Learning to Pray: Confidently

Lesson 2: Who's Your Daddy?

Time and again I have marveled at the way God's Truth seems to stand on a knife's edge between two competing ideas: justice and grace, sovereignty and free will, law and Spirit. In much the same way, our first two lessons on prayer create some tension as Jesus teaches us to pray both with humility and confidence.

To bring these ideas to life, we talked about some very special kids. I have to say I had so much fun watching your kids' faces when I told them that there were once some very special kids who got to turn a super-fancy room in the White House into a roller rink AND take their pony onto a White House elevator. Of course, a few of them figured it out: it was the president's kids! (Theodore Roosevelt's, in case you were wondering.)

From there, everyone understood that if being the child of a president is a big deal, being a child of God is an even bigger deal. Yet not everyone understood how to become a child of God. And while I made every effort to make that clear, I encourage you to review the ideas below with your children. Even as you do, you will see that humility before God always comes BEFORE our ability to have confidence in His presence!

ADMIT: We all sin, or rebelliously do things our way instead of God's way.

This desire to be our own god results in God's righteous anger and just punishment. We are cut off from His love and goodness and protection and wisdom and beauty and everything else that He created us to enjoy.

• "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." I John 1:8 
• "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath." Ephesians 2:1-3

BELIEVE: God loves us and gave us Jesus to pay for our sin.

Truly, God takes no joy in our punishment. In fact, it breaks His heart to be separated from us, those He created to be His children. For that reason, He sentenced His own Son to die in our place.

• "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!"     Romans 5:6-9

CONFESS: We must tell God that we believe that Jesus' death and resurrection will save us from our sin.

• "If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, 'Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.'"  Romans 10:9-11

This confession ALONE gives us the right to become children of God.

• "But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." Galatians 4:4-6
• "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God," John 1:12

And, oh, what a wonderful set of privileges come with that new relationship--the best of which is the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, giving us the opportunity to talk to our wonderful, heavenly Father whenever we wish, no appointment necessary! May we pray with great joy, confident that God is, in fact, Our Father!

Prayer in Practice: Week 1

Prayer, like anything, is best learned through practice. So I encourage you to pray intentionally with your kids this summer. Go beyond "thank you for this food" and "thank you for this day"! Open the Bible with your children and learn from its many examples of humble yet confident prayer! 

Our church's summer reading plan is designed to complement our series on prayer. (You will find it listed in the bulletin each week, and on the "read" page of our church website.) These passages are meant for both kids and adults, so some may be hard to explain to children. Below are tips on what to focus on with kids. 

Psalm 5 / Talking to God about people who hurt us

Focus: We can trust God to protect us.

Application: Children will take great comfort in knowing that God is just. Their need for justice is often expressed by their "tattle-tale" behavior. Parents might be surprised to learn that God invites them (and us!) to tattle... but only to him. He is willing to patiently listen while they tell him of their pain and fear and anger. Knowing this helps us not to take matters into our own hands. (See also Romans 12:14-21.)

• Potential Challenge: Does God "hate all who do wrong" as it says in verse 5? Yes and no. God loves everyone and has made a way for all to repent and be forgiven; but for those who do not repent, his anger remains on them. (See John 3:16 v. 3:36) Also, Psalm 5 was written before Jesus came. Jesus changed the way we pray about our enemies. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matt 5:43-45)

Psalm 63:1-8 / Telling God how much we need him

Focus: It is good to tell God that we remember how he helped us.

Application: This is a great bedtime prayer. Go through the day with your child and help them list the ways God has helped them. What might they need help with tomorrow? Focus on attitudes rather than circumstances. (Example: God help me forgive someone who was mean to me. Not: God please fix that person who was mean to me.)

1 Kings 8:22-30, Mark 11:15-17 / Praying in God's house

Focus: God wants us to come to church eager to pray.

Application: God cannot be contained in a building, but he has always had a special place for his people to come together to pray. Does it surprise them that God has promised to listen to our prayers? Does it surprise them that Jesus got angry when people came together to make money instead of pray? We don't come together on Sunday to make money, but we may still have the wrong attitude. What are some reasons we go to church that have nothing to do with a desire to pray and worship with our church family? (Play, eat snack, just have fun, talk to our friends.) It is easy even for good things to make us forget our real reason for coming together. What does it mean to pray "for all nations?" What nation have they prayed for at church? (America, Bangladesh, Mexico) Pray with your kids for those nations at home, too. 

2 Kings 19:8-19, 32-36 / We pray to a real and powerful God

Focus: Our God is alive, real and powerful.

Application: Talk with your child what might happen if they decided to pray to one of their toys instead of God. Would the toy listen? Answer? Have the power to do anything? What if they decided to pray to a person? Say, their favorite teacher? Could that person hear them? Would that person have the power to help them? Talk about why it is important to pray only to God: he alone really has the power to help us. When made-up gods fail, the one true God does not! Consider purchasing "You are God Alone" from iTunes or get the mp3 from Amazon. It is our main summer worship song, and you may want to sing it together.

• Potential Challenge: There is only one true God; He alone answers prayer. This is a terrifically unpopular statement, and it can be dangerous in the hands of a boastful child (or adult!). Talk to your child about this truth with compassion for those who have not yet understood who God really is. Yes, God wiped out the Assyrians because they did not believe in him, but he was not happy about it. God wants everyone to know him, and that's why he has us still living on earth instead of with him in heaven! "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Jeremiah 32:6-41 / We pray to a God who changes hearts

Focus: Even if we turn away from God, he will find a way to bring us back to him.

Application: Okay, this is not a bedtime story. It is confusing and scary, so study carefully if you present this to your kids. Otherwise, you may want to just read verses 36-41. Explain that a long time ago, God's people stopped loving him and began to do terrible things. God could not allow them to keep being so evil, so he allowed another country to win a war against them. He allowed his people to be taken from their homes so they would stop their terrible sin. But he also gave them a promise: one day he would bring them back and change their hearts. And he did! God still changes hearts today. Do you know people who do the wrong thing? Pray for them; God can change their hearts. And when you keep doing the wrong thing and feel you can't stop, pray and ask God to help you. He can change your heart, too!

Nehemiah 1, 2:1-8 / We pray to a God who influences leaders

Focus: Even though we are not powerful, we pray to a God who is!

Application: What a great story this is for kids! They are utterly powerless and at the mercy of those in authority around the clock. But their God is not! What a comfort it is to them to know that when they pray, God can even influence those who are in charge. Knowing this empowers them to be respectful and obedient, and yet courageous as they share their hearts with adults. Remind your child to pray for you, for their teachers, for their country's leaders. And yet, Nehemiah did not ask for selfish things. Help the talk about the kinds of things that they think God would want to see in their leaders and in you, their parents. Listen humbly, our children sometimes see who we really are better than we do.

Learning to Pray: Humbly

Lesson 1: Know your place

Let's face it, as kids grow in their indepence, they often forget their place. How many of us have stood with mouth agape at the audacity of our own offspring? Indignation wells up in us, inspiring such thoughts as, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it." Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we hopefully refrain from speaking such truths out loud until they are free of our ego and tempered by love!

No doubt, God often experiences the same feelings toward His children as we come to Him (or don't!) in prayer. Consider the following passages from Isaiah:

Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! 
    For the Lord has spoken: 
“I reared children and brought them up,
    but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
    the donkey its owner’s manger, 
but Israel does not know, 
    my people do not understand. ” (1:2-3)
...

When you spread out your hands in prayer,
    I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening. (1:15)

And yet, what grace it is that this almighty, all-powerful and righteous God longs to be near us and invites us to come humbly before Him, confident of His love!

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. 
For the Lord is a God of justice. 
    Blessed are all who wait for him!
People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. 
How gracious he will be when you cry for help! 
As soon as he hears, he will answer you. (30:18-19)


This summer, our church will be learning how to draw close to God in prayer, primarily through the pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord's Prayer (see Matt. 6:9-13). But before Jesus taught His disciples WHAT to say, He first taught them HOW to say it: in a word, humbly (see Matt. 6:5-8). To illuminate this idea of humility, we looked at (and acted out) a story Jesus told of two men with very different attitudes in prayer: one arrogant and self-righteous, the other humble and repentant (see Luke 18:9-14). We talked (and sang) about the importance of knowing that God is THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, not a vending machine. We pray so that He can change us and help us to do His will, not so that we can get Him to do our will. We will be returning to this idea all summer as we seek to SYNC UP our hearts with God's! (Ask you kids how they are like an iPhone.)

You know, we never know what is getting through when we teach, and we trust that God's Spirit, not us, will change kids' hearts. So I was stuck this week when a few kids spontaneously chose to kneel as I prayed to close our lesson. Truly, I believe that came from a desire to express their humility and not from a desire to appear holy before their peers. Please pray with me that God will continue to shape the hearts of our children (and us!) into those who know our place and yet pray eagerly, trusting fully in the love of our powerful Heavenly Father.