Praying the 5 P’s-
We had just moved to a new town and my son’s school was taking a field trip to the zoo which was 2 hours away. I was in a complete panic. I realized that on the day of the field trip I had other obligations that I couldn’t re-schedule. Our normal policy with field trips was for either me or my husband to be on the field trip with that child. In my head this made me a good parent but in reality I was in complete fear that if I wasn’t with my child what would prevent something bad from happening to one of them? I was a very over-protective fearful parent.
So back to the zoo field trip, I had made the decision to not let my son go on the field trip. I was confident that was the way it was going to be until I felt a still voice within me say….
I love your children more than you do and I want the best for him.
In that moment I started to cry, coming to a new revelation that God loves my children more than I do and He has their best interests in mind and He was protecting them. So I turned in the permission slip and packed his lunch and off he went to the Zoo. And you know what? He was just fine!
As a parent one of the hardest things we will have to do is let go of our children. Letting them grow and discover this world for themselves is important, but not easy. We can instill in them and teach them what they need to know but in the end we have to let go and hope they make the right choices and that they will be safe.
One of the ways I worked through this letting go process is by starting to pray over my children what I call the 5 P’s.
Each morning before my feet would even touch the ground I would pray the following over each of my children.
Peace
I prayed that the peace of God would fill them each day as they go through the busyness of the day. As we read in Phillipians 4:7
Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Protection
Psalms 91 is full of the promises of God of His protection over us.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease.He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness, nor the disaster that strikes at midday. Though a thousand fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these evils will not touch you. Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished. If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and cobras; you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet! The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me I will protect those who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation.”
Provision
God’s provision is more than money. I would pray that God would provide the right friendships, resources and that anything they set their hand to would prosper.
Phillipians 4:19
And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Purity
In this day and age purity is a hard standard to keep when our children are young and they are being bombarded with images and ideas that can take away their purity. I would pray that God would protect them and help them desire purity.
1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Purpose
God has a plan for each of our children. I would pray that God would stir up in my child what that purpose and passions was. I would stand on the promise in Jeremiah 29:11 that God had a plan to prosper and not harm. I would pray Jeremiah 24:7 that each of my children would have a heart that would seek God for everything, to know God better and that each would desire God’s perfect plan for their lives.
Jeremiah 24:7
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I am grateful to the promises of Gods word, and I hold on to those promises in times when I feel like I just want to gather my family and not let them go. God has better plans for each of our children, bigger than I could even imagine.
The zoo field trip was a small step in preparing me as a parent for what was to be many more times of trusting God with my children. When my daughter was 16 she wanted to go to China… thats right CHINA. I remember telling my daughter the biggest miracle about that trip was not that she needed to raise $4,000 for the trip but that God had prepared my heart for that moment. She went to China that year….I rested in the peace that God had His hand on her and her loved her more than I did.
The reality is that in life we can’t protect our children from everything and we can’t be everywhere at once. Children have friendships that go bad, bad days at school, experience disappointment and get hurt, life doesn’t always go as planned, and bad things sometimes happen. But we can trust in God who is always at work and always watching over our children.
Today give your children to God. Trust God to keep them at peace, to protect then, provide for them as needed, to keep them pure in this crazy world and at the end of the day that they would love God with all their heart and that they would desire to seek Him.
Remember you are not alone on this parenting journey, God the creator of the universe is walking with you guiding and leading you as a parent.