I have a friend who has always walked with the Lord. From the time she was a little girl she knew God and even through her teenage and young adult years she never went into any kind of rebellion. When she tells the story, she gives a wry smile and says; “It’s probably my mother’s fault.”

By that she means the way her mother always prayed for her. She says she used to occasionally try to get in some kind of trouble but it never seemed to work. She would be ready to sneak off with friends and do the things the other kids were doing but the plot would be uncovered. Her mother always seemed aware when something foul was afoot and she would be stopped in her tracks.

She wondered about this until her mother shared her secret. “I always pray that you will not be successful if you are getting ready to sin. I ask God to stop you before you make a bad decision and disrupt you from evil.” Well her mother’s prayers were quite successful and of course my friend is very grateful now. She avoided the consequences of sin before she understood the severity of its price.

So, parents out there – why don’t you do the same thing? Be like this mother or Hosea in the Old Testament who prayed for his wayward wife: “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.” (Hosea 2:6)

They will thank you later. For now, if they pursue evil let them only find thorns and walls.