Joshua’s House

Click here for printable PDF version.

“Pray without ceasing” ~1 Thessalonians 5:17

“It was at this time the [Jesus] went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.” ~Matthew 6:12

“To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.

Prayer is a very important part of our relationships with God. Jesus went away to pray many times. Moses talked with God, and again and again Paul tells us the importance of prayer for one another. Why don’t you pull your family together and have a fun prayer meeting. You can even invite other people to join you if you’d like. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Prayer in the Bible
Pull out a concordance and look up the word prayer. Go through a few verses every night for a couple weeks to find out what God says about prayer. Make sure to write down everything that you learn.

Pray for One Another
It is so important to pray for all of your family members. Take some time to listen to each family member. What is on his heart? What can everyone thank God for? Have someone be the scribe. After everyone has had their chance to share, let each family member pick someone else to pray for so that everyone is being lifted up to God. Example: dad prays for Suzie, Suzie prays for mom, mom prays for Scott, Scott prays for dad.

Prayer Box
Keep a box with a slot on the top in a prominent place. Whenever someone has a prayer request or a praise, she can place it in the box (for children too young to write, they can draw a picture of their praise or prayer request.) Each week you can get together and go through your box. See what requests God has answered and thank Him for all that He has been doing in your lives.

Journal
Keep a family prayer journal. Have a scribe in the family write down all of the things you would like to take to the LORD. Each time you get together, look back over your previous entries. Make sure to make a note of all of the prayers God has answered.

Prayer Picture Book
Gather pictures of family members, friends, co-workers, school mates, church members, you name it. Also, find a small photo album. Fill the album up with as many pictures as you can. Each week, pray for the next person in the photo album. Flip albums work great because then you can set the picture where everyone can see it and be reminded to pray for that person. You may even want to write letters to those people with encouraging pictures and Bible verses to let them know that you are praying for them. Make sure to get the whole family in on this part.

Prayer is an important part of our spiritual journey and it is important to teach kids to make it an integrated part of their lives at an early age. They will begin to turn to God in prayer more as they see you doing the same.

Enjoy growing in prayer.