This is my kids at lunch today. They asked if they could get their fold up chairs out of the basement and have a picnic outside. They are also eating peanutbutter-and-jelly sandwiches with brussel sprouts. That’s gotta be the most incongruous meal ever.

I just love how they love hanging out with each other and making up their own little games and adventures. *sigh* I could eat them with a spoon.

And now the Bible story…

On the way home from Trader Joe’s/Target/WalMart today we were discussing Asa’s birthday party coming up in September. This led us to me telling the kids Asa’s birth story. (It was kinda exciting if you wanna read it!) Then I told them that we hadn’t picked Asa’s middle name until after he was born. I remember writing a list of possible names on some of the paperwork from the hospital!

So, I told them the story of the man who’s name we finally did choose as Asa’s middle: Nathanael. At the beginning of Jesus’ earthy ministry, he is going around recruiting his disciples. He talks to Phillip who gets so excited he runs to his friend Nathanael and says, “We found him! The one the prophets told us about! His name is Jesus from Nazareth!”

Nathanael replies, “Nazareth? What good can come from Nazareth?”

Phillip tells Nathanael to come and see for himself. So Nathanael does. The second he sees Nathanael Jesus says, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.” (John 1:47) Nathanael is shocked, “How do you know me?”

I can picture Jesus laughing here, the way a grown-up laughs at the naivete of a child, “I saw you under the fig tree before Phillip even came to you.” he tells Nathanael.

This impresses Nathanael so much he immediately exclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!” Again Jesus laughs (in my imagination) and says, “You believe I’m the Son of God just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? Brother, you better hang on, because you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” (<–clearly my translation)

I love this conversation with Nathanael. It’s not a big teachable moment. There’s no sermon-on-the-mount sound bytes. Yet, this first conversation is recorded for a reason.

I think when Jesus said Nathanael was a man of “complete integrity” (or “without guile” some versions say) what he meant (and no, I’m not trying to put words in Jesus’ mouth, it’s just how I understand it) was that Nathanael was a guy who meant what he said and said what he meant. He did what he said and didn’t fool around.

He scoffed at Nazareth, questioned Jesus’ compliment but once Jesus says, “I saw you” Nathanael (figuratively) drops to his knees to recognize Jesus’ true identity.

And this is what I want for my son. I want him to be a man who is full of integrity, open with his heart, his mind and actions. A man who would hear Jesus’ words and immediately bow his knee to what was spoken.

And now the book…

I got excited about Asa’s name all over again after reading Nathanael’s story today. It also reminded me of the book I just finished, Praying Circles Around Your Children by Mark Batterson. (Did you follow my updates on Facebook last week about it?) It’s a little 100-page mini book with some really practical and very inspiring truths about prayer for your kids.

One of Batterson’s ideas is “prayer mantras” which apparently got some people riled up because that sounds so magic-y. But this is far from magic words–this is about finding a verse (or verses) that the Lord would have you pray and speak over your child’s life. And then use those prayers often in your child’s hearing so it will be an anchor, a tether and a plumbline for your kids’ life.

This is one reason my husband and I were so insistent on good names for our kids. Not because of how they sounded, but what they  meant. I want my kids’ names to be a prayer on my lips. And today, I’m excited to pray that my son would be a man of complete integrity who believes in Jesus’ words immediately!

Do you have a special verse you pray for your kids?

Linked to Women Living Well

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***

I collect parenting books. It doesn’t mean I read them all. But I do collect them. Maybe it makes me feel like a better parent just owning them? Maybe I’ll learn by osmosis?

Anywhoo.

I got an email from Tommy Nelson a few weeks ago about a new parenting book. I wasn’t going to review it because I knew it would join stacks of parenting books waiting for me to finish. But the title got me: Raising Your Kids To Love the Lord. I mean, that’s it. That’s all I want to do. I don’t care about my kids’ GPA, if they make the Varsity team or have a bunch of friends. I just want them to love the Lord.

It came in the mail and has been sitting on my kitchen table for several days (weeks?). I finally cracked it open on Monday and Chapter One was good so I kept reading. Chapter Two was good enough for me to read part of it to my husband. Chapter Three made me cry.

The chapter is simply about prayer. I’ve written about prayer on my blog before. I update our Facebook page with prayers every morning (well, at least as often as I can. And have you seen my photo prayers this week?!). I am all for praying for our kids. This book, however, got me thinking more about teaching our kids to pray for themselves!

The author, Dave Stone tells a story about his 8th grade daughter wanting to transfer to a different school. They discuss it and finally decide to pray about it–and let their daughter pray about it. And ultimately do whatever their daughter thought the Lord was telling her.

Whoa.

Letting an 8th grader decide on her school?! It seems insane! Their daughter took this assignment seriously and came back to her parents saying that God told her to stay at her original school. She ended up being the Class President and very influential in her school!

Stone says, “If that sounds mystical…think about Samuel…he answered God’s call, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’” That was a sucker-punch to me (and where I started crying). We JUST read that story (in our The Story Bible) last night and the kids thought it was awesome that God was calling Samuel. I even prayed during bedtime prayers that Lydia and Asa would respond to God’s voice just as Samuel had.

So for me to read, the very next morning, about a real 8th grade example of this? To see a child actually seek the Lord, hear Him and act on it is so encouraging! Stone finished with this, “Maybe your children need to practice self-control or show kindness to a sibling. Perhaps they need courage to make wise and God-honoring choices. Teach them to pray. Trust them. Trust God. Give it a try. You’ll be amazed.”

That last paragraph put tears streaming down my cheeks. These last few days (our first week of summer vacation!) I have been so excited about just chilling with my kids–relaxing, reading, cleaning the house, going on adventures and more. Instead, these last 3 days have been FULL of whining, complaining and disobedience. I sent Lydia to her room the other day simply because I could not, for the life of me, think of the right way to discipline. I felt like she didn’t even recognize that what she had done was sin.

I had never thought to ask my kids to pray about their behavior. When Lydia needs to have self-control? When Asa needs to stop whining? When they need to stop arguing? Maybe I should stop and pray with them? Maybe lead them in a prayer to ask Jesus to help and lead them away from sinful behavior?

I’m really intrigued by this idea. I think it would help them confront their sin issues head on with prayer. I want their first response to sin (or any problem) to be to turn to the Lord anyway. Maybe this is good for those things that I just can’t seem to get through to them? The issues that I know are sin and could take over if we don’t stop them?

What do you think? Do you help your kids pray for repentance and guidance even at a young age?

ps: Wanna win a copy of this book, Raising Your Kids To Love the Lord by Dave Stone? (It’s the first in a series, by the way!) Just leave me a comment about this post or your experience with prayer and kids. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say!

linked to Raising Might Arrows’ Proverbs 31 Thursdays

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***

Our church is very intentional about empowering parents to raise their kids for the Lord. I’ve told you about Asa’s baby dedication and monthly themes like Taming the Inner Monster. Each month, they also host KidStuf a big dramatic-interactive-church-service. The best part is the kids and parents are sitting together. Listening together. Worshiping together. Praying together.

My kids talk about KidStuf all month long. And when they aren’t talking about what we saw last month, they are asking when we can go the next month. It’s that good.

The big idea this month in KidStuf (and in my daughter’s weekly Sunday class) is Prayer: Having a Conversation With God. During the skit, while the characters were learning to pray–we learned to pray, too. And not just by watching. They handed out a small box to each family.

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Inside each box were several items. These items were prompts to help us know how to pray together.

First is the kalediscope. When you look through the kalediscope, you see so many amazing shapes, colors and pictures. This is the time to stop and praise God for how amazing and powerful He is!

Second is a cute little turkey. My kids already love and know the Don’t Be a Turkey, Just Say Thanks song from Yancy’s new preschool album. So, they really get this idea–the turkey reminds us to stop and say thank you to God for all He’s done and is doing for us.

Third is a compass. This helps us remember that God knows the plans He has for us. When we are confused or unsure what to do, we need to ask Him!

Fourth was a blank piece of paper. We were instructed to write a prayer request on it. Then trade it with a family around us! This reminds us to pray for them and for anyone else we think of. (And knowing that someone is praying for us, too!)

Last is a transformer pencil sharpener. OK, this might be a stretch but the idea is we need to ask God to change us. And every day this might be a different prayer, “Change me to be a more attentive wife.” OR “Change me so I will obey Mommy.” OR “Change my heart so I will reach out to friends who hurt me.” The idea is that we are offering up our sinful broken ways and asking God to make us new!

How great is this?! You could easily make this yourself with the same items or with whatever you can find around your house. We have our prayer box on the kitchen table so we can take the objects out at dinner to pray together. And half the time, the kids just take the objects out in the middle of the day to play with them.

How does your family pray together?

PS–This prayer box totally reminded me of our God Can!

***Impress Your Kids has some new digs at ohAmanda.com! Come visit us there for all the Impress Your Kids archives and all our new posts–including our Easter newsblast with fabulous tips for celebrating a meaningful Easter with your kids!***