A Prayer from John McArthur in light of Ephesians 6:4

Our Father, we thank You again this morning that Your Word comes to us in such a penetrating way. We know that we cannot be all that we ought to be but by the grace of God through Christ and in the Holy Spirit we can be sufficient for the task of parenting that You've given us. Forgive us for our failures. Forgive us for the times that we hurt our children, our life partner. And, Lord, we thank You for the grace that covers our failures and mistakes. We pray too for those dear friends who exist in families where one parent is not a Christian or where one parent is absent, the struggle is so difficult. We pray, O God, that You might be to them the Father that family needs, the mother that family needs. And we do pray, Father, that You might cause us to so invest our lives in our children that they are the delight, the blessing, the joy, the source of love, comfort, consolation all our life long, that You gave them to us to be so that we might know the full joy of godly children, knowing full well that if we train them up in the way they should go they'll not depart from it. And that those for whom we cared in their infancy will in love care for us in the latter years of our lives. May the bonds of our family be built so tightly and strongly that we shall all enjoy the best that You intended with marriage and family to be in all its joy. We'll thank You for that possibility in Christ. Amen.