The first institution that God created was the family. IFA asked 3 prayerful ministry leaders how intercessors can be praying for the American family at this time in history.

Joy Chickonoski, is a national leader with Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network and Real Living Ministries, and executive director of UnLeashed Healing Center: “Pray for emotional intelligence. Our families are often conceived in brokenness and grow in brokenness without relief. Convinced that separation is what is needed to heal, divorce fractures the heart of our families again and again. Emotional brokenness leads to illness, infertility, stress, and instability, all of which affect our ability to properly educate the next generation, who do not have the emotional stability for learning. This deepens our financial burdens for the generations to come, and the cycle of stress and lack of coping skills continues.

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The brokenness of the home has created a culture of orphans. The more we plead for belonging, with sanctions that control how people need to speak and act, the deeper into emotional isolation we find ourselves. The way out is to teach people that love comes from God and is felt first on the inside through repentance. Repentance and forgiveness heal the wounds, but that is a tough sell in our orphan culture. It will take prayer to breakthrough for cultural orphans to receive accountability as protection rather than control and hatred.”

The brokenness Joy described is evident in foster children. Many Christians are being called to care for foster children, but are they obeying? Kendra Evans is a foster mother and leader of Woven Ministries in Virginia: “Many people will not choose to foster because at some level they do not want their current lifestyle to be inconvenienced. It might be hard, messy & painful. Guess what? It IS hard, messy & painful! Jesus didn’t say meet me in a tidy, organized, effortless, only take up a couple hours of your week, place. He is in the mess, this mess. As mature believing adults we can deal with the hardships. Our hurt, our attachment, our own issues pale in comparison to the magnitude of hurt that these kids face every day.

As you pray for people in the foster care system, please pray for clarity to stay focused on the best interests of the child, for endurance and patience of families and workers, and for support—all need more support. Foster families and bio families need support, social workers and government agencies need support as well as monetary funding to properly oversee and care for the kids in the system. Fostering is not a distant, far-fetched need, fostering is a 24/7 mission field everywhere in America, yet gets very little attention in the church.”

Victoria Jakelsky is the NJ Parental Rights State Coordinator with Parentalrights.org. Working with the NJ child and family services sparked her passion for the rights of parents and children. Here is her call to parents and her prayers for families: “In today’s world children are hearing more lies than truth. They need to know God’s WORD and trust that their parents will defend them if they refuse to compromise their faith. Prayer, time, support, and the Word of God must be evident in your family’s daily lives. Your children need to know that you will support them if they stand apart and speak the truth even when they are the only ones saying it. Please do not be afraid to sacrifice money to give your child what they truly need—time and love.

Father God, please show each parent how to show their children that they love them and are proud of them. Lord, please help the fathers be leaders, prayer warriors, defenders, and disciplinarians in their homes. Heavenly Father, please show the families how to make time to talk. Help both parents find ways to help the children share their fears, their pain, and their problems with their family. Lord God, raise up true churches that will teach your Word without compromise, so families will have a place to grow, be challenged, and fellowship with others who are striving to live holy separate lives (2 Cor 6:16-18).”

(Judy McDonough is IFA Communications Director.)