Crying Out For Our Children (click on the link to view a special video message from Kyla)
Crying Out for Our Children (March)
How would I know… how can I be assured that Crying Out for Our Children is working? It’s very simple: it was not my idea, not at all! Then, last September, speaking at one of my favorite ladies’
meetings, I invited women who were troubled about their children to come to the altar, and those who would help them pray, come and encircle them with their love and prayers. “At Canaan Baptist
Church in Salisbury, NC, thank God, they are always receptive to prayer!”
Then it happened; the women who were offering their support were praying; the women troubled over their precious lost or backslidden children were not!
No, they were not praying, but in chorus, like a choir were groaning together; another group quietly moaning, still others were crying silent tears; and me? My heart was torn into so many pieces, I
could hardly take a deep breath! The Holy Spirit, like no one else can do, whispered, “cry out for the children.” I knew what He meant: it has nothing to do with donations of money, but donating what,
to many, is more valuable… their time, labor and sacrifice in prayer!
So, every Wednesday, alone, or with a group of ladies, we cry out!!
Money is extremely necessary, but money cannot buy a sincere humble prayer! Money goes to a selected group of mothers and their children, but prayers go all over the world… prayers know no limit;
prayers reach out, the Holy Spirit, then delivers them where they are most needed!
When each Wednesday rolls around, I hope hundreds of women will answer the call on their knees, and “Cry Out for Our Children!”
Thank you Bro. Bruce and Pam Graham for the atmosphere of following the Spirit at Canaan Baptist Church!
Kyla
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SPECIAL CALL TO PRAYER:
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
“Crying Out For Our Children” has primarily been focused on our children who are lost, sin-sick, wayward, running from, or simply out of the Will of God. This week, in addition to those, He has given me another burden in “Crying Out For Our Children”…those who are suffering from sickness.
Oh, how many parents have aching, broken, hearts over children who are physically sick. Please begin immediately to plead with God on behalf of these little children and our older children too who need a Divine touch only the Beloved Great Physician can give! Pray too for their parents and families to have a peace and comfort that only comes from God Almighty.
God has promised He will hear and answer our prayers!
Kyla
Crying Out For Our Children
Featured writer for this segment – Renee Hodges
Part 1
You may find conversation with me to be a little dull for your taste. I’m not well-versed on a wide range of subjects, even narrow minded most say. But I do know something about the great God of Israel. I’m acquainted with His only Son.
Bear with me a moment and you may be surprised. When I sing, you may sing along.
God’s children love to talk of storm clouds and valleys and lonely places so dry. It won’t be long till someone starts singing. Soon everybody will cry. It’s not that we’re sad, it’s just that we’re happy, and I can assure you right now. When I’m singing of joy in the midst of great sorrow, I know what I’m singing about.
CHORUS
When you talk about a baby laid in a manager or a bleeding lamb on a cross. Just mention a tomb and how it’s still empty and I may break out in song. I’ll start singing about redemption and love’s old sweet story; sometimes I may get too loud. But when I sing about Jesus and what He’s done for me, OHHHHHHHH I know what I’m singing about.
Tell me about Jesus. Talk about the Cross. How I was lost now I’m found. I’ll start singing about redemption and love’s old sweet story; sometimes I may get too loud. But when I sing about Jesus and what He’s done for me, OHHHHHHHH I know what I’m singing about.
I begin with that song written by our church’s favorite singer/author/songwriter Kyla Rowland because to understand someone who you’ve never met, you may need a few details. You may need to know what side of the fence I stand on, how I feel about life and all that goes with it, where my loyalties lie, and if I really do know what I’m talking about. Well, hang on ladies; you’re about to find out.
My name is Renee Hodges, and I’m a Pastor’s wife, a Pastor’s daughter, a Pastor’s daughter-in-law, a Pastor’s sister, and a preacher’s mother. Greg Hodges (Dr. VP Pastor as I refer to him) is my husband of 27 years this December. In addition to serving as the Senior Pastor of our church, he is the Vice President of our local community college with a total student body of about 4,000. We have two children – James Jr. and Lydia Horsley, 23 and 21 years of age respectively. Both of our children are in our church, serving in whatever capacity their dad needs them as most pastor’s kids do. Understand, in our home it was never a question of “are you going to church.” It was “get up, get dressed; we are going to church.” Even though my children no longer live in our home, things have not changed. If it’s time for church and if they’re not there, they are getting a text or phone call from me. We simply don’t play when the subject of “church” and “attendance” comes up. It is not what we do; it is who we are.
My life up until I married my best friend seems a blur, but that’s often how life becomes with seasons that come and go. Candidly, I’m not a fan of the changing seasons (as my ladies will attest to in my church or in my family) because I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE snow (as does my husband). If it was up to me, the white stuff would lay on the ground 24/7, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. I see it as perfect. PERFECTION! I simply love it for all it stands for and symbolizes as well as the serenity and beauty it brings to our surroundings.
The seasons in our lives as women come and go. As quickly as one begins, it seems to transition to the others which are not far behind. When I look and reminisce over my life up to this point, I see the good, the bad, and the ugly, but most of all, I see the Lord’s unwavering, unmovable, loving hand in it all. Could I “feel” that hand all of the time? Of course not. I’m a woman, a female (hormonal in every sense of the word) which means I am living on, dealing with, and overcoming the emotions that govern every aspect of my life. Yes, emotions are what make us real and cause us to have feelings. They can either cloud our judgement, hinder our decision-making process, or show us complete and total happiness that the Lord intended for us as His children.
Webster’s dictionary says that “emotion” is as follows:
“1a: a conscious mental reaction (such as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body
b: a state of feeling
c: the affective aspect of consciousness : FEELING
2a: EXCITEMENT”
Wikipedia says, “Emotion is a mental state associated with the nervous system brought on by chemical changes variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure.
Emotion is often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation.
Scripture portrays both human beings and God as having emotions. Human emotions and sentiments are important to the life of faith. Human feelings can be positive or negative and are subject to change and misinterpretation. Maybe that’s why God mentions it, the best I can figure, 5,844 times. Don’t you think how we feel is important to God? As my husband often reminds the church, our emotions are not saved, and they can be dangerous, but feelings are a real part of the Christian life and certainly a part of a woman’s life.
In part 2, we dive a little bit deeper into both the glories and the dangers of our emotions as women!
Part 2
In part 1, I introduced myself as a Pastor’s wife, Pastor’s daughter, Pastor’s daughter-in-law, Pastor’s sister, and Preacher’s mother. Yes, preaching and church are what I have known my entire life. It is who I am. Simply put, I was not getting out of this title or some may say, “stigma” of being in a Pastor’s family, with a title.
Who I also am is a female – complicated and emotional! While our emotions can certainly betray us, they are important to us as Christians and as women. Are they important to God?
I would say YES! The first emotion mentioned in Galatians 5:22 is the word “love,” the second is “joy,” and the third “peace.” Ladies, it is possible for us as women, females, young adults, older senior women, or teenagers to live in these emotions and have a wonderful Christian life and Godly home (and a little chocolate and a cup of coffee to go with them never hurt). So, if we as women can get our emotions in check, which is a daily task as Paul reminds us, we can rightly govern our life and make correct decisions not based on how we feel but based on what God says we should do. Boy oh boy, is that EVER hard for us women to do.
If we do not strive to be as Paul instructed Timothy in the second chapter of 2 Timothy, we will not ever be able to handle our lives, much less what Satan throws at us and throws at our families. We cannot conquer this world apart from Jesus being at the helm and steering us. Emotions not kept in check will cause us to do and say things that we can never take back AND cause us to make rash decisions and judgements. Our emotions can cause us to crash and burn. When that happens, we will feel that all hope is lost and that there is no way out, no victory, no finish line. One of my favorite quotes comes from Coach Vince Lombardi:
“When we place our dependence in God, we are unencumbered, and we have no worry. In fact, we may even be reckless, insofar as our part in the production is concerned. This confidence, this sureness of action, is both contagious and an aid to the perfect action. The rest is in the hands of God – and this is the same God, gentlemen, who has won all His battles up to now.”
It is at this point that I would like to explain how “the God that has won ALL HIS battles” is that same God that can WIN YOUR BATTLES whatever you may by facing in life with your home and your children.
In part 3, we will look at a time when I had to put my own words into action; a time when I had to realize that my emotions could do great harm or great good.
Part 3
I love both my children and am, as most any mother would say, very proud of who and what they have become. I know they are not done in their walk of life and have still yet to see all the Lord has in store for them. At the same time, it is a sense of pride and accomplishment we feel as mothers when our children are on the paths that we have prayed for and longed for them to take. With my children, it is no different.
As they were growing up and eventually graduated from high school (an event I did not necessarily enjoy as a part of me would have gladly kept them little all the days of my life), my husband and I told them that they were expected to go to college. In this case, it was Patrick Henry Community College as this is where their father serves as Vice President. We explained to them that we expected them to do their best, graduate, and then we would support whatever they decided. Selfishly, I thought they would always stay near home. My husband is an only child, so his sentiments were not as mine. He was ready to move on from high school, then to college, and on to another college, and yet another degree. However, I was not raised to leave. I guess you could say I was raised to stay, and I enjoyed all the laundry, the dirty clothes, the dishes, and the constant traffic in my house. At the same time, I knew it would come to pass, and sadly, it did.
Our son was to follow in his dad’s footsteps – college and more college and still in college, and in the middle of that he got engaged. I want to be very careful here not to bash a person or cause hurt. That is not what this article is about. It is about PRAYING and PRAYING SPECIFICALLY, with SPECIFICITY, for your children and their lives, their needs and wants, and the direction you pray they will go in.
Sometimes when people come into our lives it can be for good or for bad. In the beginning of his engagement, it was wonderful, and we were all excited and thrilled. As time progressed over the course of nearly 2 years, things began to deteriorate in his life. He began to change, his attitude towards his father, me, his sister, his poppa Jim, church, and even the Lord all became very hostile. Can a relationship play such an integral part in a person’s life? Absolutely it can. We soon found ourselves as Amos 3:3 states, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?”
You may ask, how is that possible if our family seems to be a loving, Christian, faith-based, dedicated family? How could a pastor’s child get so far from his love for his family, his friends, his church? Well, I’d like to announce to you that, “IT CAN AND IT DOES HAPPEN.” Why in the world I thought my child would be exempt from the trials of life I don’t know, nor can I explain.
I’m the first to tell you I’m nothing and a nobody in this wide expanding world we live in. I’m just a sinner, saved by grace, just like each and everyone one of you out there in social media land. Let’s be careful here ladies that we don’t think ourselves “better than” another as Paul states in Romans 3:9. We are nothing on this earth apart from the love of Christ that should constantly dwell within us. If we become “too big for our britches,” then we’ve become too big. God will not use a woman who refuses to be humble before the Lord. I Peter 5:6-10 is a great example of this.
What messes we ladies make when we don’t follow what God is trying to teach us through His word. It pays to walk outside our world sometimes and scream up to the sky, “GOD, I NEED YOU AND I NEED YOU TO TAKE THE WHEEL OUT OF MY HANDS BEFORE I CRASH AND BURN ALL AROUND ME!” Yup, I’ve screamed at my backyard many times. I found myself at this point in my life, for the very first time, not being able to reach my son.
I had asked some preachers to reach out to him, to talk to him, to pray for him. I tried to sit him down in his father’s office at church, and with tears streaming down my cheeks, pleading with him about his attitude, his direction in life at this point, and the choices he was making that could totally change and transform the man that I still believed God wanted him to be. I begged and pleaded with my husband to get to our son and talk with him. Constantly, I begged him to get our son to change. I told his sister to get to her brother and talk with him. I’m here to tell you none of that worked. No one could make the difference here, and I soon realized that our family was suffering, our lives were becoming miserable, our church was hurting, and it was slowly becoming obvious that I was losing the son I had raised to something or someone I no longer knew.
For those of you who have lived this, I’m sure your case is far worse than mine. For some families, their challenges are because of alcohol, drugs, sex or any host of things the enemy puts in front of us. If that had been the case here, it may have made the whole thing easier to understand. I commend you mothers that have dealt with these issues in the lives of your children, and I praise you for praying for your children. We have heard Kyla’s own story of her son and the many years she prayed over him, but that was not my son’s struggle. His struggle was with faith, religion, the word of God, etc. To have gone into battle with Satan because of drugs, drinking, or the world I believe I could have done. For my son to now question who and what he was, the upbringing of his faith, his family, and church – I was not prepared for that nor was my husband.
Satan doesn’t fight fair ladies; he doesn’t have to. He’s Satan and he’s been a part of our lives since we were born, and he will be there until the trumpet sounds. I firmly believe it’s how we fight and deal with him that matters in our Christian walk on this earth. If we are not strong in our faith, geared up, and ready for battle, we will “crash and burn” before we ever get off our feet to walk. Before we ever get off the altar of prayer, we will lose.
Paul says in Ephesians 6:11-20:
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak
Ladies, without armor, how do you expect to win a war? Silly girl, you can’t, but you can with God’s armor!
Renee
(Don’t forget to check back for Parts 4 and 5)
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“Crying Out For Our Children”
Crying Out For Our Children
There is power in a “prayer of faith”. There is hope in a humble prayer. There are great results in prayers that are freely given for others! Yes, we worry about our own…we grieve over our lost children, wayward children, rebellious and defiant; but imagine what could change with the sweet caring prayers from Godly women who are begging the Lord to help you!
“Crying Out For Our Children” is a ministry that reaches far beyond your household; your aching heart! It reaches out in Faith for all who stand in need!
My prayers have been focused on mothers who faithfully attend church, take their children to church, and, still, they have a child who turns to the world, loving the things of the world more than the things of God.
It is frustrating, heartbreaking, and could become hopeless to you. No! Don’t allow the Enemy to cause you to give up! There is a group of women who know how to pray, who will plead your cause, and intervene asking God to give you strength; hope; and a will that is determined to pray and believe, no matter how long it takes!
We don’t know you, personally, but we know what your hurt is, we understand your grief, and we will simply pray as long as it takes!
Satan did not want the Gospel of Jesus Christ to come to Philippi….but Satan never counted on a woman named, Lydia and a group of praying women by a riverside!
Kyla Rowland
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“CRYING OUT FOR OUR CHILDREN”
“Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; ”Romans 12:12″
“Oh, my sister when I’m weak will you stand instead for me and pray a fortress ‘round me strong that can’t be moved.” These words from the pen of my favorite songwriter, are running continuously through my heart and mind as we enter this battleground for our children and loved ones who are lost or away from the Lord. As we enter our closet of prayer to intercede for those Mothers and Grandmothers praying and grieving over lost and wayward children and grandchildren, know that the enemy will fight us every step of the way! Satan wants nothing more than to keep us so distracted and busy with “life” that he keeps us from our prayer closet! My Sisters let us come boldly to the throne of grace and make our petitions known that we may find hope, grace and strength for this journey ahead.
For those who do not know me, my name is Robin Rogers. I am a Wife, a Mother to 5 children, Grandmama to 5 handsome Grandsons, and 1 beautiful Granddaughter! I work in a very demanding Corporate job and I have been traveling and singing with Kyla and Bob for over 18 years. You will hear more about my life as Mom and Grandmama and learning to pray as we journey together over the next several months.
I have worked with young people in some capacity most of my adult life. God placed a burden in my heart as a young adult to love, nurture and pray for today’s youth. To be present in the lives of the ones He blessed me to lead, be it as a teacher in a class or most often as a Director of a choir or ensemble. To be a safe place where they can share their burdens, their hearts desires, their mistakes and triumphs and to always point them to Jesus! When Kyla shared with me how God had called her to this ministry, I knew God was also calling me to have a part as well. I look forward to sharing this journey with my Sisters and hearing about the victories that will be won as we pray together!
Today I want to talk about intercessory prayer. Webster defines interceding as a verb meaning to act or interpose in behalf of someone in difficulty or trouble, as by pleading or petition. Intercessory prayer is an action. When we pray an intercessory prayer, we are going to the throne room of grace and pleading a case that has now become our own until Jesus answers and says it is done! Sometimes that peace may come after the first prayer; other times it will be a laborious journey that will take days, weeks, months or even years!
My oldest son Jeremy is Pastor of a wonderful church in East Ridge Tennessee. Jeremy is married to a wonderful Christian wife and has 4 handsome boys ranging in age from 3 – 11. His two oldest boys, Jonah and Ben, are saved and he was privileged to be able to baptize both. God has been good to him!
Jeremy’s road to the life and Ministry that God has blessed him with has not been easy. I think one of the reasons that Kyla and I connected when I joined their ministry is my Jeremy and her Barry share much of the same testimony. Much like Barry, Jeremy’s journey to a life totally sold out to Jesus would be rough and sin would take him places he never intended to go. Jeremy was saved at a young age but his journey away from the Lord would consume most of his teenage and young adult years. When I look at where Jeremy is now and what God has brought him through, my mind immediately goes back to a church parking lot many years ago on a Wednesday night. I was sitting in the parking lot weeping and trying to get myself together enough to go inside for church. (On a side note, wasn’t that silly of me? Church is the perfect place to be when you don’t have it together and need your Church family to gather round and hug you and pray with you!) Anyway, I picked up the phone and I called Kyla and I begin to pour my heart out to her. Jeremy was in trouble, again, and as he had gotten older that trouble became more serious. I was so tired! Tired of talking to this boy who I seemed to lose to the world more every day; tired of praying and not seeing any results. My faith was weak, and I was just done! Kyla listened to me intently until I finally took a breath and then she said to me, “Well little darling, that sounds bad. I tell you what I am going to do. I am going to go and talk to Mama and share your burden with her and we are going to pray. We will see what Eulalia has to say once she has gone to the throne room.” She told me she would call me back once Mama had an answer for me and she hung up. Later that same evening Kyla called me back and had a message for me from Mama. “Jeremy is going to be just fine. God is going to call him to preach and He is going to use his life so there is no need for you to worry about him!” When I couldn’t find the words or the strength to pray, Eulalia and Kyla interceded for me! A peace immediately came over me and I knew that God had sent me a message through Kyla’s precious Mom. Together, they prayed a Wall of Prayer for me and my boy!
“Sometimes a wall of grace. Sometimes a wall of faith. Other times it’s sweet mercy that I need. But the one for which I long it makes all the others strong. I need a wall of prayer surrounding me.” As we labor and intercede in prayer for our Sisters and their precious children, we can be assured that we are building walls covered in the blood of our Savior that will stand against every fiery dart that the enemy will throw! Praise the Lord, Satan can’t get through the blood!!
Until next time,
Robin
