Teaching About Praying Together

This morning we had a missing cat. While the kids and I were driving to meet Lee at the parking lot where the cat got loose, we prayed that God would help us find him.

I added silently that God would strengthen my children’s faith as they prayed out loud.

I asked one child to pray even though he said he was embarrassed to pray out loud. I told him that he could pray something short, but I wanted him to weigh in with us. I want him to understand that praying together as a family is something important and good, and blessed by God. (At some point, I’ll back off on making him pray, after we establish a family norm.)

I asked them, “Why did Jesus say ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them’? Did that mean that Jesus hears us only when we pray in a group?”

One of my children, who has apparently heard these questions before from me, said, “No, but it is special when we pray together.”

We don’t know exactly how, but Jesus blesses corporate prayer in a special way. We pray together, not out loud one at a time. We share each others’ burdens. We are challenged to think more biblically as a group as we add to the prayer, one by one.

With cat toys in hand, the children and Lee found the cat and were able to get him back in his carrier. On the way home, we prayed and said “Thank you” to God. Short, happy prayers.

For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthew 18:20

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Here’s the story I’d like to talk about with the kids tomorrow:

When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. Acts 12:12-16