It does not work to say to God, “Please do your will and mine.” This is actually a presumptive statement. It is God’s kingdom and his will that we must desire above all else. This thought ties directly to Christ’s words in the Sermon on the Mount; seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And, as we see in Christ’s most challenging moment here on earth, he submits to his father and says, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Christ was being totally consistent with what he taught his disciples. So, when your child prays for a particular request, great or small, teach him what Jesus taught his disciples. It may be for someone to […]
Prayer
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June 6, 1944 our President led the nation in prayer to God. The American people welcomed this prayer. Notice FDR did not speak of many Gods or many faiths or many religions. He asked that the will of Almighty God be done. Today, we seek protection from a moment of silence offered to a god of our own choosing. Today, we are too proud to seek protection of the one true God. May God have mercy on our land. Franklin Roosevelt’s D-Day Prayer June 6, 1944 My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing […]
It is easy to pray for good things. We want our loved ones to be healthy and safe. We desire for our country to turn to God in repentance. It is good to pray that our children will come to know and love Christ more deeply. These are good things. But do we have the courage to pray for something more? I think we sell God short in our prayers when we only ask for things that seem to good to us. In the prayer of our Lord, Christ gives us something better to ask for: he asks that God’s kingdom will come and that his will be done. Wow! This request requires trust in God. This […]
Your children were born to worry, just like you. If you allow the issues of each day to dominate your life the result will be worry. Believing you alone have to care for your needs each day leads to worry. This means you will model worry for your children. Defensively, you and I might respond like this, “oh, I am not an obsessive worrier. I don’t worry about dirty doorknobs. But I am concerned about the things that are really important, like our meals and other basic important things.” Nice try, but this can still be worry. If Jesus instructed you to ask God for your daily bread, then you can trust God to provide. By reading the verses […]
When Jesus says this is how you should pray parents should take notice! God wants you to pray that his kingdom will reign in your home. To pray effectively, in a way that honors God as special and holy, we must pray that God’s purpose and plan must prevail and not our own. However, the reality is that we come to God most often when we have a problem. If this is the example your children follow, it is not a good one. This is the point to stress to yourself and to your children. By crying out to God that you want his kingdom to rule and his will to be done, you are implicitly saying that his purpose […]
This prayer by George Washington is one to pray for yourself and to teach to your children. “O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul…. Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the gospel; give me repentance […]
This prayer was made in 1944 by the sitting President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt. While the prayer lacks some elements of what most of us would consider a fully biblically balanced prayer should be, it is nonetheless, by today’s standards, outrageously politically incorrect. This prayer provides a great topic for discussion for your family and for your church. Take a few minutes to read this prayer. Notice FDR does not speak of many Gods or many faiths or many religions. He closes with asking that the will of Almighty God be done. Today, we seek protection from a moment of silence offered to a god of our own choosing, In 1944, the American people welcomed this […]
Dear holy, heavenly Father, you have given each of us much to do this day. We have school and other work to do, we have appointments and practices to go to, we need food to sustain us, and we need your protection as we travel about. Help us not to worry about these things, but cause us to praise you in all that we do today. By your grace, may we seek your kingdom first in all that we do. Right now, this day, may we serve you. If you bring us into tomorrow we will deal with that then. Please father, give us what we need today, our daily bread, so that we can serve and honor you. In […]
You hear a loud cry coming from the children’s room. You walk into the room and discover that Sarah, your four-year-old daughter, has just hit Brandon, your three-year-old son, because he wouldn’t give her the toy she wanted. You take Sarah into your room and administer the appropriate discipline. Sarah sadly tells you she knows that she should not have hit Brandon, but she just was so angry with him that she did it anyway. She tells you that she just can’t do it, she can’t obey and be good. What do you say as a parent? Response # 1 —Mom replies with an even but stern voice,“Well, Sarah, that is what discipline is for. Eventually, you will learn that it […]
Self-control is the ability to say no to my wrong desires and yes to what God wants me to do. Encourage your child to pray this prayer for self-control: Father, please help me to say no to sin and yes to obedience and pleasing you. I really want to do whatever you want me to do, but it’s too hard by myself. I need your help all the time to say “yes” to you. Please help me. In Jesus’ name, Amen. Ruth Younts from Get Wisdom! Jesus taught his disciples how to pray the Lord’s prayer word for word. One way to teach your children to pray is to follow his example and teach them how […]