Earlier this week I shared what I learned from saying night-time prayers with my youngest daughter. I thought it was only fair to share something from the oldest. As she has gotten older I have added more things to our routine. Lately I have been praying Paul's prayer for her as found in Ephesians 3:16-19. (If you are interested we did the Lord's Prayer for a year than migrated to this to add variety.)

Here are some things this practice has taught me:

1. I have learned how important it is to pray Scripture over my children. It is broadening out my prayers for the girls more than what I naturally would think on my own.
2. I am reminded how important a routine is for kids. If I feel like it is late and try to skip this part of the prayers, she lets me know.
3. I have also realize how little I valued this as effective prayer by wanting to skip it when I'm in a hurry.
4. I have learned how important this time of night-time prayers and this particular prayer routine is in teaching my children love of the Bible and learning what it says.
5. I like how in this passage we are reminded that my ability to dwell in love is tied to knowing the depth of God's love.
6. I like the reminder that love is tied to faith not knowledge.
7. I like how praying this passage each day has embedded it deeper into my own heart.

What are some ways you pray with your kids?

Each night I read the Bible and pray with each of my daughters before their bedtime. My youngest is 2 years old, and she sits on my lap, sucks her thumb, and listens. I know that she listens because if I accidentally skip a part of the prayers she lets me know. This tradition make the bedtime routine long, but it is also very rewarding having this one-on-one time with them after being gone at work all day.

For each daughter I have them tell me what they would like for me to pray for. The youngest will say the family members, some friends she has played with recently, and anything in the room she likes. For the longest time, I laughed only thinking about how she was practicing speaking, but the other night as she was going through her list, I realized how in some ways God wants us to be like this. He wants us to be thankful for all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18). He wants us to tell Him the things we like and speak to Him about everything. He enjoys the time with our attention focused on Him. He likes spending time with us.

I can't fully know why my daughter names all that she names for me to pray about, but I do know I can be very grateful to God for her horse and cat that she sleeps with. These stuffed animals provide her with comfort and joy, and as a father I enjoy seeing her happy. And I know that every good gift comes from God (James 1:17).

Kids Prayers from Granger Community.

These are prayers from real children at Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana. It is amazing what you find out by just asking kids. There is a lot of pain being carried by our children as they come into church. Will we help them?

Happy Children image courtesy of Mary Beth Tyson Photography

My wife and I spent a year on staff at Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church in Gainesville, FL. We learned decades worth of experience in ministry and life through our time there through the wonderful people in the church and the leadership of the priest and his wife, Ron and Susie Kuykendall. One of the many resources we received was this list of things to pray for your children put together by Susie. We did not have children during our time at this church, but I remember how important it was to pray for our kids' spouses early on which is a practice we do today. I believe that you will find this list extremely helpful as a guide to pray for your children.

Ten Things to Pray for Your Children

1. Soften their hearts, Lord, that they might be drawn to You and towards the things that please You.
2. Bring them to an early, saving knowledge of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
3. Help them love people and also help them not to resent their parents' love of people.
4. Give my daughter a loving husband who will love and cherish her all the days of her life. Be with this boy as he grows. Guard him and protect him. Help him to grow into a man of God.
5. Give my daughter good and kind boyfriends who will treat her well and teach her about relationships. Be with them now as they make early choices in their young lives. Help my son be a good boyfriend.
6. Provide a loving wife for my son, Lord. May she love and honor him all her days. Be with her, guard her, and protect her from all harm.
7. Protect my children, Lord, from the mistakes I make.
8. Give them a gentle spirit.
9. Protect my children from harmful people.
10. Protect my children from harmful spirits.

Read more posts regarding children's prayers from the prayer blog.

Last night as I was praying with my older daughter and putting her to bed, she was going through her list of people she wanted me to pray for. She decided to add a few new people to the list, and I started thinking how this is like our relationship with Jesus. Here was my daughter just telling me who she wanted to pray for, and I was the one who flushed this out in prayer. Now this is not a perfect analogy, but Jesus lives always to intercede for us. For that matter the Holy Spirit also helps us with our prayers (Romans 8: 26, 34). We bring to them things or people we would like to pray for, and they expound upon our prayers. What a great system the Lord has set up. He calls us to pray, but then He helps us make our prayers more effective. God blesses obedience.

Here is an example of how this looks like in our family.  This is from a couple years ago, but it gives the same impression of what I experienced last night.

I was going to wait before bringing up too much personal information, but today something special happened that fits with the context of praytel. My wife and I are in the process of adopting an international child. We have gotten pretty far along, and we need to make a decision about whether we would take our kids along when we pick up our new daughter. Besides the costs associated with taking two additional children along, our daughters are 4 years and 18 months, so they would take attention and care for the overseas travel.

My wife was discussing this with our older daughter this morning, and she decided to ask Jesus whether she should go. My wife, trying to get the kids ready to leave for the day, suggested that they wait to pray later. My daughter wanted to do it then. Never one to discourage prayer, my wife agreed. As my daughter prayed, she said that Jesus told her that she and her sister should stay back with my wife's mom. An additional insight you should know is that she wants to go with us.

The point of me telling you this story is not to allow your children to make decisions for you. My wife and I are still going to pray through this ourselves as we are ulitmately responsible for the decision. But imagine if we do decide on having the kids stay behind. Even though our oldest wants to go, we can always remind her of what Jesus showed her.

What are the takeaways from this story:

1. Do not hinder the little children from coming to Jesus. - Luke 18:16
2. The sheep know the shepherd's voice. - John 10: 3-5, 16
3. Child-like faith is better receptive to come to God. - Mark 10:15