The Power of Role Models

I got a very interesting email from my sister one time. Her mother-in-law, a wonderful, devout Christian woman, had asked her to find out all the medical updates on our family. She had been praying for us specifically over the years, but she wasn’t trying to update her prayer list as much as she was trying to cull it out. Apparently she had grown such a list of people to pray for, she wasn’t getting anything else done in her day. Now that’s a prayer warrior!

There are people who have been so gifted by God, who pray unceasingly for others and for the world around them. It is their joy to get down on their knees and petition the Lord on behalf of others. Although I wouldn’t trade my gift for anything, I have often wished God blessed me with being a prayer warrior. I have to work at what comes natural to them.

These are good people to introduce your children to. They need to see how God works in and through others, and that He is a big deal to someone else other than just your family. Prayer warriors often have a tendency to pull your child to the side and offer up a spontaneous prayer, an awesome example of faith in action. Your children will find themselves looking up to them, and often times, looking for them when they have an issue going on. They know who has the power!

Spend some time with your children pointing out or discussing the godly traits of prayerful people you know. Express your admiration of them and what specifically they do that draws your attention. One day I asked my children who came to their mind when I said the words “prayer warrior”. I thought of a woman from our church who had repeatedly shared that she was praying for us in this matter or that, one time stopping everything she was doing in her shop to pray with us on the spot.

My children didn’t hesitate in their answers. They both chose the same godly woman. Their faces glowed with their kind remarks about her. Such is the power of introducing godly prayerful people to your children.