Praying for Spiritual Maturity

“Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore.” - Psalm 86: 11-12 

When David wrote this Psalm, it was a time of great trial, although it seems it is not clear what the trial was exactly.  However, he was calling out to the Lord for help.

A fun fact I learned about this Psalm when I was researching is that there are at least 14 personal appeals in Psalm 86. This is a great example to us that praying specifically is important and an effective way to pray.  In these verses David is concentrating on his relationship with the Lord. He is also promising to remain true to the Lord for the remainder of his life.

As we pray specifically for the spiritual maturity of our loved ones, we can pray that the Lord God will teach and instruct them daily. We can also pray that our children will desire a deep relationship with the Lord and have a desire to pursue Christ. Praying as well for a healthy fear of the Lord is a perfectly acceptable thing as we pray for their spiritual health. Fearing the Lord means recognizing the authority of God and His word.

I love how Stormie Omartian explains what it means to fear the Lord, “It means being afraid of what life would be like without Him and being grateful that because of His love we’ll never have to experience such despair. It means hungering for all that God is and all that He has for us.”