Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Prayer

If you know me, you know that I have no greater desire than to help my daughter establish an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. That being said, I find myself concerned about her lack of desire when it comes to prayer. I know. I can hear it now. "Give her a break Chad. She's only four years old." I realize this, but the thing is, she has such a "talkative" personality and will talk to anyone but that doesn't seem to carry over to her prayer life.

It could be that I've chosen our extended prayer times to be in the evening, when she is tired from the days events and ready to fall asleep.

I'm not overly concerned. I just try to be the best example I can be. Helping her to see that prayer is more than just ritualistic chatter. It's a conversation with our Creator.

My hope is that she will grow into this whole prayer thing as she matures. Lord knows I'm nowhere close to being a prayer warrior. Who knows. Maybe one day we'll both get it.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been concerned too Chad, with Katie-Rae. She and Ethan are totally different when it comes to praying aloud. Kelly and I sometimes have to beg her to pray. But when those little eyes close and her lips begin to open, sweet thoughts begin to flow. We really get a glimpse of her heart. Today I finished reading the book the Bad Girls of the Bible. The final chapter is about the sinful woman in Luke chapter 7. The author had some final comments to make and they really made me think...The paragraph is entitled Silence speaks volumes. I will paraphrase a little for you.

This woman didn't vocalize anything, let alone her need for forgiveness. She never even moved her lips except to kiss her Savior. Jesus can discern our thoughts and read our intentions as if we each were a well-worn book. Considering how often our words don't match our hearts, it's amazing the Lord listens to our lips at all. When we're talking to Jesus directly, as she was, we can hear better when we're listening in silence and worshiping...not talking.

I know that Katie-Rae and Emerie's vocal prayer life will grow with maturity. But ultimately God knows their sweet tender hearts. I am glad that He can see right through our actions to our inner self. If He viewed us by our actions alone, how disappointed might He be.

~Jeni

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's a girl thing.

Anonymous said...

Add a zero to Emrie's age and that is mine and I found myself not praying as often as I should.

Not the conversational prayer where I talk to God and ask him to explain things, but the prayers of thanksgiving that I need to do more often.

Emrie probably already prays and talks to God more than a large % of those who feel the pews each Sunday morning at the churches across this country.

Sandi said...

Chad, since little girls sing alot, and my granddaughter Jadeyn, is the same age as Em, maybe she would like to sing her prayers. Just a thought, since she likes to sing How Great Is Our God!