Parents often feel a great deal of pressure to ensure their children achieve good grades in school. It is understandable to want to see your children succeed in life! God wants that, too. His desire is that they be the head, and not the tail, in all things. The opportunity to achieve an education is a great one, but as you pray for your children, do so in faith, not out of a pressure to achieve a certain GPA. Encourage your children to do their very best, but understand it may not always translate into all A’s.

First of all, you must start being moved by faith. You can’t get anything accomplished as long as you allow fear and worry to dominate your thinking. Stop the negative flow by starting to think and talk what the Word of God says about your children instead of dwelling on the problems you see in their lives.

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” –Exodus 20:12 (NIV)

The command to honor your parents may seem easy to some, while much more challenging for others who were raised in negative or abusive environments. Are all parents deserving of honor? No. Does God still command it? Yes. 

How can you honor someone who has been cruel or who is no longer in relationship with you? You honor your parents in your heart.

There are many testimonies of rebellious or prodigal children making supernatural turnarounds solely due to the power of a praying parent. Just because you don’t see immediate results, don’t discount the power and influence you have in your prayer closet. Press in, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, keep on asking. The effective (based on the Word), fervent (continual, never-ceasing), prayer of a righteous mother or father will bring great results (James 5:16).

It’s been said that rules without relationship equals rebellion. That’s the same message we find in Ephesians 6:4, which says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to the point of resentment with demands that are trivial or unreasonable or humiliating or abusive; nor by showing favoritism or indifference to any of them], but bring them up [tenderly, with lovingkindness] in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (AMP).

God is love. The answer to where babies spend eternity when they die is not hard when you consider the nature of God. His love in relation to the innocence of young children is expressed in Deuteronomy 1:39, “Moreover, your little ones whom you said would become a prey, and your children who at this time cannot discern between good and evil, they shall enter Canaan, and to them I will give it and they shall possess it.” It is plain to see that God did not hold children responsible until they were old enough to recognize the difference between good and evil.