Prayer : Training a Child

Train up a child according to the way he should go; Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

The Lord has taught us and has been gracing us to inculcate in our children the love of God, the reverend fear of God, the trust in God and the prayer in Jesus' Name from the time their conscience started functioning. And we have developed the practice of reading the Bible daily with them and prayer as much as possible; when getting up, before every meal, while dropping and picking them up from the school, before going to bed and literally, whenever there is an opportunity. These habits, whether spiritual or ritual, must be a living, a discipline and a character, I believe so. May the Lord adjust and correct me, if they are wrong. And we have been enjoying the Lord's blessings and presence in our lives.

My son is just four years old and first daughter six years old. They started experiencing the Lord in a very subjective way. Now, they know, there is a God called the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is none else. And they also are learning to trust in this living God and would not accept any other gods introduced in the school by their non-believer teachers. 

Today, my son and his friend were playing with his friend's cycle. And the cycle broke down with a bolt and a nut fallen apart. They both had been scrambling through the ground looking for the missing parts. Helpless and desperate to find them, my son asked his friend if they could pray together simply by asking the Lord Jesus to help them find. They both called upon the Lord Jesus's Name and prayed for the recovery of the lost and broken cycle parts. Quite encouragingly, they found the missing parts right away. Later, my son narrated his experience with Jesus to his mother, my wife, and then to me. O what a blessing to hear the testimony of our children experiencing the Lord!

My daughter too had been studying and laboring hard for her studies, especially Hindi, a foreign language to her. However, we always taught them to pray to Jesus for wisdom, knowledge and understanding. At the same time, help them to study on time and thoroughly. Then this week on two occasions she told me she scored 100% in the class tests in Hindi and other subjects too. To encourage her, I just treated them ice cream of their choice and promised them for a day out to a mall for lunch and for kids' day out.

These are just a foretaste. Still trusting the Lord and looking to Him for more grace to continue in His presence and His blessing, even unto all the days of our lives.

Lord, train us to train our children in Your ways.