Sitting around my kitchen table at any given meal this is what you will hear as Micheal prays. It is precious and I will always cherish his little voice saying those same little words every night.
But.....
It has also bothered me that they think of prayer as just some words you casually repeat before a meal or before bed. Prayer is talking to the God of the Universe! So I have decided to focus their Bible lesson on prayer for the next week or so. Undoubtedly this is an area that I need to work on too! I do not pray as much as I should and I do not think I approach God with as much reverence as I should, me being made of dust and all, and he being well, GOD!
Jesus gave us an example prayer to pray. He didn't tell us to pray the exact words when we pray, but he told us "this then is HOW you should pray" (Matthew 6:9). So verse by verse I am going to take the boys through this prayer and show them how they can say a little more then "rub a dub dub, thank u for the grub" I am going to be working on it myself too. One of the amazing things about God's word is that it is just as applicable for a four year old as it is for a twenty-eight year old! So here we go!
Matthew 6:9
"this then is how you should pray, 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name..."
Lets keep this simple, 1. He shows respect "Our Father" and 2. He praises God "hallowed be your name"
The boys and I read this and talked about it and decided that we would work on saying one thing to praise God when we pray. Micheal prayed before bed tonight, "...you are awesome, and you take care of us..." Domenic prayed, " you are so good and powerful..."
I think That God wants us to pray in this way, not for his own benefit, but for ours. I mean, he is God, he knows how great his is! But when we acknowledge it to him and to ourselves, it prepares our heart to be humble as we approach him in prayer. I think that this is why it is at the beginning.
Work on prayer with us! Let me know your thoughts on prayer and Follow me! let me know that I am not just writing into the air! Love and God bless,
Shannon
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I confess I have always have struggled with prayer. I find myself just saying what sounds good but not really knowing what to say. But I am learning though that God is reading our hearts...so I try, when I don't know what to say, to say exactly that, and just sit in his presence, and He comes. I just need to be quiet and focus on Him, letting go of things, opening my heart and be receptive instead of always asking for things and letting it all be about me, but realize that it's not about me.
ReplyDeleteShannon, this was awesome! I struggle with this, and I'm sure little kids do even more. You are such a good MOMMY! :-) Keep planting those seeds of God's WORD in their little hearts!
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