Protect the Children

Parents, today we celebrate the gift, and responsibility God has entrusted to you.

These children belong to God before they belong to us. They are not simply our sons and daughters; they are lives filled with divine purpose, sacred potential, and God-given destiny.

Therefore, I charge you:

Love them intentionally. Protect them diligently. Pray for them consistently. Teach them faithfully. Correct them graciously. Encourage them generously.

When the world tells them who they should be, point them back to who God created them to be. When they stumble, help them rise. When they succeed, remind them to remain humble. When they are afraid, show them where faith resides.

May your homes become places where Christ is honored, where grace is practiced, where forgiveness is modeled, and where children learn that they are deeply loved by God.

And when parenting becomes difficult—as it surely will—remember that the same God who entrusted these children to you has also promised to strengthen, guide, and sustain you.

Parents, will you commit yourselves to raising these children in the love, wisdom, and instruction of the Lord?

If so, respond: "We will, by God's grace."

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

We thank You for every child standing before us today. We thank You for their laughter, their innocence, their curiosity, and the future You have prepared for them.

Lord, we ask Your divine protection over their lives.

Protect their minds from influences that would distort their identity. Protect their hearts from wounds that would discourage their faith. Protect their bodies from danger and harm. Protect their spirits so they may grow to know and love You.

Place Your angels around them wherever they go. Watch over them in their homes, in their schools, on playgrounds, in cars, and in every place their feet will travel.

Strengthen these parents. Give them wisdom when they are uncertain, patience when they are weary, courage when they are afraid, and joy in every season of raising their children.

Surround these families with a loving community that will help nurture, support, and encourage them.

May these children grow in wisdom, stature, favor with God, and favor with people. May they discover Your purpose for their lives and walk boldly in it.

We dedicate them to You today, trusting that the God who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.

In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen.

What Happens When You Remove the Baby Boy

Have we ever considered why Pharoah wanted to remove the boys from a civilization. Yes Moses’ mother had faith but I often wonder how many mothers threw their children in the Nile for fear of Pharaoh? Have we ever considered that this blueprint of oppression is one that has plagued our communities even thousands of years later. The beauty is that compassion and empathy still exist in the midst of oppression! Pharoah is playing the long game of oppression. If he removes the boy, the next generation has no teachers, the next generation has no workers, the next generation has no economic mobility, they are literally pushes further down the line of economic oppression! Understand that the oppressor can have a plan but that plan will never be greater than God’s plan.

His first plan was use the midwives to kill the children but the midwives feared God more than they feared the oppressor. The next plan was to create a legislative mandate, nonetheless the legislative mandate didn’t stop Moses’ mother from protecting her son. No matter what society does we cannot allow that to get in the way of us protecting our children. Protect them as much as we possibly can. When we cannot protect them any longer we have to trust that we have done enough and that God will do the rest of the protecting. She this investment of protection is a mother protecting her son, but this God driven purpose is the beginning of God liberating HIS people!

Invest By Protecting

Protecting Children is a Community Effort

We Have a Duty to Protect Every Children We Come Across

A few years ago, I watched a toddler do something that completely changed my understanding of children.

This little boy was running full speed through a crowded family gathering. He had absolutely no concern about furniture, walls, gravity, or his own mortality.

He was moving with the confidence of a man who had just paid taxes and refinanced a house.

He ran toward a staircase, and before he could get there, three adults jumped into action.

One person grabbed his arm.

Another blocked the stairs.

A third moved a chair out of the way.

The little boy got upset because everybody was interfering with his plans.

But what he didn't realize was that while he was pursuing adventure, everybody else was protecting his future.

That's Exodus 2.

Moses doesn't know Pharaoh wants him dead.

Moses doesn't know he's in danger.

Moses doesn't know his destiny.

All he knows is that he's a baby floating in a basket.

But while Moses is unaware, a mother is protecting him, a sister is watching him, and eventually a princess is preserving him.

The child survives because a community decides that his life is worth protecting.

Church, our children don't always know what's coming. They don't always recognize danger. They don't always understand consequences.

That's why God didn't just give them parents. He gave them a community.

And if we're going to be the church God called us to be, then we'll do what Jochebed, Miriam, and Pharaoh's daughter did:

We will protect our children until they can stand on their own.

Because every Moses needs somebody willing to guard the basket until God's purpose arrives.