On Behalf of our Children
by Marcelo A. Tolopilo ©
As most of you know, my parents lived with us for quite a while after they retired. Mom lived to celebrate her 86th birthday and spent 15 of those 86 years with us. Dad walked this earth until the good old age of 92 (two months shy of 92 actually) and he shared 23 solar cycles with us in our home.
To be sure, taking care of elderly parents had its challenges, but the trade off of having them under our same roof was incomparable. The benefits of having mom and dad live in our home flowed to us primarily in two steady streams. The first was exhortation.
Beneficiaries of exhortation
Mom and dad spent a lifetime shepherding people in pastoral ministry and Valorie, my children and me became the beneficiaries of much of their accumulated biblical, pastoral wisdom—nearly a combined century of experience! Though they were slow to give their opinion (James 1:19), they discretely mentored us with their counsel, example, their encouragement and exhortation whenever we sought it, which was often.
Committed prayer for our family
The second major stream of blessing we received from having my folks live with us was their committed prayer for our family, prayers that continue to shape our family to this day.
The long lasting efficacy of this blessing (prayer) clearly dawned on my understanding one ordinary weekday morning. Dad and I sat at the kitchen table enjoying our morning beverages. I, of course, steadily drained my dark, bold cup of coffee, and dad heartily sipped on his usual “maté.” Without planning it, our conversation slowly meandered to the subject of the power of prayer.
An amazing reality!
At one point in our heart-to-heart exchange, my father took a pull from his maté gourd, looked up at me and said thoughtfully, “You know son, I pray for your children, my grandchildren every day. I pray that they may learn to walk humbly with their God. I pray for their future work that they may be fruitful and honor God with the labor of their hands. I pray for their future spouses that they may know and love God. I pray for many things regarding our beloved children.”
Dad continued “… and I want you to know something very special about our prayers, my prayers on their behalf. First, prayer is powerful because it is addressed to Almighty God who hears our petitions and moves to fulfill these same petitions in accordance with His good pleasure. Prayer is divinely powerful! And secondly, what is just as wondrous about prayer is that our pleas and petitions transcend time!” You may ask, ‘Does “maté” contain any hallucinogenic properties?’ No, but then again I’ve never tried to get a kilo of maté through airport security. Nonetheless, this still leaves my dad’s statement dangling conspicuously in the vacuous space of my cranium, “our pleas and petitions transcend time!” What did my dad mean by that?
This is what he explained, and I thought it was quite profound. He said, “Someday I will be gone from this earth. My body will be in the grave, my spirit present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). However, all my prayers for you and the children, for our family, will still exist in God’s sovereign, eternal knowledge. Our prayers will not be erased or forgotten before the Lord when we die. Our pleas will still resonate in the heart and mind of God, and He who is all powerful will continue to faithfully fulfill our prayers according to His great and sovereign plan.”
That is an amazing reality!
Those few moments talking with my dad have stuck with me ever since and have challenged me to pray, and to pray especially for my kids and grandkids.
What a transcending thought this is!
Our heartfelt prayer for all those we love—and as we have said, our prayers for our beloved children and grandchildren—will continue to be remembered by God and will continue to engage His heart even long after we are gone from this earth.
And in the spirit of this wonderful reality, I challenge you, I challenge myself to persist in interceding for those we love, especially our present and future progeny. To God be the glory for His transcending love and care for us.
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