Praying is more than Just Words
April 4, 2009 by Ruth
Filed under Uncategorized
A Devotional for Kids!
No matter what words we use, if our attitude is right to God, He hears us. God hears the cry of our heart not our high sounding words. We may think we don’t know how to pray. Prayer is a reflection of our heart, what we think. Just talking to God from our hearts is prayer.
When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, He gave them a model prayer. It doesn’t mean He wants us to only pray that prayer to God but it gives us an idea how to pray and what to pray about.
You can read the whole prayer in Matthew 6:9 to 13. I am quoting The Living Bible.
“Pray along these lines:
‘Our Father in heaven, we honor your holy name.
We ask that your kingdom will come now.
May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven.
Give us our food again today, as usual, and forgive us our sins, just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us.
Don’t bring us into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One.
Amen.’ ”
We can pray to God and know He listens because the Bible tells us over and over how much He cares for us. We honor His name because it is holy. He never sins but more than that He is unique in His character and attributes. That is what makes Him God.
By praying ‘your kingdom come’ we are telling God that we agree with Him; that we too want to see the Gospel taught and done on earth. We are submitting to God’s will.
When we ask Him for our food we are admitting that we depend on Him and recognize that all good things come from Him.
Only God can forgive us our sins. Even though we often try, we can’t hide our sins from God. God knows everything about us and still loves us. We need to confess our sins to God and ask for forgiveness. When there is nothing between us and God He can hear and answer our prayers.
In this prayer Jesus is also teaching us how to live. We need to forgive those who have wronged us just as Jesus forgives us.
When we ask God to not bring us into temptation we are actually asking Him to protect us from temptation. The Bible clearly teaches that God does not tempt us to sin, but Satan, the Evil One does. If we spend time with God each day, praying to Him and reading His Word, He strengthens us spiritually so we can say no to sin, the wrong things that come our way.
God doesn’t want us to pray pious sounding words that make us sound religious like the Pharisees. They prayed out loud on street corners to impress people. He doesn’t want us to fake who we are. As we pray to Him, He does His work in our hearts and attitudes and makes us Christ like, in His time.
The first and best prayer we can pray is, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
Luke 18:13 [The Living Bible]
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I want to walk with you spiritually this year, inviting you to read the Bible through from cover to cover; from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22:21. If that sounds too difficult for you and your kids, you can join in again after you have taken a break or join us for the days you’re up to it. I promise that you will understand the Bible in a much deeper way if you read it through from cover to cover in a year’s time.
Accept my challenge to read the Bible through in one year chronologically, including the Old and the New Testament.
Today read:
Deuteronomy 26:1-27:26
Luke 10:38-11:13
Psalm 76:1-12
Proverbs 12:15-17
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