Valentines is about Relationships
by Lillian Penner
Isn’t it exciting to have your precious grandchild come running into your arms with hugs and kisses? Your six-year-old granddaughter calling to tell you she lost her first tooth and the tooth fairy is coming to her house or your seven-year-old grandson thrilled to tell you how many goals he made in his soccer game. Last Saturday my two youngest granddaughters came over to visit and we enjoyed making cookies together. Just as you enjoy your relationships with your grandchildren, God enjoys your relationship with Him.
This month as we celebrate Valentine’s we are reminded of our relationships, a time when friends express love to each other. However, it can also be a great reminder for us to express our love to our heavenly Father for the privilege of having a personal relationship with Him.
Prayer is about a relationship, our relationship with God, and those for whom we pray. God gave us the gift of prayer so we could communicate with Him because He loves us and desires our communication. God does not want us to make our prayers a great production. He wants us to have a personal, intimate conversation with Him from our hearts, sharing our fears and struggles.
Paul Miller writes in his book, The Praying Life, “American culture is probably the hardest place in the world to learn to pray, we are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable. We prize accomplishments, production. However, prayer is nothing but talking to God. It feels useless, as if we are wasting time.” ₁ Our heavenly Father rejoices when we take the time in our busy, hurried life to communicate with Him in prayer, expressing our love to Him, since relationships thrive on communication.
The enemy, Satan distracts us with our busy lives hindering our walk with God by distracting our thoughts, making our prayers shallow, hurried, or rote. We face a great deal of stress, difficulty, and disappointments in life for which we need to be deliberate in setting a regular time to pray for our loved ones and ourselves, not just when we have a crisis.
Our lives will be less stressful if we bring our needy hearts to God asking Him to work out His agenda in our life and in the lives of our loved ones, instead of trying to figure out our own agenda. As we see our prayers answered, we will grow into a more intimate relationship with God and experience more boldness in our praying.
Our Enemy knows a family’s faith can be lost in one generation. However, we as grandparents can be their prayer warriors to defend their faith in Jesus Christ by praying for them. Our children and grandchildren do not inherit our salvation. Nevertheless, we can pray that when they are presented with an opportunity their hearts will be prepared to step into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Do you sometimes feel like you are too busy to pray?
Are your prayers hurried or repetitious?
When you pray do you find it hard to connect with God in our distracting world?
How is your relationship with God?
Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:7, 10, 11, “If you love me, you will obey me. . . . If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you . . . I have told you this so that my joy will be in you and that your joy will be complete.”
Send your heavenly Father a Valentine telling him of your love for him by your obedience to him.
Dear Father, I choose to make a daily appointment with You to pray intentionally for the hearts of my children, grandchildren, and myself. I want to have an open intimate relationship with You so I feel comfortable bringing my needy heart to You. I am going to trust you that the seeds of prayer I sow today will bring forth a harvest of blessings in the days ahead. In Jesus Name.
Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life, (Colorado Springs,CO: NavPress 2009), 15.
Used by Permission of NavPress, All Rights Reserved. www.navpress.com
Lillian Penner is the author of Grandparenting with a Purpose: Effective Ways to Pray for Your Grandchildren in English and Spanish. She has been on staff with the Christian Grandparenting Network prayer ministry for fourteen years, developing prayer cards, grandparents@Prayer groups, and the Grandparenting Day of Prayer. She has a passion for praying intentionally for her grandchildren and desires to share that passion with other grandparents.
An avid blogger, Lillian breaks into smiles if you ask about her thirteen grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She and her husband, John, live in Portland, Oregon, where they are active in church ministries. They were both raised in Christian homes and desire to pass their godly heritage to their future generations. She and her husband enjoy traveling, Southern Gospel music but most of all, enjoy spending time with their family.
Feature Photo by Wallpaper Safari
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