Take the First Step to Leave a Legacy of Faith

Prayer is absolutely the first step we are able to take when it comes to leaving a legacy of faith for the children and grandchildren given to the families in your church by God. Consider sharing this post with them to help them learn how to hand down the faith. It is an important and essential thing they are able to do as grandmas (and grandpas/parents, too) to make a real, significant and important difference in the lives of the children they love . . . they are able to - and must - pray for and with them.

When they think about praying for their grandchildren/children, there are three things upon which they are able to focus. The first is, if they, as grandparents/parent do not pray for the children, they may not have anyone who prays faithfully for them on a regular basis.

When you think about this, what do you feel? Now, their grandchildren/children may have parents and their other grandparents who pray regularly and faithfully for them; but they may not. If the parents/grandparents in your church do not pray faithfully and regularly for their children/grandchildren, who will? This is an important question for you to think about and answer. And, keep in mind, even if they do have parents and their other grandparents who pray faithfully and regularly for them, the grandchildren/children need their parents/grandparents to pray faithfully and regularly for them as well. Their prayers matter and do make a difference.

The second thing to think about when it comes to praying for the children and grandchildren, is for parents and grandparents to tell themselves the truth, so they are not side-tracked or derailed by lies. It is so easy for them to believe a very big lie when it comes to praying. This is the lie which tells them their prayers do not even make it past the ceiling. The lie which tells them God does not really hear their prayers. The lie which tells them it does not matter if they make time to pray faithfully for their children, grandchildren, and grown children. These are absolutely lies from the pit of Hell.

They need to tell themselves the truth and the truth is God hears, listens to, answers their prayers, and they do matter - they are able to read this throughout Scripture. They need to choose to believe the truth and stop letting lies influence how they pray - or how they do not pray. Hold tightly to the truth and pray knowing God hears, listens to, answers their prayers, and they do matter; they do make a difference.

Finally, the third thing for them to think about when it comes to praying for the children they love is for them to be intentional about helping the children learn to be people who pray. It is important for them to pray for them faithfully and regularly, but it is essential for them to help the children learn to be people who pray; people who believe the truth of how God hears, listens to and answers their prayers, too! Here are some simple ways they are able to do this.

1. Pray with the children. This seems pretty obvious, but it is far too easy to skip doing this. Pray with them at meals – at my house, rather than have just one person pray at meals, each person at the table has a turn to share something for which they are thankful, then we all say “Amen” together.
2. Help the children learn to pray Scriptures for themselves - use the book I and my grandsons wrote - Praying Deeper Through the Psalms for Children - it will help them learn to pray on their own. (It is available through amazon and in our Bookstore.)
3. Help them learn to journal their prayers. I bought simple notebooks for each of my grandsons and once a week, when they are at my house, we pull out their journals and they draw and/or write how God is answering their prayers and add new prayer requests to their journals. In the Old Testament we see over and over again how new generations forgot God and did not remember all He did for them – they did not know Him. It is essential for us to help the children we love learn to watch for what God is doing in their lives and to help them remember these things. Journaling prayers and how God answers is a wonderful – and simple – way to do this!
4. Pray a Scripture blessing for the children. This could be one passage which remains your blessing throughout your grandchildren's lives; or as God puts a new passage on your heart and mind, you could switch it out from time to time. (You will find free Bible Blessing Prints at this link - feel free to download, print and use!)

These are just a few ways parents and grandparents will leave a legacy of faith and make a real, significant and important difference in the lives of the children they love by praying for them.