Category: Articles-Creative-Family-Prayer-Times (Page 9 of 11)

Focus: Praying for a Friend

Before You Begin:

Establish a routine of praying together with children before bedtime.

The Prayer Time!

Each night as you pray with your child before bed, include one of your child’s friends in your prayers. Let your child choose which friend he or she would like to pray for.

Some children will enjoy selecting friends randomly, while others may want to create a list or even post a bulletin board with pictures of friends to use as a reference. Allow the decision of whom to pray for to be your child’s. If he or she chooses the same friend for several nights in a row, that’s fine.

If your child would like to, have him or her pray aloud for the chosen friend. Or take turns praying for the friend. Here are ideas of how to pray:

Pray for the child’s spiritual growth. For instance, in a child’s words, “Help (friend) to know you love him. Thank you that he learns about you at church.” Or, “Help me show (friend) that you love her. Even though her family doesn’t know about you, I pray that she learns about you from me and other people who know you.”

Pray for the child’s safety and heath.

Pray for specific needs of the child as you are aware of them. “Jesus, watch over (friend) as she takes a test tomorrow.” Or, “Help Kyle to get over his cold.”

Pray for the relationship between this child and your child. Thank God for giving your child friends. Ask God to help your child be an example of God’s love to his or her friend.

You may occasionally ask your child to pray for a who they don’t consider to be a friend. This could be a school bully or another person the child doesn’t care for. Pray that God will show his love to this child as well. You may also pray for an improved relationship between your child and this one.

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Focus: Praying for people we don’t know

Before You Begin:

Purchase a map of the world or the country in which you live. Place this map on a bulletin board or other similar surface in your home.

The Prayer Time!

When it’s time for family prayer, give each person a dart and have family members take turns throwing their darts at the map. (Older family members may want to help younger children do this safely. Variations for non-sharp darts are included below as well.)

Encourage family members pray for people who live in the areas that have been “pinpointed” by the darts. For example, if a dart hits Colorado on the map, everyone can pray for the people of this state (us included!). The more detailed your map is, the more specific you can be as to which areas you pray for. Be sure to explain a bit about the area you’re praying for to younger family members who don’t yet have much knowledge of geography.

If you like, have family members do a bit of research about the areas in which the darts stick. Make a trip together to the local library and use encyclopedias, newspapers and periodicals to learn more about the countries, states or cities you’ve pinpointed. Perhaps there’s been war or political unrest, or a natural disaster. Or you may find the area to be enjoying wonderful weather and a low crime rate! Use the information to pray and offer praises more specifically for the people living there.

Variation: If you’re uncomfortable using pointed darts with your children, you may want to try damp suction darts. Or young children may enjoy spinning a globe and letting their finger drag along the surface until the globe stops. Then they can pray for the people in the area where their finger is resting.

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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: Praise for God’s creation

Before You Begin:

Clear a shelf or other prominent area in your home that you can use to create a “gallery” for display.

The Prayer Time!

Gather your family and say: “The Apostle Paul declared in Romans 1:20, ‘For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature —have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.'”

Tell children that every created thing reflects God’s glory and power and ask, “Why not use God’s creation to inspire our family’s praise of God?”

Set up an area in your home (such as a bookshelf or the fireplace mantel) to place things that somehow reflect God’s glory to you and your family. Then encourage family members to fill this area with things they find that inspire them to praise God.

For example, your family might fill your chosen spot with things like:

• dried flower petals,
• pictures of your family,
• a bird’s nest,
• a puppy’s collar,
• a card with a favorite Scripture verse written on it,
• a small musical instrument,
• a postcard from the Grand Canyon,
• a valentine,
• a child’s drawing,
• a pine cone, or
• a letter from a friend.

Work together as a family to arrange the chosen items into a miniature “art gallery of God’s praise,” creating small “exhibits” for each one.

When your gallery of praise is ready, gather around and look through it while you pray together. Include in your prayers moments when family members tell God, “Lord, I see your glory in the things you’ve created. In this (name something from your gallery), I see your (name a character quality of God, such as love, patience, grace, beauty, and so on).”

You may also want to ask God to help your family members be good stewards of the gifts God’s given us in creation. We can express our thanks to God for what he’s made by our actions of caring for the world around us.

Feel free to add to and remove items from your family’s gallery as time goes on. This will help everyone find fresh new reasons for praising God in their prayers.

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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: Prayers from Scripture

Before You Begin:

Using your family’s favorite translation of the Bible, copy each of the following scripture passages onto a 3 x 5 card and place them in a stack on your dining room table.

• Psalm 9:1-2
• Psalm 25:1-5
• Matthew 6:9b-13
• Ephesians 3:14-17a
• Ephesians 3:17b-19
• 1 Samuel 2:2
• Samuel 7:22
• Habakkuk 3:2
• Psalm 42:1-2a
• Amos 5:24
• Psalm 51:10,12
• Psalm 61:1-3
• Psalm 86:11
• Psalm 145:1-2

The Prayer Time!

Before your evening meal for several days in a row, have each family member (who knows how to read) take a card from the top of the stack. Then take turns reading these prayers from the Bible aloud at each meal.

If the words or phrases are too difficult for younger children in your family to understand, talk together about what the scripture verse means. Let these words from God’s word be your mealtime prayer. If you like, spend time during your meal discussing the prayers from the Bible and how they express your own thoughts today.

When your prayer is over, return the cards to the stack to be used at another meal.

As you and other family members discover other prayers in the Bible that are meaningful to your lives, add them to the stack of cards. The book of Psalms is full of prayers with a wide variety of meanings (praising God, thanking God, asking for help, and so on). It’s a great place to have family members look for more verses if you’d like to add to your stack!

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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: Gratitude

Before You Begin:

Begin this prayer adventure on the last day of a month. Before you begin, gather a jar, a pen, and 28 to 31 slips of paper (one for each day of your chosen month).

The Prayer Time!

Tell your family, “Let’s practice gratitude one month. We’ll start by brainstorming one thing we can thank God for each day of this next month.” For example, if the month beginning the next day has 30 days, you’ll want to come up with 30 things to thank God for over the next month.

Work together to brainstorm one thing to write on each slip of paper. Also, be sure to include the names of each family member among the slips of paper.

When you have the desired number, fold the paper slips and place them in the jar. On the following morning (the first day of the month), remind everyone you’re practicing gratitude. Ask one family member to reach into the jar and select a slip of paper. Read the word aloud to everyone, then tape the paper in a place where everyone will see it (such as on the milk carton or on the bathroom mirror). For this entire day encourage family members to let their thoughts of thanks to God include what is written on the slip of paper.

The next morning, take down the previous day’s item of thanks and have another family member select a new paper. Repeat this each day of the month until all the slips of paper have been used and God has been thanked repeatedly for each one!

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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