- Well, it's hard to believe,

but it's been 20 years

since author JodieBerndt released her book,

"Praying the Scripturesfor Your Children."

During that time, her fourchildren have all grown up,

but as Jodie will tell you,

you never stop being a parent

and you never stoppraying for your children.

- A wise woman once told me

that I shouldn't talkto my children about God

as much as I talk toGod about my children.

- [Narrator] Author, speaker,and mother, Jodie Berndt says

that prayer is a necessaryand powerful part

of parenting your kids,

especially when your words are influenced

and shaped by God's word.

In the 20th anniversaryedition of her book,

"Praying the Scripturesfor Your Children,"

Jodie provides simple,practical prayer strategies

that teach you how and what

to pray over the people you love.

- Welcome back to "The 700 Club."

Jodie Berndt, it's greatto have you with us today.

- Oh, Terry, what adelight to talk to you.

Thank you so much.

I love hearing what'sgoing on with "Superbook."

I love all that CBN is doing to strengthen

and equip families.

So, it's a delight to be here.

- Well, I know that's your heart.

You have gotten great news this week.

You're joining the grandmother club.

Congratulations.

- Yeah, one weekend and it's going great.

Thank you.

Little baby girl, Noah.

Noah Summers was justborn and we are thrilled.

- That's so awesome.

Well, I keep this book next to my bed.

This is the 20th anniversary of your book,

"Praying the Scripturesfor Your Children."

You know, your kids have grown up.

You've been prayingfor them all this time.

How has your perspective on prayer changed

during that time, Jodie?

- I would say my perspective on prayer,

particularly as I was ableto go back and redo this book

and update it and look back over 20 years

is that God is so incredibly faithful.

And you know, the Bible tells us

that His ways are not our ways.

And I can say amen to that

because things have not alwaysgone in our family's life

how I would have liked or intended

and yet His love and Hispower and His faithfulness

to be with us and to answer our prayers

in the way that He knows best

has just really, as you say,

helped shape my perspective

and I'm slowly but surelygetting to a place of trust.

- Well, from the time I first knew you,

you were a committedbeliever, then you married,

you started having children.

And I think all Christianparents pray for their children,

but what was it that causedyou to first start praying

the scriptures over your children

and what kind of adifference did that make?

- That's a great question, Terry,

because I don't thinkpraying the scriptures

is the only way we canpray certainly, but for me,

when I began to see the Bibleas not just something to read,

but as part of a conversationwe were having with God

where He says something andwe read it and respond to it,

both my Bible readingand my prayer life began

to get a lot more exciting, more powerful.

And so, that's when it was,when I just started reading

the scriptures as somethingnot just to look at on a page,

but to something to use to shapemy thoughts and my desires,

as well as my prayers,

that that's when it changed.

And that's when I startedwriting the books about them

because I thought, boy, this is exciting

I wanna share this.

- You've added some newsections to the book

on this 20th anniversary.

I love this one.

Talk about the importance

of praying for a child'ssense of identity.

- Oh, you know, that is a good one.

When I went back overthe book, as you say,

and saw some things thatdefinitely needed updating

like their use of technology

and certainly their identity as well,

not just sexual or gender identity,

but who they are in Christ,who they are in our families,

that they are beloved by God

because that is something I think

that is on a lot offamilies radars right now.

How do I equip my child witha sense of who he or she is

and their giftedness andtheir value in God's eyes.

And s, that was a great chapter to go back

and kind of dig back into

and see what scripture says about that

and equip parents toshare that with their kids

to let them know, bottomline you are loved.

So yeah, that was a fun one to update.

- Well, you mentioned technology

and that is such a partof our children's lives,

sometimes beyond what we'd like it to be,

but why is it important to pray

for a child's use of technology?

- Well, there again, that's something

that wasn't on my radar 20 years ago.

And so, I had to do a lotof research and digging in

and I think Andy Crouch wrote that book,

"The Tech-Wise Family," and he says,

and I believe that technologyis the number one reason

why parents today say that raising kids

is more complicated than it used to be.

And we know that technologyis going to be part

of our kids' lives and we can'tjust wish the computer away,

the phone away, any of that.

And when we use it properly,it can really be an asset.

And so, rather than trying to figure out

how to set all the boundariesand safe guards up,

I love praying for our children's hearts

that God would give them theability to be discerning.

Yes, as parents, we dowanna set boundaries

in place and set some rulesfor screen time and all of that

and model good behavior on ourselves,

not always scrollingand being on our phone

and being distracted,

but the main prayer that Ipray as my kids use technology

is that Philippians 4:8, where it says,

look at things.

If anything's noble, andpraiseworthy, and excellent,

think about these things.

I pray that that wouldshape my kids' heart

and also how they approach their use

of phones, computers, all of that.

- Well, you talk about building

a prayer legacy and"Praying the Scriptures

for Your Children"certainly outlines that.

Is that what you'd like thetake away to be for people?

- Yeah, I really would.

And I think, you know, Ispeak all over the country

and people are alwayscoming up to me and saying,

where do I start?

I didn't grow up in ahome where people prayed,

where this was modeled for me.

And so, what we've donewith the new addition

is first of all, on mywebsite, jodieberndt.com,

there is a study guide andsome videos folks can download.

But the section that I'm mostexcited about in the book

is stuff at the back wherewe have taken 20 concerns

that matter to kids, whetherit's are you feeling lonely,

are you feeling anxious?

What happens if you'vedone something wrong,

all of these things and done

a "Praying The Scripture"section designed especially

for them with sort ofsimple, shorter versus.

You know, if a child comesto you and they're worried

and especially right now,we're seeing with the pandemic,

the numbers spiking, kids are even asking,

uh oh, "Can Santa come?

How's grandma doing?"

What are our family gatherings look like?

I think there's some anxiety there.

Well, you can turn to the page

on when you're feeling anxious

and there's a discussionprompt right there

on the page for you.

Everybody gets worriedor scared sometimes,

but God says- Exactly.

- that He'll be with us.

And then, some prayers in there

that folks can pray with their kids.

- Jodie, I wanna just takethe few seconds we have left

to say "Praying theScriptures for Your Children,"

the 20th anniversary edition

would make an amazing Christmas gift

for a parent in your life.

It is available nationwide.

Great to have Jodie with us today.