A Praying Family

A friend of mine suggested I read Nancy Campbell's devotionals which have been dealing with the same things I am passionate about. Her ministry is called Far Above Rubies http://www.aboverubies.org

I have included one of her most recent devotions on prayer.

ENEMY CHASERS

Leviticus 26:8, “Five of you shall chase an hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

We can be a close-knit, loving family and yet live to ourselves. I believe we should lift up our eyes to see what an influence we can be as a family to the world. One of the greatest ways we can influence the world is by prayer. The power of praying families is enormous.

Prayer should be part of every home. Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” If our home belongs to the Lord, it will be a home of prayer. That means prayers will be conducted daily. That means prayer will happen spontaneously throughout the day. That means prayer will be very natural in our home. It will be as familiar as breathing to our children. As my husband often states, “If we haven’t taught our children to pray, we haven’t taught them.”

One of the most powerful times in our home is our Family Devotions each evening where everyone prays around the table—father, mother and all the children and whoever else happens to be at the table. We pray for current needs. We pray for our nation. Can you imagine the blessings that would come to us if every family prayed together each day for their nation?

We also pray for the nations of the world. It is amazing that we can sit around our dinner table in the Tennessee woods and yet see mighty things happen for God in countries of the world to which we haven’t even visited.

Sometimes we will encourage each one to pray for a country that is on their heart or comes to their mind. Currently we are using the book 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window. After our Bible reading, we read the information about the city in the book. This last week we have been praying for the cities of Casablanca in Morocco, El Aaiun in Western Sahara, Nouakchott in Mauritania, Dakar in Senegal, Banjul in Gambia and Bissau in Guinea Bissau. We are certainly learning our geography! The children learn about the world at the same time they learn to forget about themselves and instead pray for needy, persecuted and often enslaved people in other cities and countries of the world. You can also use Operation World: Day to Day Guide to Praying for the World.

God’s Word tells us that five people can chase 100 aliens (Lev. 26:8)! How many children in your family? Do you have three! With you and your husband and your children (five of you) you can put 100 enemies to flight! This is amazing! This is powerful! No wonder Satan seeks to get us interested in doing everything else but pray together as a family. Dear mother, I know. There are a thousand things that turn up to lure us away from this powerful ministry. There are even “good things” that will keep us from this “best” task of moving the hand of God in prayer. Watch out for extra-curricular activities which rob us of much togetherness as a family, as especially prayer times.

This powerful ministry doesn’t just happen. You have to make it happen. You have to make it a commitment. But you can do it. I have proved it over years and years and we are still doing it today.

As it comes to this culminating moment of the day when we have the Family Altar and pray together, I am aware of the power of what is happening. We are reaching out beyond our four walls. We are going into nations of the world that are closed to the Gospel. We are going into countries where we could be killed for preaching the Gospel—but we are going in by prayer. God is hearing our cries. He hears the cries of the children.  He loves children’s prayers.

The more people we have around our table, the more prayer goes up to the throne of grace. The more children you have praying around your table, the more impact you have upon the world. Praying together is the most important thing you can do together as a family.

The enemies of God will bite the dust as you and your family pray.

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Above Rubies, www.aboverubies.org

PRAYER:

“Oh God, help me to never forget the power of prayer. Show me how I can get my family together every day to pray and impact the world. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

We are a missionary family, going into the countries of the world through the power of prayer!