This week has been a great week. We had a very successful gospel meeting that was well attended. Many people responded and the church was encouraged. The weather has been perfect. We enjoyed fall break. To top it off my grandparents came from Arkansas and we celebrated my grandmother's 80th birthday.
But there was one signature moment for me from this past week. It meant more to me than anything else has in quite a while. Sunday after services we went to eat at my parents' house. Before the great meal my mother prepared, my grandfather Tatum led a prayer. He thanked God for the privilege of worship. He thanked God for our family. He simply talked to God. It is hard for me to describe to you, just how much it means, as a 37 year-old man, that I still get to hear my grandfather pray!
Although it may be hard to believe, many people will go their entire lives without hearing their parents or grandparents pray. I have spoken to people who have watched their father become a Christian in his old age, and tears streamed down their cheeks when they told me that until that time they had never heard their father pray! Prayer in the home is one of the most powerful and meaningful lessons any child will ever experience. When children hear their superiors talk with God, it brings comfort, joy and peace into their lives.
Parents, you may think it does not make that much difference whether or not you pray at the table, or in the living room in a family devotional, or before bedtime with your children. I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, it makes all of the difference in the world.
God will bless us in a very special way, when we talk with Him. He will watch over and protect our families. He will forgive our sins. He will console our hearts. He will heal our land.
"...At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord." ~ Genesis 4:26
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My father always led prayer for each meal in our home while I was growing up. I never really understood how much it meant to me to hear his simple way of communicating with our God until he recently moved hours away. Now I hear his voice on the phone more often than in person and I have found myself longing to hear his deep yet humble thoughts expressed through the love of a simple prayer. This brief but meaningful essay helped clarify what I had been missing and helps me realize how blessed I have been to have such example of daily prayer in my life. I pray I am able to be the same for my daughter. Thank you Jeremiah for this article.-Kym Brown
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