The Psalmist in the book of psalms tells of how it feels to thank God. This feeling leads him further to do more than just saying thank you to God. It’s leading him to sing praises and to tell the whole world about how good God is. He wants to do it in the morning and even at night.
It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord, To sing praises to Your name, O Most High, To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night.
Psalm 92:1-2 AMP
When you wake up every morning, thank God for keeping you alive. Thank Him for the grace He has given you to be among the million people worldwide that are awake and praising Him right now. Be thankful also for your parents and siblings who have also woken up like you too.
Add this to your prayer journal and the date. This is a good spiritual habit you should learn as a child. Once it becomes a part of you, gratitude will come easy to you.
And at night, just before you sleep, thank God for how He kept you, your parents, and your siblings throughout the day. Include the things He has made possible for you to do or have like passing a test at school or making a new friend.
Begin and end your day with gratitude, just like the psalmist – thank God.
May the Lord keep and bless you every day in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Prayer: Heavenly Lord, I thank You for each day that I am awake and when I sleep at night. Thank you for my parents and siblings. I will always praise Your Holy name in Jesus’ name, amen.
Action point: Start your day by thanking God for keeping you alive – thank God.
God ensures that there are many things in your life that you should be grateful for. So you must learn how to be grateful. God gave you loving and kind parents, a roof over your head, shoes on your feet, clothes to cover your body, food to eat and even a pet dog to play with. These are just some of the things you should be grateful to God for.
O house of Israel, bless and praise the Lord [with gratitude]; O house of Aaron, bless the Lord; Psalms 135:19 AMP.
Gratitude should be about looking around you and in your life to see the things that you are enjoying. Or the ones you have enjoyed in the past. This is one way to learn how to be grateful – by carefully looking around.
Get a journal and daily write down the things you are grateful for. No day passes without a blessing from God. Find those blessings and write them down. Yes, write them down. That is how to be grateful.
Don’t just look at the big things only, note the little things too. God wants you to thank Him for both the big and small things because He made it possible. As big as our God is, He still does the little things. And you should learn how to be grateful no matter the ‘size’ of what God has done.
It’s better to write these things down as soon as they happen to you or at a convenient time for you. That way you don’t forget any.
May God give you a heart of gratitude always and help you find things to be thankful for daily. May He teach you how to be grateful in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Prayer: Thank you Father for your daily blessings. I will always be grateful for your blessings.
Action Point: Find an unused notebook or a diary, label it “My Gratitude Journal” and start to write all that you are grateful for each day. Don’t look at a good thing that happens to you as small, include it in your journal.
Gratitude means to declare that you acknowledge something good that you received. It could be a gift or help. How to practice gratitude as a child is what we wish to look at today.
I will exalt You, my God, O King, And [with gratitude and submissive wonder] I will bless Your name forever and ever.
Psalms 145:1 AMP
The psalmist in the above verse is showing this gratitude to God by writing Him a poem to say how grateful he was. That is how to practice gratitude.
Look at this second verse:
Remember [with gratitude] His marvelous deeds which He has done, His miracles and the judgments from His mouth, 1 Chronicles 16:12 AMP
Now the writer here is saying that we should remember with gratitude what God has done for us. You have to just learn how to practice gratitude as a child.
When people show ungratefulness it’s because they forget about what people or God has done for them. They believe that they have never received anything good in their lives. They refuse to say thank you. They refuse to praise God.
When you appreciate people for the good things they do for you, it’s a sign of gratitude. Rather than focus on what you didn’t get, be grateful for the ones you have. Yes, that is how to practice gratitude.
Saying thank you to God every time He blesses you gladdens His heart and He will bless you more.
For the next few days we will look at ways on how to practice gratitude to God and others.
You will also learn how to find things to be grateful for.
May your gratitude always go before God as a sweet smelling aroma in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
Prayer: Father, I am grateful for the spirit of showing gratitude at all times. Teach me how to practice gratitude. Thank You dear Father in Jesus name. Amen.
Action point: Look for an empty notebook or jotter to start writing down things you are going to be grateful for as we continue the series.
In today’s article, we would be examining how children can pray, as seen in the Bible. The bible is full of so many power-packed prayers from ordinary people like you and me, who faced one issue or another at different times in bible history.
It’s a reservoir of prayers said out of fear, pain, and loneliness. Some were faced with destruction and had to cry out for help. Some more said prayers out of confusion, hopelessness, and despair. Prayers for mercy, deliverance, and strength are found in the bible, said by people who were faced with huge challenges. And in these stories we see how children can pray.
Sometimes, God can lead you to a particular book, chapter, and verse in the bible as a guide to pray with. When directed to read from the bible, obey. That way, you get to know what God wants to teach or tell you about that burning issue in your mind.
David praised and worshipped God a lot in the psalms. His prayers also showed that he too had fears and prayed about them. He had hope in God to save him from all his enemies. And the Bible records that God gave him victory over all his enemies. Reading these life stories, you learn how children can pray.
When he was afraid, lost, and unsure of what to do –“Later David prayed to the Lord. David said,
“Should I go up to any of the cities of Judah? The lord said to David, “Go”. David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord answered, “To Hebron”. 1 Sam. 2:1 ICB
As you learn how children can pray, include reading and meditation from the bible. God bless you as you do so. Amen
Prayer: Lord, as you lead me to read the bible, help me to grasp the meaning of what I read. Help me meditate on these readings so I can learn how to pray. Amen.
Action point: Read some Psalms of David. Note the different ways he prayed for help, forgiveness, and other things.
Declaration: Prayer is the master key, so I use it well.
As we continue in this series, we will look at another aspect today – “pray for yourself.” You know it’s very easy to judge others. You see them doing something you perceive to be wrong and bam! You find a word to quickly call them maybe out loud or in your mind. Your face even shows it even if you don’t say it.
That’s very natural. And God being merciful will give His Holy Spirit freely to you. The job of the Holy Spirit is to quickly and lovingly show or tell you some things.
One, the Spirit of God will tell you how you have acted like the person you are judging immediately. He shows you the many instances you have acted like them. That you are not any different from them. It is when this reality hits you that you will know you need to pray for yourself.
An example of this is when prophet Samuel told king David a story about a man and David was so quick to judge the man in the story. But when he realized he has acted like the man, he broke down and prayed. Learn to pray for yourself.
Another thing the Holy Spirit will do is to lead you towards repenting and asking for forgiveness immediately as well. He wants your remorse at the stage. And it is not a good thing to try and argue with the Holy Spirit.
Don’t try to say how different you are from the person or how the circumstances are not the same. It is the Holy Spirit you are talking with. He knows all things. He knows the minds of all men. He knows your thoughts, past, present and future. Just break down and pray for yourself.
Thirdly, He will reveal to you the probable reason why the person is doing what they are doing. He wants you to understand so you can empathize with them. This does not in anyway mean He accepts what they are doing. No! But He only wants you to not commit the sin of judging others thereby causing yourself to be judged as well. When He shows you this, it also makes you pray for yourself, so that you don’t fall into the same thing.
Finally, He could show you other ways you can help this person out. Apart from praying for them, He could show you what you have that they need and that you can give them. For instance, if you noticed a classmate who cheats during exams, you could pray for them and offer to teach them some school work after school hours. That’s what the Holy Spirit would want you to do.
Judging others does no good to anyone. Not to you or the other person.
May the Holy Spirit watch over your thoughts, words and actions. Amen.
Prayer: Sweet Holy Spirit, show me my faults. Brood over my words, thoughts and actions in Jesus’ name, amen.
Action point: Listen to the prompts of the Holy Spirit anytime you feel like judging someone, and pray for yourself.
