photo by Milica Sekulic
Prayer is our direct line to God. Isn’t it awesome that He gave us the ability to come directly to Him without going through someone else? As big as God is, He hears our questions, our supplications, and our thanksgiving, and even allows us to let loose on Him a little bit when in our limited capacity we don’t understand why life is what it is sometimes.
For some people prayer comes naturally. They pray for everything and everyone. But for others of us, it’s a learned behavior. We need to work at it to make it a part of our everyday devotions.
Do you teach your children to pray? Jesus’ disciples knew they needed help in learning how to do it, but our children may not know to ask. I was curious how the readers of TGMT handle prayer with their children, so I’ve placed a poll about it in the sidebar. If you’re a subscriber (and thanks for subscribing, by the way) hop over to the site and plug your answers in. I’m curious to see where our tendencies lie.
Thanks to Calvin Wulf for the poll idea. Every once in awhile I put out a question or request for ideas on Twitter or Facebook, and friends are always generous enough to supply me with good ones. If you’re on one or both of those social media, I’d love for you to find me. I’ve met some really neat people who have been a tremendous blessing to both me and my ministry.
The poll will only be up for a week, so don’t delay in casting your answers. And while you’re at it, leave a comment about prayer or a suggestion for something you’d like to see covered on TGMT. I’ve been a little comment starved here lately (how’s that for unashamed begging?).
Answer the poll question, then leave a comment. What challenges or victories have you had with prayer and your children?
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6 comments:
I found your site from makinghome.com and this is the first post I've read.
I did want to comment on teaching your children to pray.
My son is only 2, but as I'm finding out most kids are, very habit driven.
We started praying with him before bedtime and meal times... now he wants to pray before every different food he's offered (and no my cooking isn't that bad! LOL)
I love that he is constantly wanting to pray.
My desire is for that to become a lifelong habit of his, to turn to the Lord for everything!
Mandi http://thelifeofamommy.com
Mandi,
First, let me welcome you to TGMT. So glad you stopped by!
Second, you discovered a very interesting tidbit with your son that I think other parents could capitalize on. Kids love predictability, and using that aspect of their young nature is instrumantal in establishing good habits. Eventually (in short time actually) it will become so second nature that when they discover not all of their friends do it it will come as a shock to them (doesn't everyone pray before snack time?!).
What a great observation! Now that my children are older I tend to forget some of the little things that went into developing their godly character. Thanks for sharing!
I chose all but church. We pray very often with our children. I recentlt started the younger children taking turns praying. They were a bit apprehensive at first about praying infront of each other aloud, but I played a little game with them.
I ask "which one of my little prayer warriors wants to pray today". It worked so I stuck with it.
Hadias,
I like your approach!
This is one aspect of parenting where I am confident God has used me well. I LOVE teaching my kids to pray!! As a result, they love to pray. We pray anywhere and anytime a thought comes to mind -- whether it's something we're thankful for or something that frightens us, something we don't understand or an answer to yesterday's problem. I make a lot of mistakes as a mom, but if my kids know how to pray, the rest will be remedied. :)
Tanya,
Prayer has a huge way of keeping us focused. The world can be falling around us, but praying to our God will keep us going in the right direction.
Your children are wonderfully blessed to have a mom who teaches so purposefully!
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