Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

1st Samuel chapter 1, verse 27 and 28.

For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition that I made to him.

Therefore I have lent him to the Lord.

As long as he lives, he is lent to the Lord, and he worshipped the

Lord there. These verses come at the end of this chapter that depicts Hannah praying and pleading

for a child in her barrenness, and God answers and provides a son named Samuel. And Hannah says,

The Lord granted me my petition. And I surrendered this gift,

my son to the Lord. He's lent to the Lord. And this specifically leads to Samuel, now living at the

temple with Eli the priest, which is why it says in verse 28 that he worshipped the Lord there. But this is such a

powerful picture. Just think about it, what it means to be a parent, or what it means to live for

the worship of God in children, whether there are children or children around us. This should be

all of our posture. One, praise and thanksgiving to God for them. Children don't come

merely biologically. They come ultimately, supernaturally from God's provision. He provides children,

and we should respond and gratitude and praise to him for every child that comes to our mind in our home, others around us.

And as I read these verses, I think about my kids. The reality is they belong to the Lord.

Every child does. And I pray they might grow up to love and know and honor and worship and glorify God. They don't

ultimately belong to me, to Heather and me. They belong to God. They don't belong ultimately

to this world. They belong to God. So for us as parents to surrender our children to the Lord,

and for all of us when we see children around us and the family of faith in the church

to say, oh, God, these children belong to you.

We pray that they would grow to worship you, know you, love you, enjoy you, and your love for them. God, we pray for every child

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