Being a Prayer Closet Mom - Mother's Day Message

Well, you know, back in the year 2007. Washington DC swore in a new police chief. Her name is Kathy Lanier but the swearing-in ceremony was very different than most people had expected quoting now from the Washington Post. It said in a room full of Washington's top law enforcement officials. Lanier chose not to speak about her vision for crime-fighting. Instead, she talked about her mother during much of the speech. She directly addressed her mother in the audience who raised three children as a single parent mom in Prince Georges County and sometimes stood in long lines to get food stamps to put dinner on the table.

You are the one person who never gave up on me. Lanier said and who was never embarrassed or ashamed of me even when you probably should've been. The post went on to say that Lanier often choked up, as did many people in the audience and finally when Kathy was finished speaking she actually left the stage and went down into the audience and gave her mom a big hug.

Now this Mother's Day weekend. I want to talk to us about how we as moms and grandmom and future moms can make this kind of impact on our children's lives for the Lord Jesus Christ. But before I do that I want to say that I know today is a hard day for many women understand that even for some of us here today. This may be a very hard day. Some of us here maybe have lost our mom in this last year and were still grieving. That loss some of us here are single and we want to have children so badly but we know the clock is ticking and God hasn't said that right man along yet some of us here are dealing with infertility issues. Some of us here are single parent mom and were struggling. Some of us here have a child that were alienated from our child. It's away from the Lord. Some of us here have even lost a child. This past year and I want to say that if you're a woman in any of these categories. I have tremendous respect for you for the courage it takes to call Mona Mother's Day even carrying this kind of pain and I want to say something to you that I hope will help in Genesis chapter 18 the Bible says shall not the judge of all the earth do right folks, the Bible says God has a perfect plan for every detail of our lives, and that God doesn't make mistakes in the Bible says as hard as it may be at a given time in our lives if we will Proverbs chapter 3, if we will trust in the Lord with all of our heart, he will make our paths straight.

He will do what in his infinite wisdom and his utter faithfulness. He knows to be best for us because he promises that's what he will do and so if you're here today and you are carrying pain about the issue of motherhood. No matter what kind of pain that is I want to urge you to believe God. I want to urge you to affirm the truth in your heart of what God is saying that even though you may not understand now what God did, and why God's doing it that you believe the promise of God that if you will trust him. He will by the end of the day. By the end of the life that you're living. He will make your paths straight. And you will understand it all.

And you'll say you know Lord, I can really understand. Yes you did right that friends if you can affirm that truth with me.

We say amen.

All right good and I hope that through as difficult a time as it may be that you moms all of you ladies that will trust God that he's telling us the truth. Well, I want to move on now and I want to talk to the moms in the grandmom's here about how to make the kind of indelible impact on our children's lives that Kathy Lanier's mom made on her life and you know I got to thinking this week that every mom makes an impact on her children's life. Every mom I'm a bad moms make a bad impact on their lives, but it is an impact right yeah good moms make a good impact on their children's lives and godly moms make a godly impact on their children's lives and we see this so clearly in the life of that wonderful man of God. Timothy Timothy references to him abound in the New Testament.

He was Paul's most trusted colleague and listen to what Paul says about Paul says Philippians 219.

For I hope to send Timothy to you soon, for I have no one else like him who will genuinely be concerned or for your welfare for everyone else.

Paul says seeks after their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ. But you know of Timothy's proven character that he has served me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father while what an accolade. How would you like to have that written about you in the eternal Word of God. But folks, please. We must understand that this great man of God.

Timothy did not come out of a spiritual vacuum. Paul says in second Timothy chapter 1 writing Timothy.

He says, for I am mindful Timothy of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and then in your mother, Eunice, in which I am sure is in you now and later on in that same letter, Paul says to Timothy four from say the next word Dr. Marseilles louder childhood from childhood you have known the holy Scriptures. Folks who do you think taught Timothy as a little child, the holy Scriptures will of you guess his grandmother, Lois, and you guess his mother, Eunice, then you got it right.

These two women use godly women spiritually cultivated the soil of young Timothy's life so that God was able to make Timothy into the man of God that he became the listen. I'm not saying that every man or woman of God, had a godly mother nor am I saying that you can't become a man or woman of God unless you have a godly mother. What I am saying is that you find a godly mother and you will always find a godly seed of in her wake and ladies, this is the kind of mother that God wants you to be not just a good mother. He wants you to be a godly mother who makes a spiritual impact on your children that they can never and they will never outgrow praise Lord. Amen they say will on how do you be that kind of mother practically speaking, well, I've spent the last 35 Mother's Day's telling us how to be those kinds of mothers so you can go back and listen to 35 times me tell you the very same things because it's not that profound is only a few principles here that applied to this, but we do will make that kind of impacts. Let me begin by saying that the greatest thing you can do for your children is for you to know and love Jesus Christ as their mother and for you to have a deep and serious walk with him that is visible to your child so you don't know Christ. Like I said earlier, come on down front here after our service at any of our campuses and will help you to come to know Christ.

That's the greatest thing you can do is a mother, but once you know Christ therefore principles that I've been telling us for 35 years that will produce this kind of impact on our trial and I want to tell you what they are, very quickly and were done number one want to make a great impact spiritually on your child's life than we do with number one by cultivating our children's spiritual life with Bible reading and Christian music in our house and Scripture memory and family devotions and putting Bible verses on the wall by saturating their life in every way we can think of with the word of God just like Lois and Eunice saturated Timothy's life. Isaiah 55 God says my Word. The Bible which goes forth from my mouth will not return to me void or empty, but it will succeed in the matter for which I sent it in one of the matters for which God sends his word to this earth is to help us make an impact for Christ on our children. Psalm 119 says, how can a young person keep their way. Clean your daughter, your son well by keeping their way according to the word of God that you saturate their life with someone 19 your word.

David said as a young man I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against the look godly mother's get this and they are all about getting God's word into the hearts and minds in the lives of their children number two want to make a godly impact on your child a number two we do it by placing our children squarely in God's path, we do it by putting them in kids quest or no one and an intense stop. We do it by putting our teenagers in the junior high groups and the senior high group and the midweek junior and senior high meetings and we do it by sending our junior and senior high school is to summer camp for winter camp on missions trips look there is no reason every teenager in this church shouldn't be on winter camp, summer camp and mission trips because we are willing to pay for. We have scholarship money.

I announce this every time we announce these camps that if you can't afford it. We will pay for your child to go to camp. We want that child in God's pathway. Look, if you want your child to get hit by the train.

You gotta put them on the tracks. Yeah.

And God is rolling down the tracks of winter camp summer camp kids quest a want of missions trip. That's were God's role in put them on the track still get hit, you put them there.

They men number three Wanamaker spiritual impact on your child's life than we do it number three by being the most Christlike example that you as a mom can possibly be. The apostle Paul said first Corinthians 11 verse one follow me, imitate me as I seek to imitate Christ and listen. We can't tell our children to obey God if they see us disobeying God. We can't tell our children not to lie it when they pick up the phone, we say to them, model, mono. We can't tell our children that they must obey the law when they see us doing 80 on the Beltway. We can't tell our children that it's important to be in God's house and drop them off the kids quest and then we go sit at Starbucks for the hour that they're in kids quest yeah I see you there. Unaware your girl tell me I know you got the point right. Listen more.

Godliness is caught in a home that is taught in a home, and if you really want to make a spiritual impact on your child for Christ, then you as a mom and you is a dead you try to be the most authentic believer the most obedient believer that you could possibly be in that home. That's how we do it, not by being hypocrites in our homes.

Praise Lord. Yeah, number four, and finally in a hurry to the other three because I really want to spend the most time on this and that is for 35 years I've been appealing to us as moms and dads that we want to make a spiritual impact on our children.

We have to become prayer warriors for our children.

Jeremiah 33 God says call under me and I will answer you and I will show you great and mighty things that you know not in James chapter 5 the Bible says the what's the next word what's the next word. The effectual and the next word fervent prayer of a righteous person that is righteous because were in Christ avails or accomplishes much Elijah was a man just like us and he prayed next word earnestly that it might not rain and it did not rain on the earth. Meeting the land of Israel for 3 1/2 years, and he prayed again and the start poured rain and the earth produced its fruit. There is no power anywhere on earth equal to the power of prayer and the power of prayer is never greater and with a mother is praying for her children is their will on.

I pray for my children. Well I'm sure you do.

The question is how she would mean how well how do you pray for your children, how do you pray, you know, the saints of old. If you read you stock constantly refer to a place they called their prayer closet that this wasn't always a literal closet. It was a private place where they got on their knees in secret and where they met with God.

It was a place where they humble themselves before God. It was a place where they pursued God.

It was a place where they second Corinthians 71 perfected their own holiness in the fear of God, but it was also a place where they poured out their hearts in intercession for other people, especially their children. It was a place where they lingered. It was a place where they persevered.

It was a place where they contended for the souls of their children.

So let me ask you the question is this how you pray for your children or do you do prayer life. So what's prayer life what you know.

Prayer light is put on your makeup going Lord Jesus I pray for Johnny today. Prayer light is sit in traffic and going Lord Jesus I pray for Susie today. What's wrong with you up there. Pray for Jimmy today mom that prayer light is when we pray for our children at bedtime and were falling asleep between the sentences. This is prayer light is prayer light praying.

Yes it is but it's not powerful praying. It's not earnest praying is not prevailing prayer. It's not effectual prayer. It's not fervent prayer. It's not Elijah type prayer is not prayer closet.

Prayer EM bounds said and I quote, praying true.

Praying is taxiing the work and to do it well. There must be columnists and time and deliberation the apostles as he points out, the Bible did not say they prayed the Bible said they gave a themselves to prayer.

My point is that serious prayer that accomplishes serious things for God is serious work and it's those moms and those grandmom's who are willing to do the serious work of prayer. Those moms and those grandmom's who are the mightiest in their prayer closet.

These are the people who have the mightiest impact on their children for Jesus Christ, amen. Now listen, you say we don't you think dads are to do this to will of course I do. And I do it in my family absolutely.

But mom even if dad doesn't do it. It doesn't matter if you are godly mama wants to make a godly impact on your children that you must do this with her dad doesn't know whether he doesn't do it if dad does it. It's a bonus if he doesn't, it doesn't matter.

You can still impact your children all by yourself in your prayer closet so let me conclude and ask you the question moms grandmom's.

Do you have a prayer closet. Do you have a place that you go to meet with God when you take time and where you take deliberation and were you pray fervently for them like like Elijah did. And if you have a prayer closet isn't heavily used or is it rarely visited is the carpet worn down in that room where you put your knees every day and those holes in the carpet. They are the blood of Jesus in the name of Jesus invoked by you against the enemy. On behalf of your children each and every day in that room is the carpet tear stained in that room was a dry moms if you don't have a prayer closet.

I'm here to challenge you on the behalf of God. Start one. It is never too late to start being a prayer warrior for your children and your grandchildren never too late. And if you haven't got it up to now it's okay we can go back and change the past but we can change the future. Let's get a prayer closet. Let's pray for these children and I just want to remind you what I said earlier, the moms who are the mightiest in their prayer closet are the ones that make the mightiest spiritual impact on their children. May God help us to be those kind of moms may God help us to be those, grandmom, and if your future mom you're not a mom yet. May God help you to be that kind of future mom. So when you have a child you know what it is you're supposed to do to make that child in the Timothy young man or woman of God the spring with our heads bowed in our eyes closed.I want to give us a moment to talk to God, my friends, if you don't have a prayer closet with your mom or dad here today. I'm wondering if you're willing to say to the Lord today Lord with your help I'm gonna I'm to make a prayer closet and miles and then I'm going to use it, go to bed 1/2 an hour earlier to wake up a half-hour early to be in there before I go out into the day I'm going to pray for my children not put my makeup on drive-in, but on my knees with tears. If you need a moment to talk to God and ask him to help you do that change every schedule. The let's take you to do it right now for Jesus when it comes to raising our children to walk with you and love you. We need the every hour all how we need the Lord, and if we need you that badly. Then we need to reflect that in our daily schedule.

Lord forgive all of us for charging around out of our house, so busy with the affairs of life that we neglect to really get on our faces before you fervently and effectually and passionately to pray for our families, our children ourselves more take the word of God today not only use it to encourage our hearts, but use it to challenge our makers prayer warriors for our children makers like Erin and her who hold their arms up as they go well.

Our children to face the trials of this world. So speak to us deeply. Lord, change our very lifestyle because we were here and we sat on the teaching of the word of God. We pray these things in Jesus name God's people said amen