Don’t just Pray when you feel like it!

In our culture today, we have become me-centered, basing our decisions on feelings. It seems like we are encouraged to listen to our emotions, allowing our feelings to dictate our prayer life. Our relationship with God cannot be based on our feelings. The foundation of our relationship must be our trust and faith in God, according to his Word.

The purpose of prayer is not for God to give us what we want, but to open our hearts, focusing our minds on Him, yielding ourselves to His higher purpose.  As we open our hearts to God, his thoughts will become our hearts.

Eugene Peterson writes in Answering God, “To pray by feelings is to be at the mercy of glands and weather and digestion. And there is no mercy in any of them. We need more than our wants and whims to grow in our relationship with God. We need revealed truth.” ₁ 

Often times we don’t feel like praying, we’re tired or distracted,  it’s best to have a routine time, a consistent appointment with God to pray, not when we feel like it.

 When praying for your grandchildren, ask God to shape their character according to His Word, even if it requires some struggle. Ask God to give them a soft, teachable heart and a love for God’s Word so they will grow to be men and women of God who share the gospel with the world.  

Additional prayer helps:I have developed “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for Grandchildren.” Many grandparents are using these Scriptures to pray for their grandchildren. Just by joining the mailing list on the right side of this page you will receive grandparenting blogs and prayer suggestions to pray for your grandchildren regularly. I will send you a free downloadable copy of “Thirty-one Scriptures to Pray for your Grandchildren.”

By Lillian Penner, Christian Grandparenting Leadership staff, lpenner@christiangrandparemnting.net

₁ Pray! Magazine, Nov./Dec/ 2008 issue, page 32, published by The Navigators.