Praying for Prosperity

The four of us sat around our kitchen table...myself and my husband, along with a Korean pastor and his wife. We bowed our heads as the pastor offered to pray for our family, and specifically for our four sons. I loved the way he prayed from the heart, his words flowing eloquently and sincerely as he prayed straight from scripture. He recited words from Jeremiah 29...a favorite verse of mine that I was familiar with and loved...

Thank you Lord, for the plans you have for these young men, plans to prosper them, plans to give them hope and a future.

I had always loved the thought that God had good plans for my children, and that he wanted to give them hope, and a future. But I felt a little uncomfortable with the word 'prosper'. How could we sit and pray that my children would prosper? It did not seem right to ask for such a thing. But the pastor continued:

Help them Lord, to prosper in their knowledge of you,

and to be rich in love, and joy, peace, and patience, kindness, goodness, faihfulness, gentleness, and self control.

I never forgot those beautiful words and five years later, I still recite them. My frequent prayer, not just for my family, but also for the children I minister to, is that they would prosper in their knowledge of God, and be rich in the fruit of the Spirit. Because I know that if they can prosper in these things, then they will be rich beyond measure.
Read this wonderful interpretation of Jeremiah 29:11