The Greatest Teacher's Guide

Sometimes I don't always know what to pray for. Lately we've been praying for the same types of things as we sit together with the kids in the morning, but yesterday was different.  We were reading Proverbs 2 and it suddenly came to me.  It was very clear what to pray for.

Proverbs 2 is all about wisdom.  The chapter title says, "The Value of Wisdom".  But what I loved, as 7 of my kids were sitting around me, was there was a specific way to pray about how to receive this wisdom.  So yesterday, as we went around, I told each child, "Pray for this...." and then I would give each of them a phrase.

For example...verse one says, "If you receive my words..."  So I said, "Pray, 'Lord, help me to receive your words."  I loved hearing my 8 year old say just that, "Lord, help me to receive your words!"  So sweet!  We went on...each verse had an action or two that we could specifically pray... Here's what we specifically prayed -

Help me to receive your words.

Help me treasure up your commandments.

Make my ear attentive to wisdom.

Incline my heart to understanding.

Help me call out for insight.

Help me to raise my voice for understanding.

Help me to seek wisdom like silver.

Help me to search for it like hidden treasure.

Though we clearly still prayed for safety for Daddy as he finished the towers, etc.  Yesterday we were just calling out for wisdom.  The next verses promised that if we did all those things mentioned above then we would "understand the fear of the Lord" and we would "find the knowledge of God."  That's what we want.

All through the rest of the morning, whenever my 6 year old resisted my attempts at teaching, I would say, "incline your ear to me" or "receive my words"!  He's not quite the avid reader I want him to be, so where will he get his wisdom from, but me?!  I am his source of wisdom right now.  Even learning to read is a way to seek wisdom as he's learning to read by listening to me which will ultimately teach him to obey God!  It's all connected. The Bible is the greatest teacher's guide.  It really helped keep us on track yesterday and would bring us back when we lost focus.

I'm so glad I don't have to make this stuff up on my own.....it's all right there in black and white.