My daughter
prays in her simple ways, mostly with few sentences and straight to the point. I thought them as normal until the day I overheard her praying for her co-learners at her school. That have never breezed into my mind at least not
in recent times.
Praying is
what I learnt from my grandma.
She would sit on her bed even during wee hours praying and calling each of our names and those of others. What struck my young heart then was her consistency and patience during the course of prayers.
Frankly, I wondered why she prayed for everything and everyone. I
mean everything! Now I am grown, I see why it is better to pray over our
concerns than watching them get worse or complaining about them.
I am happy
seeing my daughter moving along these lines. I sincerely desire that all our kids would think of others with compassion and be moved to pray for them.
Why should
we pray for others?
It is Our Responsibility. Praying for
others is an important responsibility for every Christian and fulfilment of the
gospel. Apostle Paul in several instances prayed for others and also acknowleged or requested their own prayers too. See these verses
Romans
1:9, 2 Corinthians 1:11, Colossians 1:3, I Thessalonians 5:25
And,
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,
that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much.
James 5:16
We all need praying
friends.
It reflects
your heart of compassion. Many times Jesus prayed for others to receive their
healing, or deliverance, it was from the heart of compassion.
Compassion
moves you to go beyond pity or mere concern and into desire to help. What
better way to begin the act of compassion than through prayer.
Recommended Read: 6 Ways To Teach Compassion To Your Children
It is
unselfish act. Of course when you pray for others it is not about you anymore
but about your brother or sister in faith.
Although we
are still learning and getting better, here are a few tips that has helped.
4 Ways To Teach Your Kids To Pray For Others
Praying with your children. We model prayer to our children when we pray with
them. Praying with your kids creates that unique privilege for them to listen
and learn.
Encourage them to pray. Let them do it themselves while you listen. Listening provides you
with ample opportunity to hear their heart and fine tune a bit until they are
able to pray unaided.
Tell them why. Please let us go beyond asking to pray for others as an obligation. Back
it up with the biblical basis for doing so and practical examples too.
Share a
scripture and explain why it is important for us to pray for others. My favorite example is when the church prayed for Peter’s release.
You can share a personal
testimony with your kids too.
Prayer Journal. Ask your children to write
the names of those they would like to pray for in a journal. You may write specific prayer requests alongside the names of those in the prayer journal.
It is a fun idea
is to split them into days of the week so each day your children would have
someone/people to pray for.
Comment
Prompt: Are your kids praying for others? Please share how you taught them.
By His Great Grace,
Ifeoma Samuel
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Comment Update!
Dear friends, I have the habit of visiting you before I
respond here on my blog that way I can keep track of blogging friends I am yet
to visit.
To keep up with your latest posts, I changed my strategy. Now I visit your blog then respond to very few comments here.
In case you are wondering why I keep updating you on my progress, for me this is a wonderful community and I respect you all and finally it holds me accountable to you. Haha!! *smiling*
Thanks for your understanding and I appreciate your kindest comments
thus far☺
Labels: Motherhood, Parenting
