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Teaching Kids to Pray During Peer Pressure and Trials

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Be prepared parents! When you train your children up in the Lord and teach them to walk in the light, they will look different than the world…and that is ok!

Teaching Kids to Pray During Peer Pressure

So many parents are concerned with making sure their kids have friends and that they have what others do… high end clothing, latest phones and what seems to be on the rise… “privacy”

We are weird parents, my husband and I. We, for the most part, only buy what we need, drive older cars and have very high standards for what we watch on TV. We also monitor our children’s electronic usage. We have 4 teens and we know their passwords and they know that we do random checks often. With the amount of evil roaming on the internet, something that can be very good and fun can turn to bad in a heartbeat. Why do we do these things? Are we over the top?

I don’t think so…and here’s why.

As believers, Scripture is our standard. It’s the bar that we measure our behavior and thoughts with. If this is true and we aren’t picking and choosing what Scriptures we obey and which we don’t, then Romans 12:2 should make us stick out like a sore thumb.

Romans 12:2- “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This is how I help my kids when they feel odd, or like they don’t fit in at school. The very point of that verse is that if you DO fit in with the world, you’re doing it wrong! While it may be lonely and hard at times, you are most pleasing to the Lord when you are obeying Him. It is His praise we are after, not other peoples.

James 1:2-5 teaches us to “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Teaching Kids to Pray During Peer Pressure

It’s hard to imagine feeling joyful in trials, I personally struggle with discouragement during hard times. The joy that the apostle Paul is talking about is not some fake smile you plaster on your face when you are going through a hard time. Joy in trials is an inner peace and joy of the Lord. You can know that, if you allow Him to, the Holy Spirit does some pretty awesome sanctifying work on us during trials. That kind of transformation of character can’t happen during the easy times. It is only a product that comes from difficulty and trial.

We also know that 2 Corinthians 1:4 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.”

We don’t have to succumb to loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, depression or anxiety when we have trials or all forms of peer pressure. We have the power of God living in us to help us to be overcomers! God provides comfort for us through the hard times. Sometimes it is scriptures, other times it is a message we hear or a close friend or family member that are the hands and feet of Christ to us.

Make no mistake, the trials and troubles we go through are not just for our benefit to grow us. They are for others one day. We teach our kids to look for the ways that things they’ve been through can be a comfort to someone going through that same thing. God wants to use us, our stories of His victories on our behalf to bless others and draw them to Himself.

So to recap, we teach our kids that

(1) We are supposed to look different than the world and trials will certainly come;
(2) When in trials, ask God to empower you to overcome and for the Holy Spirit to do His sanctifying work on your character;
(3) Be prepared to use what you’ve learned one day for the good of others to the Glory of God!

Prepare to Pray!

Always keep your line of communication open with your children when dealing with peer issues and other trials and temptations.

If you have younger children, you will want to choose one or two verses from above for them to learn to pray.

Do you have older children? Have them read through the verses and choose one or two.

Click on the image below to print FREE PRAYER CARDS. Choose the age-appropriate printable for your children and print on card stock.

Scripture Prayer CardsMy Scripture Prayer Cards 3-12 blog

 

 

 

 

 

Grab a pen and write down the chosen verses, or have your child write them down.

Now Pray!

Encourage your children to not just read the words, but to pray them.

Click on the image below for all of the articles in this series.

prayer{All of these verses link to BibleGateway. If you would rather choose a different version of the scriptures, then click the link and choose the version you want.}

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me-profileDana is a mother of four teenagers and married to an incredible man for 19 years. Life up to this point has been an adventure with so many stories to tell. I hope God can use my life’s story to reach others and make an impact for the Kingdom.

My blog is-  Living in Freedom
Facebook- Dana Hoebeke
Twitter- @DanaHoebeke
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