Almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God, we praise You for your love and mercy. You are holy and sovereign.  You are good, and You are kind. Thank You for the blessings we have enjoyed in this nation. Thank you for your favor and kindness toward us, even though we do not deserve it.

Today, we come to You in humility recognizing our great need for You. We confess our sin, our hard hearts, our rebellious desires and our self-centered living. We confess we have not allowed You to be the center of our lives, and instead have allowed many idols to creep into our hearts.  We have lost our focus on You and replaced it with a focus on a multitude of interests which keep us distracted. Oh Lord, draw us back to You!

We ask for your protection and your watch-care over this great nation, as our forefathers once prayed. We ask for your continued mercy. Most important, we ask for revival. Turn our hearts back to you. Begin in the families; begin with the fathers.  Help parents to once again teach their children about your love and your goodness. Protect the children both born and unborn.  Heal our land. Our eyes are on You, as we recognize that You are our only hope.  Help us to teach our children to love You will all of their heart, soul, mind and strength and help us to do the same.  Help us to show love and forgiveness toward others as You have showed love and forgiveness toward us.

In Jesus Name we pray,  Amen.

        What’s the difference between insincere praise and sincere words of encouragement? As parents, it’s easy to flippantly shower our kids with adoration or praise, trying to make them feel good (“You’re so smart!” “You’re the best!” “You can do anything!”). Sincere encouragement, on the other hand, is offering strength to the heart with words that build into their lives (“I saw how kind you were to that boy on the playground,” “You ran your fastest time! I’m so proud of you!” or “You sure worked hard on that project.”) In a society which plays into selfie-obsessed, egocentric tendencies, our children do not necessarily need disingenuous adoration. On the other hand, they do need sincere words that cheer them on and offer their heart encouragement.

Perhaps you have seen the commercial with Pinocchio as a motivational speaker. His nose grew longer and longer as he peppered the audience with insincere flattery such as “I look around this room and see nothing but potential.” He continued to point to people in the room saying, “You have potential, and you have potential” while his nose grew longer and longer. Our kids can see straight past insincere praise. Let’s give our kids true words of encouragement, acknowledging their efforts and cheering them on to do their best.  As I look at God’s word, I see that praise is reserved for Almighty God. He alone is worthy of our praise. The Bible does tells us to encourage one another and build each other up. Our accolades when our kids do well or make a valiant effort can be the catalyst they need to push them further. Let’s be builders with our words!

This is a little excerpt from The Power of a Positive Mom