EP. 28: Jodie Berndt

Jodie Berndt | Praying the Scripture for Your Children

Jodie Berndt is a popular speaker and the author of ten books, including the bestselling Praying the Scriptures series for Children, Teens, and Adult Children.

Jodie has been a guest on shows like Focus on the Family, The 700 Club, and the Don’t Mom Alone podcast, and her writing has been featured on Fox News, Proverbs 31 Ministries, and in several family and parenting magazines.

A former television producer and on-air personality, Jodie has been married to her UVA sweetheart, Robbie, for 35 years. They have four adult children and live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Jodie and I chat about praying for your children throughout their lives, how God delights in hearing from His children, and how praying the Scripture brings peace and aligns our heart with God’s heart.

6:07 Jodie shares her faith journey, mothering in the early years, and how her first book, Praying the Scripture for Your Children came to be

Ephesians 4: 29

“I turned Eph. 4:29 in to a prayer for me and my family.”

Moms In Prayer

She did a paper survey asking one question, “If you could ask God to do one thing for your children, for your family, what would it be?”

She used the top 20 answers to create a table of contents of what might become a book.  Then, she dug into God’s Word to see what it said about each topic.

All 3 books are cataloged by topics.

11:16 Jodie shares what she has experienced in her own personal prayer life as she has prayed the Scriptures for her children

“There is a lot of richness and depth and variety as we lift our prayers out of Scripture, but not only that, I think they become a lot more powerful. God says in Isaiah 55 that His word will not return empty, but will accomplish the purposes for which it’s sent.  I have really seen that His Word goes forth and it accomplishes things.”

“It’s this beautiful hand in hand partnership where God invites us to partner with Him in accomplishing these purposes through prayer.”

“As I slip my hand into God’s and bring my children before Him, for me I get a peace that I don’t think I would get any other way, because even if I not yet seen the result (even if I am still in the thick of whatever the issue is) I know God is at work. I have released it to Him. I know He is for us and it keeps anxiety at bay and opens the door to that peace, that contentment and that confidence in the midst of the storm.”

“Share your heart with Him even in the midst of the mayhem.”

Praying the Scripture for Your Teens

Praying the Scripture for Your Adult Children

15:35 Jodie shares how praying changed as her children got older.

Proverbs 27:17

“Their needs may change and their friendships may change, but at the end of the day we want them to have godly friends.”

Parent’s of adult children don’t have the same community as parents of young children, so that is challenging.  They can feel alone, so that is why I wrote praying the scripture for your adult children.

Free Study guide for Praying the Scripture for Your Adult Children at jodieberndt.com

18:15 “Whatever need we face…God’s provided for that in His Word.  There’s nothing we’re going to go through at any stage, whether it is praying for a 6 year old or a 30 year old or a 50 year old…that God hasn’t already thought of, that He hasn’t provided for, that He hasn’t experienced Himself and gone before to be able to show us how to pray and how to love our kids.”

Gal. 6 talks about the community of believers that carry each other’s burdens

21:10 Jodie shares some tips for people who may be feeling like they don’t know how to pray, they struggle to discern if the Spirit is speaking, guilt over asking God to do “stuff” for them, etc.

“We look at God as if He only operates on one bandwidth or that He is human and can’t handle it all, but He is the God who knows the very hairs on our head. He’s so attentive to details and in the same way we love it when our children come to us with their concerns and want that relationship, He loves it. We never bug Him. In fact, we delight Him, because over and over and over again in Scripture He actually commands us to pray.”

“Just talk to God. In the same way we learn a language like English, our prayer language grows as we get more comfortable talking to Him.”

“The Holy Spirit voice will not contradict what we read in the written Word.”

“The more we talk to God, the more we begin to learn what His voice sounds like…He’s never urgent. He’s never condemning….He’s never going to pile on. He’s going encourage and lift us up and if there is a behavior that He wants changed, it won’t be a voice of condemnation, it will be a voice of conviction.”

28:22 Jodie shares a few resources, in addition to God’s Word, that has helped her on her prayer journey

Moms In Prayer

Live a Praying Life by Jennifer Kennedy Dean

With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray

A.C.T.S. format of prayer to help (Amber mentioned): Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication

“When you begin with praise certainly in a prayer time that helps you take the focus off your own problems and say, ‘Okay God, You are bigger than whatever my issue is.’ It sort of, reorients and fills your heart with hope as you pray.”

30:36 Jodie shares encouraging words to the one who is praying, but isn’t recieveing an answer

Jodie shares a season of personal disappointment and she “took that to the Lord….Very firmly, gently, but firmly, He said, ‘Jodie, you say you are trusting Me, but you aren’t trusting Me, you are trusting an outcome. You are trusting in a result, instead of a relationship. You are looking for the gift and not  for the Giver.’ “

Prayer by Tim Keller

Tim Keller quote: When we pray, God will either give us what we ask for or what we would have asked for if we knew everything He knows.

Susan Alexander Yates quote: Our ability to ruin our kids is nothing compared to God’s ability to redeem them.

36:06 “In all of my mess, God, your grace is working to bring about beautiful things.”

3 John 4

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