That's the question I asked a much older father in the church I was attending when my daughter was four. I had seen how he and his wife interacted and volunteered, and more impressively - how their two college aged kids engaged and behaved at church functions.
The older kids impressed me by their humor and grace, ability to communicate with people of all ages and their quiet faith. They volunteered when they could, where they could and I considered them solid young adults. I wanted one like that in about 18 years, so I asked their dad.
He gave me a big smile and one of those comforting, knowing twinkles that contained the wisdom of the ages without any pride and said that was the goal he and their mother had. "We just claimed Scripture about leaders over our kids." I wasn't sure what that meant, but I sure wanted to try that!
They had used two sections out of the New Testament (1 Timothy 3:1 - 7 and Titus 1:6 - 9) addressed to church elders or overseers and personalized them with their son and daughter's names in place of nouns. These verses were prayed every day for each child since the kids were small. The verses mention character traits such as honesty, purity and self-control. Whether or not my girl (and son yet to be born) became some kind of leader any where, I surely agreed with the traits in the verses. So I've been praying them ('claiming them') for my kids ever since.
This father's comment has inspired me to comb the Bible for other verses to pray for my family, friends and others over the years. I love to encourage young families to seek out verses and pray them over and over. What a great idea to pray God's Word back to him.
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