When Children Pray

On Fridays, my daughter's homeschool co-op has a class for the 1st - 3rd graders called "Praying for the Nations". Each week they learn about a new country and pray for the people in that country. So far, they have learned about and prayed for Afghanistan, Iran & Israel.

Beginning this week, the children will be praying for the US and the upcoming elections. They will be doing this every week until the end of the elections at which time they will start praying for other nations again.

The mother who leads this class has asked each of us to speak to our children regarding the issues for the upcoming elections. Tonight I spoke with my daughter about the candidates a little bit. I did not tell her at first who I was planning to vote for, we just talked about some of the issues and where they stood on these issues. I also spoke to her a little bit about other things that I'll be voting on next month other than the Presidential candidates.

Tonight we focused quite a bit on abortion and Prop 8. I had to pray in advance about how to speak to my 7 year old about these two issues, but I was able to explain them at her level. We were able to talk about these two issues and God's view on both of these. This also led to us discussing sin and how God dislikes sin, but still loves us - even when we sin.

I highly encourage everyone to speak to your children about these things. It is amazing how much they actually grasp and some of my daughter's comments warmed my heart. Our nation is in desparate need of intercessors right now. Praying for our nation, our leaders and the elections has been a burden on my heart for awhile. What better way to teach my daughter about repentence, intercession and prayer than to have her pray with me for this.

Also, I truly believe that God has a special fondness for the prayers of children. They are able to come to Him with a trust and faith that we adults have trouble expressing. When children pray, God leans down from Heaven to hear their sweet voices.

Gossiping the Gospel

This year we are homeschooling our daughter with the help of a three day a week co-op. One of the books which is part of her curriculum this year is called Window on the World. This books is divided up into people groups which includes countries (India, Lobi, Samoa etc) and groups of people (Children on the Streets, Gypsies, etc). Each section is two pages and tells you a little bit about that people group and gives ideas of how to pray for them, including things to thank God for and things to ask God for related to these people.

This week we read the introduction and two people groups; Children of the Streets and Gypsies. The Children of the Streets section brought me to tears and the compassion I saw in my daughters eyes was amazing. After going through this group I could see her heart go out to these children and she realized how thankful she was for her family.

Tonight we read about the Gypsies. There was one item towards the end of the page that really resonated with me.

Gypsy evangelist Tom Wilson said, "We Gypsies are a nation of evangelists, we can't help gossiping the gospel."

Then in the prayer section one of the prayer points is to fill Gypsy Christians with love and joy and the readiness to always "gossip the gospel."

There is so much gossiping that goes on in our world. I thought this was just a high school thing but I've come to realize that we humans never outgrow this habit. I see it just as much at work and everyday life as I did in high school. And to be honest, I am a part of it more often than I would like to admit. I realize it is wrong and I deem that I will not do it any longer, but still I find myself sometimes participating before I even realize what I'm doing!

So this hit me as a novel idea. Obviously as humans gossiping is something we relish, so if we are going to do it - why not gossip about the gospel!