4:13 Podcast: Can I Pray Scripture Over the People I Love? With Sharon Jaynes [Episode 300]

Sharon Jaynes: Raising kids or grandchildren, we tend to want them to be like us, and so we pray that they'll conform to an image that we have set for them. But the Bible clearly says that we are not the potter. I mean, boy, do we want to be, don't we, with our kids? But we are not the potter. I'm the mom. Yes, I'm shaping and molding, but God is the ultimate Potter. So when we're praying for our children, we're actually releasing control. So we're letting go of control of what we want them to be and we're releasing that control so that they will be who God wants them to be.

Jennifer Rothschild: Did you know that you have a superpower? Actually, you have prayer, and prayer unleashes God's superpower in your life and in the lives of the people you love. Well, on The 4:13 today, author Sharon Jaynes is back with us, and today she's going to give us a refreshing and practical framework to pray for the people we love. She is going to guide us through 16 areas of life from head, which is our thoughts, to feet, which is the path ahead. Plus, she's going to give us the Scriptures that we can apply to each area of our lives. And this is going to be so wise and reasonable and doable and practical, and you are going to love this framework. So what in the world are we waiting for? K.C., come on.

K.C. Wright: Welcome to the 4:13 Podcast, where practical encouragement and biblical wisdom set you up to live the "I Can" life. Because -- here's truth -- you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Yeah.

Now, welcome your host, Jennifer Rothschild.

Jennifer Rothschild: We're glad you're with us. That was K.C. Wright, my Seeing Eye Guy. And, of course, I'm Jennifer. And our goal is just to help you be and do more than you feel capable of as you're living the "I Can" life of Philippians 4:13.

And you know -- K.C., you know this, but you guys out there may not know this yet. But our most popular podcasts are the ones we do on prayer. Because it's a thing. We're all trying to figure it out and wonder, is there a way? Is there a certain formula? Well, there's not. But, okay, Sharon's going to give us a framework today that you are going to love, and it's all praying Scriptures over your people.

But I have to tell you something very fun that happened. K.C., this was so many years ago. And it's such a sweet picture of how accessible prayer is. Okay. So there's this little boy named Parker -- he was a little boy then -- and his mama worked for us, so often he would come over. And we'd be having lunch together, and he was just learning how to pray, you know, before a meal and thank God for his food. It was so sweet. So he's praying, "Dear God, thank you for our food." And then he pauses because, like, he can't remember, like, how do I close the deal, you know? And he goes, "Dear God, thank you for our food. You the man."

K.C. Wright: Oh, man.

Jennifer Rothschild: Isn't that awesome?

K.C. Wright: I love it.

Jennifer Rothschild: And in some ways, that's what amen -- it's like saying, yeah, Lord, you're the man.

K.C. Wright: You the man.

Jennifer Rothschild: You got this. We trust you. And we trust your Word to do what you say you're going to do.

K.C. Wright: God says he watches over His Word. One version says "He hastens." He watches over His Word to perform it, right? So we call on God and he answers. We call, he answers, Jeremiah 33:3. And we know this, that a praying church -- that's us, we're the body of Christ -- is a powerful church.

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yeah.

K.C. Wright: So more prayer, more power, more prayer, more power. And I'm telling you, I am living proof of a group of grannies that used to gather on a Tuesday. They knew I was a heathen teenager, and they prayed the Word over me. And here I am in the ministry to this day.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

K.C. Wright: And so it's our turn, right? It's our turn to pray Scriptures over people and then watch God watch over His Word to perform it in their lives. It's so exciting.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, yeah. Because it's -- like you've said to me before, K.C., it's not our words --

K.C. Wright: Right.

Jennifer Rothschild: -- it's His Word that he superintends and makes sure happens.

Okay. You guys, you're ready now, right?

K.C. Wright: Yes.

Jennifer Rothschild: You are ready. I'm ready. So let's introduce Sharon, because you are going to love this framework for prayer.

K.C. Wright: Sharon Jaynes has been encouraging women through ministry for over 25 years. She's the former Vice President of Proverbs 31 Ministries and co-host for their daily radio feature. She's the author of 25 books and lots of magazine articles. Sharon is a frequent guest on radio and television such as Revive Our Hearts, Family Life Today, and Focus On The Family, and today, she is a 4:13er, a part of our big 4:13 family. So family, let's listen in to Jennifer and Sharon.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, Sharon, as I already said in the introduction, you know, this is your second time back, so you are officially now a 4:13er. You are part of the 4:13 family.

Sharon Jaynes: Yay!

Jennifer Rothschild: And I'm glad you're back because I love talking to you. So let's start with this. Because you've been in ministry for years writing books, you're with women all the time. So I'm very curious if in the last couple of years maybe you have picked up on what concerns or stresses parents and grandparents about their kids in this day and age.

Sharon Jaynes: Well, this day and age -- that's good that you put that on there because it really has changed from when you and I were raising our boys. They're worried about their safety, they're worrying about what they're hearing in school, what they're hearing on social media. I mean, when my son was growing up, they didn't have social media like they do today. They're worrying about what they're seeing. You know, we think about what they're seeing and hearing on the school bus, but listen, Jennifer, this is what they're seeing and hearing in the privacy of their own room on their cell phones and on their computers.

They're worried about depression. Depression among kids has gone up exponentially in the past 30 years. I mean, suicide is the second leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults. They're worried about the effect of the current culture, they're worried about gender confusion. They're worried about trying to fit in and accepted. And, you know, we've always had peer pressure. I mean, since there was Cain and Abel, there was peer pressure, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Right.

Sharon Jaynes: But peer pressure is so different today because they're not comparing themselves to people that they're seeing in schools or on the sports field, they are comparing themselves to people that they're seeing on the internet. And so that makes it -- you know, they're comparing their insides with someone else's outsides. And so parents are just so concerned about all of those. And you know what? The kids are concerned about a lot of that, too, especially the school shoot -- like with school shootings.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes.

Sharon Jaynes: You know, we look at school shootings. Fifty-one school shootings in 2022. I thought, when did we start keeping count of that? But kids are concerned about that. They're worried about going to school.

Jennifer Rothschild: You're right. I mean, that is a very sad and vivid contrast to even what it was raising children 20 years ago. And so these are legit concerns that parents have. And I'm a parent, you're a parent, most of us listening probably have kids, or at least kids in our lives whom we love, and we often feel powerless. So what we do is the best thing, we pray for our kids, right? But here's what's interesting. We pray for our kids when we're concerned about them, Sharon. But sometimes we pray so that they will be conformed into our will or what we think they need to be.

But in your book, you stress that prayer is not a means of gaining control over our children. Okay? Some of us need to slow that sentence down. You say prayer is not a means of gaining control over our children or their circumstances. So if that's not what it is, let's talk about what is the purpose of prayer when we pray for our kids?

Sharon Jaynes: Jennifer, I think that raising kids or grandchildren, we tend to want them to be like us, and so we pray that they'll conform to an image that we have set for them. But the Bible clearly says that we are not the potter. I mean, boy, do we want to be, don't we, with our kids? But we are not the potter. I'm the mom. Yes, I'm shaping and molding, but God is the ultimate Potter. When we're praying for our children, we're actually releasing control. So we're letting go of control for what we want them to be and we're releasing that control so that they will be who God wants them to be. You know, when we're going through prayers written in these book, it's -- you know, we're praying Scripture. So praying Scripture over them is really releasing control. We're praying the Word of God over our kids, for him to make them who he wants them to be.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. And I love that because we can't trust our feelings, we can't trust our emotions, we can't trust the situation, but we can trust the Word of God. And so I love that in your book, as you mentioned, you have created this resource in many ways to pray for our kids, because that is the best thing we can do. And so I love this way that you've done it that involves body parts. Okay? So I just want you to take some time and take us through these body parts, this framework that you've designed for us to pray for our kids.

Sharon Jaynes: Okay. But I want to say this too, the reason that we're doing this. You know, we're worried about our children, we're concerned about our children. You know, they're watching what's happening on the news, they're hearing parents talk about it, about the wars that are over the ocean. Young children don't know how far away that is, and they're thinking if that could happen there, it could happen here. But here's two things I want to mention as we get into praying the Word over these different areas.

Paul tells us clearly that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against power of the dark world, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. So really we think about the struggles we have in our culture and overseas with wars and cultural relativism and all this gender confusion. When we think about that, we need to remember that it's really not a flesh and blood battle, but it is a spiritual battle.

Here's one more before we get into the prayers. Paul also wrote, "Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does." The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. And, Jennifer, I love this divine power. And every praying parent has divine power to demolish strongholds if they know Jesus Christ. And I love that divine power, because that word "divine" there, "divine power," is "dunamis" in the Greek, which is the language that this was originally written in. And it means -- "dunamis" is where we get "dynamite." So you've got -- how do you have dynamite? You have nitrogen, glycerin. You bring them together, boom. So when we pray, we've got the Word of God and we've got prayer, and we bring those together, boom --

Jennifer Rothschild: Boom.

Sharon Jaynes: -- we've got dynamite power. And that is why we are praying the Word of God.

You know, in that same verse -- this actually happened to me yesterday. You know how you can read Scripture and you think, that was not there last time I read this?

Jennifer Rothschild: When did Got to insert that?

Sharon Jaynes: He inserted it. But yesterday I was reading this, and I went on and read verse 7. It said, "You are looking on the surface of things." Why have I never noticed that before? So as we're praying, we tend to look on the surface of things. Our kids tend to look on the surface of things. But we need to go deeper and pray the Word of God, because we're going below the surface of things in praying the spiritual realm.

Jennifer Rothschild: Before you get to the body parts --

Sharon Jaynes: Okay.

Jennifer Rothschild: Because I think I know what -- you know, you got me into this. I love this passage you're talking about. Let's tell our listeners -- is it 2 Corinthians 10?

Sharon Jaynes: 2 Corinthians 10:3-4. That's the one that we live in the world. And then the verse 7, it says you're looking the surface of things.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay.

Sharon Jaynes: And then the other verse, to go back, this is the passage about putting on the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18. So right smack in the middle is where it says that our struggles are not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and authorities. So write those down, look them up, underline them, put them in yellow.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. Okay. Now go for it.

Sharon Jaynes: Okay, let's go to the body parts. And, Jennifer, I don't want this to be a one-sided conversation going through these 16, so I'm going to take a break in the middle and take a breath and you can -- and we can talk about this. And I want to tell the listeners, too, that it takes longer to explain these prayers than it does to actually do it. So when you're hearing this, don't think, oh, I can't do this, I don't have time. It really takes about five to seven minutes a day. So it's going to take longer to explain it. Just keep that in mind.

And speaking of the mind, that's where we're going to start. So we're going to start at the very top. You know, Jennifer, we throw this around in Christian circles, that we're going to cover someone in prayer?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Sharon Jaynes: Well, this is an example of literally covering someone in prayer, starting at the top and going to the bottom. So we're going to start at the mind, and this is -- we are praying what the child is thinking about. We're praying for the thoughts that enter their mind and the thoughts that tumble around in their mind. Because we know that what children think about will ultimately determine what they are about, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Mm-hmm.

Sharon Jaynes: And we're starting at the top because this is one of the most important, and what we think about determines all the other areas. And for a mom -- I mean, I tended to pray for behavior or circumstances.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. Right.

Sharon Jaynes: But what if we could back it up and pray for the thoughts that caused that behavior? So we're starting at the top. And the Scripture says, "Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." See, it starts at the mind, and we cannot act differently than we think. And that's true with anything. You and I both love talking about how to get rid of the lies in our life --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Sharon Jaynes: -- and we can't act differently than we think. So we got to start right there with thinking on truth.

Now, next we're going to go down to their eyes. And that is what they look at. Now, it's different what they look at and what they see. We can't control what we see, what pops on our -- pops out in front of us, but we can control what we look at, what we spend time looking at. So we're praying for what's entering their mind through their eyes.

Then we're going to pray for their ears, what they listen to. The same thing, what is entering their mind through their ears and what they're listening to. If they listen to the wrong voice, they're going to make the wrong choice. That's just the way it is for all of us.

And each one of these I'm mentioning, Jennifer, I am not praying my own words. It has a Scripture. There's 16 in one day. There's a Scripture, and then praying that Scripture in. Scripture, praying that in. We've got the mind, the eyes, the ears.

And then we're going to go to the mouth, and these are the words that we speak. We know Scripture says death and life are in the power of the tongue, so we're going to pray for the words that come out of their mouth, that they will speak life.

I also want to say here, too, Jennifer, that -- monkey see, monkey do, monkey do the same as you, right?

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah.

Sharon Jaynes: Regardless of what we're praying, most likely they're going to do and say what they hear their parents saying. So if we grumbly complain, they're going to grumbly complain. If we use swear words, they're going to use swear words. So we can't expect them to speak differently than we do. But we're going to pray about those words that they will speak, speak truth and use their words in a good way. And so that's the head.

Then we're moving down to the neck. That's the decisions that turn the head. And I have to tell you, because you're my friend, this came -- I honestly have to confess -- that Big Fat Greek Wedding. I'm telling you. I saw that movie all those years ago, and the daughter was saying to the mom, "You know, Mom, the head is the household. What he says goes." And then the mom said, "Yes, but the wife is the neck that turns the head." So I have a confession, you know, Big Fat Greek Wedding and the Bible kind of came into this.

But all through the Bible we see the neck, you know, what's turning the head. Bible tells us don't be stiff necked, you know, where you turn, what you look at, the decisions that you make. So we're praying for their decisions. And, you know, we're starting out -- whether we're praying for a toddler choosing a toy or a teen that's selecting a college, their friends, all the way through all the decisions that they make every day.

And then we get to the shoulders. And that's their burdens and worries. And that's kind of where we started, isn't it? You know, what is worrying? What is burdening parents today? What is burdening children today? My four-year-old niece, I was talking to her -- she'd just gotten a guinea pig -- and I said, "I had a guinea pig when I was little." And then she said, "Well, what happened to him? Did he die?" And already she was worried about this little guinea pig. So it starts very early. They worry about test grades, they worry about their parents' relationships, they worry about being too large or too small, being accepted, being rejected. They worry about bullying, they worry about pandemics. And now, you know, they're worrying about school shootings. And as I mentioned, that stress among children has increased over 45% in the past few years, so we're going to pray for that. And they're going to worry about things, but we're going to pray what to do with the worry that -- Peter says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares for you."

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah. Because it doesn't have to stay on their shoulders.

Sharon Jaynes: Absolutely.

Jennifer Rothschild: They can cast it off. Okay, I'm loving this. All right, so -- that's beautiful because we've got the shoulders.

Okay, so now what's after the shoulders?

Sharon Jaynes: Then we have the heart. And we're praying for who and what they love. I think this is an easier one to understand for us. Augustine said what we love is who we are. So we're going to pray for who and what we love. And, you know, I said the mind was starting at the top because that was one of the most important things. But when you go through and read about the heart in the Bible, I mean, there's over a thousand references to the heart that's not that pumping organ. And the Bible says that the heart is the well-spring of life, which means that everything comes from the heart. So the heart and the mind are just neck and neck to me. I mean, they are -- I used another body part. I shouldn't do that. But the heart and the mind are just right there together. What they love and what they think about is so important.

And then we're praying for the back. And this is their spiritual and their physical protection. I mentioned those two verses already about how important it is that we're in the spiritual realm, but we're praying for both. Spiritual protection, that God will surround what is surrounding them, that they'll open their eyes to know that they're being spiritually protected.

We're going to pray for their arms. All through the Bible, the arms -- God's arms represent his strength. So we're praying verses that include that word "arms" in them. We're praying that they will have God's strength, strength of character, courage, purpose to be all that God has fashioned them to be. So we're going to be praying that they'll be physically strong and emotionally strong.

And I'm going to take a breath and let Jennifer talk.

Jennifer Rothschild: Well, I don't have anything to say because I'm enjoying listening. But my guess would be that -- okay, I will say this. As you're saying it, because it is so visual, Sharon, I'm just thinking, you know, when I hug my son and I put my hand around his shoulder, or when I put my hand on the top of my little grandboy's head, you have given an embodiment to those things spiritually for me, that I'm going to think, okay, I'm praying for the burdens on his shoulders or I'm praying to cover his mind with the truth of who he is and who God is. I love that picture, I really do.

Sharon Jaynes: I do too. I do too.

Jennifer Rothschild: I mean, your book is a great resource, and you've made it very tangible.

Okay. So now I assume -- are we at the hands if we've just had the arms?

Sharon Jaynes: We are at the hands.

Jennifer Rothschild: Okay. All right.

Sharon Jaynes: We are at the hands. We got the arms and then we got the hands. And when we get to the hands, we're praying for their gifts and talents. That they will discover what those unique gifts and talents, abilities are, that they'll develop those God-given potential, that they'll find their sense of purpose with their talents. And again, this is where we really have to think about we are not the potter -- God's the Potter -- and letting them discover that and then helping them discover what those gifts and talents are. Not forcing it on them so we're making little mini me's, but letting them discover what that is, and then they develop that.

And then at the end of the hand, we have a ring finger. So from the very beginning, we're praying for their future spouse. And I know, Jennifer, that you prayed for your future spouse for your sons -- I've certainly prayed for mine --

Jennifer Rothschild: Oh, yeah.

Sharon Jaynes: -- because it's the second most important decision they'll ever make. So we're praying -- just think about this. We are praying for a person that we have not met yet. So we are praying for someone else.

And I want to interject right here. Jennifer, I came to Christ through a praying mother. However, it was not my mother. So I was raised in a very difficult household. There was a lot of alcohol, gambling, there was pornography in there. I mean, a lot of bad things happened in my home. But there was a mother on the next block, my best friend's mom, and that woman was a praying mama. And she took me under her wing when I was about 12 years old and she prayed for me. She told me about a Heavenly Father who loved me, she told me about Jesus who gave his life for me, and for two years she mentored me. I started going to church with them. Honestly, I thought she was strange because she talked about Jesus like she knew him personally, and that was odd to me. Because my family, as bad as it was, we went to church on Sunday and had a religion in our lives. But when I went with them, they had a relationship with Jesus Christ. And I became a Christian at 14 because of a praying mother who prayed for a child that was not her own.

And the good news -- we don't have time to talk about it today, but the good news is that three years later my mom gave her life to Christ, and three years after that my dad gave his life to Christ. So we can see how praying for other people's children can make an incredible difference in their lives.

Which takes us down to number 12, and that is their side, praying for influential relationships in their lives. We know how important it is to have Godly friendships, to walk side by side in relationships with people that know Jesus. But you know what? They're going to also have people that come in their lives, too, that don't know Jesus. So my tendency as a mom was to pray that my son would be surrounded by Christians all the time.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right.

Sharon Jaynes: But then I thought, you know what? Suppose that other mother was like that, that led me to the Lord, and she didn't want a kid like me hanging around with her daughter. So that changed the way I prayed. So we're going to be praying for the friends, that they have good Godly friends. They'll also have people that they can influence in their lives and perhaps lead them to Christ as well. So we're praying for these influential relationships.

Then we're going to go down to sexuality. So when we enter sexuality, we're praying for sexual purity and that there will be no gender confusion. And we know this is a big deal today, something that maybe wasn't 20, 30 years ago. But -- and again I want to say, I am not praying my opinion over any of this, just Scripture. We're praying exactly what the Scripture has to say.

Then we're going to pray for their legs. This is their stand on Godly principles. In our culture, what was wrong yesterday is now right today. What was illegal yesterday is now legal today. And what was true yesterday is now not true today. Remember when Pluto -- they decided Pluto wasn't a planet? I'm like --

Jennifer Rothschild: True.

Sharon Jaynes: -- that just kind of messed me up right there. But the things that are legal and right, or said to be legal and right today, it's just mind boggling. It's just staggering. So we're going to pray that our children will stand on God's truth. And people have that phrase they toss around all the time, "Well, this is my truth." Well, that's kind of an oxymoron because truth is truth. It's not relative. And Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." When he spoke, many times he said, "I tell you the truth." So we're going to pray that they will have a good understanding of what truth is, regardless of what the culture is telling them.

Then we're getting down to the knees. So we're going to be praying -- when we're on the knees, we're praying for their relationship with Jesus, their relationship with God, that they will humbly kneel in submission to God, in worship of God, communion with God. We're going to be praying that they come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, and that is the most important decision that they will ever make. And once they do make that decision, we're going to continually pray for their needs, that they will grow in their relationship with God.

And finally it takes us down to the feet, and that is -- the final landmark, and that is the path that they will take on this journey of life, the path that they take today and the path that they continue throughout life, that they will stay in step with God. And again, there's 30 days. Each one of these landmarks each day, and praying Scripture over every area of the child's life.

Jennifer Rothschild: I love this so much because there is a simplicity to it, but it is also profound. It's deep, but it's not heavy. It's just a beautiful blend. And it reminds me -- you even said the word -- because Jesus did something similar, because he used landmarks to help teach his disciples to pray. Can you speak to that?

Sharon Jaynes: Yes. When his disciple said, "Lord, teach us to pray," Jesus told them what we would call the Lord's Prayer today.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right.

Sharon Jaynes: And I don't think Jesus meant that as a rote prayer, something that we just continue to say over and over. For me, I look at it and I look at it as a pattern of prayer. Again, it's the same thing, landmarks. First we acknowledge God's fatherhood, his holiness, his sovereignty. We ask for his will to be done as it is -- on earth as it is in heaven. We ask for our needs to be met, our sins to be forgiven. We forgive other people. Deliverance from temptation, protection from evil. And then we end again by acknowledging God's rule, reign, and power and glory.

So you can take that pattern of prayer and put your words in it, just using that as a pattern, which is basically what we've done in praying for your child from head to toe. It's a pattern. There's nothing mysterious about it, it's just simply a pattern to slip your own needs into a way to pray.

Jennifer Rothschild: And don't we need that? Because lots of us mean well when it comes to prayer, but our minds can wander, you know.

So talk about how a method like the pattern of the Lord's prayer or the method of your body parts, how that helps us in staying focused when we might have the tendency to have wandering minds.

Sharon Jaynes: I keep thinking I'm going to meet someone whose mind doesn't wander through prayer, but I haven't met them yet. So what happens to me -- and, Jennifer, I wonder if this is true for you -- I'll sit down, and I'll sit down to pray with great intentions, I probably have my Bible open, and then my mind will go, Oh, you know what? I need to pick up that from the grocery store.

Jennifer Rothschild: Right.

Sharon Jaynes: Or then I'll start -- I'll say, "Lord, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry." And then I get back, I really need to return that email. Oh, Lord, forgive me. I'm so sorry. So it's really a tendency for our minds to wander.

But when you've got a pattern of prayer, whether using the pattern of the Lord's Prayer or using this pattern of praying from their mind all the way to their feet, it helps you stay focused on what you're doing. You're not going to lose your place, you're going to know exactly where you are, and it helps to keep your mind from wandering off on to the other things that you need to get done on any given day.

Jennifer Rothschild: I love it. You know, we really are pretty simple, aren't we?

Sharon Jaynes: We are.

Jennifer Rothschild: We need the simple things, and that's why Jesus taught the way he did. That's why I think your book's going to be such a great resource. And, of course, we're only kind of giving a taste and a tease. We're going to have the book available on the Show Notes, because we want parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, anyone -- if you've got somebody -- a little person in your life, even an adult child.

As you were sharing this, Sharon, I was thinking my adult children. And then I was thinking it would be impossible for me to pray this kind of prayer for my adult children, for my grandchildren, without also praying it for me. Because as you said, especially the little ones, they're going to do as they see, not as they are told. So it's good for all of us. It's a good pattern for prayer.

So we're going to get to our last question, though. And so you've got some parents listening, and I can think of some who -- maybe their kids have launched and they're thinking, man, I wish I had done this. You know, is it too late? Or maybe there's a mom and she feels like her -- it's just -- her kids, you know, they're over three years old and she wish she had done some things differently then, and how to pray now, and so there could be some anxiety that has risen. Any time we answer questions, we create them. So what would you say to that parent, that grandparent, that family member, and they love somebody and they are struggling to fully trust God for that child in their life?

Sharon Jaynes: I love the story of Joseph in the Bible for so many reasons, but here's one reason I love it. Joseph -- he had a dream that his brothers and his parents were going to one day bow down to him, that he was going to be a man of leadership. And unfortunately, immaturity loosened his lips and he told them. They already didn't like him, they were already jealous of him. And then for 17 years -- what happened was he was sold into slavery. He was a slave in Potiphar's household. He was charged with attempted rape, he was thrown into prison unjustly. And every step of that it says, "And the Lord was with Joseph when he was a slave." In prison, "And the Lord was with Joseph when he was in prison." And then he finally got out. Seventeen years later, that prophecy that was prophesied over him through a dream became true.

Now, why is that so important to me? Because as we're praying for our children, we can look at them, the adult children, we can look at the sixth grader, and think, Lord, I don't see you doing anything here. I don't see you answering this prayer. My child is still going off the rails, my child is still making these same mistakes. But I want to assure you of this, sweet mama and sweet grandmama, God is always working behind the scenes, always working meanwhile.

In that story of Joseph, there's one verse that says, "Meanwhile," and then it tells what was happening. And God is always working in the meanwhile to make anyone's pain worthwhile. And as you pray and as you might not see anything happening, know that God is working. Jesus said that about his Father, he said, "My Father is always at work." And even though we don't see it happening, God is working on that person that you are praying for, even though you can't see it.

And, you know, think about, Jennifer, us in our own lives. When have we grown the most? It hasn't been a time of comfort and ease. We've grown the most during times of struggle. So if you see the person you're praying for, be it your child, your grandchild, or anyone that you're praying for, if you see them continuing to struggle, that might be the very thing God uses to bring about the greatest growth and the greatest victory in our lives.

So don't give up. Keep praying. Prayer is just the conduit through which God's power is released and his will is brought to earth. In heaven -- it might not be in our time frame, we might not see anything happening, but in the spiritual realm I can promise you, God is always at work.

K.C. Wright: God is always at work for sure. It's like that song we sing in my church, even though we can't see him, he's working. Even though we can't see it -- you know?

Jennifer Rothschild: Way Maker.

K.C. Wright: Way Maker.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes. He is working.

K.C. Wright: Read the story of Joseph. I mean, it'll encourage you to trust God with your life and all your people's lives. God is with you and your kids and your people. It was 17 years before it was obvious what God was doing in Joseph's life. So be patient. It's one of the fruits of the Spirit. It already belongs to you, you just got to exercise it. Be patient with the process. God is working behind the scenes, even right now.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yeah, that is so true, our people. And did you hear that little truth bomb that Sharon dropped? In the meanwhile, God will make the pain worthwhile. In the meanwhile, he's going to make that pain worthwhile.

K.C. Wright: As always, some good stuff --

Jennifer Rothschild: Yep. Always.

K.C. Wright: -- as always with Sharon. So you need to get her book. And we'll have a link to it on the Show Notes at 413podcast.com/300. And we're giving one away.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yay!

K.C. Wright: You can go straight to Jennifer's Instagram right now @jennrothschild to enter to win, or we'll have a link to her Instagram at the Show Notes, along with the transcript of this powerful conversation. 413podcast.com/300, that's where it's at.

All right, this one's a wrap, but we don't want to let you go. Until next week, you can trust, you can pray, you can never give up because you can do all things through Christ who gives you supernatural dunamis strength. I can.

Jennifer Rothschild: I can.

Jennifer and K.C.: And you can.

Jennifer Rothschild: Yes, you can. This is a wrap. That was a good one. We got a lot of praying to do now.

K.C. Wright: Yeah, that's right.

Jennifer Rothschild: Come on.

K.C. Wright: Let's be doers of the Word now --

Jennifer Rothschild: Not just hearers.

K.C. Wright: -- not just hearers. Yeah. Let's pray.

Jennifer Rothschild: Amen.