Monday Motivation: Praying for Your Kids

Adventure Kids

How often do you consciously set aside a chunk of time- before situations arise- and pray over and for your kids?

The question posed would hopefully cause you to reflect and/or be challenged if this is a discipline you do not practice. Time spent in prayer will never be a waste, even if the fruit of your prayers comes many years, if not generations later.

An amazing resource, and an inspiration for this Monday Motivation, is 5 Things to Pray for Your Kids: Prayers that Change things for the Next Generation by Melissa Kreuger.

Let’s take a look at Psalm 19 and see a few specific ways we, as parents, can pray each verse for our kids. 

Psalm 19: 7-11 reads:

“7 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
11Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

Here’s a few (there are many more in these 5 verses) examples of ways you can pray for each of your children:

1. Each person faces different trials and each one’s heart will struggle with different sins. However, we have great hope knowing that the law of the Lord is perfect (v.7). No matter what our child seeks wisdom for, scripture holds wisdom to guide them. Ask the Lord to grow in them a love and hunger for his word. 

2.  Rejoicing in the heart (v. 8) The NIV says, “giving joy to the heart.” Ask the Lord to bring delight in Him to our children at a young age. May they desire God’s word, find joy in reading it, and may the Holy Spirit speak loudly in their hearts. 

3. …by them is your servant warned (v. 11). Scripture not only gives us wisdom for what is right, but it instructs us what to heed. Pray that your children would not just hear the word of God but be a doer of the word. Ask the Lord to bless your child in their trusting and obedience of the word of God. 

ACTION STEPS with your kids: Read Psalm 19 with your kids. Point out the truths we know from reading it. Pray with your children these verses. Encourage them to ask the Lord to give them a strong desire to know his word, to help them remember the warnings the Bible gives, and to give their hearts joy when they read it. 

Blast Zone: The Apostles Suffer

Adventure Kids

Our world is full of suffering and Jesus told the apostles that they would have to deal with suffering because of their love for Him. Today Pastor Mike looks at the book of Acts and one specific time the apostles suffered for sharing Jesus.

Monday Motivation

Adventure Kids

Our God is a giver of good gifts. He showers us with good gifts each day. Gifts we don’t deserve or even always need. James 1 verses 16-17 tell us:

 “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” 

James is talking to believers. He doesn’t want them to think, even for a second, that good gifts come from someone other than our Father. The Father of lights. He is called that because He doesn’t change. There is no shadow, because He never changes.  He is constant. He is unchangeable. One of the best gifts the Lord has given us, is truth. Through His word we can always know what is true.

In a world where so much can change quickly, knowing our God does not, is the ultimate comfort. 

In quarantine, often we feel like we are missing out on so many of our favorite things, and yet we still are given so many good, and thoughtful, gifts from the Lord. Something that could feel like a gift right now is bumping into a friend while you walk your neighborhood, a quiet drive to go grocery shopping alone, or a sunny day to spend as much of your time outside with your family as possible. Sometimes our gifts from the Lord come through trials that help us to grow in maturity and root out a selfish way.

Gifts from the Lord are often not tangible, but they meet a desire our hearts have, even if we haven’t been able to identify the longing. Often we don’t immediately recognize the good gift, until later when the Lord is good to reveal it to us. 

ACTION STEPS with your kids: Assign each family a piece of paper and hang it on the wall. Towards the end of each day, ask everyone what were some good gifts they received from the Lord that day. Write them daily and then take time to pray together, thanking the Lord for his good gifts. 

Preschool Lesson: Joshua and the People

Adventure Kids

Today Mrs. Zanna shares about Joshua preparing the people to enter the promised land. Not only did Joshua lead the people but the people also encouraged Joshua.

Parents, talk about the importance of encouraging people in leadership whether that is a teacher, parent, or church leader. Maybe have your child write a letter or make a card for a leader to encourage them during this time.