Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Colossians 3:18-21
Father God, I thank You this morning for the power of a believing family. When You are the center of the family, there is a harmony and selflessness that is unexplainable. When Your Word governs our interactions of our families there is spiritual progress. When we submit to one another and show the level of respect due our loved ones as a people there is an affirmation of self worth. When we love as Christ loved, sacrificing and yielding our will to our loved one’s will, there is a peace in the family that is beyond understanding. So I pray today LORD, not just for my family, but all families that I come into contact with that You would bring harmony into, first, the parental relationships, causing the two spouses to not only submit to one another, but to treat each other gently, considerate of their feelings, and loving them in word and deed. Help them to see beyond the brokenness and see what You see in their spouse, and cause them to love as deeply as You love. I pray that You would enable their offspring to see the value of the parental care they are being provided, and to demonstrate their appreciation for the loving sacrifice their parents are making for them through acts of obedience and honor. Help the offspring to carry the family banner with pride, knowing that they are loved, and desiring to do the same, paying it forward. At the same time, enable the parents to be not only communicators of right and wrong, but also the champions of their children, singing their praises and affirming them in all that they do that is pleasing. LORD, let our families reflect the harmony that is manifested when I look upon You, Christ and the Holy Spirit. Give us a oneness like Yours that You might be glorified by the works that You are doing in our midst. I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.