Praying Together as a Family ~ Bedrock of Faith and Kingdom Living by Lynn Howson
it’s so important, yet so many things in our society militate against making family prayer times a priority. But make no mistake, establishing this kind of family altar is the most foundational practice a Christian family can do to inspire faith, security and a strong sense of belonging in God’s family for our children. There is great power in families praying and worshipping God together. It is so important, that the enemy is making it his targeted mission to destroy families.
A family in unity expresses a core value in God’s heart: ‘that they may be one’ John 17v11.
Many families start off with good intentions but the pressures of life seem to easily squeeze this time out and before long we find that it is gone altogether. So many Christian parents feel inadequate when it comes
to guiding their children in spiritual things. School is a very secular envi- ronment and our children are young missionaries from a very young age. They truly need to feel secure in God’s love as well as the love of their parents. A daily reminder that God is with us, and the training that enables our children to turn to God at any time is inestimable. Often other friends are more than willing to be a part of our families and can bring special spiritual encouragement, too.
In our family, we have always encouraged our children to know Jesus personally and we have listened to His voice together on a regular basis. When it came to moving to Scotland, we sat down as a family and shared our dreams and in spite of having no money because we were in full time missions, God answered our prayers and the house He provided for us was exactly what we had asked for, but far beyond our expectation!
God is raising up a generation who will prophesy and see visions (Joel 2v28) and we believe they will be bringers of Kingdom transformation as they pursue Him with spiritual hunger and perseverance. Those who have had a godly upbringing where the family worship and pray together have a huge head start! God will work through anyone who surrenders to Him, but if things have gone wrong they will also need His healing and restoration on their way to spiritual maturity. Malachi 2v13: ‘God has made husband and wife one so they would have godly offspring.’ The family is an amazing creation. It is being undermined in our society but it is still God’s foundational core unit where love can flow and faith can be inspired. Let’s
make a fresh com-mitment to bring our families into His Presence every day.
Lynn Howson FireStarters www.firestartersuk.org