Habit of Prayer

"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit."  Jude 1:20

"Kyle, did you pray about what God wants you to do about baseball?  And have you decided if you should play on Saturday or not?"  I asked recently.

 "No", he replied.

"What exactly does that mean, Kyle?"

"No, I didn't pray about it, and no I don't want to play."

Prayer is a hard discipline to learn.  I don't admit to having it all figured out.  Blogging my prayers has helped, meeting with others to pray together is encouraging, yet it still is a struggle on some days.  With practice though I sense that it's getting easier and easier.

I'm trying to teach my kids about prayer.  Assuming that if they can learn it when they are younger, it will come easier to them.  However, I fear that I'm not doing the greatest job at that either.  When opportunities arise, besides times at the dinner table, I'm working on remembering to encourage Alyssa and Kyle to pray about the decisions and challenges they are facing in their life.

I want prayer to become a natural conversation with God in my children's lives.  I want prayer to be their first line of defense when they face struggles.  Prayer can be a beautiful expression of trust, faith, and hope in a God who wants to hear everything they have to say.

So, beginning even now at this age, I pray that they fall in love with prayer.

Lord, what a wonderful thing it is that we can speak to you as one speaks with a friend.  We can unload our burdens, share our fears, and hand over our hurts to you, through moments of prayer.  Help prayer to become a real and powerful thing in the lives of our children.  Spirit, prod them to come to you in deep and intimate conversation, and build a precious relationship together as they come to you in prayer.  I pray that they find themselves speaking to you about all their doubts, fears, hopes and dreams, and in return learn to hear your voice gently whispering to them of love, guidance, and assurance.  Prayer can be a beautiful outpouring that represents a valuable relationship, and I want this for kids. Lord, thank you for hearing their prayers, and being available morning, noon, and night to answer their call to you.  God you are so good, and oh how I give you praise and thanks for the gift of prayer.