Javelin Prayers

I have had the privilege of praying for my children and their school with  some friends I met while in a “Moms In Touch” group. Moms In Touch is an international organization started by Fern Nichols encouraging and empowering moms to pray together for their children and their schools. I learned the value of  javelin prayers through MIT.

Here is something my Mom, a prayer warrior, sent me when Justin started school. I believe it came from one of MIT’s early publications but do not have a source or author of it. It exemplifies the concept of javelin prayers.

As you pack your child’s lunch bag, PRAY!

Pray he/she will hunger for God’s word daily.

As your child climbs the huge steps in the bus or drives away and you wave goodbye, PRAY!

Ask God to keep him/her on the path of righteousness always.

As the day goes on and you wonder what she’s/he’s doing, PRAY!

Ask your heavenly Father to protect her/him.

As you look over the papers your child brings home, PRAY!

Pray that his/her mind will grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

As you empty the backpack and find scraps of paper, bits of crumbs, broken pencils, PRAY!

Pray that God will take any broken pieces from the day and bring healing and wholeness.

Much like an athlete hurling a javelin skyward, I strive to launch little prayers imploring God to nurture my children all day long. The old hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus states “what a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer”. Your family can join with other local moms bombarding the gates of heaven with prayer for children and schools in Ohio. On November 17th Liberty Presbyterian Church is hosting a prayer and fasting event from 9 am-1 pm called Arise and Cry Out for all Ohio moms to come together and pray for all the children and schools.

Family Prayer Craft: Cut out colorful paper in shapes of leaves. On each leaf, have your family write out names of friends and teachers at school or specific prayer requests collected from people at their school. Tape or glue the leaves to a stick with branches, or place the leaves on a window in your house. As the leaves fall outside, take down one leaf each day to pray over as a family. Even children as young as one year old can help your prayer leaves “fall” so you can “send” them up to God.

Close the Door

I had eight children of various ages in my home the other day. To give you some perspective of the chaos, we used a whole loaf of bread for lunch. Somehow throughout the day, we had difficulty keeping the door shut with all that coming and going. Everyone and every bug had free access to the house. It was without protection from outside intruders. We were killing flies all afternoon.

We didn’t intentionally leave our home open to intruders, but we forgot to enact a plan to protect it. It reminded me to review how often we are intentional about the spiritual protection of our home and everyone in it. E. Stanley Jones coined this phrase, “When prayer fades out, power fades out.” I have power through Jesus to protect my house from the forces of evil, and I can choose to be wise about wielding that power through the Holy Spirit.

We are becoming more intentional in praying specifically for our own home as a place of refuge that embraces everyone, as a place of grace that allows mistakes, as a place of forgiveness and as a place of growth where each person’s unique gifting is encouraged. We pray to be a light of love to the neighborhood we serve. Several of our conversations with God include binding satan and his attacks on our home in order to allow us to stand as a vanguard for the gospel.

The battle is real, but the Holy Spirit provides tools for the fight.  We have the guidance and power of the Word of God for our protection and direction. If we are diligent in practicing protection, we will not be taken by surprise in all of our comings and goings. A good offense is the best defense.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence,

so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need

Hebrews 4:16

Sometimes I have looked back on a day where everything is going wrong to realize I forgot to take the time to cover our home in prayer. I have squandered the power given to me. I was lazy in executing my offensive strategy and had to rely only on defense; I forgot to close the door. On these days, only by God’s grace I see how much effort was wasted on chasing down flies.

• Family Tool for Prayer:  Create a prayer book for your family. Get a notebook and write down meaningful verses on the power of prayer. Also use it to write you own prayers for your home and each member. Take turns reading and recording family prayers.

• Books we Like: Habits of a Child’s Heart by Hess and Garlett & Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home by Richard Foster