Greater Prayer

I am making some changes to the way I do bed time prayer with my boys. We usually do the kneeling, short, by the bed kind of prayers at bed time. We often talk a little before we pray. It is prayer, but it is also like an emotional and psychological wind-down ritual.

So, here is my problem. That is not at all how I pray when I have my alone time with God. I walk, raise my hands and I put real effort into prayer. I pray out loud, not whispering. What I am thinking is that our bed time prayer routine is not teaching my boys to pray in the way that I pray or the way I think we need to pray to press in close to God and receive from him. So, we are doing bed time prayers differently.

Last night, the boys were in bed covered with blankets when I came in to pray. I had only been home a few minutes from my Missouri Baptist class I teach on Tuesdays. I got them out of bed. We all lifted our hands together. I told them that God wants men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer. Then I told them to start praying with me out loud about our daily prayers. I am determined that I will start using bed time prayer time to teach the boys to really pray and seek God. Some nights we will pray a little and then worship. I am going to change it up a little each day. But, the intensity level is going to go up.