Today's Devotional

November 17,  2005

 

Subject:  Teach Us To Pray

Luke 11:1 - "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."

Every night before going to bed, I spend a few minutes in prayer with my daughters.  Initially, they would do the "now I lay me down to sleep" thing and I felt like they were just repeating a rhyme that they heard, so I began dialogue with them about what they were actually doing during the time that we spent in prayer.  I think that conversation and the resulting effects that it has had on their prayer lives will be the most significant thing that I will ever do for them.  The improvement in their sincerity and the reality of what they are doing is tremendous.  Now I often feel challenged by the authenticity of what they pray for and how they talk to God.  I often hear my oldest daughter praying about things she has heard in conversation earlier in the day, such as some of my bad students.  Without prompting, she will ask God to help them.  My youngest realizing that my oldest has been getting in trouble, has lately been praying for her big sister to "behave better in school."  Often, that results in the older praying for the well-being of her younger sister.

I've always felt like my prayer life needed much help and it has been through trying to teach my daughters this most important discipline, that mine has gotten better.   

Today, we need to understand that prayer doesn't just happen.  It is a learned behavior.  Just as we learn how to tie our shoes and brush our teeth, prayer should become a continual and required part of our children's lives.  The reality is that we normally only teach our children what we think is important.  Educating them in math, science and language arts is good for this life, but teaching prayer is good for eternity.  Life is, in fact, one long school day and we'd better be talking to "The Teacher" and asking Him to teach us to pray.

Carlen