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Weekly CoffeeTime with Brenda – Posted Monday mornings

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Lord, I Lift Up My Children

Good day friends! I pray your week and weekend went well!

Today’s devotion is more of a prayer of my heart for my children. Just as Isaiah pleads and prays for Israel and their relationship with God, I too pray for my children and their faith in their Lord and Saviour, as well as, my continued role in proclaiming my trust in the Lord through word and deed. I do not believe I am alone. Therefore, let us top up our coffee and lift our children, their lives, and their love for Christ up to the Lord…

Readings for Aug 2, 2020; Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 136:1-9; Romans 9:1-5 (6-13); Matthew 14: 13-21

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters. . .
 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. Isaiah 55:1a, 2-3a

I love when my children and grandchildren come over for a visit and a meal. There is nothing more heartwarming than having all my children and their families chatting and laughing, and sharing their lives together with us. Before their arrival I organize the food and prepare everything that can be done ahead of time. In particular, I do my best to prepare those dishes that my children particularly love; those things that have earned ‘my mom’s is the best’ label.  It is with these dishes that you hear the ‘Mmmm… always so good, Mom!’ ‘Thanks Mom!’, or ‘Is there any leftover that we can take with us?’

Well, just as our children have grown up on the foods they have come to love, so too have our children been raised on the food for their souls, the knowledge of God’s love for them and Christ’s sacrifice for their salvation. Now as adults, they are learning to create their own meals, and feed their own bodies, both physically and spiritually. Therefore, when we are together, it is my prayer that my children are encouraged to seek the Lord through our words and deeds, just as they come to enjoy the company and then thoroughly devour the food which they receive. May they find in us God’s word in action, and ingest those things that can guide their footsteps, fill their lives, and assure them of Christ’s love and salvation. May they see our love and trust in the Lord and thus for one another, our mutual respect in our marriage, our sinfulness but yet our desire to be forgiven and forgiving, and to seek Christ in all we do, now and for eternity. So just as their bodies are fed with the finest of foods when they come to spend time with us, may they desire to take home the richest of fare for their souls as passed on from us to them.

Yes, it is so easy to get caught up in striving, and in doing. Recreational time is at a minimum and yet our society and Satan’s whispers can keep us focussed on being so busy that the last thing we feel we can do is take time to worship, to be with the family of God, and to feed on his word. Yet that is exactly what our souls and our lives need. It is in the Lord that we find peace, satisfaction and purpose. Without him we are chasing after the wind; always searching but never obtaining. Therefore may we, parents of young and adult children, continue to seek the Lord and be examples of heeding Christ’s call to come to him, that our children may live by that example, be encouraged in their faith, trust in God’s love for them, and then raise their children in “the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Oh Lord, help us to do this, and to trust in this promise. AMEN and AMEN!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, You have promised that as our children are raised in your truth and knowledge, that they will not turn from it when they are old. Therefore, I pray for your presence, the Holy Spirit, in their lives. Help them to see and seek you in their days as they work and play and care for themselves and their families. Help us, parents and grandparents, to be your hands, voice and hearts of love for them as they continue to be your beloved children. In Jesus’ name I pray. AMEN!