0:03

I've been on the radio for a long time

0:05

and there are people praying for me and

0:07

for my family and I don't even know

0:09

who they are, but I know that my

0:11

days are full of answers to prayer by

0:14

people I've never met. And I wonder if maybe

0:16

you're one of those people who's prayed. I'm

0:19

John Fuller along with our Vice President of

0:21

Parenting Dr. Danny Huerta and Danny, we're

0:24

both fortunate because we have praying saints around us.

0:26

Oh my goodness, yes. Do you know some of

0:29

the people? Yes. Do you have

0:31

people specifically in your corner praying for you? Yes, and I thank

0:33

them. I mean, two of them are my mom and dad. They've

0:35

been praying since I was a little guy. I

0:37

remember hearing them down the hallway

0:39

praying for each of us and they still, when

0:41

I talked to them on the phone, they'll

0:44

say, what can I pray for, son? And

0:47

they'll say, we're praying for you daily, just

0:49

know that. And then there's this lady, Barbara

0:51

Law is her name and

0:53

we've known her for many, many years since

0:55

I was a little, little guy. She

0:58

continues to pray for me. She's about 90, 91. And

1:02

she has said, every day, know that

1:04

I'm praying for you and for your

1:06

kids and for your family.

1:09

And growing up, we had people at the

1:11

church and my grandparents who also were

1:14

right there praying every single day. And I knew

1:16

that growing up. And now as I've been

1:19

a dad and older, I've learned to

1:21

appreciate it even more. So what

1:24

a wonderful surrounding we have when people are

1:26

praying for us. Yeah, I think that's part

1:29

of the great cloud of witnesses that the

1:31

writer of Hebrews referenced. And

1:33

certainly we believe here at Focus on the

1:35

Family and the power of prayer. And

1:38

we're going to hear now from Dr. Erwin Lutzer, who

1:40

shared with Focus President Jim Daley about

1:42

the impact his own parents' prayers had

1:45

on him. Dr.

1:47

Lutzer, it's really important to know

1:50

how to pray, both for yourself as a

1:52

parent and for your prodigal children. You

1:55

know, I'm sure as parents we stumble on that or

1:58

we get into a rut. How

2:00

do you suggest people pray

2:02

for themselves as parents and for their

2:04

prodigal children? Jim, before

2:07

I go into some specifics about

2:09

my own transformation in praying for

2:11

my children and my grandchildren, I

2:14

need to talk about my parents. Now

2:16

my father died at 106, my mother at 103. Oh

2:20

my goodness. And I always say my parents lived

2:22

so long that I'm sure until my father died,

2:24

all of their friends in heaven thought that they

2:26

just didn't make it. They said,

2:28

where are the Lutzers? But

2:30

the Lutzers made it. I

2:32

believe that my ministry today is

2:34

still the product of my parents'

2:36

prayers. When

2:39

they were celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary,

2:41

after that they didn't want anymore. They

2:43

did live till 77 anniversaries. But

2:47

I was sitting next to my mother

2:49

and I said, mother, do you know the

2:51

names of all of your grandchildren and all

2:53

of your great grandchildren that are running around?

2:55

She just waved her hand and

2:57

she said, oh yes. She said,

3:00

I have a prayer list and I mention

3:02

them to God every day. When

3:05

she died, we found her prayer list. All

3:07

the children, all the grandchildren,

3:10

the great grandchildren, written in with

3:12

her own handwriting and missionaries.

3:17

My parents did not have the

3:19

opportunity of having a good education.

3:21

They came from Europe, grade 3,

3:23

grade 4, but they taught themselves how

3:26

to read. But they

3:28

knew how to pray. One

3:30

other thing that I have to mention before

3:32

we get into some specifics of how to

3:35

pray. When my father

3:37

was a hundred, my

3:39

wife said to me, Erwin, why don't you

3:41

go get a blessing from your father? He

3:44

was sitting in his rocking chair reading his

3:46

Bible. And I

3:49

said, dad, I wonder if you'd give me a

3:51

blessing. And I knelt

3:53

beside him and he put his hand on my

3:55

head and prayed a

3:57

prayer that I always like to say, it

3:59

made heaven. shake. And

4:02

to everyone listening out there today,

4:04

if you have a believing father,

4:07

go to him

4:09

and ask for a blessing. But don't wait

4:11

until he's 100. It might not happen. I

4:14

mean, how old were you when that happened? Well,

4:17

that's a very good question, but I was

4:19

pastor of Moody Church at the time. You

4:21

know, I was probably 50, 60. Right.

4:25

You know, and so I was very old. But...

4:29

Not that old. Not that old. 50,

4:32

60. So this was not something that

4:34

happened when I was a boy. I

4:37

hadn't thought of it. My wife suggested

4:39

it. Your dad's 100. This is

4:41

a good time to do it. Now, with

4:44

regard to praying, as

4:46

a parent, I frequently prayed, oh God,

4:49

you know, bless

4:51

my children, keep them safe,

4:54

help them to do well in school,

4:57

keep them healthy. But Jim,

5:02

you pray that prayer over

5:04

and over again until it

5:06

becomes boring, and it's

5:08

the same old thing prayed in

5:11

the same old way. And

5:15

then what happened is I attended a seminar

5:18

on scriptural praying. And

5:20

now I pray scripture for my children.

5:24

Let me give you a contemporary example. Now,

5:26

in the book I give examples of this for

5:28

every day of the week, and of course

5:30

those are only samples to help

5:33

people so that they might be able

5:35

to do the same thing. Recently

5:37

I have been going through the Sermon on the

5:39

Mount. So what do I pray for? Oh

5:42

God, I pray for my

5:44

children. May they seek first the kingdom

5:46

of God and His righteousness so that

5:49

all these other things would be added

5:51

onto them. Or previously

5:53

I prayed from the Beatitudes,

5:55

blessed are the pure in heart,

5:57

for they shall see God. God,

6:00

I pray and then I list

6:02

my children or my grandchildren. May

6:04

they have a pure heart that

6:07

they might see you. So here's

6:09

the exciting thing. I

6:11

don't pray the same thing every

6:13

day in the same old way.

6:17

What encouraging stories from Dr. Erwin

6:19

Lutzer. And Danny, I wonder if

6:21

you want to take a shot at adding

6:24

to that and encouraging parents to pray for

6:26

their kids. If

6:28

they don't see the results that

6:30

they're hoping for today, why should

6:33

they keep praying? Well,

6:35

prayer is powerful. I mean, really, we're

6:37

talking to the King of Kings, Lord

6:39

of Lords, the Almighty. And

6:42

we can't hear a response

6:44

back, but we can see it. It's

6:47

based on trust. Do we really trust

6:49

when we're praying that we're speaking to Him?

6:52

Because we know then that He

6:54

loves our children at an even

6:56

deeper level than we could ever

6:58

even imagine and has

7:01

a story all laid out

7:03

and He's right there with us and

7:05

loves them, wants to hold them, wants

7:08

to be with them and all of us for

7:10

eternity. It really comes down to

7:13

trust. And prayer can

7:15

be a place where we practice trust

7:19

and trust brings peacefulness. And

7:21

so are we willing to step into that place

7:23

of trust because then we

7:25

can experience the peacefulness that only He can bring

7:28

to us. And that's found in prayer.

7:30

Yeah. Well, the power of a praying

7:33

parent is what this particular episode and

7:35

these shows with Dr. Erwin Lutzer are

7:37

all about. Get a copy of the

7:40

book from Dr. Lutzer, A Practical Guide

7:42

for Praying Parents, which has examples

7:44

of ways that you can pray for your

7:47

kids and so much more. We're going to

7:49

send that to you for a gift of

7:51

any amount to the Ministry of Focus on

7:53

the Family. Support this show and all

7:55

the work that Danny and his team

7:57

are trying to accomplish on behalf of

7:59

parents. worldwide. We

8:01

want to equip and help parents thrive

8:03

and your donations to fuel for that

8:06

kind of ministry. So donate today as

8:08

you can and we'll send a

8:10

copy of that book by Dr. Lucer as our way

8:12

of saying thanks for being a part of the support

8:14

team. Details are in the show

8:16

notes and while you're looking at

8:18

those notes be sure to look for the

8:21

link to a free article called Battle Plan

8:24

Praying Strategically for Your Children.

8:27

It's a quick read it's gonna be inspiring

8:29

to you to make a regular habit of

8:31

praying in your parenting. Next

8:33

time we'll hear about why having a good

8:36

marriage matters to your kids with

8:38

Dr. Randy Shrader. For now I'm John Fuller

8:40

on behalf of Dr. Danny Werte and the

8:42

entire team. Thanks for joining us for the

8:44

Focus on the Family Parenting Podcast. It

8:51

can be challenging to inspire your community

8:53

to see life the way God sees

8:55

it. So what's the solution? Well on

8:57

June 15th Focus on the Family is hosting

8:59

See Life 24 and no

9:01

matter where you are or who you

9:04

are you can be a part of

9:06

this free event with speakers like Ben

9:08

and Kirsten Watson and real stories about

9:10

choosing life. See Life 24 will inspire

9:13

you to translate your faith into action.

9:15

Register today at seelife24.org