TLIC Family. PROVERBS. NOVEMBER 4: PRAYER.

THINK TOGETHER.

What is something that you’ve prayed for lately? 

READ TOGETHER

Proverbs 28:9. If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

Do you pray? What do you pray for?

Christians talk a lot about praying and how important it is, and that’s very good. But it is not just praying that is important. Why you pray and what you pray for are also just as important.

This Proverb is reminding you that even our prayers can be an abomination to God. They can be offensive to him. You can pray prayers that God won’t answer. Why would God not answer one of your prayers? Because you have turned away from hearing the law of God. 

In this proverb, when it talks about the law of God it means the first five books of the Bible and the commandments found in those first five books (can you name them?).  But remember, the most important commandment is to love God with all your heart, and also to love your neighbor as yourself.

So what prayers does God not answer? What kind of prayers does God consider an abomination? The ones that are selfish and unloving. The person who refuses to love others, well, God doesn’t listen to that person.

The good news is that when you receive Jesus into your heart it is filled with his love and his law. The Holy Spirit living inside of the Christian writes God’s law of love onto that Christian’s heart. So what does that mean? It means that the Christian’s prayers can always be full of love and always heard by God. Can they also be full of selfishness and meanness at times? Yes, they can. And you can be sure that God won’t answer those prayers, and that’s a good thing isn’t it?

Because of Jesus we have God’s law of love on our hearts.

With Jesus we can pray prayers of love that will always be heard.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Do you pray together as a family? How can you make prayer a regular rhythm in your family? Try adding a short blessing to your nighttime routine: “God loves me, Jesus died for me, the Holy Spirit is with me, I can love others. Amen.”

PRAY TOGETHER

See above.