One of the sweetest parts of my day is listening to my kids pray. I love to hear the things they are thankful for at the end of the day. It gives me a glimpse into the things they value most. I can only imagine the smile their heartfelt prayers bring to our Lord as He listens to the cries of their heart.
Tonight as my daughter was praying she thanked God for many things and then said very specifically, “but I am not, not thankful for thunderstorms.” I love her honesty with her heavenly father. I must say that in listening to their prayers, I am quite guilty of not saying thank you enough in my day end prayers. While I am often quick to offer up my list of requests as my head hits the pillow, all too often I fail to stop and say thanks.
One thing I hope to teach my children is the many aspects of prayer. Prayer is about more than offering up a wish list to God. It is an opportunity to commune with our heavenly father. One thing that helps me to remember this is by praying through the acronym ACTS (adoration-offering up our praises to God, confession-confessing our sins before God, thanksgiving-giving thanks to God, and supplication-presenting our requests before God). I hope to model and walk through all four aspects of prayer with my kids in their nightly prayers. We aren’t there yet, but it is my goal to start modeling and praying with them this way.
What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average Momblog fair? I’d love to read your thoughts. Please feel free to write and link up a “thoughtful” post below. You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week.
That's such a great way to teach them to pray! I usually aim for something similar.
ReplyDeleteHow precious your daughter's honesty must be to God! I am sure He loved it when she said she wasn't thankful for thunderstorms. :)
ReplyDeleteI love hearing my kids pray too! I especially love it when the Holy Spirit puts someone on their hearts to pray for!!
ReplyDeleteI love to hear the prayers of my children's hearts as well. Recently MC has been saying, "Thank you that we love each other and care about each other" and it just blesses my heart. I also desire for them to learn all aspects of prayers as well. I think we may start to incorporate ACTS into our nightly prayer routine as well.
ReplyDeleteThe ACTS acronym has always been so helpful to me. I never thought about modeling it for my kids. Thank you so much for this great idea! I just love their hearts right now toward the Lord. I learn so much from them every day.
ReplyDeleteMakes me wish I were that honest in my prayers!
ReplyDeleteI love the ACTS prayer model as well! I would really love it if I could manage to control my children at the dinner table to pray with a truly thankful heart for the food they are about to eat...sometimes I open my eyes and Caroline is shoveling the food in before we've even said Amen. It kills me. I need to start holding their plates at the counter until the prayer is said.
ReplyDeleteGood post...prayer is such an important part of our relationship with the Lord!
I LOVE hearing children's prayers. What a great story.
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