Category: Articles-Creative-Family-Prayer-Times (Page 7 of 11)

Focus: Praying for family members

Before You Begin:

Save this adventure for a hot summer day!

Prepare by filling several small balloons with water. Place your supply of water-balloons in a bucket or other container.

The Prayer Time!

Have your family meet outside in your yard or in a local park.

Ask your family to stand in a circle. (If only two people are participating, they should face each other.) Give each person a water balloon. Explain that on the count of three, everyone should

1. throw his or her balloon into the air, and
2. try to catch a different balloon.

Then count to three and let the balloon soar and the water splash! Continue tossing the balloons into the air until a balloon is broken.

As soon as a balloon breaks, stop the tossing and together determine who got the wettest; that person is the “Wet-Head” for the moment. The Wet-Head is special, because he or she gets to be the focus of prayer for 15 seconds or more! Have another family member pray for the Wet-Head (for at least 15 seconds). The prayer can be short, but it should focus on thanking God for this person and naming qualities others find special, or on specific requests this family member has shared.

Then “arm” everyone again with balloons and repeat the process. Each time one or more balloons break, see who is the newest Wet-Head, and joyfully pray for this person. It’s okay to pray for the same person more than once! Also, encourage different family members to pray each time.

You may find it “necessary” to splash a family member who continues to remain dry. Remember, everyone needs prayer!!

When your family is thoroughly soaked, pass out the towels and head inside. Then next time it’s sunny, see if anyone wants to be refreshed again with a another round of Wet-Head prayer!

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Looking for More?

Find Amy Nappa on Amazon.com

Check out a few of Amy’s YouTube videos

Discover more about Amy’s memoir, Hard Way Home

Focus: Recognizing answered prayers

Before You Begin:

For this creative prayer adventure you’ll need a jigsaw puzzle. Choose the size and difficulty of your puzzle according to the ages and abilities of your family members. If your children are preschool aged, a puzzle with 30 to 40 pieces will work best. For school aged children and older, choose a puzzle with 50 to 150 pieces. (You probably won’t want a puzzle with more than 150 pieces.)

The Prayer Time!

Place the puzzle pieces and a pen on a card table or other flat surface where the puzzle can be left for a period of time. Then explain to your family that this is a “God Puzzle” and will be put together as prayers are answered in your home.

Here’s how it works:

Every time a person in your family realizes that God has answered a prayer, this person should choose a puzzle piece. On the back of the puzzle piece, the person should write a word or two (depending on the size of the piece) as a reminder of what the answer to prayer was.

For example, “A+” might be an answer to a prayer for help on a spelling test. “Sweet dreams” might mean a child’s prayers not to have nightmares was answered. Or “$” could remind a college student (or the student’s parents) that God provided money to make the tuition payment this month.

When two puzzle pieces have been written on, they can be attached together. Leave the puzzle pieces out until each piece has something written on the back and has been attached to the rest of the puzzle.

When the God Puzzle is complete, have your family admire the finished product. Then thank God for being involved in your family’s prayers. Thank God for using your prayers to demonstrate the greater picture of his power.

If you like, leave the God Puzzle on display for a while as a reminder of all the answered prayers your family has seen. Then take the puzzle apart and store it for later use. When you do pull it out to, see if family members can remember what the answers to prayer were by the notes written on each puzzle piece.

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Looking for More?

Find Amy Nappa on Amazon.com

Check out a few of Amy’s YouTube videos

Discover more about Amy’s memoir, Hard Way Home

Focus: Caring for a child through prayer

Before You Begin:

You’ve probably seen advertisements to sponsor a child financially through a relief organization. Perhaps your family even has “adopted” a child in another country through one of these charities. In this adventure, your family will sponsor a child through prayer for a year.

The Prayer Time!

First, talk together and choose a child your family would like to support in prayer. If you do sponsor a child through a relief organization, perhaps you could choose that child. Or it could be a neighbor, a child you’ve read about in the newspaper, a child at school, a missing child, or any other child your family feels is in need of regular prayer.

If possible, obtain a picture of your chosen child and keep it on your refrigerator or another noticeable location. If a picture isn’t available, select another object that will represent this person to your family. You might choose a small flag from the country where the child lives. Or if your chosen child is in need of medical attention, you might use a get-well card as your reminder.

Over the next year, gather your family and pray every Saturday morning for this child. Make your prayers as specific as possible using any information you have access to. If it’s appropriate, your family may also want to send cards or notes of encouragement or make other similar gestures to show your love and concern for this child.

After a year, thank God for any changes you’ve seen in this child. Then let your family decide if they’d like to continue praying for this child, or if they’d like to choose another child to pray for during the coming year.

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Looking for More?

Find Amy Nappa on Amazon.com

Check out a few of Amy’s YouTube videos

Discover more about Amy’s memoir, Hard Way Home

Focus: People and memories from the past

Before You Begin:

Pull out the old photo albums and scrapbooks and get ready to take a trip down memory lane!

The Prayer Time!

Gather everyone on the couch or a bed, spread out your photo albums and scrapbooks, and reminisce about trips taken, past holidays, events and other occasions. Tell kids it’s an “I remember…” game where everyone gets to share about their favorite memories. Take your time looking through the pages of your photo albums and scrapbooks and allow different family members to tell their memories of when each picture was taken.

Soon you’ll be hearing things like, “That was the Christmas Mom had the flu and we got to order pizza!” and “Remember when Mr. Cunningham lived next door and we used to eat the strawberries from his garden? Does anyone know what ever happened to him?”

As you think of events and friendships, stop occasionally to pray. For insatnce:

• When pictures remind you of a fun vacation or wild adventure, thank God for the time you were able to spend together and the memories that were shared during that time.
• If a snapshot brings back memories of a hard time financially, or the death of a loved one or other difficult times, thank God for bringing you through that time and for being there with you.
• Ask God to continue to heal old wounds.
• Thank God for the lives and memories you have of deceased loved ones.

When you come upon pictures of long-lost friends, pray that God will continue to show himself to these friends.

You may even want to find a person you’d forgotten about to ask forgiveness for a past wrong or to share with this friend about God’s love. Or if friends pictured are still an active part of your lives, ask God to build your friendships and thank him for putting these people in your lives.

You may find pictures of family members no longer living with you, such as a daughter gone away to college. For some, this could be those who have left because of divorce or other family separation. Remember to thank God for these people and to bring their needs before him as well.

As you talk with each other and God, don’t forget to thank God for each other, and for the time that you have to spend together right now!

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Looking for More?

Find Amy Nappa on Amazon.com

Check out a few of Amy’s YouTube videos

Discover more about Amy’s memoir, Hard Way Home

Focus: Prayer for our home

Before You Begin:

This creative prayer will take your family on a walking tour of the place you live.

The Prayer Time!

This creative prayer will take your family on a walking tour of the place you live. As you gather for a time of prayer, explain that you’ll be moving through each room of your home and praying for the people and activities represented by that room.

Begin in your living room. Pray for the time family members spend together in this room. Ask God to guide conversations that take place here. Ask God to let those who visit in this room be aware of his love. Let any family member pray who wants to pray in this room. Then move on to the next room.

When you arrive at the bedrooms, pray for those who sleep there. Pray in specific ways for each person and for God’s blessing upon those who come into this room each day.

In the kitchen pray for family times together at meals. Ask that these be times of laughter and harmony. Thank God for the gift of food.

Continue through your home, including areas such as the front entry, hallways, and so on. You might even want to include things such as closets, your lawn, garage or parking stall, apartment swimming pool, and other areas as you like. Thank God for his provision of a home, and ask that this home would be a place where people experience and share God’s love.

Close your time together by reading Joshua 24:15b, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Ask God to help everyone in your household serve him no matter what room he or she is in!

If your family enjoys this prayer adventure, plan another time to travel to places where your family members spend time. Get into the car and drive to places like the baby-sitter’s house, each child’s school, workplaces of family members, and so on. At each place park the car for a couple of minutes and pray for the person who spends time there and for the activities that take place in that building.

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Looking for More?

Find Amy Nappa on Amazon.com

Check out a few of Amy’s YouTube videos

Discover more about Amy’s memoir, Hard Way Home