Prayer: The Discipline of Thanksgiving

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

      

 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

  I hope your family was able to practice the prayer of praise this past week. Our family grew in knowledge and ability but most importantly, delighted in Who God is!

  This week, we will add to our discipline of prayer with something called the prayer of Thanksgiving. This is different from the prayer of praise (which focused on Who God is) because it focuses on what God has done. This is where you would thank God for saving you personally from your sin, for His authoritative and inerrant Word. Notice that this will still be focused on God and not our "needs" at this point. You may be thinking, "so, that's not a huge difference." I do, however, think it is important for us and for our children to learn to first focus on who God is first before thanking him for what He has done. Our children will learn by example, so it is important that we pray this way in front of them. The prayer of thanksgiving is so encouraging for our weary souls - when you are thanking God for all He has done for you (more broadly in salvation and then more specifically in the day to day), your attitude begins to change. How wonderful to realize that our provision comes from the God we have been praising!

 We incorporate this prayer the same way we did last week with the prayer of praise. I find that children are much better (as we are as adults) at this kind of prayer, simply because they hear it more. And just to put in another plug for the prayer of praise from last week - keep practicing it. It is probably our weakest prayer because we do not practice it. So, like any discipline, keep practicing and reviewing. If you are striving to do one minute of praise, then you could add on one minute of thanksgiving. Two minutes of prayer each day is a very doable goal for all of us.

• PLAN PLAN PLAN - have a set time and place each day that you plan to pray. 
• Start with a short amount of time. I would even say that if you aren't used to praying at all (besides meal times, bed times, and church) that you start with one minute. We can certainly all spare one minute, can't we? You could even redeem this minute of time from something you do regularly:
• car
• shower/bath
• brushing teeth
• nursing a baby (for those of you that applies to)
• changing a diaper
• making food/setting table/unloading or loading dishwasher
• scrubbing dishes or bathroom
• folding laundry
• making a bed
• Open up the Psalms - we are again using Psalm 103 each day as our guide. You can elaborate into specifics. The Psalm just helps us get our mind focused and gives us a place to start.
• God, I praise and thank you for all your benefits to me
• God, I praise and thank you for forgiving me of my sin against you
• God, I praise and thank you for being MY Redeemer
• God, I praise and thank you because you always satisfy every need I have
• Pray OUTLOUD - not all of our prayers can or should be vocalized, but I think hearing God's attributes coming out of my own mouth can greatly impact my outlook on the day. When I remember and state WHO GOD IS then I can rightly see who I am. Also, you might also have little ears listening when you don't know - think of the impact hearing your praise God could have on little souls in your home! Remember, the Psalms are your friend! If you get stuck or don't know where to start, go there. I find that when I don't have the strength or mental focus, going to God's Word and praising Him in how He describes Himself best helps me. And I hope you find that a minute isn't nearly long enough to declare WHO GOD IS and praise Him for it. Start small though, and work up. I'll check in next week. 
• Ask a friend to commit to check up on you this week and rope them into praising God for His attributes too

  

   

  You can see last week's post about some practical tips for praying with different ages, but thought I would elaborate here a bit from some questions I have gotten. If your children seem afraid to pray or won't pray, here are a few suggestions/questions to consider:

     1. Do your children hear you pray? - Do you always let them pray at meals and bedtimes, or are there times throughout the day that they can hear your example of faith?

• A lot of times, we have an adult AND child pray for meals. At bedtime, we all take turns praying. This way, the children can hear how to pray and know to not fear it.
• It is so important that you not just work with your children on this, but that you also are working on the discipline of prayer. 

     2. Do you make praying a natural and joyful expression of faith throughout the day? 

• talk about prayer with your children ... a lot! 
• pray ... a lot in front of your children - in the car, as you play, when they fall and get hurt, etc. 

     3. Do not always gives a choice

• There are sometimes, it is fine to not force the issue, but if you want your children to learn to pray, then the best way is to set up a culture in your home that says "we all pray here." This may sound harsh, but how many times do we not feel like praying but we still do and should?! We want to teach our children that faith is worth growing and pursuing and sometimes that means you do it even when you don't feel like it
• One of the best ways to encourage a child to pray is actually through prayer. If you have a child who is refusing to pray - I'd pray with them and say "God, you are powerful and able to do all things. You are our helper, the best helper we could ever have. We pray right now that you would help ______ to want to pray. Sometimes we don't want to and it is hard for us, but we know that you can help us. Thank you for promising to help us and to help ______."

      4. Dealing with fear

• Maybe they don't feel comfortable - Will I say the right words? I don't know what to say.... what do mom and dad expect? 
• It is important for us to give our children the words if they get stuck ... we need to guide them and help them
• Also important to create this culture of comfort and joy in prayer. They will look to you as an example, so if you aren't praying any time other than bed or meals, than why should they? 
• Talk to them about pray .... again .... a lot! Talk to them and show them from the Bible how God has always wanted to be with His people and communicate with them and that we CAN! 
• Make sure your other children or you aren't laughing at their prayers or being critical of their prayers. Be encouraging and supportive. "Thank you so much for participating and for praying to our great God!" 

   So, think of each week as adding to the previous. We are building block upon block for us and for our children. Because of singing with my children, they are better able to understand attributes of God and know how to name them and praise Him for them and once they know those attributes, they are better able to thank Him for what He has done for them!!

They are never too young. 

Thankfully, we are never too old. 

And God ... He is always worthy. 

     

Resource Corner

I recommended this book last week. If you have it, go ahead and read Chapter 4 on prayer. This will help you to realize why the discipline of praise is important.

• An article you might find helpful in exploring ideas 
• Here is an article with some helpful definitions on some spiritual disciplines from the C.S. Lewis Institute.

One of my favorite (easy to read) books on singing and the importance of singing with your children can be found here. I highly recommend this to help you cultivate helping your kids especially at church.