Praying With Our Children

Introduction

Good morning. It is so good to see you this morning. It is good for us to be together this morning to worship God in spirit and in truth. It’s good to have guests here with us. It’s good to be together as the South Bunby Church family. Before we jump into the lesson this morning, I do want to remind my South Bunby family of something very, very important. I want to remind you of what we do every fourth Sunday of the month. Remember, every fourth Sunday of the month at 2 30 in the classroom building, we’re having a special study on the parables of Jesus. And we’ve already had two classes, and we have our third one coming up two weeks from today, and these classes have been well attended, and we want to keep that momentum, please.

And so go ahead and put that in your calendar. We’re going to be looking at a parable of Jesus that has to do with a fig tree. And not just any fig tree, a barren fig tree that we can read about in Luke chapter 13. This is an overlooked parable of Jesus, but it is an important one and one that I think we can learn a lot of practical lessons from.

Please go into your Bible to Philippians chapter 4 and let’s read these verses to set up our study. In Philippians, the fourth chapter, the apostle Paul pins these words under inspiration while imprisoned in Rome for preaching the gospel. And yet, despite his suffering, despite his imprisonment, he says to Philippians chapter 4 and in verse number 6. In verse 6, be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension. Regard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. As we begin this study this morning from God’s word, I want to begin by asking a question to the parents in the room, particularly the parents who are still currently raising their kids.

If you’re like me this morning and you are a parent who is still in the process of raising your children, let me ask you, what do you do with them? What do you do with your kids? What do you do with your kids on a daily basis? For me personally, brothers and sisters, I do all kinds of things with our children on a daily basis. I mean, I eat at least two meals with them each day. And I ride in the car with them, and I pick one of them up from school. And I play sports with them and games with them and laugh with them and talk with them and watch shows with them. And now I find myself sometimes in a passenger seat while one of them is beginning to learn how to drive, and I’m almost about to have a heart attack.

I do all kinds of things with my children. Every single day. And I’m pretty sure you do as well, but what about us doing what Paul talks about in these verses? What about us as parents carving out some time every single day to pray and talk to God with our kids? I mean, among the many things that we do with our kids on a daily basis, do we also do that? Do we also carve out some time to sit with them and pray and talk to God with them? I want to suggest that we need to be doing that because prayer is a privilege. But prayer is a great privilege given to us by God. And to illustrate that point, I want to ask you another question.

And that question is do you by any chance recognize that number? You recognize that number 2024 14. That number right there is the number to this place. It is the number to the White House. Now, it’s not President Donald Trump’s personal number. It’s not even the number to the Oval Office or to the White House residence. I mean, if you call this number today and you can try that, the president is not going to pick up the phone and talk to you. He’s not going to pick up the phone and ask you how you’re doing. Instead, what is probably going to happen is a White House switchboard operator is going to pick up the phone and he or she’s going to talk to you and then direct you to a particular department.

In fact, even if you ask to speak to the president today, you’re not going to be able to.

Or introduce yourself to him or ask him to listen to you because you got some concerns right now in your life. If your life depended on it today, you cannot have a two-second conversation with the president. And the reason why is because you’re not that important to him.

Or to talk to me. And yet, think about this. When it comes to the creator of the universe, when it comes to the one who made me and who made you, when it comes to the one who has more authority than any U.S. president, and who holds the world in the palm of his hands, and who knows all, sees all, and will judge all, we can actually talk to him at any time we desire, and we can trust that he will hear us. We can trust that he will actually listen and give attention to what we have to say. That is exactly what the apostle Paul is teaching us. In Philippians chapter 4, and brothers and sisters, we need to be taking advantage of that. We need to be taking advantage of that all the time.

We need to be taking advantage of that as individuals and with our kids all the time. I mean, if we’re really going to be families that serve God, like our theme this year is trying to push us to do, in addition to doing all the other stuff that we’ve talked about this year. In addition to studying the Bible with our kids, and doing their Bible lesson with them and helping them learn books of the Bible and characters of the Bible and themes of the Bible and making sure that we regularly bring them here to worship God and that we are a righteous example in front of them. In addition to doing those things all the time, you know what else we need to be doing? We need to also be doing this.

1. Teach Them How to Pray

We need to also be making sure that we carve out time every single day to pray with our kids. And one reason why is because when we make time to pray with our kids, we’re able to teach them. We’re able to teach them how to pray. Go on your Bible, please to Luke chapter 11. I told you we were going to come back to the gospel of Luke. Go in your Bible, please to Luke chapter 11. I want to read some verse out of Luke chapter 11, but before I do that, let me ask you another question, parents. Parents, what kind of stuff do you think is important for your kids to learn? What kind of things do you think are important for your kids to learn from you?

I mean, do you think it is important that they learn from you how to tie their shoes? Or how to say their ABCs, or how to count to a hundred or a thousand, or how to brush their teeth and comb their hair and cut the grass and how to dial 911 in cases of emergency. Dads, do you think it’s important that they learn from you how to shoot a gun? How to hunt, how to fish, how to ride a bike, how to shoot a basketball, or throw a football or hit a baseball. Moms, do you think it’s important that they learn from you how to do their own laundry? Or how to cook? Or how to make their bed or bake or sow, or maybe how to drive so you don’t have to be their personal chauffeur anymore?

I mean, as parents, there are many things. There are many things that we want our children to learn from us, but I submit to you that out of all the things we could teach our children, few are more important than what we find Jesus teaching his disciples here. You’re in Luke chapter 11. Luke chapter 11 and verse number one. Luke 11 and verse 1, it says, It happened that while Jesus was praying at a certain place after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray just as John, the John, there’s a reference to John the baptizer, the forerunner for Jesus. Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.

Talk to God. Are you joking? Do you think God wants to hear from you? Do you understand where you are on the food chain? Do you understand that God is great? And he doesn’t have time to listen to you. God is perfectly holy, and you are sinful. Who are you to think that you can actually talk to God? Does Jesus say that? He could have said that. But that’s not what he says. They say, teach us how to pray. And Jesus said to them, When you pray, you can pray. This is what you say. Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who’s indebted to us and lead us not into temptation.

Notice how, in addition to giving the disciples permission to actually talk to God, Jesus also teaches them how to do that. He teaches them how to pray.

Why in the world does he have to do that? Why does Jesus have to teach the disciples how to pray? Well, the reason why he has to teach them how to pray is because they don’t know how to pray. They don’t know how to talk to God. They don’t know how to talk to God in the way Jesus talks to God. They in fact acknowledge that in the text. And you know what we learn from that? From that, we learn is when it comes to prayer, brothers and sisters, prayer is a learned activity. Prayer is a learned discipline. It is a taught practice. It is not something that we’re born naturally knowing how to do. It’s not like breathing or crying or yawning or blinking, unlike those things where we’re born naturally knowing how to do them.

We got to be taught how to pray. We got to be taught how to communicate and talk to God properly. In the case of children, parents, they gotta be taught that by us.

They gotta be taught that by mommies and by daddies. They gotta be taught that by people who have a responsibility to train them and bring them up in the ways of the Lord. As the parents, we got to teach our children how to pray. We gotta teach them that when they pray, they’re not just talking to anybody. They’re not just talking to their bestie. They’re not talking to their homeboy or their homegirl. They’re not talking to one of their buddies or their pals. No, they’re talking to the creator. They’re talking to the one who made them and who made everything. They’re talking to the one who has supreme authority and who knows them better than anybody else and who’s worthy of the highest level of respect.

When we make time to pray with our kids, we can teach them exactly who they’re talking to when they pray, and we can also teach them what to include. We can also teach them to be thoughtful in their prayers and not just load them up with a bunch of requests, but also spend some time thanking God for what you currently have. Also spend some time counting your blessings and naming them one by one. Acknowledge those blessings. Make sure you just pour your heart out to God. Talk to God. Cast upon Him all your cares and all your anxieties and have faith that what the Bible says is going to happen, it’s gonna happen.

Have faith that when you talk to God, when you pour your heart out to God, He actually hears you. He actually listens to you. He actually gives attention to your petitions and He will act. He will respond. He will move, not in our time, but in His time in the way He knows is best. We have to teach them to have faith. When they pray, in fact, probably the most important thing we could teach our kids about prayer. It’s what it demonstrates. See, when we make time to pray with our kids, we can teach them that what prayer does at the end of the day is it demonstrates trust. It demonstrates faith. It demonstrates daily dependence and reliance upon God. It demonstrates that we understand we need God.

You got a big test coming up. You got a big geometry test coming up, a big history test, a big chemistry text, a big English test. Well, in addition to studying for that test, you need to pray about it. You need to ask God to be with you while you take that test. You need to pray about that friend you keep inviting the church. You need to pray about that temptation that you’re struggling, overcoming right now. You need to pray about that classmate who views you as an enemy and is always giving you a hard time. You need to pray for those kids at your school who are always cursing and gossiping and talking about sex all the time. You need to pray about this decision you have coming up regarding the college you’re gonna you’re gonna pick.

2. Help Them Nurture a Relationship With God

You need to pray that God will bless you with wisdom and with good understanding and judgment, and that you will pick to go somewhere that will help draw you closer to God and not further away from God. See, that’s what teaching our kids to pray is going to do for them. It’s gonna help them understand. You need God. You need to depend on God. You need to rely on God. You need God in every part of your life. When we make time to pray with our kids, we’re gonna be able to teach them so many amazing things, but not only do we teach our kids, when we make time to pray with them, a second thing we help them do is we help them nurture a relationship with God.

We help them nurture a relationship with God. And Jesus talks about that. If you look back at Luke chapter 11, look at Luke 11 and verse 2. In Luke 11 and verse 2, Jesus said to them, When you pray, when you talk to God, you say, What’s the first word there? Father. Father, hallowed be your name. What a radical idea that was to the Jewish people. The Jewish people didn’t think of God that way, not according to the Old Testament scriptures. Now they viewed him as a father of the nation. But Jesus here is talking about he’s your personal father as well. What a radical concept that was. Here, Jesus, he starts his prayer by calling God Father. Father implies relationship. It implies that when Jesus prayed, he used it, he used it as a means to nurture his relationship with God.

I want to show you some other examples of this. So bear with me, please. Go on your Bible to Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1. We’re going to come back to Luke in just a few seconds. But in Mark chapter 1 and in verse number 35.

It says, early in the morning while it was still dark. Do you get up that early most days? It’s still dark outside. It’s the morning. Well, Jesus is doing that here. It says he got up, he left his house, and he went away to a secluded place and was praying there. Notice how Jesus starts his day with prayer. Early in the morning, Jesus praying. But not just in the morning. Go to Luke chapter 5 now. Look at Luke chapter 5. Because in Luke chapter 5, if you look with me, please, Luke chapter 5 and in verse number 15, Jesus is becoming very popular at this point in his ministry. And it says in Luke chapter 5 and in verse number 15, but the news about him was spreading even further, and large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.

But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. So not only does he start his day with prayer, he’s praying all throughout the day. He’s praying all the time. But not just then. Look at Luke chapter 6, go over one chapter. Because in Luke chapter 6 and in verse number 12, and Luke chapter 6 and in verse number 12, this is the night before he picks his apostles before he makes a very important decision. It says it was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night. What was the last time he did that? He spent the whole night in prayer. Do you see the pattern for Jesus? Do you see the pattern? Notice how prayer was a big part of Jesus’ life.

It was something that he was doing all the time. He was in constant communication with God. In fact, isn’t that one of the key things that any good relationship is built upon? I mean, isn’t it true that if you want to have a good relationship with anybody, any good solid relationship has to have good communication? And as married people, we get that, right? I mean, for all the married couples in the room, what would it be like if you and your spouse hardly ever communicated with each other? What would it be like if the only conversations you ever had with your spouse were just a few words you said to each other over a meal or right before you went to bed or went off to work?

What if days would go by without either of you talking to each other? Do you think that would be good for your marriage? You think that’d be good for your relationship with your spouse? Of course not. Of course, we all understand, for those of us who are married, we all understand that a good marriage, part of having a good marriage, means that we gotta have constant good communication, and the same is also true when it comes to God.

You see, when we make time to pray with our kids, what we help them do is we help them develop a habit of nurturing their relationship with God. We help them get connected to God and get closer to God. We help them understand that talking to God is important. It is just as important as reading your Bible. You see, through reading the Bible, and hear me carefully, please. Through hearing the through reading the Bible, and only through reading the Bible, God speaks to us. But through prayer, we speak to him. Through prayer, we talk to God and we pour our hearts out to God. We don’t just do it to ask God for stuff. We don’t just do it right before we eat a meal. We don’t just do it when some crisis pops up into our lives and we need God to come and save us and rescue us, and then we’ll go back to living a sinful life again.

3. Teach Them to Prioritize God

No, we pray to deepen our relationship with God. We pray to constantly keep God on our minds. We pray to stay connected to God as we live in this sinful world. And when we make time to pray with our kids, we help them see that. When we make time to pray with our kids every single day, we help them nurture a relationship with God, and we also teach them to prioritize God. Prioritize God, and that’s important, right? Because I don’t know if you noticed tonight, but today, many young people, many kids are busy, right? They’re busy. They got all kinds of stuff going on in their lives. I mean, in addition to going to school and trying to get good grades, some of them play a sport or multiple sports.

Some of them are in clubs, some of them play an instrument, some of them are in choirs, some of them are in theater. I mean, they got so much stuff going on in their lives every single day, and when we make time to pray with them, that forces all of us to slow down. That forces all of us to get our lives in order and bring things back to circle. That forces all of us to make God our priority and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Go back to Luke chapter 5, please. Let me show you what I’m talking about. Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5. Again, verse number 15 says what? Luke 5 and verse 15, but the news about him was spreading even further.

He’s becoming very popular. He’s got thousands of people around him every day. And large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. You know, so often disciples say, Well, I don’t pray as I should. I don’t talk to God as I should each day because I’m just too busy. You ever say it? Busy. I’m too busy to pray. I’m too busy to talk to God all throughout the day. What we read in those verses destroys that argument. It completely blows that argument away. Notice how, even though Jesus had a busy schedule, just like many of us got a busy schedule. Even though Jesus has to spend his days teaching people and listening to people and healing people, and he’s got to train these immature apostles.

And he’s got to constantly argue with and debate the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Essenes and the Herodians. And he’s got to travel from place to place on foot. He doesn’t have an air-conditioned car, even though he’s got all this going on in his life.

He still made prayer happen. He still created opportunities to nurture his relationship with God. And if he did that, and he is the perfect sinless son of God, how much more does somebody like Sean Jeffries need to do that? How much more do you need to do that? How much more do we need to do that? You and I both know we certainly need to be doing that. We certainly need to be helping our kids do that. You see, when we make time to pray with our kids every single day, we show them by our example, God matters. God is important. God is important even in our busy lives. God is so important that before we walk out of this house this morning to go get into the car and drive to school and drive to work, you know what we’re not going to leave this house this morning until we do some prayer.

We’re gonna pray and we’re going to thank God for waking us up this morning. We’re going to pray and ask God for wisdom. We’re going to pray and we’re going to beg God to be with us as we try to go out to our destinations. We’re going to pray before we leave this house. And when we get home, if we’re blessed to get home, we’re going to pray some more. We’re going to pray as soon as we get home together. Before we get to that homework. Before you start studying for that test, before you turn on some Netflix or Disney Plus, or you go into the backyard and play, pray, play, we’re going to pray. We’re going to pray and thank God for keeping us safe today.

We’re going to pray and talk to God about any challenges we face today. We’re going to pray and tell God that we trust you and we depend on you. We’re going to pray in the morning before we leave. We’re going to pray as soon as we get home. And before we go to bed, guess what else we’re going to do? We’re going to pray some more. We’re going to come together as a family. And we’re going to praise God for his goodness before we end this day. We’re going to pray and we’re going to ask God to continue blessing us and giving us our daily bread. We’re going to pray and thank God for our food and our shelter and the safety we have enjoyed from his hand today.

4. Teach Them to Prioritize Others

When we make time to pray with our kids, we teach them to prioritize God. But not only do we teach them to prioritize God, we also teach them to prioritize others. We also teach them to think about other people. And I want to go in my Bible to Colossians chapter 4 to make this point, please. Colossians chapter 4. Colossians chapter 4, and look at verse number 2. In Colossians chapter 4 and verse 2, again, Paul is writing this under inspiration from imprisonment. He’s in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel. And he says in Colossians chapter 4, Colossians 4 and verse 2, devote yourselves to prayer. Keep an alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving, praying at the same time for us as well. That God will open up to us a door for the word so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ for which I have also been imprisoned, that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.

Don’t miss the big picture of what’s going on here. Paul here is writing to the Colossian brethren. And he is saying to them, pray for me. An apostle requesting prayers.

Pray that God can still use me. Pray that even in my imprisonment, I can have opportunities to spread the word of God. Paul here is urging the Colossians to prioritize others in their prayers. And when we make time to pray with our kids, we show them in a practical way how to do that. We send them the message of, yes, we got busy schedules. Yes, we got a lot going on in school. And you got homework and you got tests, and you got stuff going on in sports, you got practices, you got games, you got clubs, you got band, you got theater, you got choir, you got all this stuff going on. And I’m working 50 or 60 hours every single week, but we’re still gonna prioritize other people.

We’re still gonna prioritize other people when we talk to God. We’re gonna make time to pray for others. We’re gonna make time to pray for the shut ins in this church. We’re gonna make time to pray for those who are part of this family and they’re sick or they’re going through treatments or about to have surgeries. We’re gonna make time to pray for the grieving and for the hurting. And for those who have fallen away from the Lord and they need to be restored, we’re gonna pray to the Lord that maybe God can use our family to influence these people and help bring them back to the fold. We’re gonna make time to pray about that. We’re busy. But we’re still gonna make time today to pray for our shepherds in this church.

And we’re gonna pray for their families. And we’re gonna pray for the deacons. And we’re gonna pray for the Bible class teachers, and we’re gonna pray for those who are preaching the truth across the country and across the globe. In fact, speaking of our country, we’re also gonna make time to pray for our country. We’re gonna pray for our troops in the military. We’re gonna pray for our government leaders and decision makers. We’re gonna pray that the decisions they make in government will never hinder our ability to live peaceful lives and free lives as we try to serve God as a family. You see, when we make time to pray with our kids, we teach them the need to prioritize God and prioritize others. And let me just ask you do you think that’s going to make an impact on them in the long run?

Do you think they’re going to remember those moments? As they continue to mature and develop their own faith, do you think that’s going to help them prioritize God and prioritize other people in their prayers? I believe it will.

5. Immerse God’s Word in Their Hearts

And that is finally, we got to do this because when we make time to pray with them, we immerse God’s word in their hearts. We immerse God’s word deep in their hearts. And I want to show you one verse to make this point, just one verse. John chapter 15. Look at John 15, please. In John 15, Jesus is speaking here. And he says something very interesting in verse 7. An overlooked verse. In John 15 and verse 7, Jesus says, if you abide in me and my words in you ask, that’s what prayer is, talking to God, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. There’s a lot we could say about that verse, but for the purpose of this study, what I just want you to notice is what Jesus is doing here.

Notice how he connects prayer to the word of God. Do you see that? He talks about prayer, and he also talks about the word of God. Do you know what that means for us as parents? First, that means we need to be constantly teaching our kids the word of God. We got to teach them the Bible. We got to understand that it’s not enough just to buy them a Bible. Or just to bring them to Bible classes and have them learn from a prepared Bible class teacher. Whether there’s something wrong with us doing those kinds of things, and we need to do those kinds of things, we gotta also understand we have a responsibility to be teaching them every day. We’re supposed to be their primary teachers, not the Bible class teacher.

God has given that job to us, to mommies and to daddies. We have to make sure that we are their main spiritual teachers, not their Bible class teachers, not the elders, not the deacons, not the preacher, mommy and daddy. Me, Sean Jeffries, I’m the main teacher for Sean Michael and Faith. That’s what the Bible says. We got to fulfill our obligation as parents. In fact, if we do that, secondly, Jesus says that’s going to help our kids in their prayers. When we teach our kids the Bible, that helps them in their prayers. It helps them understand that prayer is not about us getting what we want. It’s not about us getting our way. It’s not about treating God like a genie in a bottle. Instead, prayer is first and foremost about God.

Conclusion

It is about God’s will and desiring for God’s will to be done. You see, when we constantly teach our children the word of God, when we constantly help them abide in the scriptures, when we constantly show them how to pray for the things we’re studying from the Bible together, what we’re doing. As we are immersing God’s word deep in their hearts, and we’re helping them pray for the right kinds of things. We’re helping them pray, knowing what God’s will, instead of just merely saying, Let your will be done. And so, while there are many things we need to be doing with our kids on a daily basis. Well, I hope you’ll take away from this study.

Prayer is something that we gotta be doing with our kids all the time. We must be regularly praying with our kids if we’re gonna be a family that serves God. In fact, even if you don’t have kids or if you’re not even married, you need to be doing this. If you’re a Christian, if you’re a disciple, you need to be praying all the time. You need to be praying, nurturing your relationship with God all the time. You need to be praying for all the parents here all the time because we need as many prayers as we can get. In fact, maybe there’s somebody here this morning, and that’s exactly what you need. Maybe you need some prayer. Maybe there’s somebody here this morning, and you need some encouragement.

You need some encouragement from your brothers and your sisters in Christ. We’ll be more than happy to pray with you and pray for you this morning. Maybe you need prayers because you’re ready to repent and get right with the Lord. We’ll pray for you. We’ll encourage you. Or maybe you don’t need prayers. Maybe you need to obey the gospel for the first time. Maybe you need to express faith in Jesus as the Lord. Repent of your sins and then be baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins. If you need to respond to the gospel and become a Christian by being baptized in water for forgiveness of sins, or if you just need some prayer, we’ll be more than happy to help you with any spiritual needs you may have.

And if you need that, come to the front right now as we stand and we sing.