Cross My Heart Ministry

“…give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I Thessalonians 5:18 [NIV]

Prompted by my pastor when our oldest was only one year old, I began to pray for a thankful heart in my child. I continued this prayer as we added each additional child. Four kids – and two grandkids later – and I’m still praying for thankful Macfarlan hearts.

“Why thankfulness?” you ask.

The first (or obvious) response might be the blessing released to others. That is true. And that is important. Others are blessed when we express gratitude.

But I’m also convinced that thankfulness is a blessing to the one releasing it. Thankfulness protects against entitlement, materialism, and selfishness … all dangerous to the character of our children. The 21^st-century culture of our western world makes our children vulnerable to “me-ism” – I’m convinced entitlement, materialism, and selfishness are the default, but our prayers can combat these society norms. We are up against entrenched attitudes, human nature, and even commercials and advertisements. The world will corrupt and entice all of us to make it all about us. It’s natural and easy to make it all about self in this “selfie” world.

But never underestimate the power of a praying mom! We can best fight the culture on our knees. And we can train up children to live selfless in a selfie world.

As we consider praying our children are thankful, consider these prayer prompts:

• Lord, give my child a thankful heart. (I Thessalonians 5:18)
• Jesus, let my child see that every good gift comes down from above. (James 1:17)
• God, I pray my child would intentionally release thankfulness to others.
• Holy Spirit, I pray our family would be thankful in “all circumstances” – by faith, believing that You can and will work all things out for our good and for Your glory. (Romans 8:28)

As we pray, we can also put feet to our prayers by taking these practical steps to teach thankfulness to our children:

1. Do not overindulge in “stuff” but show love in creative ways.
2. Choose at least one night per week to pray “Thank you” prayers. Rather than asking God for something, take turns thanking Him for what He has already done for the blessings of the day. Teach them to pray thank-you prayers for big and small things:
   “God, thank you for the tulips popping through in the flower bed and reminding us that spring is coming.”
   “Jesus, thank you for the baby growing in Aunt Denise’s tummy.”
   “Holy Spirit, thank you for our fun afternoon in the park.”
3. Train your child to respond with thankfulness:
   1. Write thank you notes together with your preschooler—allowing him or her to add their name to the note with your help.
   2. Assist your elementary-aged child to write thank you notes to their teacher, coach, and/or sponsor for their soccer team.
   3. Train your teenager to write thank you notes before cashing the check from grandma and grandpa.
4. Model thankfulness. Most character traits are more “caught than taught,” as I’ve heard Dr. James Dobson say on many occasions.
   1. Sit down together to write thank you notes after Christmas.
   2. Let them hear you intentionally thank your pastor for his teaching on Sunday morning.
   3. Thank your children for big and small things when you see and hear them get it right:
      “Thank you for helping your brother.”
      “Thank you for being kind to your sister.”
      “Thank you for making your bed without being asked.”
5. Ask to speak to the manager when dining out and enjoy seeing his/her face transform from dread to delight when you say, “Our family had such a great meal this evening. Thank you for the good food and excellent service.” (On the way home explain to your children that people always complain when someone gets it wrong, but it’s important to release thankfulness when they get it right!)

The importance of thankfulness was a thread woven through the teaching of Dr. Jonathan Burnham, my wise and godly pastor in the early nineties. Over and again he emphasized the theme of thankfulness in his preaching. Even after moving out of state, that emphasis continued to resonate in my heart and be a priority in my prayers.

All these years later, I give glory to God as I see thankfulness demonstrated in the lives of my children. The thank you notes I have received from them are treasures to keep. They are tangible reminders that, while I did many things wrong, perhaps consistent training in gratefulness was one thing I did right.

Whether you are praying thankfulness into your own children or grandchildren, into your nieces and nephews, or the kids who live across the street or sit in the pew behind you – I hope you will pray. And I hope that we can all see that a society can truly be transformed by an “attitude of gratitude.”

Have you downloaded our September ‘Write the WORD’ bookmark, 30 Prayers & Verses for Our Children? Download your free copy here and start praying! And if you are on Facebook, please visit (and like!) the Cross My Heart Ministry page, where we are posting a graphic with each daily prayer prompt and verse during the entire month of September.

Last week was a scheduled break in the I Kings Bible study. We hope you’ll take a moment to watch as Laura shares this short prequel to Lesson 3:

If you’ve not had time to watch all of the teaching videos in the I Kings study, you can find the entire YouTube playlist here.

“…and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures,
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith
which is in Christ Jesus.”
II Timothy 3:15

Paul is writing to Timothy, his spiritual son. (He refers to him in I Timothy 1:2 as “my true son in the faith.”) Thanks to the faith of his mother and grandmother, Timothy knew about God and knew the Scriptures from an early age.

But, of course, God has no grandchildren. At some point, Timothy believed for himself (II Timothy 1:5). He accepted the gift of salvation that comes by grace through faith.

Like Lois and Eunice, Timothy’s mother and grandmother, we can ensure our children know the Word. We can take them to church to hear the Word. We can play Christian music and buy them Christian books. But, of course, none of that will save them. They must come to sincere faith in Christ on their own.

We can do everything within our power to make sure our children know the truth—and then each must choose to bend their knee to Jesus.

Perhaps you are a woman who did not come to faith yourself until your adult years. Maybe you have adult children that have rejected your faith. Do not let the enemy rob you of peace and joy for today. Do not take on illegitimate guilt. The past is done … confess anything you need to confess, receive His forgiveness (I John 1:9) and then move on! Forgive yourself, sister friend!

Choose today to pray. Pray intentionally and unceasingly for your child, whether he/she is an infant, a child, an adolescent, or an adult. If there is life, there is hope. Pray and keep on praying!

Lord God Almighty, thank You for the gift of salvation! Jesus, thank You for the magnitude of Your great love demonstrated at the Cross and the unmatched strength of Your mighty power demonstrated by Your resurrection. O God, thank You for loving me enough to die for me. Let my child see that you love her and died for her, too. Convict her of sin. Draw her to yourself. Overwhelm her today with Your great love. Let today be her day of salvation!

Have you downloaded this month’s free Write the WORD bookmark, 30 Prayers & Verses for Our Children? You can claim your copy here, and I pray that it will bless you by providing prompts that spur you on to pray—and keep praying—for those you love!

I would also like to invite you to study along this fall with our weekly lessons in the book of I Kings. This week, we examine Solomon’s response when God asked, “What shall I give you?” You  can view the teaching video here:

If you’ve missed previous videos in the I Kings series, you can watch from the beginning here.

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD
by failing to pray for you…”
I Samuel 12:23

According to Samuel, prayerlessness is indeed a sin.

This verse is part of Samuel’s farewell address to the people of Israel. He served as judge, prophet, and priest — and he took his assignment seriously. He spoke truth, and wasn’t even afraid to confront the king when necessary.

Quite honestly, I feel a bit convicted by his words here and hope you do, as well.

Samuel’s challenge should spur us on to pray for those entrusted to us. Are you a mom, aunt, grandmother, mentor, or neighbor to a child? Do you teach Sunday School? Are you an Awana leader? Most likely every woman of God has a child she can pray for.

Noting that Samuel shares these words in his farewell address also reminds us that although our children may be adults, or our time of teaching 2^nd grade school has ended, our prayer assignment has not. Samuel may have finished his priestly duties, but he was not finished praying for God’s people.

Are you and I continuing to pray in every season?

E.M. Bounds said this about prayer:

“Prayer should not be regarded as a duty
which must be performed,
but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed,
a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.”

Does prayer feel more duty than delight to you? Would you consider that it could become a privilege to be enjoyed?

Perhaps prayer confuses you. Where to begin? What to pray? Does it really make a difference?

Of course, prayer can include praise and thanksgiving, as well as intercession. We can pray for ourselves, our world, and our nation. The most selfless prayers we pray are those we pray for others. And as we are humbled by preparing our children for life, prayer is our most effective tool.

Praying God’s Word back to Him is a natural way to start praying, to learn to pray, and to continue on in prayer. Inspired by Samuel, this month’s Write the WORD endeavors to equip all of us to press in and pray for the children in our lives. On our Downloads page, you’ll find September’s free bookmarks with 30 Prayers & Verses for Our Children. Four different backgrounds are available, in hopes you will choose one you like to use each day and consider sharing others as a gift. The version with pink or blue baby prints is the perfect thing to tuck in with your gift to a new mom.

And be sure to visit the Cross My Heart YouTube channel tomorrow for a Martha Monday video with an overview of praying each of these 30 prayer points and verses.

Last week, we shared the first video from Laura’s fall Bible study of I Kings.

We hope this week’s teaching will find you inspired by David’s charge to his son Solomon as the baton of leadership was passed:

1. Be strong.
2. Man Up!
3. Know the Word.
4. Do the Word.

You can listen to the teaching from  I Kings 2:2-3 here: