21 Days of Prayer for Sons - Heart Change (Day 20)

In Matthew 23: 25-26, Jesus preaches, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also." It's not good enough to look pious or righteous. We don't want our sons just to "act good," we want them to truly be good! For example, a lot of times my boys get in trouble for over-reacting to something that another sibling did to them. "She hit me!" "He was making fun of me." "He did it first!" When they try to give me those excuses, I try to explain, "You are responsible for your own actions. You have a choice in how you react to them." I also sometimes throw in, "You're going to let them control you?"
I help them see a way out of those situations, "You can ignore them. Just walk away." Or, maybe, "If you start feeling mad, go in your room and pound a pillow!"

But, what I'm truly hoping for is when they are clean on the inside. They will forgive and let it go even as it's happening. They will truly turn the other cheek. Instead of reacting in anger, they will reach out in love. They will shine inside and out!

Oh, Lord,  cleanse their hearts! Let my sons truly die to themselves and let You live through them. God, guide my own responses to my children, as they are watching and learning from me day by day!

Keep it up, mighty warrior moms! This prayer journey is almost complete. I am rooting for you and your sons!

Heart Change

May__________first clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean (Matthew 23:26)

Give__________a new heart, and a new spirit put within him. Remove the heart of stone from his flesh and give him a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26) 

May__________honor God with his heart, and not just his lips (Isaiah 29:13) 

May__________out of the good treasure of his heart produce good, for out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks (Luke 6:45)

May__________heart cry be, "not my will, but Yours, be done." (Luke 22:42) 

May__________draw near to God, and He will draw near to him. May he cleanse his hands and purify his heart (James 4:8)

Create in__________a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within him (Psalm 51:10) 

May__________be like the wise man, whose heart inclines him to the right.(Ecclesiastes 10:2) 

May__________not take idols into his heart, and set the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face (Ezekiel 14:3)

When he hears the word of the Lord, may__________be cut to the heart (Acts 2:37)