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!

Every night when the kids go to bed we pray with them. Most of the time it’s just us doing the praying. Sometimes Asa will whisper the prayer from his Bozdvd’s. But usually it’s a solo. So, I try to use this time to model how I want them to pray.

For example, when I picked Lydia up from school yesterday, she got in the car and said, “I got a strike.” Then she immediately started sobbing. Getting a strike is a bad thing in kindergarten. If you get 3 strikes, a note is sent home. Lydia was talking when she wasn’t supposed to and her teacher gave her the strike. She was devastated.

But it gave us some really good talking points. We got to talk about disobedience, picking the right friends (4 of them got a strike at once!), talking to Mommy, learning lessons and more. That night when we prayed I said something like, “God, thank you that Lydia told us right away about her strike. Help her remember what this feels like. Holy Spirit, I ask that you remind Lydia to be obedient at school and to help her stay self-controlled.” It was much better than me scolding her and it was a sincere prayer from a parent to Father God. It also modeled what her response should be from that situation.

I ended the prayer with what I pray every single night: “Lord, I pray Lydia would love you more and more every day.” It’s just a simple phrase. It’s not based on scripture. It’s nothing profound. But really, it is my true desire: that my kids wouldn’t just BE better or DO more, but that they would just LOVE Jesus more and more every day. (Do you know how many heartaches that would avoid? Problems that would keep them from?)

I don’t pray that little phrase because I think it’s a magic phrase that needs to be repeated in order to work (see my prayer post from Day 1!), I pray it because when Lydia and Asa do pray by themselves, I want them to pray the same thing, “O God! I want to love you more and more every day!” I want that prayer to be their desire.

It was my pastor who gave me the idea. He said he prays out loud the things he wants his kids to pray. And as the years went by, he began to hear his children pray the same thing he had been praying over them every night.

This modeling and repetition will get into their hearts and minds. And soon, it will come out of their mouths.

What can you start praying and speaking over your kids? So that one day they’ll say the same thing?

Resources for you:
How To Use Repetition as a Fun and Effective Tool To Teach Our Children by Kat from Inspired to Action.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. by Mandi from Cumming Local.

photo source: dawn camp

Here we go! Day 1! Ready?

A few months ago, I started praying for my husband every day. I specifically prayed for his job, his finances, his temptations and more. And the weirdest thing happened. I started to love him more. I don’t think he became a better man during this time.  For some reason, when I prayed for him, it affected me on the inside.

I clearly saw how much of a better wife I was when I prayed for him. And realized, “Whoa. What if I started specifically praying for my children every day? Maybe I’ll be a better mother, too!” So, I picked up Stormie Omartian’s famous book, The Power of a Praying Parent to help me pray.

Before I even got to the first prayer I began to cry because of this verse in the preface:

Arise, cry out in the night,
as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water
in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children…

Lamentations 2:19

God wants me to pray for my children. He commands it. So, that’s what I’ve been doing. And sometimes it seems overwhelming. I pray for their protection from harm one day and think, “Ack! I need to pray this every day for the rest of their lives! If I don’t they might get in a car accident! Or break their leg! Or fall off the Empire State Building!” It feels like the prayers are some kind of magic words that bring the results we want!

But the more I’ve prayed, the more I see that’s not the case. Instead, (I think) God gave me a picture of what a parents’ prayers are like. Each prayer is a brick. A small brightly colored brick.

I might pray for my daughter to be self-controlled while at school. I see it as a small yellow brick laid down around her. The next day I pray she would be protected from harm. A completely different prayer, but still important. It might be a teal brick sitting right next to that yellow one.

And the more I pray, the more small colored bricks are being layered below and around her. Some as a foundation for her feet. Some as protection around her.

I can’t possibly hit every single thing that will come into her life. It’s not like if I forget to pray that she gets good grades, she’ll fail out of school and God will say, “Too bad. Shoulda prayed about that one!” No. I feel like all my little prayers will make this big foundation and wall that will ultimately protect her and keep her steady.

I heard in a sermon once that God is not moved by need. If he were, there would be no starving children, no rape, no miscarriage and no heartbreak. Instead, God is moved by prayer. And when we pray in line with His powerful, double-edged Word, He moves. My little prayers move God to do miracles in my children’s lives. Miracles that might take place in their heart when they are 30 years old, or with their best friend in 1st grade, or in their marriage, or when they are driving on a snowy road or on their first day on a college campus.

So today? The first day of our 31 days? Let’s pray.

Oh, God! I feel so small when I think about being a parent! I know it’s only by your leadership that I can do anything for my children! Thank you for the promise that you will confide in us when we fear you. (Psalm 25:14) As I pray for my children, please confide in me about their hearts, Your will for them and how I can help them know you more. Holy Spirit, remind me to take up the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit and prayer so I can stand firm against the enemy for my children’s hearts and lives. (Ephesians 6:10-23) Thank you for the honor of leading my children to You!

Here are some additional resources for you:
The Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian
Warrior Prayers by Brooke McGlothlin
Prayer Calendar from Inspired To Action
Impress Your Kids Facebook Page {I try to share a scripture & prayer for our kids each morning.}
Our best prayer posts: Prayer Box, Praying for Your Children, Host a Prayer Group To Pray For Your Children,  Ask, Seek, Knock, A is for Ask, Using God’s Word To Pray

How do you pray for your kids?

photo source: Kymberly Janisch