This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for His people to talk with Him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray.
And now, here's James. Today I would love for the next generation that's on the way. And how cool that God has, you know, brought the Gospel to our generation. How are we going to bring it to the next? How do you pray for the next generation?
It's a live show. We want you to call in and share 866-348-7884. 866-348-7884 is the number to call in and share. Again, how do you pray for the next generation? And very fun today. On Encouraging Prayer, actually, because we got James Banks, the very own co-host of Encouraging Prayer, actually the host by all means. And James, this topic has been on your heart.
How do we pray for the next generation? Yeah, my wife Carrie and I just had the chance to attend the Legacy Coalition's annual summit. And if you haven't heard of the Legacy Coalition, they are a group that encourages grandparents to pray for their grandkids and to love them to Jesus. And, oh, we had just such a great time.
It was in Birmingham, Alabama, and, you know, got to hear from people like Ruth Bell Graham and John Trent and others, and there was so much wisdom shared. And I just wanted to pass some of that on today because, you know, we have been, each of us, how many of us have been blessed with someone with a parent or a grandparent who prayed for us? Yeah, you know, I remember on last week's show you said some stuff that just really touched me, and I've been thinking about it ever since, is that, you know, obviously, or maybe not obviously, but when you pray, your prayers are going up to God, and they stay there for eternity. And so you talked about where actually every time we pray for our kids or grandkids, we're leaving them in inheritance.
Yeah, yeah, we really are. And, you know, you think about it, I mean, what would you like to leave your grandkids? And you answer that question really with eternal things, right? Because anything we give them, it's going to, you think about the toys from a, you know, a birthday ago, and they're already not used, you know, you want to give them something that's going to impact their souls. And that's what this is about, you know, just, again, loving them to Jesus with our prayers. And, of course, the prayer, just the fact of praying for them opens up so many other practical things, you know, but if we're not doing it, who can pray for our kids like we can? Who can pray for our grandkids with the same kind of heart that we can? We have a responsibility before God to love our kids with our prayers, and it's so important. Yeah, and the neat thing about, you know, from what I've seen as a grandparent is your kids hold you to some kind of standard as far as the way that they're anticipated that you're going to do for your grandkids. In other words, it's kind of neat that when you pray for your grandkids, you're actually, in a way, praying for your kids because that's the same things they want. Yeah, yeah. Well, I remember on Encouraging Prayer last week, I talked about how my granddaughter likes to ask for these organic lollipops that Carrie has, you know, they're organic, so they've got to be good, right? And she gets this big smile on her face, and she looks at me, and she can't say lollipop, so she says bebop, and then she, you know, can't say please, so she says peas, and then before I've said anything, you know, that smile gets even broader, and she looks at me and she says, okay, she's anticipating my answer, you know, and then she says, yay! And what I love about that is that really is a great way to pray, you know, you're bringing your request before God, bebop, you're doing it humbly, peas, you're also doing it with faith in the one who's able to grant your request, yay!
Okay. You're celebrating what he said, okay, right, okay, and then of course, you know, at the end of that, you know, it's just celebrating him again, yay! So, you know, if we can learn from kids how to pray, then we can keep going with this, you know? That's beautiful, that's beautiful, and if we could learn from you, right, how do you pray for the next generation, somebody just called and apparently had to go, but call us back, 866-348-7884, 866-348-7884, what does this stir up in your heart? Maybe you remember a prayer from one of your children that touched you, or a way you can pray. So, you know, I love the invitation at the beginning, James, is how, you know, I actually do pray all the time for my kids, grandkids, but you said you were going to impart some wisdom that you got from this Legacy Conference, I'm definitely curious, you got me going. Yeah, yeah, well, again, one of the main things is, if you could give your kids anything, what would it be? And obviously, those are eternal things, but one of the things that really came out was the love that parents and grandparents have, or I'm sorry, the love that grandparents have for their kids, and the love that those grandkids have for their grandparents. That's a beautiful God-given thing, you know, it's just, there's something about it that God has instilled in us, that it's just natural for us to love our grandkids, and it's natural for them to love us.
And, you know, you've heard a lot of people say that if I knew having grandkids was so much fun, I'd, you know, I'd skip being a parent and go straight to grandparenting, you know? Right? Because that idea of love and prayer, they kind of do lock hands together, don't they? You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.
