Today is a Brand New Day
Faith

Hello my friend,  

 

Good morning!

 

I pray that we have a great beginning of the week and that you all had a very joyful Mother's Day. Thank you to all the mothers for your unconditional Love!

Someone asked me: how can I grow our faith? I had that question some years ago too, not once but a few times until I learned how. Through prayer. The next question is: how am I supposed to pray? It is very personal how we pray. Nevertheless there are guidelines, after all we need to teach others how to pray when they ask us. The Holy Spirit is who in time will lead each person to a personal expression of their faith through prayer. I bought a great resource to teach leaders how to equip the parents so they can teach their children how to pray. This is the first lesson.
The first step is to explain the person the Biblical foundation for Prayer:

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.    

Why should we pray? The most obvious answer is because we are told to do so. Paul told the people of Philippi-and therefore us-to present all our requests to God. And why should we not be anxious? Because God is our provider. He cares for us. So we should present our petitions to him and expect him to provide in the ways he knows are best for us.

 

Ephesians 6:18a

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

 

When should we pray? We should pray all the time-whenever we have a request, a praise, or a confession. What should we pray for? We should pray for "all kinds" of things-forgiveness, wisdom, help, health, courage, peace, reconciliation, a job, money to pay the mortgage, and so on.

 

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

 

Will God answer our prayers? Yes. Will he do it in the way we expect? Maybe. Will we always like his answer? No. The thing to remember is that when we ask for something, God will give us what we need, not necessarily what we asked for. When we seek something, God will give us what we should have sought after, whether it's what we were seeking or not. We often don't know what we really need or want, but he does. He knows us better than we know ourselves.

 

Consider
  1. There are obviously more reasons to pray than just because we're supposed to. What are some of the other reasons?
  2. Do we expect God to answer our prayers? How do we respond or react when our prayers aren't answered the way we want them to be answered?
  3. How can we convey these truths about prayer in ways kids can understand?

Have a great week.
Blessings,

    

Julieta Reyes Flores