Moms of High Schoolers Prayer and Support Group

This summer, I felt compelled to start a prayer and support group for moms of teens in high school. High School is overwhelming and truthfully, I need friends to hold my hand and tell me everything is going to be OK.

But, as moms of teens know, our lives don’t slow down during the summer months, they speed up. It’s go, go, go…

“Mom, can you drive my friends and I to the beach…oh yeah and no other moms can go so can you drive everybody?” Hmm...you want me to rent a bus?

“Mom, my friends and I want to go to the movies…oh yeah, and no other moms can drive so can you take everyone? But don’t watch the movie with us because that would be weird.” I guess moms aren’t supposed to enjoy movies and teens think we love hanging out at coffee shops for 2 hours - alone.

So yeah, my idea of getting together with other moms, having a leisurely coffee, laughing and crying over our mutual teen drama, and then having a powerful prayer time did not exactly work out.

However, in talking with other stressed and overwhelmed moms, I still felt there was a need for such a group. This is a new season in our life, as our children transition from teens to adults, making decisions that will affect their futures. What career path to choose? What friendships to make. What friendships to avoid? Guarding their hearts from falling in love with the wrong person. Staying true to God’s Word in a world full of deception. 

So, I talked to God and asked, “LORD, what do you want me to do?”

Here is the verse I believe the LORD gave me as my answer:

1 Timothy 4:13 (AMP)

[Yolanda] Until I come, devote yourself to public reading [of Scripture], to preaching and to teaching [the sound doctrine of God’s word].

OK, so until Jesus comes back I’m supposed to keep doing what I can to share His Word; even if I don’t know what I’m doing half the time and even if no one shows up. But how do I share if people are too busy to join me? I believe the LORD is leading me to make my prayer group an online group. This way, busy moms can pray at their own convenience but also feel united in purpose with one another.

My main inspiration for this group came from reading an amazing book on prayer called, The Daniel Prayer, by Anne Graham Lotz. In it she writes,

“When you and I pray the Daniel Prayer, pleading with God according to His Word, someone else’s salvation…may depend on it….Start a habit of reading your Bible each day and highlighting promises or phrases that you can use as a basis of your prayers…” Page 55

“The Daniel Prayer is storming the gates of Heaven with what Eugene Peterson calls “reversed thunder” – praying God’s Word back to Him. It’s prayer that penetrates Heaven and impacts a nation.” Page 45

Moms, are you ready to “storm the gates of heaven with reverse thunder” praying God’s Word back to Him on behalf of our teens? We are going to pray the promises of Psalm 119.  Every week, I will post a portion of Psalm 119 making it our scripture prayer. By praying scripture, we are agreeing with God’s Word, giving it voice, knowing that our Heavenly Father is moving heaven and earth on our behalf.

I chose Psalm 119 because the theme of the psalm is God’s Word is true and wonderful and helps us stay pure and grow in the faith. The Psalm was purposefully written with repetitive phrases and in carefully constructed sections so that the reader could easily memorize it. The Psalmist encourages the reader to stay true to the Word of God no matter how bad the world becomes because obedience to God’s Word is what brings real joy and salvation.   

This summer, I encourage you to join me each week praying a portion of Psalm 119 over our teens. You don’t need to be a mom of a teen to pray with me. You can be a grandparent praying for a grandchild, a dad, an aunt, a friend, or a teacher praying for a teen in your life.

Before I pray it over my daughter each morning, I will first pray it over myself. I can’t expect more from her than my Heavenly Father expects from me. God wants me to search my own life for areas that aren't pleasing to Him, confess those areas, keep on the right path, and hide His Word in my own heart so that I will not sin against Him. By modeling true repentance, a love for Jesus, a sincere prayer life, and a devotion to daily reading God’s Word, I pray that my daughter sees a mom who loves her enough to “storm the gates of heaven” for her....not just a mom who's a taxi driver.   

Lets pray.
Love,
Yolanda

Psalm 119:1-24 

LORD GOD, help _____________stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by You.
For blessed are those who keep Your testimonies and seek after You with their whole hearts.
Protect __________from going off on her/his own; help her/him walk straight along the road You set.
You, GOD, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it.
Oh, that her/his steps might be steady, keeping to the course You set;
Then ________will never have any regrets in comparing her/his life with Your counsel.
I thank you for speaking straight from Your heart, LORD;
Help ________to learn the pattern of your righteous ways.
Help _________to do what You tell her/him to do; don’t ever walk off and leave her/him.

How can a young person live a clean life?
By carefully reading the map of your Word.
Help ___________be single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let her/him miss the road signs You’ve posted.
Help ______to hide Your Word in her/his heart so that they won’t sin against You.
Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach _________Your statutes and train her/him in Your ways of wise living.
Help her/him to speak out loud Your Word and to share it boldly with others.
May ___________delight far more in what You tell her/him about living than in gathering a pile of riches.
Fill _________with the Holy Spirit who will encourage her/him to mediate on Your precepts, contemplate Your Ways, and delight in Your statures so that she/he will never forget Your Word.

LORD GOD, be generous and merciful with ________ that she/he may live and keep Your Word. 
Open _____________eyes so that she/he can see wondrous things from Your law.
When she/he is a stranger traveling in unfamiliar areas; give her/him clear directions.
Let her/his soul have an unquenchable longing for Your Word.
You rebuke the proud and those who stray from Your commandments, but don’t let them sneer and insult _________for following You.
Help _________meditate on Your statutes no matter how dark the world gets or what persecution comes.
Let Your Word always be her/his delight and her/his counselor.
In Jesus Name. Amen