Purity Starts on Your Knees

Series: The Princess and the Kiss--Part 2

Leslie Basham: Walk through any store and you’ll get a picture of the low opinion our culture has about purity. You’ll see immodest dress on magazine covers and advertisements for movies and CDs, let alone on the people shopping around you. How do you raise a son or daughter to value purity in this kind of an environment?

This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Friday, December 2nd.

If the cultural thinking about purity feels like a strong current, a current you have to struggle to resist, that’s because it is. In fact, it’s such a strong current that parents need help. Don’t they, Nancy?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: No question, Leslie. They need God’s help. Moms and dads need to cry out to the Lord for wisdom and protection for their children. And those of us who don’t have children need to pray for those who do and for their children.

Have you ever seen a picture of a lighthouse being pounded by huge waves? That’s the kind of firm resistance that it takes on the part of godly parents who want to protect their children. The world’s thinking about purity is like wave after relentless wave slamming up against something immovable. But praise God that our thinking can be grounded on the rock solid foundation of His Word so we don’t have to be washed into oblivion by the way the world thinks.

But you know that kind of resistance day after day can be exhausting. I’ve talked to lots of moms who feel discouraged by what it takes to stand firm against the waves of the world. It’s hard to endure. My hope is that today’s program will encourage some parents who feel that way. If that’s how you’re feeling, don’t forget about a strategic weapon you have in your arsenal. It’s prayer.

Leslie Basham: Yesterday, we listened in while a group of moms took turns praying for their daughters’ purity. It was so moving that we wanted to share some more of these prayers with you. These moms and their daughters spent time together discussing issues of purity they had learned though a book called The Princess and the Kiss, and it all culminated in a very special ceremony. So sit back, learn, and be encouraged as you hear how these moms affirmed and prayed for their daughters with regards to their purity.

Mom 1: David said in the psalms, “As the mountains surround the city of Jerusalem so the Lord surrounds His people” (NIV, 125:2). When we walk in obedience He will surround and protect you and I want to pray for you.

Father God, I thank You for Margo. Lord, I want to pray for her heart. I pray that she would desire purity, Lord, out of her love for You—that it would just be an overflow. Father, I pray for her mind that You would guard it against any evil thoughts, Lord, any wickedness or temptation that might come. Before her, Father, I pray that You would, through Your Holy Spirit, give her direction and wisdom to flee from anything that would draw her heart away from You.

Lord, I pray for her eyes and her ears, that You would protect what she hears and what she sees. Lord, in our culture wickedness is abounding around us, and I pray that You would not even allow her to see it but that her eyes would be focused upon You and eternal things. And we will give You the praise and the glory for it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Mom 2: Lord, I thank You for my Shawna Faith. Jesus, what a precious gift she is to me, a precious treasure, Lord, I know in Your eyes. Father, I pray that as she walks into womanhood, Lord, that she would love You with everything that is within her. Father, that out of that love would flow a desire to be pure and a desire to be obedient to Your Word. Father, I pray that You would guard her against any temptation, Lord, and Father for her heart, may purity be abounding within her.

Lord, may her heart be set on eternal things, not the things of this world. God, thank You for setting her apart. Lord, thank You for the spiritual eyes that You’ve given Shawna to see things in Your Word and to have discernment and wisdom.

Lord, thank You for speaking to her. Father, protect her; surround her. Lord, let her not be pulled aside or swayed by the things of this world. Thank You for this precious gift that You’ve given to our family. In Jesus’ name, amen. I love you.

Mom 3: Let mommy pray for you, okay? Lord, thank You already. Thank You for the wonderful work that You’re doing in Holly’s heart. Lord, I know that she understands that obedience brings blessing. And Lord, we just . . . I pray that Holly would just fall in love with Your Word. We see all through Your Word the wonderful love that You have for us—the deep and abiding love.

Father, I pray that she would begin to understand that in her little heart, and Lord, that she would in turn love You with all of her heart and soul. Father, each day increase her faith. I pray that she might trust You with her kiss. We just thank You for her life. Lord, I thank You for bringing her into our family. May You be honored and glorified and blessed Lord by these daughters, these princesses that You have put into our home. My heart is grateful. I need Your wisdom and discernment, Lord, in bringing them up. We thank You for Your faithfulness. We love You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Mom 4: Father, I just want to thank You for my princess, Anna Joy. Lord, I surrendered her when You gave her to me the first time as a baby. I have surrendered her through the years, and Lord, I surrender her now back to You. Lord, I know You know better for her life than I do. And God, I pray that You would just put Your righteous right arm around her, and You would carry her through these years ahead.

Father, my prayer is that she would keep herself pure and holy, not just for her husband, Lord, if that would be Your will, but Lord, for You. And Lord, we’ll just be careful to give You all the glory for what You do in her life. We love You Jesus, in Your precious name, amen.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: And Lord, how I thank You for these precious young women. And what a joy it is to think about what this day may mean in each of their lives. Tonight we come before You King Jesus. We bow our knees before You, but even more importantly, we bow our hearts before You.

And Lord, we want to bow our wills before You, to obey You, not just the young girls but those of us who are older women as well. We need to bow our knees before You, and we need to obey You so that we can set an example for these young women of what it means to respect Your authority and to worship You as the King.

Lord, one day we want to bow before Your throne in heaven, and we want to be able to say to You we have kept the purity that You gave as a gift to us. So Lord, I pray that You’ll keep their hearts; keep them faithful; keep us faithful, Lord. We just want to thank You for being a holy, loving, wise Savior. We love you very much, and we give you thanks, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Leslie Basham: That’s Nancy Leigh DeMoss praying with and for a group of young ladies and their moms. We’ve spent this week discussing ways we as parents can do a better job of teaching our children about purity. You may have noticed several moms referring to different aspects of The Princess and the Kiss, a parable written by Jennie Bishop specifically for teaching girls about guarding their hearts. I’ll tell you how you can get a copy in a moment. But first we wanted to spend a few minutes giving some time to the guys.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Yes Leslie, whenever we talk about The Princess and the Kiss invariably some moms and dads will say, “But what do you have for the boys? They need to learn how to guard their hearts, too.” Well, now Jennie Bishop has written another book. It’s called The Squire and the Scroll. Dads, maybe you can identify with Stephen.

Stephen: I have kids, and I don’t know what to do. So I think parents are looking for tools to help us to know what to do and do it right because we only get one chance with our kids.

Nancy: Stephen works here at Revive Our Hearts and has played a part in helping to develop some of the resources related to The Squire and the Scroll. As you can hear, it’s obviously more than just a job for him.

Stephen: The Squire and the Scroll books are geared to 8- to 12-year-olds. The reason for that is because the fastest growing group of pornography addicts is 7- to 18-year-olds. I’m not really that surprised about the 18-year-olds but the 7-year-old part of it—it helps me to know that we’re on the right track.

Nancy: John is another dad who wants to be sure he’s on the right track because he really loves his son, Mark.

John: He’s an only child, and so he is special to me. As he gets older and older, I just see so much of myself in him. In a lot of ways that’s scary because I know what I was like and how I’ve grown up, and that’s one of the things that I really would like to try and help my son avoid.

Nancy: That desire to protect his son sent John on a quest.

John: I was looking for something that would help me transition him from a little boy totally under mom and dad’s control to a teenager who can think for himself about things. I grew up loving Popular Mechanics magazines, and he has shown a real interest in it so I bought him his own subscription to Popular Mechanics. We’ve had to go through and tear pages out because of the ads in there. Here he is, a 10 year old being exposed to those kind of ads, and I have to teach him somehow how to handle that stuff.

Nancy: Enter The Squire and the Scroll.

John: The neat thing about it is that it just gives you a platform where you can throw things out, and he can ask questions in a totally nonthreatening manner. I think this is giving little boys the chance to belong to something that stands for something. It’s not just a Boy Scout club or something like that, this is a keep yourself pure club.

That’s why I think the watch is such a good idea that here is the badge of honor, as it were. It gives them something to be proud of. Then secondly, it’s the building block to the next step, so that by the time you’ve been through the whole thing you have helped your son get to be where he’s not just a child trying to keep himself pure, but now he’s a man keeping himself pure.

Leslie Basham: Well, we have the book The Squire and the Scroll in our resource center along with a Life Lessons study guide to go with it. Don’t forget you can order the special Shield and Lantern belt loop watch to give to your son. There’s more information at ReviveOurHearts.com.

You can go to the same website to find out how to order a Princess Prayer Box Necklace to give to your daughter. If you don’t have internet access, or if it’s more convenient for you to call please do so at 1-800-569-5959. We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

With the Christmas season in full swing, do you find it more difficult to take time to meditate on God’s Word and worship Him? Over the next two weeks we’ll turn to the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah, where the prophet challenges God’s people to “Behold your God!” I hope you can join us for that. Thanks for listening, and thanks for supporting us in prayer and with your giving. We’ll see you on Monday as we once again ask God to revive our hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

Note: Special offers available only during the broadcast of the radio series.