I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. First Samuel, chapter one, verse 27. Though married for a long time, Hannah had no children. She prayed constantly that the Lord would be gracious to her and allow her to have a child in her old age. God answered Hannah's prayer. Today I want to tell you about another mother who lived many years after Hannah had died. Her name was Monica. A devout Christian and a woman of prayer who stood in the gap between eternal life and damnation for her son. Her son's name was Aurelius Augustinus. We know him better as Augustine. At age 16, Augustine rejected the christian faith of his mother in order to pursue a religion that placed fewer moral restrictions on him. He drank excessively, hung out with wicked men, and yielded to the lust of the flesh and all the temptations of immorality. One Peter four three describes Augustine's immoral life that was full of debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. Augustine would later write that his plunge into sin caused his mother to weep more for him than mothers weep over their childrens dead bodies. She never stopped praying for her son, and the worse he became, the more earnestly she prayed to the Lord on his behalf. All the while he wrote that devout and sober widow ceased not in all her hours of prayer to lament over me before the Lord. Monicas prayers were answered when Augustine, at the age of 32 surrendered his heart and life to Christ, she died shortly after that. So she never saw the contribution that her son made to the christian faith. But she had seen her prayers answered and saw her son come to Christ. Had Augustine's mother not been committed to prayer, Christianity may have been robbed of his contributions. More important, Augustine himself may never have professed Christ as savior and lord and would have died to face an eternity outside the grace of God. Parents, never, never, never stop praying for your children. Like Augustine's mother, you may be the only thing standing between your children and hell.

This has been your thought for the day with Steve Burkham, pastor of Community Christian Church in Stockton, California. If you have questions or comments for Pastor Steve, please send them to Daily thoughtspodcastmail.com. Have a great day and we hope you'll join us tomorrow as Pastor Steve opens God's word to bring us another thought for the day.