Luke 2:36-52 From the time my boys were very young I prayed they would all have the same excellent spirit that Daniel had. Daniel had favor with man, and he had much wisdom. He also lived to be an old man. In this passage we see Jesus as a young boy honoring both His heavenly Father and His earthly father. Even though He knew He had to be about His Father’s business, He was willing to subject Himself to Mary and Joseph and return with them to their home when they found Him in the temple. Our pastor recently preached a good sermon about how Mary should have first looked in the temple for Jesus because it was considered the house of God. She knew Jesus was the Son of God. After looking for three days, Mary and Joseph finally found Jesus among the doctors in the temple. He was intently listening, but He also shared with them some of His thoughts. They were astonished at His wisdom. The Bible tells us that Jesus returned to Nazareth and increased in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man.
In this passage, we discover a wonderful prayer we can pray for our children. Combining verses 40 and 52, we can pray the following effective prayer for our children:
Father, in the name of Jesus we pray that our children will wax strong in the spirit and that they will be filled with wisdom. May Your grace be upon them always. May our children be subject to God and to us as parents, and may they increase not only in stature, but also in wisdom and favor with God and man. Amen.
READ: Numbers 26:1-51; Luke 2:36-52; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 11:15
Ron Allen 
Eddie Hyatt 
Michael L. Brown 
