“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one…sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth.” John 17:15, 17

Fifty percent of today’s children are from divorced homes. Forty percent are being raised without fathers. Compared to children from homes disrupted by death, children from divorced homes have more psychological problems.* The curse of divorce alone has created a great darkness in our land emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually. This may be one of the reasons so many of our children and teens are leaving the church and want nothing to do with Christianity.

These are desperate times in which our grandchildren are being raised. While God is still at work doing some amazing things among our youth, there can be no doubt that a great darkness is also enveloping our nation. Grandparents, God has placed in our hands the power to stand in the gap do battle on behalf of our grandchildren. Jesus did not pray that we would be taken out this dark, hostile world, but that we would be protected from the evil one. Should we not also pray as our Lord prayed?

I call upon grandparents across North America to commit to get on your knees and pray fervently for your grandchildren and all the children of our day. Lillian Penner, our national Prayer Coordinator will be sharing specific ways to pray over the next few months. I encourage you to use some of her suggestions as you pray. Talk to one or two other grandparents who will pray with you.

Furthermore, I call upon all grandparents to rally together on Sunday, September 11th of this year for a national Grandparents’ Day of Prayer. This year is the 10th anniversary of 9/11 as well as our official national Grandparents Day as proclaimed by Congress in 1978. Click here for information about how to organize a Grandparents’ Day of Prayer event in your church or community. We are asking God to raise up at least 11,000 churches that will organize groups of grandparents who will gather together to pray on that day. Will you help make this a reality—for the sake of our grandchildren?

GRANDPAUSE: The reason some succeed in battle is because they gain the victory on their knees before the fight begins. ?-Unknown

*Robert E. Emery, Marriage, Divorce and Children’s Adjustment” Sage Publications, 1988