The Power of Prayer in the Family
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We don’t always understand prayer. Some people seem to be able to bask in prayer to the Lord. Others it’s like a dentist appointment. They know they need to do it. But they dread it. Then others want to pray but they are afraid to approach Jesus.
My faith background on prayer was like pray, but unless your the Pope or a Cardinal, don’t bother the big guy. Let your priest upscale it if necessary. Listen, you can pray to your guardian angel, he’s basically hanging around waiting for you to trip or need help. His whole assignment is you. He’s the first line of call. If he’s out of his league, there’s a whole line up of saints who can handle whatever gripe or problem you have. Headache ring St. Denis. Having trouble with your ad campaign call St. Bernardino. Lost something, send a text to St. Anthony. And if you really are desperate you can call on Jesus’ mother Mary.
Prayer is God’s means of intervening. And while He may assign angels or other believers in the answer, He is always willing and available to hear our requests, especially in regards to strengthening the family.
17 Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you! 18 You show faithful love to thousands but lay the fathers’ iniquity on their sons’ laps after them, great and mighty God whose name is the Lord of Armies, 19 the one great in counsel and powerful in action. Your eyes are on all the ways of the children of men in order to reward each person according to his ways and as the result of his actions. 20 You performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt and still do today, both in Israel and among all mankind. You made a name for yourself, as is the case today.
1 The Person Prayer.
To have a powerful prayer life you must pray to the God of Heaven. Many people claim to pray. They even have beautiful prayers. But, there’s no power in the end. Their life and family seem upside down. What’s going on. When you pray, you come before the Creator God. He can speak anything into existence. He owns everything. He also defines sin and righteousness. He deserves devotion, attention and obedience.
When you listen to these people talk, they may talk about heaven and family. But, they don’t talk about sin, pride, confession, confession or hell. They talk as if everyone is going to heaven and it’s rainbows and unicorns for everyone.
When we come in prayer, you have the audience with the God of all ages. He is not a tame God that conforms to our wants and desires. We are His creation and we approach Him in His Majesty and glory.
Perhaps our view of prayer comes because we have a low view of God. We see Him as a projection of us rather than as our Creator. We don’t understand the incredible privilege and power available to us in prayer. We project our ideas of good and ignore the chaos of our desires.
C.S. Lewis portrays Jesus in a creative light that children and adults alike grow to love. In The Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe, Lewis allegorically refers to Aslan as the great lion, who isn’t particularly safe; “‘Safe?' said Mr Beaver ...'Who said anything about safe?' Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
Too many people pray to a safe God and do not get an audience with the True God.
Start with acknowledging that He is God.
6 But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 7 When you pray, don’t babble like the Gentiles, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. 8 Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask him.
2 The Purpose of Prayer
So often we go to God with requests what do I get. We approach prayer like a candy vending machine. I push these buttons and I get this.
9 “As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.
2a-Fellowship with the Father
When Jesus called the 12, He called them into fellowship. God knows what you need, so what’s the purpose of prayer for Him? He desires fellowship, intimacy and relationship. The very things needed for a healthy marriage and family. The more we develop intimacy with the Father, the more we know His love and remain in His love, the more loving, the more the Spirit guides our hearts and actions.
46 You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.
47 Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.”
2b-Forgiveness.
It’s been said people don’t fall out of love so much as they fall out of forgiveness. Forgiven people forgive others.
Marriage isn’t easy. We’re all married to imperfect people. Our spouse is married to an imperfect person. None of us will be perfect until we receive our glorified bodies after we die. I know a woman who has had a difficult marriage. She told me that she endures by simply pouring grace and forgiveness upon him. He’s changing. When a husband is faced with a loving and forgiving wife who is filled with grace towards him, it’s hard for him to continue to bad behavior. (If a woman is in a destructive marriage, please seek help.)
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.” (1 Peter 3:1,2)
Even if we aren’t in difficult marriages, we must learn to be forgiving and merciful towards our husbands, since they’ll offend us, hurt us, and cause us to be angry at times, just as we do towards them. Not forgiving your spouse leads to bitterness which defiles many (Hebrews 12:15). Bitterness is like a cancerous tumor that grows and grows and poisons the one who is bitter. Learn to forgive easily; for love is not easily offended.
John MacArthur preached a great sermon on this topic many years ago. Here is a snippet of his sermon:
“Offenses against you are your trials. Listen carefully, and by those trials what is God doing? Perfecting you. ‘Count it all joy, brethren, when you fall into various trials because the trying of your faith has a perfect work’ (James 1:2). ‘But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you’ (1Peter 5:10); just an absolutely magnificent portion of Scripture. The Apostle Paul talks about his thorn in the flesh, his distress, insult, persecution, difficulties and he says, ‘I am content with all of them because when I’m weak then I’m…what?…strong.’ His power is perfected in my weakness. His grace is made sufficient in my infirmities.
“Let me tell you something. You may think you have a difficult marriage. You may think you have a difficult situation, young people with your parents. You may think you have conflict in the home. Let me tell you this, your offenses, the offenses against you are the very trials which God will use to make you like His Son. Don’t run from them. Criticisms, injustices, offenses, persecutions, and mistreatments are for the purpose of your spiritual maturity. Don’t run from that process. Stay in it, stay in it. Even if your whole life long you realize that maybe, maybe I could have found somebody else who would have made my life happier, if you respond to the stress and the difficulty appropriately, those trials will make you like Christ, and that’s the noblest goal of all.
“Be little concerned about your personal injuries and much concerned about your personal holiness. Remember that in your trials, God is at work making you strong and holy.
“When all is said and done, what keeps a relationship together is forgiveness, because we’re going to fail, we’re going to offend, we’re going to wound, and we’re going to hurt. But where there is instant and comprehensive and constant forgiveness, the relationship stays together. And God is honored and blessing is poured out.”
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32 “32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”
14 This is the confidence we have before him: If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
3 The Pinnacle of Prayer.
2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Prayer is not just about asking God for our personal desires; it is about aligning our will with His. This verse highlights the importance of seeking God’s will and praying accordingly, knowing that He hears and responds to our petitions.
If the request is wrong, God says No
If the timing is wrong, God say slow
If the person is wrong God says Grow
If the request is right with God, the timing is right, the heart is right, God says, GO!
Prayer is going up the Holy Mountain to meet God.
Prayer is God’s means of Getting involved in our lives.
7 Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
How did Jesus draw people to Himself?
How does praying for
Habits can often become rituals that make no impact but prayer is a vital link in having strength and endurance in the home. The old saying, “A family that prays together, stays together” carries a lot of weight. Prayer drives people to God—and God is ready to listen and answer. What a privilege that so many families miss out on. Prayer unifies and energizes the family unit. It can be a reminder that we do not have to go out into the world without the power of God going with us. Only by direct contact with God through prayer can we hope to have the serenity and security that will enable us to be a witness for Him in a dark and confused world.
The practice of prayer also equips family members to pray effectively amid the pressures of jobs, school and community relations. The home is the best place to learn spiritual lessons such as these.
Prayer is the best way to prepare for whatever is in store for us in the critical and testing times of life. When difficulties come, we don’t have to be dependent on the circumstances around us, but on the hidden resource within us—and that is God Himself.
The Bible says that we should “give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4) and what a wonderful example that can be in the home. True prayer is a way of life, not just for use in cases of emergency. Make prayer a good habit, and when the need arises you will be in practice! Let’s never be too busy to pray.
Takeaways:
Discuss with others how a proper understanding of God’s nature make our prayers meaningful and powerful.
Read where Jesus used prayer to connect with others and consider how we can follow His model in our own lives.
Discuss how developing intimacy with the Father affects our relationships within the family?
Discuss the benefits of family prayer in fostering togetherness, reducing tensions, and equipping family members to face life’s challenges.
Reflect on practical steps to enhance the quality and consistency of family prayer times.