they were 10 they receive their daily lives and to take the daily light and my prayer time and is just a little volume, a compilation of scriptures and that legacy is being passed from generation to generation, is not by accident. You know it's been a very intentional passing of that baton of truth to the generations and see my grandparents pass it to my parents and my parents pass it to me and I try to pass it to you and your passing it to your girls so that that baton of truth is passed with the far that is picked up by the next generation. I just want to thank you for sharing this conversation and praise God that we serve one who is living who is faithful, who is true, bends down out of heaven to hear what we have to say and who responds to our prayers that when we pray heaven is moved and nations, and families can be changed as a result. As we wrap up this conversation. What comes to my mind is that maybe there's somebody listening who is a single parents. My father traveled 60% of our growing up years and my mother was pretty much a single parent I would pray that my life would be an encouragement to you that you could see as a single mother who develops your own relationship with Jesus through prayer and Bible reading and and your faith is vibrant and passionate. You have the fire of God in your heart and you seek to passage your children that you can do it you not think it's wonderful to have two parents in the home who do that, but you can do that with God's help and the other thing that comes to my mind is maybe there's somebody who's listening who doesn't have a godly heritage, but you can start a godly heritage. There are many examples in Scripture of people who came to Christ and they started that godly heritage and their many testimonies today of people who began a godly heritage. The important thing is that you choose to begin. It doesn't matter what age or children are with you have children are not or grandchildren or not, whether your children are small or whether they are teenagers or whether they are adults themselves, whatever age the important thing is right now for you to establish and develop that personal permanent intimate relationship with God that he offers through faith in Jesus and you establish it at the cross to come to the cross by faith and you tell God you're sorry for your sins, you just confess that you're a sinner and that you want him to forgive you believe Jesus died on the cross to take away your sin, you ask Jesus to be your Savior asked God to forgive you and claimed you with the blood of Jesus and open up your heart. Invite them into your life as your Lord and Savior, believing that he rose from the dead to give you eternal life because it's that relationship that will carry you through. When life throws you a curveball.

God will never forsake you. He will never leave you. He will always be there for you and heaven will be moved when you pray he's your father he loves you. You're his child. You can come to him crawl up in his lap.

By faith, put your head on his shoulder and just pour out your heart to him. So if you would allow me the privilege that me just pray for you for a moment. Heavenly father we come to you now is your children, your daughters, and we thank you and praise you that you are our father, and you understand the heavy responsibility of being a parent, especially parenting children and a wicked willful world. So we come to you knowing that you understand our needs and you understand our hearts cry, and you understand our deep desire to pass truth and faith in you to the next generation so I pray Lord that each one listening would make the time to seek you with all of their heart mind soul and strength to make the time to develop that personal permanent intimate relationship with you and that as they spend time with you, you would become the joy of their hearts they would sense increasingly that when they speak to you heaven's move and their family. One by one by one, will be changed so we ask this please. In Jesus name and for his glory.

Amen. Thank you for joining us for this Mother's Day addition of living in the light with and Graham Watts from the Daniel prayer prayer that moves heaven