TEXT: I Thessalonians 5:17

SUBJECT: Family Life #33: Kids, Pray for Your Parents

This is the fourth Sunday afternoon of the month and time for another sermon on Family Life. Today, I want to talk to everyone, of course, but especially to the kids.

What I’m going to talk about is praying for your parents. I know you’ve been told to obey your mom and dad, to honor them, and to take care of them when they’re old. But have you ever been told to pray for them? To pray for them—as our verse says—"without ceasing"? I’ve preached for more than twenty years, but I’ve never spoken on it. I’ve gone to church my whole life, and I can’t ever remember being told by the pastor to pray for my parents.

Do you pray for your parents? I suppose you do if something really bad happens to them. If your dad loses his job or your mom gets bad news from the doctor, then you pray. But what about the rest of the time? Do you pray for your mom and dad even when they’re well and happy? You ought to. Do you pray for your parents when they’ve done something wrong? Maybe they yelled at you for no reason at all. Or maybe they’re fighting with each other. Or maybe your dad is watching something on TV he ought not to. Or maybe your mom is gossiping on the phone. You hear these things and see them. But do you pray about them? You ought to. Because kids ought to pray for their parents.

Does the Bible command kids to pray for their parents? As far as I know there is no direct commandment in the Bible to that effect. And, I couldn’t find a clear example of it either.

But even though I cannot quote a verse that says, "Children, pray for your parents", I can still say the Bible teaches you to do it. How? It does it indirectly. Indirectly doesn’t mean it’s not really there. What it means is it is there but you can only find it by thinking hard!

Where does the Bible teach you to pray for your parents? All over the place. Here are three examples:

• The Lord’s Prayer.

In the Lord’s prayer, we taught to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread". Now, where does your "daily bread" come from? It comes from the Lord, of course. But who does He use to give it to you? Your parents. To pray for the material things you need, therefore, means to pray for your parents, their health, their jobs, and so on.

• The Golden Rule.

The Golden Rule says to "Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you". Every blessing comes from God—and often in answer to prayer. Do you want blessings from God? If you do, you also want people to pray for you. But if you want others to pray for you, you need to pray for them, too.

• Galatians 6:10

It’s hard to do good for people you don’t know. You don’t have much of an opportunity to help a stranger is Saudi Arabia or the girl who walked by you in the mall last week.

But you have tons of opportunities to do your parents good. One of the ways you can most help them is to pray for them.

The Lord wants you to pray for your parents. And your parents do too. If you don’t believe me, ask them. If they’re Christians, I guarantee you, they’ll happy to have your prayers. If they’re not saved, well even most unbelievers wish their kids would pray for them (though some are too stubborn to admit it).

Now that you see it’s your duty to pray for your parents, you have to ask yourself, what should my prayers be about?

In the first place, thank God for them.

• Thank God you have parents.

Not every kid in the world has parents. You should thank the Lord that you do.

• Thank God they care for you.

Not all parents care for their kids as much as your parents care for you. Let me tell you a little story. It makes me cry to think about it, but here goes:

That could have been you. But it wasn’t. Largely because your parents care for you. You need to thank the Lord for that! It’s easy to find fault with your parents, but you need to remember the other side too. If you did, you’d give thanks for them.

• Thank God your parents are saved—and want you to be saved too.

Some parents care very much for their kids. They take them to the doctor when they’re sick, they send them to good schools, they’re interested in their lives, they give good advice, and so on. But even though these parents are excellent in many ways, they’re not saved. Thus they neglect the most important thing a parent can do for his children—tell them about Christ.

But your parents are saved. Though they’re not perfect, they have prayed for you, they have taught you God’s Word, they have brought you to church to hear the Gospel. You ought to be very thankful for that. And tell the Lord you are.

Thanking God for your parents will take up a lot of your prayer time for them. But there’s something else you can do: You can pray the Lord will bless your parents.

Pray for physical things, like their health and their jobs.

But, most of all, pray for spiritual things. For example,

• If your mom or dad is not saved, pray that God would save him or her.
• Pray for their bad traits. Every parent has them. Some are impatient; others love money; some are stubborn; some are lazy; some aren’t too good with the truth; others feel sorry for themselves; a lot of parents are mean to their kids.

• Pray for their good qualities. If your parents are saved, they have some good traits or graces. Pray that they would grow in these graces—that they’d be more humble or kind or generous or God-fearing.

• Pray for special needs. Maybe your dad has a hard time keeping a job. Maybe your mom is swamped with things to do. Maybe your mom and dad don’t get along too well. Maybe one is sick or the other is discouraged. Maybe they’re worried; maybe they have a hard decision to make. If you know about these things, pray about them.

Praying is never a waste of time. I know you’re busy. Between school and music and sports and other things, kids have very little free time. But, even though you’ve got other things to do, there’s nothing more important than prayer. I once saw a book with this title,

I didn’t read the book, but the big idea is right. Praying is good in itself and also makes everything else better.

Now, what blessings are likely to come from praying for your parents? I thought of three.

• The Lord will be glorified.

Nothing glorifies the Lord more than prayer. By praying for things, we’re saying—in effect—that there is a God, that He knows what we need, that He loves us enough to give us what we need, and that He has the power and wisdom to deliver the goods!

If you ask the Lord to save your mom, you’re telling Him He’s full of grace and power! Because nothing less than Almighty power and infinite grace can give life to someone who is

If you ask the Lord to heal your dad, you’re telling Him He’s the same Lord we see in the Bible, compassionate and mighty to heal. It’s saying, in effect, the miracles really happened. And that God is still alive and well and working wonders today.

To pray for your parents very much glorifies the Lord.

• It will make your parents better.

What are you likely to pray about? That your dad will become more irritable? That your mom with nag you more than she does? Of course not! You pray that your parents would grow in grace. And, when the Lord answers your prayers, they will.

Prayer is not just meditation or quiet time. It’s actually asking God for things, which He is often eager to give you.

Maybe your parents are the way they are because you don’t pray for them. James 4:2 says,

• It will make you better.

It’s hard to pray when you have a rotten attitude. When old Ahab went to bed, sick that he couldn’t have Naboth’s farm, do you think he turned his face to the wall and pleaded with the Lord to make the stubborn farmer more reasonable? Of course not! He sulked and acted like a big baby! No one can do that—and pray at the same time. If you prayed for them more, you’d pout and fight less.

Do you wish that you were more obedient than you are? That you honored your parents more than you do? Or that your home was happier and more loving than it is? If you feel that way, pray for your parents. It will not only bless them, but it will do you good.

How do you pray for your parents? You pray for them in humility—asking God to bless them, not telling Him to. You pray for them in faith—knowing that He will answer your prayers if they’re according to His will.

But that brings up a problem for some of you kids—and maybe, not only kids. Not everyone here has faith. And "Without faith, you cannot please God".

Does the Lord ever answer the prayers of unbelievers? Sure He does! He is so good and kind and generous, that He often does good, even to

But even though the Lord often answers the prayer of a non-Christian, He never promises to do that. What He promises is to hear the prayers of His people—those who trust Him for salvation.

Thus, you cannot pray well for your parents unless you’re saved. Even if you love your mom and dad with all your heart and pray for them hours every day. Your prayers are not pleasing to God unless you’re a Christian.

Thus, if you want God to hear the prayers you offer for your mom and dad, start with another prayer. Start with the prayer of repentance and faith.

Tell God how wicked you are—not what others made you do—but what you did yourself. How that you’re a sinner, a lost sinner, a sinner with no hope of saving yourself. That’s repentance.

Then believe in Christ. Believe that He died and rose again, and—somehow or other—by trusting Him God will forgive your sins and give you eternal life.

And answer your prayers too.

Kids, I know your parents pray for you. Now, return the favor by praying for them. But do it in faith—faith in Christ.

Now go do it. And the love of God be with you. Amen.