Pondering or Floundering?

Prayer Prompts for December

The New Year is rushing down the tracks toward us at the speed of life. As the merry-go-round of life spins faster and faster, families are being stretched to the max, and many are fraying in the emotional and spiritual dizziness. Numerous parents keep on running harder and harder to get further and further behind, being totally ignorant that there is a saner way to live life. In response to this torrid pace, God gives a one-word solution: ponder. Some may retort they cannot afford the time to sit and ponder, but the reality is they can’t afford not to lest they fall into familial bankruptcy.

Asaph wrote in Psalms 77:12, “I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds.” Solomon followed in Proverbs 4:26 with this instruction, “Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” Why is pondering important? So much of the world’s system is built upon nothing but social constructs that are empty and void. It is a mirage created from effective advertising, superficial social media quotes, make believe reality television and entertainment, and cultural canceling peer pressure. Still, many people choose to exchange the truth of God for a lie of man. (Romans 1:25) Worse yet, their children are being discipled by their example and will surely seek to emulate it, only taking it to a greater extreme.

The preventative prescription for this situation is to honestly ponder what life is about so that our feet will be sure on the path. We must see through the charade of dad and mom both working 70 hours week to own a beautiful 6,000 square feet house that will never become a true home. We will come to understand that a $10,000 used car that has over 100,000 miles runs just as fast down the interstate—70 – 80 m.p.h.—as a brand new $400,000 Aventador Lamborghini and costs a lot less to insure. Our children will see that expensive clothes that adorn the outer man can never compare to the peace and joy of being clothed with the righteousness of Christ.

Behavior follows emotions and emotions follow perspective. To behave biblically, we must think and see life biblically. As this year winds down and 2022 begins, let us make some additional time to sit before God in prayer and pondering. As we drive down the road or ride the train into work, rather than spending our time isolated with Spotify or an audio book, may we reflect on the true meaning of life and bring our children into the conversation as well. Rather than surfing the web, perhaps we can try conversing with our spouse.

Above all, may we seek the face of God, knowing when we seek, ask, and knock, the door of our understanding will be opened. While all the world around us is floundering in sin, we can ponder and meditate ourselves into the heart of God. Please consider praying these prayers in preparation for 2022. Some will be fasting in some capacity on December 14, if you want to join. Also, at 9:00 p.m. on the 14th, we will host a thirty-minute Zoom prayer meeting. To obtain the link, email Kirk at ksmith@iche.org.

Here are the prayer prompts for December:

1. Pray that as we seek the face of God, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us His glory as well as areas in our family life in which He wants to work.

• “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. –Matthew 7:7
• Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. –Psalms 119:18

2. Pray that God will grace us with the time, opportunity, and awareness to sit quietly before him to ponder life’s issues.

• But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. –Luke 2:19
• I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. –Psalms 77:12

3. Pray that our children will have a real heart to search out the ways of God in their own lives and not simply follow the culture.

• I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. –Ecc. 7:25
• Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. –Deut. 32:7

4. Pray for God to reveal spiritual compromise in our homes and the grace of God to repent and rise above in 2022.

• And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. –Ezekiel 36:26,27
• And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. –1 Kings 18:21

5. Pray that parents will be able to discern any root causes for negative behavior in their children’s lives and not get overly caught up in branch issues.

• For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. –Hebrews 4:12
• Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. –Romans 12:2

6. Pray that the Christian homeschooling community would experience genuine revival and reformation in 2022.

• Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? –Psalms 85:6
• O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. –Hab. 3:2

7. As ICHE continues to expand, pray that God will bring in the right people with the right vision, the right heart, and the right giftings to help build up God’s kingdom in the homeschool community.

• Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked. –1 Chron. 4:10
• As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: –1 Peter 4:10

8. Pray that parents will have the opportunity and relationship to have open, transparent, honest, deep, and real conversation with their aging children to prepare them for life.

• At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison –Col. 4:3
• And his armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold, I am with you heart and soul.” –1 Samuel 14:7

9. Pray that Christian homeschooling parents as well as their young adult children will experience a fresh expression of joy and purpose in 2022 as some are tired, disconnected, and disillusioned.

• Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. –Jer. 31:13
• I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved;
  he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. –Psalms 121:1-4

10. Pray that homeschooling parents will be endued with fresh vision, passion, and energy to enjoy and engage with their children, young or old, in a way they never have before.

• I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming.–Joshua 14:11
• He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. –Is. 40:29