how to pray

5 Ways to Pray for Your Community

- Mama Leave a comment

With today being the National Day of Prayer, there’s a lot of interest in focusing our prayers on the National level. It is so common for us to get into our bubble and pray for our family, ourselves, the leaders in our own church, or close friends and family who have a need. What I love about the National Day of Prayer is that it’s reminding us to pray for our government, for our leaders, and for the things that affect us as a whole, nationally.

However, I also think that it is incredibly important for people to spend time praying for their local communities, not just on one specific day, but in the same way as they’d pray for family, friends, themselves, their job, their stress, and the other things on the prayer list. Not as a duty, but as something that comes naturally, like breathing.

But when it comes time to pray for your own community, it can be hard to think of what prayer the community really needs. Where is there a prayer need? I decided to take a walk and think about how I could best pray for my community.

As I walked, I realized a natural way to do this was to pray for neighbors. I encourage you to try this, as well, walking past your neighbors’ homes on a prayer walk and praying for those who live near you. Maybe you live in an apartment, where you have lots of neighbors all in your building, or maybe you’re in the country or on a farm where your closest neighbors could be even miles away. Either way, pray for those who are around you. If you know of a specific need your neighbor has, pray for that. If not, pray that God will be present in whatever needs they may have, or whatever they may be facing. If you don’t know what prayer needs they have, it’s a good opportunity to get to know your neighbors and see if there is a tangible way you can serve them.

From there, you can pray for the leadership in your local community. Ask God to help your town’s leadership and put his hand on the leaders in your town, in all of the various roles, from the Mayor and the City Council, to the School Board, Superintendent, and Principals, to the local community boards. Our town, for example, has a Fall Festival Committee, and that’s a specific leadership group that needs prayer right there alongside those who are working on the day-to-day needs of the town. It’s important to pray that God put his hand on those who are making decisions for the town, and praying that they will make decisions that honor Him.

As you pray for the leadership, pray for the local schools, as well. Pray that the teachers will raise up strong children who become future leaders themselves. Pray for the bullies, that their hearts will soften, and for the bullied, that they can stand strong in the face of adversity. Pray for the principals as they make decisions running their schools, for the nurses to have a healing touch, for school law enforcement and school resource officers to keep kids safe, and for the students that their minds and hearts will be open to education, and to the Lord. Pray for the safety as kids are at school, and pray for the students’ home lives, as well.

One area that sometimes gets overlooked is praying for churches in your community. Often, we all feel this tendency to pray for our own church or our own pastor, or our own youth or leadership teams, but we forget that there are many churches that work together in a community to spread the Gospel. Pray for other churches in your community, and your own church, that these churches reach out, practice active outreach, serve others, and welcome the community with open arms. Pray that the Youth in each church are being shaped and led into active, spirited followers of Christ, that the leadership in the church is sound, and that each church in your community is an active and loving representation of the Body of Christ. Pray for each church that their needs are met and that they are able to serve the Lord well.

Finally, pray for the service programs in your community that they are reaching those in need. If your town has a local food pantry or clothing closet, pray that the people who need those services are getting them. If your town has a multiservice center that helps with various needs, pray they’re meeting the needs of the community. Pray that even groups like library storytime are meeting the families who need it, that if even one mom needs that connection with someone, or if even one child needs a meal, or if even one person needs a warm coat, that the service programs in the community are touching those who need each program the most. If you feel a tug on your heart, consider contacting these programs and finding out where you can personally serve beyond prayer, but start praying that each of these programs is helping exactly who they need to help, and that each has the resources, donations, and volunteers to sustain their program and continue serving in the community.

When a community has individuals praying for it, or even a group of people praying for it, that community can become stronger. When those prayers are put into action and service, it helps even one step further to strengthen the community and make it a better place to live, not just for those praying, but for everyone in the community. And I think we can all agree that a community that has people praying for it and serving it is a community that will be blessed again and again.

 

You can find 5 more ways to pray for your community here, and then also 7 ways to pray for your children.

Can you think of a way to pray for your local community that I might have missed? Please share it in the comment section below!

7 Ways to Pray for Your Child

- Mama Leave a comment

It didn’t take me long at all, minutes even, to realize I was never going to be a perfect parent. In fact, I honestly realized that while I was pregnant. No matter how hard I might try, I’d never be a perfect parent.

When I brought up my worry, as a perfectionist, that I’d never be a perfect parent, I was greeted with wisdom by people who had been there. My mom, my grandma, my friends… they all came back with the same resounding concept. I was right– I’d never be a perfect parent. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t be a praying parent.

By spending time in prayer for my child, I could actually become a better parent for him than if I was a perfect parent.

But sometimes, it can be hard to think of how to pray for your child. I mean, you have all of these hopes and dreams and thoughts for your child, as a mom, before your son or daughter is even born. Sometimes, you even have this in your mind before they’re conceived.

I struggled to put my prayers into words, and I honestly sometimes didn’t even use words– I believe God understands my petitions even when my words can’t put the thoughts I have into coherent prayers.

One of the first prayers I had for my son was a prayer of Salvation. I knew that I wanted my son to grow up and have a relationship with God, so I wanted to make sure that he knew God personally, and had dedicated his life to Christ. I wanted to pray that he would find Salvation.

I prayed for my son to have great joy. I wanted to know that he was not just happy, but joyful. I prayed also that God would make ME a more joyful person and help instill that joy in his life, both by the way I lived, and through the examples set for him by myself and those in his life. I wanted him to experience happiness, of course, but I also thought that joy, true Holy Spirit joy, transcended that, and I prayed that upon him.

I prayed that my son would have a Servant heart, that he would learn to serve others and be willing to get down and wash someone’s feet, or any other service that he could provide. I wanted him to reach out and help people, and find a passion in that. Essentially, I prayed that my son would get a lot of traits from my mother, who has the biggest servant hearts of anyone I know. I wanted my son to know that serving others is one of the most important things you can do.

I prayed for my son’s safety. Of course, his safety was paramount to me. With all of the crazy news about mall shootings and terrorism and even just basic things like drunk drivers or plane crashes, I worried a lot about Zach’s safety. I realized, though, that God says not to worry, but instead, to pray. There’s no need to have anxiety about things when we have prayer (easier said than done for me and my panic attacks, but I knew prayer was the right solution). So I did, I prayed for my son’s safety, for him to be guarded from harm. I prayed he would be protected and kept from harm.

I prayed for my son’s wisdom, that he would not just be a smart child with a thirst for learning, but that he would be wise. I prayed that he would have the wisdom to think for himself, to discern right from wrong, and make wise, Godly choices. I didn’t pray necessarily for my son’s intelligence, but for wisdom. I knew that being book smart could help him in life, but being wise, having that true wisdom, would help him for sure.

When my son started to grow, I saw that he was one self-confident kid with a little attitude.
I prayed for humility, that, even in his self-confidence, he would be humble and speak with kindness. I didn’t want him to become cocky, or lose that humility when speaking to authority figures or even peers. I wanted his heart to be pure and humble, with his servant heart and gentle spirit.

I prayed for strength. No, not the “I can lift two elephants” kind of strength, but the kind of strength that comes from the heart. I wanted him to be strong in tough times, to know that, even though times can be tough, or you can cry or be upset over circumstances, that you persevere, you continue on, and your strength helps carry you. I also prayed for a strength of spirit, one that would allow him to resist temptation that I know will face him in life. I prayed for the strength to say no to things he knew were not right, and for the strength to stand for what is right, even when it’s hard. I prayed for strength to get through hard circumstances, and strength to resist temptation, both from his peers and directly from evil he may encounter in life.

Of course, there are many, many ways you can pray for your child. These seven are just a start, a jumping off point to consider ways to pray.

Whether your child is a grown adult, or still not even a blip on the radar, or maybe somewhere in between, praying for your child is important. You’ll never be perfect… I’ll go ahead and be the bad guy and break that news to you now. But you CAN be a praying parent, and that’s what really matters.

 

What prayers do you have for your children? Leave them in the comments below!