Raising Prayerful Kids - A 5-Day PlanНамуна

God Wants to Parent with You

“STOP YELLING!” I screamed angrily at the top of my lungs. My kids were fighting with each other and I completely snapped. I just wanted it to stop. They looked at me with incredulous faces. Immediately, I regretted my actions. Yelling at them to stop yelling? It was not my finest moment. Have you ever been there?

Parenthood is emotional, overwhelming, embarrassing, beautiful, messy, and very trying at times. I never knew how much I really, truly needed Jesus until I became a parent. I felt like I had my life in control before I had kids, but seeing your heart walk outside your body is a striking reminder that we have little control over anything and that is terrifying.

Patience, gentleness, and kindness tend to leave us, as fear, exhaustion, stress, and anxiety grip us. In those hard moments of parenting, when we are tempted to explode and quit, Jesus wants us to go to him with that. “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” he says again and again in Scripture.

The God who created the universe loves our kids even more than we do and He longs to help us raise and guide them.

When I look at my family, there are so many things that I want for my kids. I have dreams for their future. I want them to be happy and content. I want them to be safe and healthy. I want to make amazing memories together. But most importantly, I want my kids to know and love Jesus. What if we let go of all the stuff we so often strive for—being the perfect parent and having the perfect child? Let’s zero in on what matters the most-- making sure our kids know Jesus.

Deuteronomy 6:5-9 makes it very clear how we are to parent. God calls us to love him wholeheartedly and share him with our kids all day every day! We are to speak with our kids about God throughout our day, from the moment we wake up until the quiet of the evening. We can do this with prayer. Together, let’s recommit to giving our kids the gift of prayers. Let’s pray for them and with them. Let’s take a few moments each day to speak life over them. Let’s choose to connect with them and help them connect to God. Join us as we discover the amazing benefits of creatively and intentionally praying with your kids.

Prayer:

God, thank you for the reminder that I am not alone. I come to you today feeling (fill in the blank, i.e. overwhelmed and burdened).

Forgive me for trying to do it all and remind me that you are with me every second of every day. Thank you for making my kids and loving them even more than I do. Thank you for knowing exactly what they need. As it says in Jeremiah 33:3, speak to me Lord, and show me unsearchable things that I do now know. Help me to listen to you today as I parent. Guide me, Lord, and renew my strength. Remind me to call on your name for help all day long as I parent. Amen.

Questions:

1. What does prayer time with your kids look like right now? Do you want to make prayer more of a priority?
2. How would it change your parenting to really know that you are not alone--that God loves your kids more than you do and that he is with you every single minute as you parent?
3. When we blow it with our kids, in what ways can we use even that, our imperfections, to point our kids to Jesus?
4. What are some things you have WORRIED about regarding your kids that instead, you can PRAY about?