Praying for college students

The store ads are full of things for college-bound students. It's been about a decade since I went through that--looking for extra-long twin sheets, making new patchwork bedspreads, and assembling a "first aid" kit in a plastic shoe box. And etc. etc. etc. Lots of etc.

The child-to-college transition hit me twice as hard because my son and daughter, 19 months apart, both left town the same year for a state college four hours' drive away. You can be sure I prayed for them! After a few months, I realized Paul's prayer in the first chapter of Colossians provided me with a Biblical outline for specific ways to uphold their needs. This prayer guide spreads the requests over two weeks.

TO BE FILLED WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF GOD’S WILL (v. 9)
1. To find a Bible-teaching church at which to worship and to connect with campus ministries so their faith will grow.
2. To acquire a biblical world view and to reject temptation.
3. To identify sinful prejudice but to refuse the pull to condone perversion.
4. To discern God’s will for vocation and courtship. For future mates, for purity in thought and body and a growing faith.

TO BE FRUITFUL (v. 10)
5. To walk worthy of Jesus and to be a testimony among non-Christians and weak believers, “walking the talk” without apology.
6. To witness to a God of order and beauty in how they groom and dress, plus in how they keep and decorate ther rooms or living quarters.
7. To honor God’s gift of time through prudent management instead of procrastination.
8. To demonstrate Christ’s love through acts of kindness, goodness, and generosity, rather than focusing only on themselves.

TO BE FORTIFIED (v. 11)
9. To know God’s power in their lives and to articulate biblical standards of truth when they encounter controversy in class work or relationships.
10. To endure when faced with course work demands, financial challenges, or health issues.
11. To show patience, particularly with difficult roommates, college registration lines, upsets and delays.

TO BE FREE OF WORLDLY NEGATIVES (vv. 12-14)
12. To cultivate a thankful spirit when their peers set a tone of grumbling.
13. To dwell on the spiritual blessings of their inheritance in Christ.
14. To reject the darkness and see their God-ordained role in bringing the light of Christ to their campus.

Both have now graduated, are working, married, and active in church. They have good reputations, and that gladdens my heart. To borrow from 3 John 4: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."