Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day nine of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day nine with an important reminder to know and teach the fear of the Lord.

Know the Fear of the Lord

“Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. “
Psalm 34:11 (NIV)

Is fear a good thing or a bad thing?  Explain.  What does “the fear of the Lord” mean to you?  Why?  How do you feel about fearing the Lord?  Why?  What are some things that a good and healthy fear protects you from?  What are some things that an unhealthy fear has kept you from?  What’s the difference?  How does learning and practicing a healthy fear lead to greater wisdom?  What have you learned about having a fear of the Lord that you wish you had learned earlier?  How does that help you to pray for others to know the fear of the Lord?

As an emotion, fear is a very complicated thing.  As a decision, however, fear can be a choice that leads us down a path of good and right choices.  When you pray for a child of any age to know a fear of the Lord, you are asking God to direct them in a way of wisdom.  This is a fear that understands both the consequences of disobedience and the love of a forgiving Father.  When we live with a fear of the Lord, we help others to see the joy of walking in obedience — not just to avoid the “wrath of God”, but to honor the Father who loves us beyond measure.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help them know the fear of the Lord as a good and positive thing.  Pray that they would find wisdom in following a path outlined by a godly fear of the Lord.  Pray that God’s love would change those who feel more terror than fear.  Pray that your life would help others to know that there is joy to be found when you fear the Lord according to the honor that He deserves.  Pray that those around you would choose obedience which honors God.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day eight of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day eight with an important reminder to live a life that praises God.

Live a Life of Praise

“From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.“
Psalm 8:2 (NIV)

How do you feel when people praise you?  Is that feeling different based on why they are praising you or what you perceive their motives to be?  Why?  How often do you praise others?  Why do you praise them?  Do you think they appreciate it?  Why?  What would it look like if your praise of God would come from a child-like heart?  Would it sound different?  Would its source be from a different reason?  How does your giving, and accepting, of praise help children learn to offer praise to God? 

Praise is an interesting thing because we tend to use it in our interactions with one another in ways that aren’t always pure.  One of the big differences between praise and flattery is the motive behind what we say.  True praise, and particularly our praise of God, should always be about Him because making it about what we want isn’t really praise.  When we live a life of honest praise, we teach our children that we value God, and them, simply for who they are.  The praise that comes from children, and from the child within us, is a praise of innocence that exalts God and silences those opposed to Him.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help each of you offer praise which is genuine.  Pray that your example of praise would lead others to honor God with their words and their life.  Pray for honesty in examining the motives behind the praise that is expressed.  Pray that the heart of a child would always be turned toward God in praise.  Pray that each person would learn to offer praise to God simply because they value His presence in their life.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day seven of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day seven with an important reminder to find joy through your relationship with Jesus and pray that your example would help others to know the joy of the Lord.

Know the Joy of the Lord

“And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.”
Nehemiah 12:43 (NIV)

How joyful are you?  Would your closest friends agree?  Would strangers agree?  Why?  What is the source of your joy?  Does your level of joy vary?  Why?  How does living with the joy of the Lord change the amount of joy you express in your day to day life?  What does the joy of the Lord mean to you?  How can you help others to find and have it?  What is it about your relationship with the Lord that brings you the most joy?  How often do you express that reason, and that joy, to others?  Do you think the children around you, and the child within you, believe you have great joy in the Lord?  Why?

Living with joy is not easy, especially when much of what we label as joy is based upon the circumstances of life being in our favor.  The joy of the Lord, however, tends to be based upon two things.  One, a recognition of the Lord’s presence with us, and two, an understanding of what the Lord has done for us that only He could have done.  When we help the children around us understand those two things, we set them on a path where the joy of the Lord can be found.  When the joy of the Lord is in us, there will be no hiding it.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to fill you with a joy that can only come from Him.  Pray that your expressions of joy will help the children in your life to know that true joy can be found when we seek it in the Lord.  Pray for wisdom in leading others to see a path of joy when the journey they are walking is filled with difficulty.  Pray that you would be an example to the children around you when it comes to ways to express the joy the Lord has filled you with.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day six of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day six with an important reminder to know that we, and all those around us, can return to God from wherever we have strayed or been scattered.

Return to God

“When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you take them to heart wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the LORD your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. “
Deuteronomy 30:1-3 (NIV)

Have you ever been lost or found it necessary to be away from familiar surroundings for an extended period of time?  How did you feel?  Why?  Are there times when you begin to doubt if you could ever return to a place, or person, you once valued?  Why?  What does it take to return to a relationship you once rejected?  How does your forgiveness of children, and yourself, help each of you to know you can return to God even after you stray?  Are there people that you think are too far from God to ever return?  What does God say?  How does your return to God when you stray give hope to those watching you?

Many people, including children, find themselves estranged from one another and from God.  Sometimes the separation is so great, or the reasons so personal, that we begin to think there is no way back.  One of the most beautiful promises in the Bible is the promise of God that He will be found from wherever we are when we seek Him with our whole heart.  There may be no message more powerful that we can communicate to our children than the message that there is always a way home.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help you remember your journey to Him, including the times you have strayed and returned.  Pray that the children around you, and the child within you, would live in the humility that allows for a full reconciliation of those who stray.  Pray for a softening and removal of pride which keeps the wandering child from believing they can return to God.  Pray for a practice, and acceptance, of forgiveness which can bring about a restoration once thought impossible.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of school and church buildings being closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day five of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day five with an important reminder to know, value, and live the commands of God as you share them with children of any age in every way possible.

Value the Commands of God

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.  Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)

Have you ever not done something you should have because you didn’t know you were supposed to?  How do you feel when you miss opportunities that you should have known about?  Are there times you have done something that you didn’t know was wrong until after the fact?  How did you feel?  Did you wish someone had warned you ahead of time?  Why?  How diligent are you about learning what God wants and expects?  Do you feel responsible to help others know the commands of God?  Why?  How does your comfort level in living and talking about the commands of God help others to know them?

Years ago I was pulled over by the police for committing a driving infraction when I wasn’t aware I was doing anything wrong.  After the policeman gave me a written warning, a person riding with me said, “Oh, yeah, you can’t do that in this town.”  My immediate thought was, “That would have been nice to know before I drove through the town rather than after.”  Our willingness to talk about God’s commands, and practice them, in all situations will go a long way toward our children knowing them.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help you be more aware of His commands.  Pray for help in expressing the suitability of His commands in all situations.  Pray that the children around you, and the child within you, would know the commands of God as tools meant to help you and not to harm you.  Pray for wisdom in living and sharing the commands of God with people who have not yet chosen to follow them.  Pray that your obedience to the commands of God would help the next generation know their value.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of schools and churches closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day four of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day four with an important reminder to know what a life that goes well looks like from God’s perspective . . . and then live that way.

A Life That Goes Well

“Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.  Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.”
Deuteronomy 4:39-40 (NIV)

Has your definition of what “life going well” looks like changed over time?  In what way?  Why?  What is the most important part of living a life that goes well?  Why?  Are you more focused on helping children get what they want or on finding what they need to live a good life?  Why?  What’s the difference?  What does obedience to God have to do with a life that goes well?  Does your level of obedience serve as a good example to the next generation?  How has your obedience, or lack of it, impacted the people around you?  Would you be more obedient if you were to realize how much doing so helps life to go well for others?  Why?

I suspect that we all want a life that goes well for the children around us and for the child within us.  Praying that it goes well is a great start, but our obedience to God is where our prayers are put into action in this matter.  While it can be easy to focus on the stuff that this world offers, Jesus asked, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?”.  Praying that life goes well means that we are asking God to help a person live in obedience so their soul is not lost.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help you pray from a position of obedience.  Pray that God would give you an eternal perspective to what is needed for life to truly go well.  Pray that you would practice a life of obedience that helps life to go well for the child in you and for those children around you.  Pray for hearts of understanding in you and in the children you pray for, so each of you would know God’s perspective of what a life that goes well looks like.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of schools and churches closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day three of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day three with an important reminder to know the mighty works of God and make them known to others.

Know the Mighty Works of God

“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.  And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.'” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
Exodus 12:24-27 (NIV)

What is the most spectacular thing you have ever witnessed?  How often do you talk about it?  Why?  What is the most incredible thing God has done in your life?  Who knows about it?  How do they know?  What have you learned from others about the mighty works of God?  What have you experienced yourself?  How are you sharing what you have learned with those of the next generation?  Do the children around you believe in a mighty God?  Does the child within you believe in a mighty God?  Why?  What would it take for you to be more deliberate in sharing about the mighty works of God with others?

Whether easily impressed or a skeptic at heart, most of us have difficulty in giving God credit for the mighty works He does in and around us each day.  While unintentional, we often follow in the pattern of the Egyptians, and Israelites, who dismissed the early mighty works of God as irrelevant.  While the mightiest work of God in our life is being saved from eternal death by the blood of Jesus, there are many other works being done by Him that we ought to also be sharing.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help them be aware of the mighty works He has done, and is doing, in their life.  Pray for eyes that can see the mighty works God is doing in your life.  Pray for wisdom in sharing with children about the mighty works of God.  Pray that your testimony about God’s mighty works would help the children around you know of God’s desire and ability to save them.  Pray that the child within you would reflect the mighty work God has done.

In prayer,

Tom  

Praying for children has been heavy on my heart during this current season of schools and churches closed with the need for social distancing, self isolation, and stay at home orders.  I pray often that families will be able to shield children to some extent from the negative emotions that cling to this COVID-19 pandemic.  This is day two of the devotions from my “The Heart of a Child” book to help each of us pray for a child of any age, including our age.

How can my prayers for my children be more effective?  What does God want for my child?  What does God want for me as His child?  What qualities should I grow in to become more like the child God created me to be?  How would my prayer life change if I consistently approached God with the confidence of being His child?  Through time in prayer, this devotional journal was written to help you understand, and live, some important traits of living and praying with the heart of a child.

Here is day two with an important reminder to see yourself and the children around you as being a gift from God.

A Gift From God

Then Esau looked up and saw the women and children. “Who are these with you?” he asked.  Jacob answered, “They are the children God has graciously given your servant.”
Genesis 33:5 (NIV)

What makes a gift most valuable to you; the item itself or the one who gave it?  Why?  Have you ever received something that you didn’t want or didn’t know what to do with, but later came to realize its value as you began to understand the purpose of the giver?  Explain.  Do you know a child of any age that feels less valuable than the people around them?  Is that child sometimes you?  Why?  How does what others believe about you change what you believe about yourself?  How would having people recognize that every child is a gift from God change the way children of any age see themselves?

I have a very valuable collection of items on my shelves and window sill at work.  Yet, when my office was broken into several years ago, not one of those items were taken.  It is not until I tell the stories behind each gift that others begin to understand the value of both the item and the giver.  In a similar way, I believe it is not only important that every child recognizes that they are a gift from God, but that we are more deliberate in seeing the life of everyone, including our self, as a gift from God.

As you pray for a child of any age, ask God to help you see them as His gift.  Pray that each person would see their life as a gift from God.  Pray for the wisdom needed to help others see children as God’s gift.  Ask God to help the children you are praying for know that they are valuable to Him and that He has created them to be valuable to others.  Pray that we would value one another based on the One who has given them rather than on what they can or cannot do.

In prayer,

Tom