Top

Teaching children to walk in God's way—Part 1

Importance of Prayer in a Child's Life

''Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from them." - Proverbs 22 vs 6

    Teaching a child to walk in God's way is the responsibility of the parents. Children are so important to God and to the church that as parents we alone can impart all the spiritual training to them. We should tell them the importance of having a personal relationship with God. Only when a child has a personal relationship with God they will be able to overcome any problem in their life.

    Personal relationship with God is only possible through Prayer. We know the importance of prayer as we read the Bible. Prayer alone opens all closed door, gives a way through all impossible situation of life and gives hope when all our human power fails. Prayer is a way of bringing God to intervene in all our needs.

Prayer should consist of putting all our needs before God, it must be Praise and Thanksgiving. Prayer should not become a duty but it must be a way to grow in Christ. Prayer should teach the children to open their hearts to God, depend on God for all their needs and to come with a repentant heart when they have done wrong in their life.

    Teaching the child to pray in the morning allows them to ask God to be with them, guide them through out the day in their work and play and keep them away from Sin . This is a good way to start a day. Children should learn to seek God's guidance through prayer in taking not only important decision of life like to choose a career or a job but also even the smallest decisions about their studies and day to day activities. When they learn to talk to God for their small decisions they will know to approach God when they are facing a really hard time and be sure there is a God who will answer all their prayers.

The bible says in Jeremiah 33 vs 3 " Call to me, and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know". Children should know that there is a God whom they can approach when ever they are in need and he is having an answer for all their problems.

Prayer is seeking God's direction, his will and our dependence on him. Children should learn to give importance to Prayer and make it a part of life. The wise Solomon says we should teach them ,train them when they are young and they will learn to continually depend on God as they grow and they will not leave God's way.

(Next: Importance of Family Prayer in a child's life)

- Elizabeth Anil

THE WORLD CELEBRATES

Human beings are very eager to celebrate holidays. This has been true in all nations throughout the ages. Most of the celebrations have disappeared, but some remain and celebrated in changed forms

“Onam”, the celebration of the harvest festival in Kerala falls in the end of August or beginning of September every year. This celebration leads us to our nostalgic feelings and memories about the legendary king “Mahabali” who ruled us long ago. Commemorating the good old days we have the celebration every year. Onam is the festival of flowers. People decorate their court yard with flowers and prepare sumptuous meals so as to remember the good old days of sufficiency. They used to exchange gifts and wear new clothes on that auspicious day by participating in this festival we become part and parcel of the cultural and artistic life of our community.

Another festival in India in the month of September is the “Rekshabandhan”. The main part of this festival involves a sister giving her brother a bracelet of woven threads called ‘Rakhi’. The tradition dates back to 500 years when sisters tied rakhies on their brother’s wrists to protect them on the battle field. In turn the brother wowed to protect sisters honor from other invaders. “Raksha” means protection and “bandhan” means bond.

September is also the Ramadan month, the holy month of Muslims. During this month they avoid all food and drinks between sunrise and sunset. They celebrate the end of this fasting with the festival of Eidul- Fitr. Id is Arabic word which means festival of happiness and a time of great joy. This joyous celebration lasts for three days when Muslims cook celebratory meals, give food for the poor, exchange gifts cards etc:

Jewish celebrate Rosh Hashanah on the first day and Yom Kippur On the tenth day of Lunar month of Tishri (September- October) which is the Day of Atonement, the most solemn holiday of the Jewish Year, the entire ten days of rigorous fasting and repentance and preparation for atonement. They are the days of Awe and Yom Kippur is their culmination. Though it is a solemn holiday in the extreme, it brings together prayer, ritual, historical reminiscence, teaching, music, poetry and legend in a fusion not equaled by any other Jewish holiday. The final service of Yom Kippur before sundown is Ne’ilah which means “closing” or “locking”. The name calls to mind both closing of the gates of Ancient Temple at twilight and the closing of the Gates of Heaven. In legend the fate of each individual is sealed for the year to come. The spirit of the prayers offered at this twilight hour is that of a final appeal, a last hour outpouring of potential supplications. At the close f the service the ram’s horn is blown signaling the start of evening prayers and the end of Yom Kippur.

In America we celebrate Labor Day on the first Monday of September, believing in the importance and necessity of hard work to achieve success. Labor is one of the great elements of society- the great substantial interest on which we all stand.

Celebrations bring together people from all walks of life. It is a time of sharing. A sharing community is always aware of the needs of their fellow being, the less privileged people. By sharing we can bring equality and harmony among the people

-Annie Varughese