[Please join me in praying for children, families, and our future on Thursdays this year.]
“But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.” (Micah 7:7 NIV)
This past weekend I visited with a grandmother whose five-month-old granddaughter is in liver failure. The family is hoping that she will be put on a liver transplant list and, as a baby, go “straight to the top” of the list. The baby’s parents and one set of grandparents are Roman Catholic; the other set of parents is Lutheran, so there is a great deal of prayer going up for this little girl. But, as the grandmother told me, for “K” to receive a new healthy liver means that another baby or young child has to die. If you have any love for children, you have to admit that it’s very difficult to pray for the death of one child so that yours may live.
Today, let us pray for children who are ill.
Good Shepherd,
Thank you that children are precious to you, and you love them with a special love that you demonstrated when you invited them to spend time with you. Thank you that you are our faithful Jehovah Rapha, the Healer, the Great Physician, the one who knows our needs even before we call on you. Today we pray for children who are ill. From normal childhood colds and sicknesses, to bigger things like diabetes, heart holes, cancer, and liver failure, we pray for and proclaim healing over these precious ones. In the name of Jesus we pray that you would provide resources and wisdom for parents, medical staff, and other caregivers. We speak, pray, and declare HOPE in the name of Jesus into each of these situations. We especially pray for baby K and others like her who are facing organ transplants. Hold her in the palms of your hands, strengthen her body, and give your deep shalom peace to her parents and others who love her. While we cannot pray for another child to die so she might live, we pray that your perfect timing and ways will somehow save her life and the lives of other children in such dire circumstances. Heal them we pray in Jesus’s name. AMEN.
“Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” (Luke 18:16 NIV)
“As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:13-14 NIV)
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23 NIV)
“Blessed are those who fear the Lord,
who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.” (Psalm 112:1-3 NIV)