Fern Nichols - Moms Little Book of Powerful Prayers

Only heaven will reveal how our children grew strong in the Lord through the influence of our prayers! But how should a parent pray for their little one? How can we engage in spiritual warfare on behalf of the boys and girls under our charge? Fern Nichols does an excellent job of bidding us into her circle of prayer with her excellent book, Moms Little Book of Powerful Prayers. Believe me, its anything but childs playyou hold in your hands a manual on how to partner with God in his grand design for your children!

Joni Eareckson Tada

Joni and Friends International Disability Center

This powerful, practical book gives straightforward and simple guidance for praying the heart of the Father and resting all your confidence on the power of his Word. You will find that nothing faces you or your children about which God has not given powerful promises. Marinate in his Word and let his Word be the mold in which your prayers are shaped.

Jennifer Kennedy Dean

Executive Director, The Praying Life Foundation, author of Live a Praying Life

Also by Fern Nichols

Moms in Prayer

ZONDERVAN

Moms Little Book of Powerful Prayers

Copyright 2014 by Fern Nichols

ePub Edition February 2014: ISBN 978-0-310-33768-3

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nichols, Fern, 1945

Moms little book of powerful prayers / Fern Nichols with Stephen and Amanda Sorenson.

pages cm

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-310-33762-1 (softcover)

1. Mothers Prayers and devotions. 2. Prayer Christianity. 3. Bible Devotional use. I. Sorenson, Stephen. II. Sorenson, Amanda, 1953 III. Title.

BV283.M7 N53 2014

242'.8431 dc23

2013037387

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT 1996 are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois. All rights reserved. Prayers contain Scripture quotes and adaptations from various translations, including the New International Version (NIV 1984).

Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published in association with the literary agency of Ann Spangler and Company, 1420 Pontiac Road SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506.

Cover design: Thinkpen Design

Imagery: iStockphoto

Interior design: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK

Printed in the United States of America

14 15 16 17 18 /OPP/ 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my faithful, loving heavenly Father, who with great patience continues to teach me to pray.

To my daughter, Trisha, and three daughters-in-love: Patti, Bonnie, and Tara, who know the power of God through personal and corporate prayer.

What great joy to this nanas heart that you are praying daily for my grandchildren. I am extremely grateful to God that you are walking in the prayers of those who came before you.

Contents

D ear Mom,

I know its not easy raising children today. So many influences and ideas fight to capture our childrens hearts. I have four married children and eight grandchildren, and my concerns for their spiritual, emotional, intellectual, relational, and physical well-being are great. I welcome Jesus invitation: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). It is a promise Im glad I can count on.

Having the opportunity to talk about these concerns with my heavenly Father gives me hope when I feel hopeless, peace when I am fearful, and wisdom when I dont know what to do. That is why Im sharing this little prayer book with you. I have experienced the love of a faithful God who hears and answers my prayers, and I want you to have that experience too.

There is nothing absolutely nothing of concern to us that God does not care about. Our concerns are his concerns. He says, Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me (Psalm 50:15). Nothing is too little or too big to share with God in prayer. We can pray about every need our children have.

When we place our childrens needs in Gods hands through prayer, we call forth his intervention, blessing, and protection. So prayer is not only a wonderful gift to give our children; its a powerful antidote to the fears and worries that often accompany motherhood. I am excited for you to begin this journey as an intercessor for your children by standing in the gap and praying for their needs. I know these prayers have the power to be life changing for you and your children.

The prayers in this book follow a specific pattern, beginning with the Scripture chosen for each prayer need. Scripture is what makes the prayers so powerful. When we pray Gods Word, we are praying Gods heart. When we place our childrens names into Scripture, we are praying back to God his will for our children. Im thankful for the reassurance that I can trust God to be true to his Word: For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment (Luke 1:37 AMP).

The prayers also include praise, confession, and thanks. These are important for preparing our hearts to intercede for our children. The praise focuses our attention on one of Gods attributes. It helps enlarge our vision of who God is, which leads us to greater trust of the God we know. Confession helps make us aware of any sin that would block our communication with God and reminds us that whatever virtue we are praying for our children, we need to model ourselves, and whatever weakness we want to discourage in our children, we also need Gods help to discourage in ourselves. Thanksgiving helps open our hearts to magnify the Lord for what he has done and anticipate what he will do.