December 4, 2000
TOGETHER:
Provide children with a model for Christian prayer
___God sent the angel Gabriel to ... a virgin ... (whose) name was Mary. The angel ... said: "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you. ... You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus."
___"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
___The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ... For nothing is impossible with God."
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:26-28, 31, 34-35, 37-38)
___We know this passage as the announcement of the birth of Christ. God sent his messenger, the angel Gabriel, to a young woman who was engaged to be married to Joseph of Nazareth, and the news he brought frightened and humbled her. But she found the courage to pray a most wonderful prayer: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." To be able to face a new and frightening future and say to the Lord, "Let it be," is a great moment in anyone's life.
___Years later her son, Jesus, prayed through the night before he went to the cross. In his anguish, "his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." He cried out, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:44, 42). Does the prayer sound familiar? It is much like Mary's prayer years before. It is the highest prayer we can pray, "Let it be to me according to your will." Every mother and father should notice that the prayers we pray prepare the way for the prayers our children will pray.
___Let your children hear you pray. The people and things that are on your heart will likely become the people and things that are on their hearts. Do you pray for friends and people everywhere who are without faith to come to know the salvation Jesus brings? Do you give thanks for the children who are in your home? Do you acknowledge your debt and gratitude to God for life and calling and blessings too many to count? Do you praise God for his creation, his redemption, his holy book and his church? Do you humbly admit you sin and need his forgiveness? Do you give thanks for the people in your life who give so much to you and your family? Do you express gratitude for the work God has given you to do? Do you ever ask God to trust you with more responsibility? Do you pray for the healing of the sick, the peace of the world and for justice and mercy to touch all in need?
___Please, on behalf of children everywhere, don't try to pray all of that every time you sit down to eat! But do pray some part of that each time you pray.
___In my home as a boy, the phone rang just as we were about to eat. My brother, Jim, answered the phone, "Dear Heavenly Father ..." We were so used to praying at meals that by force of habit that phrase of prayer came to his lips. I have often wondered how the person felt hearing Jim's greeting!
___Prayer is a part of every Christian's life--those with children and those without. It is God's gift of paying attention to us. And the essence of prayer is to say with Mary and the Lord Jesus, "Lord, let it be to me as you have said."
___We are loved.
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