Praying for our Sons~ DAY ONE

21 Days of Prayer for our Sons. Are you ready? I pray that God will again just meet you right where you’re at and give you renewed strength for the days ahead. I look forward to praying with you and for you.

If you have not yet purchased the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons ebook (pdf), Nook or Kindle edition, it is only $3.99 right now.  No pressure to buy, I assure you that you can and will still be blessed even if you just follow along here!

A helpful note: a participant from the fall challenge found it helpful to copy and paste the Study Questions (at the end) to a word doc and print it. It made it easier for her to pray throughout the day. Do what works best for you!

I look forward to hearing from each of you!

Heavenly Father, Thank you for the son(s) you have blessed us with, fearfully and wonderfully made by Your Hands! They are precious to us, a blessing, a gift.
As we spend the next 21 days on our knees, fervently praying for our sons, we ask for WISDOM and GUIDANCE, as only you can give. Help us open our hearts to receive your instruction and vision for each of these boys…and for each  mama.  We know that Satan puts up a fight when we pray in Your Son’s precious name, so we ask that you place a hedge of protection around each family, each prayerful mama, each precious son.
Fill our hearts and homes with your peace and love as we journey through this challenge. Help us to stick to our commitment to lovingly pray for our sons. Move in our hearts, LORD!
In Jesus’ Precious Name,
Amen.

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Day 1 | Action Steps
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Read | The Introduction (pg. 7-9) and section titled, “The Battle” (pg. 10-11) in the eBook, “Warrior Prayers” and work through any (or all) of the Study Questions that enhance your time in this challenge!

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Pray | Work through the 10 prayers on Heart Change (pg. 12) using whatever method works best for you!

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Comment | Since this is our first day in the challenge, we want to hear what you are looking forward to most about the next 21 days!  Do you have any specific hopes or goals?  Are there any fears you’d like to share?

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Day One – Heart ChangeEncouragement from Brooke, author of Warrior Prayers~ Praying the Word for Boys in the areas they need it most

The most foundational thing we can ask God for in the lives of our sons is heart change. The Word says that what's in the heart eventually comes out. Bad stuff in the heart? Bad stuff comes out. Good stuff in the heart? Good stuff comes out.

I heard an illustration of this concept once from a pastor friend. He held up a Styrofoam cup with a little water inside and proceeded to ram his hand against the cup so that the water splattered everywhere. Then he asked this question:

"Why did water come out of the cup?"
So what do you think? Did the water come out of the cup because he rammed his hand up against it? Certainly a possible answer. But consider this: could it be that the water came out of the cup because there was water IN the cup?

Think about it … if the cup had been empty when he rammed it, nothing would have come out.

And so it is with our hearts. Life has a funny way of ramming up against us. People pull out in front of you when you're in a hurry. The neighbor's dog won't stop yapping through the night when all you need is a few hours of sleep. Your children pick the day after your favorite relative dies to be little horrors … somehow sensing that mom is frazzled.
Stuff happens.

We get hit. Probably every day. But our response to the hits comes from what's in our cup...or hearts. Bad stuff in the heart? Bad stuff comes out. Good stuff in the heart? Good stuff comes out.

"The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." ~Luke 6:45

Today's Instructions
Commit to praying the ten prayers in the heart change chapter during day one.
You can do this in one of four ways:

1. Get up early to bathe your sons in prayer first thing in the morning.
2. Pray the prayers one at a time throughout the day.
3. Make the prayers a part of your family devotion time, praying the prayers out loud over your sons.
4. Spend some time in concentrated prayer late at night, around bedtime.

Note: For moms whose boys have already left the home (or grandmothers whose grandsons don't live in their home) consider writing a note to send once a day with the prayers you have prayed for your sons.
What an encouragement to receive a note a day from mom (or grandma) with specific prayers!

Heart Change  

Fill in the blanks with your son(s) name(s):

May__________first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean (Matthew 23:26).
Give__________a new heart, and a new spirit put within him. Remove the heart of stone from his flesh and give him a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).
May__________honor God with his heart, and not just his lips (Isaiah 29:13).
May__________out of the good treasure of his heart produce good, for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45).
May__________'s heart cry be, “not my will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42).
May__________draw near to God, and He will draw near to him. May he cleanse his hands and purify his heart (James 4:8).
Create in__________a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within him (Psalm 51:10).
May__________be like the wise man, whose heart inclines him to the right (Ecclesiastes 10:2).
May__________not take idols into his heart, and set the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face (Ezekiel 14:3).
When he hears the Word of the Lord, may__________be cut to the heart (Acts 2:37).