Why should I pray?

Devotional for Kids

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.
If you do this you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6and 7 The Living Bible

Prayer is the most important part of a Christian’s life. It’s how we communicate with God. He speaks to us as we read the Bible and we speak with Him when we pray. How would you like it if your parents expected you to talk the whole time when you’re with them and they never spoke to you? That would be a very one-sided conversation.

That is also how our relationship with God is. He wants us to talk to Him and worship Him. He wants us to ask Him for things for us and for others. He wants us to thank Him for everything He gives to us and does for us.

We don’t have to get frustrated and angry when we have a problem. He wants us to pray to Him and ask Him what we should do. When we read the Bible and ask God to speak to us and show us what to do, He will.

Sometimes He will give us an answer right away by giving us an idea or we will see the answer in a verse we are reading. Sometimes He sends a person to us to help us decide what to do. We can pray with confidence knowing He hears us.

Can You Hear God?

“Then God blessed them, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply;’ ”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow Me.”
John 10:27 NKJV

When I read about Adam and Eve in the Bible I used to get jealous. I thought they were lucky to talk to God and He would answer them right away. That must have been so cool.

We will have our turn too. As His children, when we get to heaven we too will talk with God face to face. But how can we hear him now?

We can get to know God by reading the Bible, which is His letter to us, and by praying to Him. And then we need do to what we understand He is telling us to do.

He usually speaks to by putting thoughts into our mind. You may wonder; “how do I know if it’s just what I am thinking or if God is speaking to me?” If your thoughts line up with what the Bible teaches, you can be sure that this is the right thing to do.

For example, you might be reading an account in the Bible about how someone lied about their neighbor in court and got them into trouble. Then when you pray to God He might put a thought into your mind that He wants you to stop lying.

I’m using this example because when I was a child and already a Christian I had a big problem with lying. I wanted to impress my parents and teachers. I wanted them to think that I was always responsible and reliable.

Sometimes I just plain was not that responsible and I had messed up. But I wouldn’t admit it, so I lied to them. I said I had done something I was supposed to, when I hadn’t. It took a long time for God to get through to me that lying is sin and He wanted me to stop. I didn’t want to hear about that and shut that thought out.

If you are serious about wanting to hear God speak to you, just ask Him to. Spend some time by yourself in a quiet place and think about God. Read the Bible and let God’s words fill your mind. God promises if we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us.

For the parent:
“Then God blessed them, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply;’ ”
Genesis 1:28 NKJV
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow Me.”
John 10:27 NKJV

Can you hear God? God is always ready and desiring to speak to us. It is us who shut Him out at times.

There are many reasons why we sometimes can’t hear God speak to us. Here are some of the reasons I have discovered in my walk with Him.

Sometimes I am just so filled with the things of life; there is no room for a thought about God. These can be good things, like a fulfilling relationship. I sense this when our kids and grandkids come home for a weekend or for some celebration. I also sense it after I have spent time with my sisters. Both times, my heart is so full I just don’t need anyone else. At these times I tend to pray very infrequently and very short prayers.

Other times I can’t hear God because I’m busy catching up on my schedule. My mind is too full of the cares of life to hear Him.

Sometimes, sad to say, it’s because there is sin in my life and I’m not willing to deal with it, yet. I shut Him out.

In all of these times I have found the only solution is to lay each situation at His feet, to let go. I thank Him for my warm relationships that I can enjoy but realize that it’s because we are one in His Spirit that makes it so.

I force myself to stop what I’m doing when I’m behind and spend time with Him. I’ve learned that as I give Him time, He gives me time and energy to finish my work on schedule.

And I repent when He convicts me of sin. As I draw near to God, He draws near to me.

My Hero, Daniel!

DEVOTIONAL FOR KIDS!

Who is your hero? Who is there in your life that you think the world of and want to be just like him? Maybe it’s an imaginary character like Harry Potter or Superman or Iginla, the Flames hockey captain. You want their powers so you can control your life and even the lives of others. I think at sometimes we all want to play God.

My hero is Daniel. You can read about him in the Bible in the book of Daniel. I admire his character: “in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand”. [Daniel 1:4] NKJV

He was smart and confident but I don’t see any arrogance in him. He didn’t think or act as if he thought he was better then other people. He was available to God and others and not to make himself look good. But because he was so dedicated to God in everything he did, God made him not only look good but become great.

What I like about Daniel especially was that he decided not to defile himself. He decided not to sin. He stood up for his beliefs in God and what God wanted from him even when it threatened his life.

Because of that God made him very important with a lot of power. The king made him the head governor and the other governors were jealous of him. They wanted to get him into trouble so the king would fire him.

So they watched him to see which of his faults they could use against him. You know what? They couldn’t find a problem with him because he did everything right. The Bible says he was faithful.

Finally the governors used the good part in Daniel’s life to bring him down. They knew he worshipped the God of the Bible. Everyday, three times, he threw his windows wide open and prayed to God.

The governors took advantage of the king’s pride. They talked him into making a new law. The law said for the next thirty days no one could pray to anyone or anything, except to the king. Whoever broke the law would be thrown into the den of lions. The king agreed and signed the decree not knowing that Daniel faithfully prayed to the one God.

Daniel, my hero, was very brave and stayed faithful to God. In the beginning of time God had made a law. His law said people should pray to and worship only Him. So to worship anyone or anything else is sin.

Daniel was thrown into the den of lions. God rescued him in a very unique way. You can read about it in the book of Daniel chapter 6.

I’m wondering where in my life today I need to be more faithful to God and not try to make myself look good. What about you? God does make things work out great for us when we honor Him. He takes care of us when we take care of the things of God.

DEVOTIONAL FOR PARENTS!

After you’ve read through the kids’ devotional take it to the adult level.

Who is your hero? We all have them. It’s that person we pattern our life after. Your hero may be that person in your business or your work world who has made it to the top where you want to be. He may be that person who excels in life finding that perfect balance between home, work and person.

Daniel’s faithfulness to God in all areas of our lives is even more challenging than that in a child’s life but it is also so much more rewarding. As an adult we play for keeps. Everything we do and accomplish or don’t accomplish affects not only our life and future personally but our family’s welfare and future. We play for big stakes. But the exciting part is the bigger the stake the bigger opportunity for God to make Himself known and for us to bring honor to Him.

Ruth Willms

Author: The Lion Tree
http://ruthwillms.com

ruth.willms@gmail.com

Brave Queen Esther

FOR KIDS

“And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” Esther 4:16

Haman, the villain in the book of Esther, was above all the princes in the land and everyone had to bow to him. But Mordecai, Queen Esther’s uncle, would not bow to him. Maybe Mordecai saw it as false worship, dishonoring God. Haman hated Mordecai for not showing him honor.

When Haman discovered that Mordecai was a Jew he dreamed up a plan to destroy him. He told the King that there was a group of people in the land who held to their own laws and did not keep the Persian laws. Haman advised the King that these people, the Jews, should all be destroyed. The King agreed. He did not know that Queen Esther was a Jew.

Mordecai informed Queen Esther of the new law and warned her to go to the King and plead for the lives of the Jews. Mordecai thought the King would listen to her since he loved her and would change the law.

But Queen Esther was afraid. She also knew of another law that said if anyone dared to approach the King with a request, without being summoned by him, could be put to death. The only exception was if the King would hold out his golden scepter to them. She was worried that he would not hold out his scepter for her because he had ignored her for thirty days. Yet, she knew the only way to save her people, the Jews, from death would be for her to intercede for them.

She knew that God had put her in this place at this time for the purpose of saving the Jews, God’s people. She risked her life and miraculously by God’s doing, the King did hold out his scepter to her and help her and her people. You can read the complete story in the Bible in the book of Esther.

God has a purpose and a plan for each one of us His children. It may not be as demanding and scary as Queen Esther’s mission but it may take as much courage to accomplish.

Things get in the way of doing God’s will: like our pride, we want to look good to others; our selfishness, we want to accumulate material things instead of spiritual; our ambition, we want to be important and have power and be in control.

God wants us to let him be in control and He can and will work things out for us as long as we do it His way.

FOR PARENTS

The account of Queen Esther’s bravery and obedience is as relevant to us as parents as to our children so go ahead and share theirs today.

Ruth Willms

Author: The Lion Tree
http://ruthwillms.com
ruth.willms@gmail.com

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