Susan Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley had 19 children for her husband, Samuel Wesley. Only 10 survived. Despite losing 9 children, her devotion to the Lord remained steadfast.
A very good part of her life history is shows how she parented her children through prayers. She was known as one who interceded for her children daily. She did other things but her prayer for her children stood out in her history. An account says she prayed thus: "O God, give me a child that will glorify Thee, and I care not whether it be a boy or a girl."
Her family produced John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and Charles Wesley who was the co founder of Methodism. The latter wrote over 6 500 hymns for the church which are still sung today. Their mother raised them prayerfully.
Aside passing instructions to children and ensuring they take to those instructions, there is a prayer dimension to parenting. There are children from good families who turned out to be wayward. Some of us erroneously think all deliquent children were not properly brought up. That is not always true.
From personal experience, I was raised by godly parents who took discipline and christian upbringing seriously. Every morning and evening, we gather as a family to pray and share God's word yet I was wayward but I pretended perfectly. In my opinion, it was the soul-hot intercession of my parents especially my mother that pulled me out of the dungeon of destruction.
As a pastor kid, I pretended perfectly. Under the roof of my parents, I became sexually immoral as a teenager, joined bad company, drank alcohol and did all sort of nonsense I cannot describe fully yet they thought I was godly. In fact, they commended me well but something kept pulling me in the direction of righteousness. I knew it was the power of my parents' prayers. Is your prayers strong enough to drag your children from sin into righteousness?
Every day, ensure you pray for your children. Mention their names to God in prayers and speak into their destiny. Pray that they know Christ early and ask God to reveal himself to them. Ask the Lord to separate them from bad companies and ensure to sow the seed of prayers into their marital future.
It is possible for your children to escape your rod of discipline through pretense but never allow them escape the rod of your prayers. You can pray them into destiny.
