Do you know how to pray? Prayer is an integral part of being a Christian. It’s how you connect to God, an avenue where you and God meet. Think of prayer as a playground where you go to play and have fun with friends. But in this context, God is your friend that wants to play (connect with you) with you.
Apart from prayer helping you to connect to God, it also enables you to draw strength from God. Praying is also how you display your faith in Him to release His power into your situations.
What happens when you don’t know how to pray? You’re in church and all the adults are praying and you don’t how to join in. Maybe you have the urge to pray and don’t know what to say. There’s a picture in your mind but you don’t know the right words to use to release this picture.
News flash! I can bet you that your parents or all those adults at church were once like you too. They didn’t become prayer warriors in a day. They went through a process. Even the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach them how to pray –
“…Lord, please teach us to pray, too” Luke11:1. ICB.
They asked because they wanted to know how to pray. There was a desire. Do you have that same desire? Be like the followers of Christ ask God for help to pray just like the disciples did.
Asking for help is not bad. Even Jesus encourages us to keep asking –
“Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will be open” Matthew 7:7 ICB.
Here is another translation
Ask in faith – “So I tell you to ask for things in prayer. And if you believe that you have received those things, then they will be yours”. Mark 11:24. ICB.
Obedience is also important. As you ask (to be taught how to pray) and receive, say the words as the Holy Spirit drops them in your heart. Don’t hold back.
In this episode we continue learning how children can hear from God, and today, we would be starting with the story of Ehiz.
Ehiz didn’t like how his brothers treated him. They always teased him about his love for reading and studying. They called him names like “effico”, “bookworm” and more. He wished he could just tell them what was on his mind. They weren’t that perfect too. He knew their flaws too and what they did in secret.
At church, he learnt about forgiveness. The Sunday school teacher used the story of Joseph to explain how to forgive. Through this he knew what God was saying, for this is a way that children can hear from God.
But that was going to be hard for Ehiz. So, he approached the teacher and told him about what he was facing at home. The teacher explained the reason why he had to forgive his brothers just like Joseph did.
By the time they were through, Ehiz learnt why he had to forgive and how to do so. It was a relief to him. He wasn’t going to continue in unforgiveness towards his brothers. He had heard God; children can hear from God!
When you speak to other believers about an issue, you get more knowledge. They help you to understand what you are feeling, why it is wrong or right, and what to do about it. When the believer is older than you, you get to hear about their or other people’s experiences on issues like yours.
So, find a believer like yourself and share your fears or issues with them. This is one way that children can hear from God.
God speaks to everyone including children. Everyone can hear from God – that includes you! Remember the story of little Samuel in the bible, who later became a strong prophet that ministered to the Israelites and anointed kings?
Our heavenly father wants to speak to us and He does so in different ways. One of such way is through His word- the bible. The bible is the only place where all of God’s words reside.
Reading the bible is one of the ways you can hear from God. When you read about what God did, how He did it, and who He did it for, you get to know more about God.
Maybe you are facing a situation and don’t know how to go about it, read the bible: that is one way to hear from God. God will speak to you through a verse or chapter. He will direct you to a book where someone just like you, faced the same dilemma you are in.
When you read through, you will learn how the person resolved it with God’s help; that way God can help you resolve yours too. This is one of the ways you can hear from God .
Heb 4:12 KJV For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The bible says His words are living. They are alive, quick, and sharp. Always speaking. See it as God speaking directly to you.
God bless you as you read, and thereby hear from God, Amen.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your word that is forever living and true. Let your words speak to me daily, in Jesus name. Amen.
Action plan: When next you think God is speaking to you or have a problem, pray and ask God to use His words to speak to you. Then incline your ears to hear from God.
Declaration (children): The Lord speaks to me through his word. My ears are opened to God’s word.
“Show me your friend and I will tell you who you are” is still a valid saying; one which you must pay attention to if you must succeed in life. So today we will continue with our series on warning signals to watch out for in friendships. Here is another signal.
2. When you hope and pray your parents or guardians don’t find out where you have been. Friends that corrupt mostly advise you to give a false account of your whereabouts to parents or guardians. In other words, they tell you to lie.
For instance, they encourage you to buy a skimpy outfit which you know your parents won’t allow on you. They teach you how to hide it at home. Show me your friend. Is he/she like this? Even when your parents find out about the skimpy dress and forbid you to wear it, these kind of friends will again teach you how to sneak it out of the house for a party or an outing which you know will keep you late outside. Once more, they tell you what lie to tell to your parents.
Another way is you come home late from school and lie that you were at the library, studying for a test or exam. All the while you were playing football with friends or watching a PG movie at one of your friend’s house. They, of course, told you to say that. Show me your friend!
You hope and pray your parents don’t find out or catch your lie.
You need to let go of such friends because they are gradually helping you to become a liar. The bible tells us that the devil is the father of all liars. How can a child of God be friends with the children of the devil? You need to end your friendship with friends that teach you to lie. Show me your friend.
John 8:44 (NKJV) You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
One downside of this is that, once your parents find out the truth, they won’t trust you anymore. They won’t believe anything you say again even when you are saying the truth.
So, check your friends again, and remember the saying: Show me your friend, and I will tell you who you are.
Prayer: Father in Heaven, help me with good friends. I don’t want friends that will teach me to lie, I want friends that will help me grow to know you more. Amen.
Action point: Stop being friends with anyone who encourages you to tell a lie, especially to your parents.
Dear child, friends can be signposts guiding and directing you towards God or a river between you two.
They affect your walk with God either in a good or bad way, as well as your relationship with your parents.
There are certain signals to watch out for when choosing friends. Even if you are friends with some people right now, use these signals to assess your friendships.
Dear child, note also that these signals do not mean you have to be hateful or snobbish towards people you shouldn’t be friends with. It’s not a license for you to declare them bad or otherwise.
These signs are just a guide steering you towards wisdom.
One signpost to watch for is
1. Pretense:
Dear child, do you have friends that you have to pretend to like what they do, where they go, what they say – basically, everything about them?
This is a warning sign. You are not supposed to pretend to like your friends and they shouldn’t do so too. A healthy friendship is one where both parties have true feelings for each other and can tell the truth.
There is no restriction on the truth. No fear of a reprisal attack or any attack whatsoever when the truth is spoken. The truth here is spoken in love and not to hate or judge.
Dear child, you pretend to like them because you want to feel among them. You know they smoke, yet you want to be friends with them knowing fully well the health risks of smoking, forgetting also that your parents won’t be happy with you if they get to know. Maybe you just don’t care if your parents find out.
You know, also, that God hates sin and says He dwells in our bodies. He wants us to keep our bodies pure and holy for Him.
“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Lord?’
By joining them, you’re turning your back on both God and your parents; the two most important relationships you should cherish.
Dear child, friends are good but gaining friends at the expense of losing a right standing with God and your parents is not advisable. The thing is, friends can abandon you anytime, but God and your parents can’t because you are their responsibility.
Ask yourself today, do I pretend to like my friends?
