Our children picking names from our Prayer Box.
Our family has evening and morning Bible (devotional) times together almost every day. During the school year, I lead our kids in a Bible time during breakfast. We read a passage of scripture, work on a memory verse and often a hymn, and then pray for our day. During the summer we aren’t so consistent and we feel this lack of consistency. By the end of the summer (like right now as I write this) we are ready for those regular morning times together again.
Throughout the whole year, almost every night, Eric leads us in family Bible times together. Eric reads a story from a children’s Bible and then asks our children questions about what he just read. Then we open our Prayer Box and pray together as a family. After our time of prayer, we all praise the Lord together at the same time. We will speak out praises like “You are the kind God.” “Lord you are strong.” “You are wise. You are loving. You are fun.” We end our spontaneous praise by singing the songs “Praise the name of Jesus” and “Jesus loves Me”. Sometimes we may sing another song. We end our Bible time with listening to the Lord. We all get quiet and ask the Lord what He wants to speak to us. Our little ones usually get an instant word or picture from God while it takes the rest of us longer. We often have to make Tirzah and Judah wait to tell us what they heard from God so the rest of us get a chance to listen. When we travel, we add high point/low point to this mix. Everyone shares the high and low point of their day. Then it’s time for bed for the littles.
Why do we do this? We want to put God first in our home. When we daily spend time in God’s word, pray, and worship together, we grow closer to Jesus and to each other. There is more peace in our home and we feel connected. Deuteronomy 11:19 tells parents to teach children the Word of God at home, on the road, and when you get up and when you go to bed. Our children, oldest to youngest, do not like it when we miss a night of family Bible time together. If it’s a super busy week, we will even do Bible time in the van, sharing verses and doing “imaginary” prayer box.
What is Prayer Box? Our Prayer Box is a box filled with names of family members, friends, missionaries, pastors, and random people God puts on our hearts. Every night, each family member draws a name out of the prayer box and that person prays for the person or family name written on their piece of paper. We all love prayer box! Prayer box is FUN!!! We get to see how the Holy Spirit orchestrates who we all pray for. It’s no coincidence when we draw names of people from the same family, or we draw the same person’s name night after night, or when one of of us draws my name after a really exhausting day and I need prayer. Prayer is not boring and prayer box teaches our children the value and fun of prayer. I got the idea for our prayer box years ago when Josiah and Emmy were little. I cannot remember exactly where, but I think it was from an Above Rubies book or article I read. We been having family devotional times since Josiah(13) was a baby and using the prayer box since he and Emmy (11) were very young.
Here is what your need for your prayer box:
A small box with a lid (can be a shoe box, or a pretty wooden box, or plastic container)
Small pieces of paper (we use colored 3 by 5 cards cut in half then folded)
A pen
Write down names of family, friends, and anyone God puts on your heart onto those papers and then put them in the box. Each person in your family can pull out a name and pray for the person they drew when you have your family Bible time.
Over the years I’ve had some women ask me how they can help their husbands be the spiritual leaders of their home. Family Bible times are a great way to do this. I encourage wives to pick out a simple children’s bible story book and/or a simple devotional book. Ask your husband if he would be willing to read one of these stories to you and your children each morning or night or whenever works best for your husband (if your husbands schedule makes this difficult, even once a week is better than never!). If he says yes, wonderful, if not, pray for him and start doing this with your children yourself. If your husband does decide to lead in this way, don’t criticize his reading or add a whole bunch to what he reads or does. Let him lead! Simplicity is great and sufficient. Prayer Box takes the pressure off of him to pray “perfect” prayers. Have fun as you spend time with God as a family. Our kids often get seriously goofy during Bible time. For the most part we let them, laughter is good, and we’re not trying to be religious. We are putting Christ first and prioritizing our family.
If you have teenagers who grumble when you start this, don’t let them stop you, and don’t be offended by their grumbling. They need family Bible time and will thank you eventually!
Statistics show that couples who pray together stay together and I believe the same is true for families who pray together.
So…..start having Bible times together as a family and make your own Prayer Box! See what God will do!
This is wonderful Melissa! Thank you for sharing this post. I have been secretly hoping you would start a blog for a while now, I am so glad you did! 😀
Hi Melissa! I love this idea. Especially the tips for husbands 😉
I want to be a family that prays together and makes it a priority, but I’m a bit timid about it as I never did anything like it growing up. Praying outloud is intimidating to me, I’ve done it and I’ll do it but not comfortably. I guess I should pray about that 🙂 ha. I am wondering what your procedure for prayer box and other prayer times are like. Do you go in a circle, draw and everyone prays outloud? Do you simply pray for the person generally or in detail? I know there is know wrong way to pray but I would love a little direction so I don’t feel pressure to, in your words, “pray the ‘perfect’ prayer.”
Thanks so much! 🙂
Hi Liz,
Thanks for you comment and question! I think praying out loud gets easier with practice:). You WILL feel more comfortable over time. Praying with your children and in your home is a great place to work on getting comfortable with praying out loud. The Lord will help you and how awesome will it be for your kids. You can do it! When we pray during our Bible time, we are usually sitting on couches or at the kitchen table. We each pray, one at a time, having our youngest pray first and then move up till we get to the oldest (being my husband). Usually, it’s general prayers like Lord, please bless so and so. Please protect them, keep them healthy, and draw them close to you. If we know more about the person’s situation we may pray more. If we are praying for a missionary we will pray that God will help them in all that they do on their mission field. If I draw a pastor’s name. I’ll pray for their marriage and family to be strong. If I draw a siblings name, I will pray for them to have joy in what they do and for God to provide. Things like this. Really, whatever comes to your mind for the person’s you draw is great to speak out and pray. When we pray together at times other than our Bible time, I may be the one to pray for someone we know of who needs prayer, or I’ll ask our kids if they want to pray and usually a couple of them will. If one of us is sick, my husband may pray for us and command that sickness to go in Jesus name. Thanking God for things is a great way to pray out loud too. You and your family members could each go around and say, “Thank you God for……” Hope this helps!!! I’ll pray for you and your family!