Communication is key

   "Father, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come."

   It is an encouragement to me that one of the disciples said "Lord, teach us to pray."  Prayer can be learned!  That is good news.  The question is who are we learning from?  Whose example do we follow?  

   It's interesting to note that in Luke 11:1 Jesus was praying.  And when he was finished, one of the disciples wanted to learn from him.  There is so much we can learn from our Lord's example.  

   In the context of family, communication is key.  We learn how to communicate well.  It takes time and effort on the human level.  Should we be surprised that we have much to learn about communicating well with God?  There is much growing to do.  There is often a right focus that we are lacking.  Someone once said that 

"Prayer isn't to get our will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth."

Are we praying for his kingdom to come?  Do we want him to rule as king in our hearts and in the hearts of others?

God has amazed me time and time again when I have asked him to do what seemed impossible.

And then I have seen and heard testimony of the wonderful things he has done when I wasn't even asking.

Sometimes this is cause for rejoicing, and sadly, sometimes I feel rebuked.

   Maybe, like me, you have heard someone share an amazing testimony of God's work in their life and all you can think is "I am so glad that no one else (except God) knows how little I have prayed for them."?  Or someone might say "Thank you for your prayers."  And you feel ashamed as you realize that you've been too consumed with your own affairs to be praying for anyone else?

   As a mother, I am leading my children.  Day in and day out, they are observing the way I live.  

Are they seeing that prayer is as important to me as the disciples saw it was to Jesus?

  Many attempts have been made to make prayer an integral part of our family life.  Why does it keep slipping?  Why does it get overlooked?  Forgotten?

   The busyness of life seems to squelch it.  Even if I am finding the time on my own, sometimes in the morning, or throughout the day...

What about my children?

They might not come to God on their own.  Shouldn't I be teaching them how to communicate with God?

If all I teach them is how to thank God for their food three times a day, or if all they hear is short prayer after a Bible lesson, we are seriously lacking.  

The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

James 5: 16b

Will they know this, observe this, and not doubt this?  And not only that, do I believe this?

   I'm not saying that I want to put on a show of display for them.  It's not about that.  But just think about all the things we teach our children.  

Will they learn more from me about how to knead dough and clean a kitchen than they will learn about prayer?  

Will they learn more about ironing and folding laundry than they do about prayer?  

   I've been thinking about these things long and hard and asking God what we could do to make prayer an even greater, more integral part of our family life.  I know it's not happening enough.  The whole bedtime prayer thing just doesn't work in my context.  At the end of a long day, I don't have much energy left.  In fact, sometimes I'm going the extra mile if I give hugs and kisses to everyone right before they go to bed.  We are doing that all day long and by the end of the day I am pretty spent.

   I sat and thought about it for a while and I got the idea of using a journal for our family.  I couldn't wait to go and pick one out.  I actually found the one I wanted at Walmart.  It's hardbound and has large pages.  Plenty of room to jot down the things we are praying about.  I started on the first page by writing down the amazing answers to prayer that have happened recently.  God is drawing people to himself and lives are being dramatically changed.  We are in awe.  We are sharing these things with the children and we are learning to include them more.  Not just in sharing the good news when God has worked in amazing ways, but including them in asking God to work in hearts.  

   Each week, probably on Thursday morning (after prayer meeting) I plan to write in things that we will be praying over that week.  I am also leaving a little space in between so that we can note how God has worked in that particular situation.  I don't want to forget what he has done and I don't want to overlook what he is doing.  I want to be a part of it, engaged in it and thanking him for it.  

   Every evening that we are home, right after dinner, I teach them from the Bible and we open our prayer book and choose a few people to pray for.  It doesn't have to be lengthy.  You don't have to go through an entire list.  I would rather fervently pray for two people than go through a list naming names.  

   There is so much more I could write about this.  For now, I'll just say this experience hasn't been perfect.  Children have much to be taught.  Prayer is a joy, it's talking to God, but children have to learn to take it seriously.  I have dealt with silliness, irreverence and uncontrollable giggling.  It's been discouraging at times.  I want my children to learn to respect God, he is holy.  But I also want them approach him as a loving heavenly Father who delights in their laughter.  I need wisdom as a mom to teach them what is appropriate and what is not.  It is such a privilege to serve the living God and I look forward to the ways in which his "kingdom will come."  I desire that with all my heart.