For today’s challenge, you will need four containers your kids can decorate.
Wednesday, December 30, Day 11
Bible Reading: Luke 11:1-13
Memory Verse: “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9
Interesting Facts:
- Many of the Jews during the time of Jesus would use verses from Psalms as some of their prayers.
- Jesus prayed constantly while he was on Earth. We only have the exact words to a couple of his prayers in the Bible.
Thoughts to Share: The Bible tells us Jesus spent a lot of time praying to God when he was here on Earth. Jesus taught that God wants us to pray about everything to Him. There are some important things to remember about prayer. The most important is that God knows what is best for us. Sometimes that means He will say “no” or “wait” to our prayer requests. We have to trust God even if we don’t always understand why He didn’t give us exactly what we wanted.
Another thing to remember about prayer is that prayer is not just about us asking God for everything we want. There are other things God wants us to pray to Him. One of those things is adoration. Adoration is a long word that means God wants to hear what we think about Him. Of course, God is amazing, so there are a lot of great words and phrases you can pray to God. God also wants us to use prayer to confess our sins to Him. He also wants us to thank Him for all of the blessings He gives us. There is an easy way to remember all of the things you can pray about. Just remember the word ACTS….A stands for adoration, C stands for confessing our sins, T stands for thanking God and S stands for supplication, which is a fancy word for asking God to help us.
The final thing to remember about prayer is that God wants us to pray to Him even if we are mad at Him or confused about Him. The book of Psalms is also a book of prayers that let us know people like King David prayed to God even when they were mad, scared or confused. When we read Psalms, it is easy to see that God wants to hear what we are thinking and feeling. He loves us and wants to help us.
Family Fun Instructions: Find or make four containers you can decorate. Decorate one for each of the four types of things you can pray about adoration, confession, thanks, and supplication (prayer requests). After they are decorated, fold them into boxes. Then make slips of paper and write ideas of things you can pray about in each area. Place the ideas into the box for that category. The next time you pray, you can pull out slips of paper to help you think of things to pray.
Parenting Tips: Here, you will find parenting tips for helping children pray. Your kids should learn how to pray and eventually pray throughout the day without you having to remind them. The more you pray with them and encourage them to pray on their own, the more likely they will be to pray to God regularly for the rest of their lives.