How Do I Teach My Kids about Prayer? With Special Guest, Nancy Guthrie

How do I teach my kids about prayer? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day.

You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Well, today we are honored to be joined by author and Bible teacher Nancy Guthrie, who has been a great friend to this ministry for many years. And Nancy, welcome to the program.

Oh, thank you so much. I just love getting to be here with you and your listeners. Yeah, we love having you.

I mean, this isn't the first time that you've been on the program. And every time we're able to record together, it's a joy. And I know it's a huge encouragement to people. So thank you for joining us again. Before we start off, can you tell us a little bit about your writing and speaking ministry, Nancy? Yeah, thank you. Well, I was productive during the pandemic.

Let me just say that. Yeah, I had a book that came out right at the beginning of the pandemic called Saints and Scoundrels and the Story of Jesus. And then one came out in September called God Does His Best Work with Empty. And then I wrote one that actually has a has come out called I'm Praying for You.

But I was also really busy right before the pandemic. I launched this thing called the Biblical Theology Workshop for Women. I got about a dozen of them in around the country before we had to stay at home for so long. I did a lot of them online. Even my favorite was doing some international ones. I did one started at 3 a.m. one morning, and I had 500 women from places like Egypt.

And Erbil, Iraq and Dubai. I mean, that was that was can I can I say there was a highlight of the pandemic, but that had to be just because it felt so significant to get to reach women in that way. But now I'm kind of back to doing them in person again. Actually, I'm doing a biblical theology workshop for women every weekend from the end of August through December 4th here in the States and next year in 2002. No, what will it be?

2022. I'll be doing some here in the States, and then I hope to be doing them throughout Latin America. And I'll be doing one in Belfast and Vienna and hopefully London. So they have just been so much fun, Bill, to get in front of women and show them how the Bible connects as one story centered on the person and work of Christ and how the divine author has written into his book a number of central themes and that when we know those themes, it helps us to make sense of the Bible, of things that we wonder why is that even in there? Yeah, I was going to ask you because people can hear that biblical theology workshop.

It can almost sound intimidating. But that was a great definition, I think, of what we're talking about, what you're talking about with biblical theology. It's seeing how the scripture is so coherent and pointing us leading us by the hand almost to Jesus and His grace.

Yeah, I hate for anybody to be intimidated by that. I mean, theology, what is it? It's the study of God. And, you know, as soon as you say, I love Jesus, you're doing theology. That's right. Because it's dependent on who Jesus is and what it means to love Him. Right. So that's really what theology is.

It doesn't have to be intimidating. And this is a particular way of growing in our understanding of how to make sense of the Bible. You know, I'm someone, Adriel and Bill, who just, you know, my earliest memories are of my three-year-old Sunday school class. So, you know, I was being taught the Bible from the very beginning. I was, you know, real involved in Youth for Christ. And then I went to a Christian college and then I got a job in Christian publishing.

And I sat on the front row of BSF for eight years. But honestly, it wasn't until I began to discover biblical theology that I feel like the Bible began to just make sense to me in ways that it hadn't before. That I was someone before that who had known a lot of stories in the Bible.

But if you had asked me to place some of those stories on an actual, like, historical timeline and say this happened before that and this was what was developing in what God was doing in the world, I just couldn't have done it. So it's just my joy to get to share that with women. And I have to tell you, it might sound, you know, heavy like biblical theology workshop. These workshops are so much fun when I get together in a room with, you know, 500 women who love Christ and they love the Bible. And they discover some of the things that I present and then get to work through it themselves and say, you know, I can do this. There's just so much joy.

In our culture. And so what a wonderful opportunity for you to be assuring that on a regular basis. Now, Nancy, we'd love to have you respond to some questions from our listeners today. And here's a question we received from one of our callers named Austin. Was it Austin?

Austin, thank you so much for calling with that question. And when you say that you have struggled to know how to pray, boy, if there's anybody in the world who wouldn't say that, I just, I just want to go sit at their feet because I mean, that's my testimony, too. But I want to tell you what, Austin, I'm not giving up. I'm not giving up.

I'm 59 and I want to be better at it next year than I am this year. And it's worthy of a lifelong pursuit to become more of a person with prayer. So I guess in terms of teaching your kids, I think so, like so many other things with parenting, we think we think it's going to be all about what we say to our kids about what they're supposed to do when the truth is they're watching us and they pick up on what we do. And so I would just encourage you to not be so concerned about, you know, how you do it in front of them and exactly what you say, but just that you are pursuing a relationship with God by talking to him about the things that matter to you and the things that matter to him. Over the last few years, I think the best thing that has been developing in my own life in regard to prayer is to just not depend on my own heart and mind for the content of my prayer, but rather to open up the scriptures. And as I read the scripture to actually turn it into prayer.

So let me tell you what I mean. So for example, let's say, and this happens to me, like a lot of times I'll wake up in the middle of the night and I'll say, well, rather than laying here worrying about something, maybe I shouldn't pray. And so I want to have some substance to those prayers. And so what scripture do I know that I could begin to pray through? I think most of us know the 23rd Psalm. So we think about that, you know, the Lord is my shepherd. And so we turn it into a prayer. We say, Lord, you are my shepherd. I am so grateful to be a sheep in your fold.

And because of that, I really do believe that I have everything I need. And Lord, you are guiding me into green pastures. You, besides still waters, you are the only one who can restore my soul. Lord, here are some ways I need my soul restored. And Lord, I'm inviting you to do it. I want you to forgive me for the ways that I'm turning to other sources for that restoration of soul that only you can provide. So Lord, keep me turning to you.

You see what I'm doing? I'm just working my way through that Psalm. And maybe there's a special concern in your life.

Recently for me, it was a special concern for some Christians in Afghanistan who were trying to get out. I would wake up in the middle of the night and say, here's a good time. So I would come up with a scripture and just begin, rather than just, Lord, save them, save them.

Now I did say that. Deliver them. Rescue them, just like you have rescued your people so many times before.

Park the waters of the Red Sea and bring them out. But I would just take a passage and just begin to pray through it for them. And so you can kind of do it with a different focus, but I would just encourage you more and more to, with your child or your children, open up the scriptures, read it together, talk about it a little bit, and then say, let's pray through it. To me, that creates a conversation with God. I think so many times maybe we'll open our Bibles and we'll read and we close our Bible and then we pick up our prayer on us. So it's kind of like a rude conversation.

We're not actually responding to what he said in his word. Don't we do that as humans sometimes? And don't you hate that kind of conversation?

Like you have talked and talked and then, and it was like the person you're talking to, like they didn't hear anything you said and they just started in on their own agenda. I think sometimes we do that, you know, so like we read God's word, we say all this, and then it's like, set that aside and pull out, here's my list. Here's what's important to me, God. And I think it pleases him when we turn his word into that kind of conversation. So here's what you have said to me, Lord. I want to speak back to you.

I want to talk to you about the things that are on your heart for me, which I have gleaned from your word. Yeah, this beautiful dialogue between God and his people. And I really appreciate that you just highlight the struggle that prayer is for many of us. I don't think I've ever met a believer who wouldn't be willing to say, I struggle in this area. And so not relying entirely on the resources within what we have, because so often, you know, we sit down to pray and it's like, I don't have anything right now.

I feel empty. And what a wonderful time to open up the scriptures and let God speak to us and then to respond to him. And I also really, I mean, I'm finding this, we're in the thick of it right now with four little kids that are, we're trying to teach them how to pray.

And you're totally right. It's something that's more caught than taught. I was convicted just the other day, thinking about the way I pray in front of my children, how often I can just sort of go through the motions. Okay, we need to pray before a meal or we need to pray before bed and sort of just, just speaking these words almost, almost without even thinking about it.

And you think of Jesus's warning in Matthew chapter six, you know, don't be like the Gentiles. You know, they think they're going to be heard for their many words, these sort of mindless prayers. And boy, the Lord just really convicted me on this because it was like, hey, I want to model for my kids in prayer what communion with God looks like, not just this, I'm speaking into the wind, but what does it look like to come into the presence of the Lord, to commune with him, to model that for them. And I think part of that is, like you said, opening up the scriptures, letting God speak to us and responding to him. I think another important thing, Adriel, is to think about the different elements of prayer. I think so often with children, we pretty much only train them for prayer to be asking God for things. And so if we could kind of broaden out the content of our prayers and, you know, so Austin, as you think about this to model this, so your child hears you do this, that maybe you begin with praise and just praising God for who he is.

Then maybe you thank him, you thank him for what he's done. And then I think this is the big missing part that if more kids, and let me just say this, if my child had heard me as a mom do this, I wish he had because I don't think he has very much. That is to hear prayers of confession. And I mean, imagine the power of that for a child to hear mom or dad, you know, say, you know, here's this thing. I've got this conflict, Lord. And Lord, you know, really, I just feel jealous and I need you to work in my heart and, you know, by your spirit, invite your spirit to work on this, my jealousy. Lord, you've seen how I've used harsh words in our home and I need your spirit to work in me so that your love would flow through me in such a way, like through my tongue, as I said, the atmosphere in our home. I mean, I mean, can you imagine for a child to hear their parent do that? And so that creates a thing between parent and child of being actually also brothers and sisters in Christ, but also, you know, as your kids get older and they mess up, maybe if they've heard mom and dad admit how they messed up, maybe they'll be more willing to just say, I messed up here, mom and dad, you know, and just like I've heard you ask God for grace for your failures. I really believe I could experience that forgiveness and a new start with him. And wow, wouldn't that be a beautiful thing?

Absolutely. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and our special guest, Nancy Guthrie, and Nancy actually has a book written specifically for parents on prayer. And we'd love to make that offer available to you today. Yeah, that's right, Nancy. You wrote a children's book called What Every Child Should Know About Prayer with illustrations is sort of a mini biblical theology, right, of prayer for children. And it's a phenomenal book. And so, Nancy, could you tell us a little bit more about this resource?

Yeah, it has a number of sections. Just first of all, you know, what is prayer? And then I look at people in the Bible who prayed and I just work my way through various people throughout the Old and New Testament and specifically what they prayed for. We look at how Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer. We look at what the Psalms show us about prayer because actually the Psalms are words given to us from God to say back to him. I mean, that's a unique part of the scripture, isn't it not? When we wonder how to pray, go to the Psalms because God has given us the Psalms so we will know what to say back to him. It gives us words for our thoughts and our feelings and our questions and our struggles and so to look at the Psalms and then just an encouragement to pray.

And so, you know, there's a number of different sections with it. I love hearing from parents when they tell me their children actually ask, can we open up that book, Mom and Dad, and then to hear their children seek to pray in that way. That just makes my heart really glad. Beautiful. Yeah, get a hold of that resource. Once again, it's called What Every Child Should Know About Prayer and we're making that available to our listeners for a donation of any amount. You can go to corechristianity.com forward slash offers to learn more about that. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers.

Look for Nancy Guthrie's book, What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and our special guest, author Nancy Guthrie. Adriel, here's a question we received for you.

Thank you for taking my question. Since we were predestined from the beginning, why in Colossians 1-13 does it say that he has delivered us from the domain of darkness? We're predestined. Why do we have to be delivered? I mean, it seems like there's a controversy there between predestined and having him deliver us. Anyway, Colossians 1-13. Thank you very much for taking my question. Bye. Hey, thank you for that question.

Nancy, give me a taste of some of the sticky questions that we get here on this broadcast. Is there a contradiction between this idea of being predestined, you know, you see this in places like Ephesians 1, the book of Romans, Romans chapter 8, where you have that language of predestination, but then just the reality that each of us, you know, we have to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. We're called to repent of our sins, to walk with the Lord. In time, we're delivered, like Paul says there in Colossians chapter 1 verse 13, we're delivered from the domain of darkness, transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son, into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And I would just say, you know, the language of predestination in the New Testament often were predestined unto something. And so this is going to be played out in time as we're being conformed more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul says in Romans 8, for example, predestined to be conformed into the image of his Son. And so no contradiction there really.

I mean, it's just this beautiful picture of how God in eternity past is seeing, acting, predestinating, if you will. But in reality, we experience this in time as well as the Spirit of God is at work in our lives, drawing us near to the Father through the Son and by the grace of the Holy Spirit. So yeah, appreciate that question. Hopefully that clears it up for you, brother, and thanks for giving us a call. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and our special guest, Nancy Guthrie. And Nancy, here's a question we received recently on this program.

We had a caller call in and asked and actually spoke to us after the show for a bit longer. He shared with us how earlier this spring he and his wife lost their daughter and how listening to this program had really helped ground him and his wife in the Word of God. Why is it so important for people who are suffering to know the deep things about God and his Word? Whenever we suffer, we have questions. I know in my own life, as some of you may know, that we have buried two of our three children. And as I mentioned earlier, I'm someone who grew up in church and studying the Bible, but I have to tell you, as I faced the deaths of a daughter and then a son, there were many ways that I thought to myself, I'm not sure if I've ever understood the Bible. Or certainly there was so much about the Bible that I thought I understood in a certain way that suffering and loss forced me to dig in deeper, to figure out what is really true.

Suffering, I think what it does is rather than it not mattering what God is doing in the world or what he's doing in our lives or the lives of someone we love, it just matters more to us. And we're asking questions like, is God involved in this? Did he allow this to happen?

Did he cause this to happen? I read this in Romans 8.28 that God causes all things to work together for good. Well, am I supposed to try to figure out what that good thing is?

Who's going to determine what that good thing is? I mean, these are the kinds of questions that come up. And then I think also, I hear from suffering people, so why even pray? You know, if God's going to do what he's going to do.

I mean, so these are the kind of things that incredible suffering brings up. And I guess I would say to my friends who are listening, this is why it matters that you study and know God's word right now today because you don't know what's around the corner. And the Bible presents this beautiful picture of those who are saturated in God's words of being like a tree that's planted with these deep roots that go deep into the ground. And when I see that image, I think, okay, when the winds of difficulty blow, what's going to happen for that kind of tree?

A person who is deeply rooted has some solidity to their lives. Or I think about the story Jesus told about the wise man and the foolish man. It's fascinating to me because it says for both of them, the word of the Lord came to them. So in other words, they're both kind of sitting in church on Sundays. And the other thing that happens the same is the same storm comes to both of them. But you read for one of them, for the wise man, when it says the word of the Lord came to him, it says, and he worked those words into his life. Or he put them into practice. And we discover that when that storm hits his life, there's a solidity.

It's not that he's unaffected by it, but he's not destroyed by it. Like this one who's built his house on the sand. In other words, a person who has not built their lives on what God has said and who he is and what he is doing in this world through Christ. So I just encourage anyone who's listening, maybe you're just kind of thinking, just maybe occasionally taking off a box of reading a nice little devotion and showing up at church. I mean, these days, I think the average is most people are at church like once a week.

But you know what? I got to be there on Sunday. I got to be there and I've got to hear the word. And I need to take in the sacraments and I need to be praying with my brothers and sisters because this is a very hard world to live in. I don't know why we convince ourselves that it's an aberration somehow when hard things happen to us.

No, that's the nature of this world we live in. And what we need is to have been well nourished by God's word that we get in that weekly worship. And then we keep feeding ourselves throughout the week with God's word and we find it strengthens us.

It grounds us. It builds a firm foundation under our lives so that when the storm hits, we aren't destroyed. Nancy, I wish we had three more hours together in just time because this has been so, so rich. And by the way, friends, Nancy recently wrote a book called I'm Praying for You, not just for those who are going through suffering, but if you want to encourage someone who is suffering and want to know how to pray for someone going through the middle of a storm, check out that resource. Again, it's called I'm Praying for You, and that's a book that Nancy just recently wrote. Again, what a blessing it's been to be able to think about these things. And I hope that you're able to see that close relationship between who God is and understanding who He is and application to everyday life, to the things that we go through, the struggles that we face. It's become important for us to be rooted, grounded in God's Holy Word so that when the storm comes, we can stand on the solid rock. We can be heard together.