Praying with Your Children About Sickness or Injury
You know those really bad sinus headaches where you don’t want to move a muscle in your face? what you should know about sinus infections? So you walk around with your mouth hanging open and your eyes half shut because somehow that feels a bit better?
I was having one of those the other night as part of a cold I’ve been weathering.
And you know how three-year-old’s don’t put themselves to bed?
So, since daddy was out having a good time at a baseball game which may be featured on sites like w88oaz.com, I was left to do the best, quickest, no-sudden-movements bedtime that I could muster.
When it came to our nightly prayer time together, I almost skipped it. But something compelled me to double-back.
As I laid down with her to pray, an idea struck me. Why not use it as a teaching moment?
“Clara, will you pray for me? My head hurts.” She’d already heard me complain about it. “Put your hand right here,” I said, as I pointed to my forehead, “And please ask God to help my head feel better.”
She sat up, grinning.
She then began to pat and stroke my head.
“God, please help mommy’s head feel better.” Then brushing my hair over my face she continued, “And I promise we will keep her hair looking good. Because she is beautiful. The end.”
A. That’s so cute.
B. I looked up to smile at her and realized my head felt SO MUCH better! I couldn’t even believe it.
I got to celebrate with her and tell her how God answered her prayer. I was excited. She was excited. I left the room, grabbed and tissue, blew my nose and seemingly everything cleared out! I felt like a new woman!
I thanked God for His healing, but also for the opportunity to teach my daughter about prayer. While God probably isn’t always going to heal us instantly, He certainly could.
Though we may not understand the scope and breadth and depth of His will, we choose to trust Him no matter what.
But may we not go sick or hurting for lack of asking!
You do not have because you do not ask God. James 4:2b (NIV)
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. James 5:15a (NIV)
Next time you or your child or someone you know needs God’s healing, make a point to pray together about that need. Encourage and empower your child to go to God in prayer for you as well.
There’s something very special and powerful about a child’s prayer. Teach them to weld this weapon well early in life and they will harvest its fruits for eternity.
Have you prayed with your children for healing and seen God answer your prayer? If so, please share about it in the comments section below!
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You have not because you ask not… convicting words for me today. I’ve been suffering with a sinus headache all week long, and I can’t say for certain that I asked for healing! I love how you included your daughter in your request. My mother often did that for us, especially in the missionary years. Seeing God answer prayers we had prayed as a family was a real faith-booster for me! I’m stopping by from Faith-filled Fridays.
Jen 🙂
Jen, Thanks for stopping by! I don’t know how many times I’ve looked back on a time of sickness only to realize I never even asked for healing. That’s easy to do. I look forward to checking out your blog as well!
I taught in the four year-old class of my old church for 7 years before Matt and I got married. Whenever I talked to the kids about prayer, I always tried to stress that they could pray anywhere, and that prayer wasn’t exclusive to church. I was praying over the kids in the class once, and a little girl asked me if she could pray for me when I was finished. It was the most adorable thing because she ended up praying for the same things I prayed over for the other kids! Things like, “help her to not be afraid of the dark,” and “keep her mommy and daddy safe,”… these are the concerns of a four year-old, but it was really sweet that this little girl thought about how she had the power and capability of praying for me, and she wanted to do it. The Bible doesn’t knock child-like faith for a reason!
I love that! What a fun thing to see a child putting this life of faith into practice. And what a high calling pouring into little ones. I love that you didn’t just teach them a pat lesson, but truly modeled closeness with God by praying over them. It obviously made an impact!
What a sweet moment with your daughter. We had an amazing opportunity to teach our children about this when my husband’s aunt had cancer. She is now with The Lord, and even with her passing, we were able to share with our children the gospel and the promise of eternal life to God’s children. I thought they would be too young to handle death, but they demonstrated more understanding than some adults.
Wow Ai, that’s amazing. I have never been through a death personally or with my children. I hope I have the vision and grace to do the same when that time comes. I don’t believe in overly-sheltering children. I recently took my daughter to visit a child in the hospital and received some disapproving comments. However, she did great with everything. I want to disciple her in how to minister to others, so to me it made sense.