The Power of a Simple Prayer Habit

Who would ever think getting bitten by fleas was something to thank God for? That is exactly what Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie did when they were prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp during the holocaust.

Despite how unbearable it was, they made a decision to thank God for everything they endured in that camp, including the fleas. It’s my hunch, that before they made the decision to thank God for the fleas and before they became prisoners in the Nazi camp, they had already built a habit of prayer.

This prayer habit prepared them for the unforeseen trial that they faced in that camp. Something incredible happened as a result of these faithful prayer-praising sisters. But before I tell the rest of that story, I want to share a simple way to build up the habit of praying for your children for every day of the month.

The habit of praying for ourselves, our children, or any situation prepares us for the unexpected. I created this prayer calendar to facilitate building the habit of praying intentionally for a specific thing every day. I hope it will be a great tool in helping you along as you pray for your child daily. The downloadable pdf is at the end of this post.

 

 Simple Actions To take

All you have to do is print out, post it up, and refer to it daily. That is the habit: refer to the prayers daily.

1. First, print out the calendar after downloading it below. Print out more than one if you want to place them in multiple locations. One can be in your Bible and one can be in another place.
2. Next, post it up in a place where you go every day. Try your bathroom mirror, kitchen, or bedside. I have a place next to my bed where I put important things up so when I wake I up I see it there. If you’re more digitally prone, you can look at if from your phone instead of scrolling social media. When the prayers are posted in places where you look every day, you’re more likely to remember to pray and keep the scriptural principle in your mind.
3. Lastly, refer to it daily. However you decide to post it, the main habit to practice is to refer to it every day in a way that works best for you.

How a Prayer Habit Works

Prayer works in supernatural ways that we may not always understand. Yet there are some natural things that happen as we pray. When begin to build a prayer habit, we start to see something happen. It can go something like this: After we’ve prayed, we need to keep the prayer fresh in our minds throughout the day. So when we see that a prayer is answered, we can immediately recognize it to be the thing we prayed for and thank God for it.

For example, say one day we pray that our child be more independent. Later on, we notice our child doing taking initiative in doing something on their own. At that moment, we can recognize that God has answered our prayer.

There’s something very important to remember here. Always remember to thank God for the answered prayer. When we thank God, it shows that we are grateful and He sees that we can be faithful in appreciating bigger blessings. Think about it, how can God entrust us with big blessings if we are not thankful for the small blessings that come our way?

 

Prayer, Creativity, and Action

Prayer works in another way as well. As we actively pray for something, we can come up with ideas on how to alleviate the concern that we’re praying for.

For example, we can pray that our child finds a group of good quality friends, but later we get the idea to encourage them to appreciate the friends they already have.

Another example: We can pray that our child be respectful and kind and yet that prayer can give us insight that we need to step up in practicing kindness ourselves. I can go on and on but you see the point. Prayer engenders creativity in answering our own prayers. God will speak if we are willing to listen.

Prayer is more than speaking words to God. If we are paying attention to His promptings, it leads to real action.

 

Fleas Become a Blessing

So what happened with those sisters who thanked God for the flea bites? Well, quite a lot, but I’ll just share one powerful aspect of their story. They didn’t realize it at the time, but because their barrack was flea-infested, the prison guards weren’t as vigilant to check up on them. What that did was provide an opportunity for them to share Jesus with the other prisoners they lived with. The fleas made it possible for them to share the gospel! I’m so thankful we have this example of the power of being faithful in prayer.

Now it’s your turn. Would you like to try keeping a prayer habit everyday? If so, I  try out this June Prayer Calendar! The scripture prayers begin on June 12. Keep in mind these are prayers based on scripture, so the verses simply give a reference. They are not written verbatim. For more ideas on ways to pray for your child check out this post on Simple Ways to pray for your Children

If this was helpful and you want more like this, please like, share, and subscribe. Blessings!