Learning to Pray

The following devotion is excerpted from our brand new devotional, Faith Forward Family Devotional. Gather your family together to discover how God loves us by listening to us through prayer.
~ Pat and Ruth

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“When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.”
Matthew 6:6

Where do you go when you need help? At some point in our lives, we realize there are some things we just can’t fix on our own. We need someone bigger, stronger, and wiser to help us.

That someone is God our Father. Jesus reminds us that we are not alone in the world. We were created by a Father who loves us, watches over us, never leaves us, and is always there for us. And He is also a God who wants to have a relationship with us.

Prayer is one important way to grow our relationship with God. He knows we can be tempted to forget Him. We depend on our own strength or knowledge. So when Jesus’ first disciples were trying to understand how to talk to God in prayer, He told them to pray like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
(Matthew 6:9–13)

One of the ways God loves us is by listening to us. He wants us to take our problems to Him: to run to Him with our fears, to ask for guidance, to seek His power, and to trust His plans. When we pray, we can be sure God hears us, cares about us, and is working in us.

Key Idea: God loves us by listening to us. We can be sure God hears us when we pray to Him. He cares about what is going on in our lives and is active in ways we don’t always see.

Here are a few questions to think about and discuss with your family:

Why do you think some people don’t pray?
How does prayer change us?
What is one thing our family can be praying about?

Let’s pray:

Father, thank You that we can come to You with our needs and worries. You know us and love us. Continue to change our hearts to be more like Yours. Help us grow closer to You, and teach us to trust You, for You are stronger and wiser than we are. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Faith Forward Family Devotional is written for families with children of all ages to help equip and inspire you to raise another generation to love and serve Jesus.

In just a few minutes a day, at your own pace, you can take your family through the entire Bible in one hundred devotions. Grow closer to your kids as they grow closer to God.

To grab the Faith Forward Family Devo you can go to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook.com and anywhere books are sold.