Prayer For Children

Perry's political pandering? or Rick's religious rallying

Politician Perry is posturing for national attention with a public religious rally to pray for America. This may appeal to his political support base of fundamentalist Christians, but not to a majority of Americans. Apparently, he wants to persuade gullible Christian voters Jesus and public prayer are part of his secular political qualifications.

Politician Perry's self-serving agenda is obvious and should fool no one. He intends to make a grand appearance at a grand public prayer spectacle for his grand political aspirations. Thoughtful Christians must wonder if he is knowingly dishonoring the teachings of Jesus or just does not comprehend them.

The New Testament is very clear that Jesus practiced as well as preached only private prayer and criticized public prayer as hypocritical. Read Mark 6:46, Matthew 6:5-8 & 14:23, Luke 5:16 & 9:18, John 6:15 and similar passages (e.g., " ... whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray ... so they may be seen by others" and " ... whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray ...").

Rick Perry is a good rural West Texas born and raised man with a fine family who does not seem to appreciate Texas and other states are composed of citizens of many faiths, including modern Christians who worship one creator and revere the human life and teaching of Jesus, but not dated doctrinal dogma devised long after his death by primitive foreign males in ancient foreign cultures (e.g., who believed the world was flat, evil spirits caused all illnesses, women were only incubators for male seed with no other role in the biological development of children, etc.).

Texas children would be better served by a governor who led education excellence rallies. Under Perry's leadership, Texas education shamefully ranks near the bottom nationally. His priority for unborn zygotes, embryos and fetuses is sadly misplaced and unfortunate for the unmet needs of existing children.

Texas women would be better served by a governor who led gender equality rallies. Under Perry's leadership, discriminatory legislation was enacted forcing women to undergo and pay for demeaning and unnecessary medical procedures not covered by insurance. Our judicial branch of government will ultimately have to remove or restrict it.

Texas men would be better served by a governor who stopped publicly preaching private religious ideology and started seriously addressing issues facing our state and nation with manly intelligence, integrity, discipline and sound judgment like our proud, stoical and independent Texas frontier ancestors.

Like sunshine in the home: Day 1 - 31 Days of Prayer for Your Children

It is the priority of every Christian parent to pray for their child's salvation, we want them above all to know Jesus Christ. We must be sincere in our prayer that our children find Christ truly. I often hear of parent's rejoicing of their child's profession of faith at a young age - and this is indeed wonderful - but we must continue to pray for their spiritual lives because young children like to please their parents and it is possible that the profession isn't heartfelt or the children have questions that they are fearful to express. As Paul states in today's scripture '...the discussion with her. The other day she said to me quietly and fearfully, "Mummy, I'm worried that God doesn't exist. 'X' doesn't believe in God and she seems happy so does 'Y'". Everything in me wanted to panic and pressure her into re-stating her faith. But I checked myself as she told me how she was afraid to admit this in case God was angry with her and would send her to hell (my little treasure!!), that people at church would be angry and that I would be upset and disappointed. We must be so careful as parents to deal sensitively with matters of faith, because faith is a gift from God and is not something that can be forced by fear-mongering or pressure. Chatterbox and I prayed, we chatted for a bit about God's love and His acceptance of us 'warts n' all', how He is quick to forgive and SLOW to anger. I told her she needn't ever fear being truthful because God knows her heart anyway and He holds her heart in His hands. I encouraged her to share her fears in her Children's church group if she felt comfortable doing that. They were so encouraging and told her she was brave for admitting her worries. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

A Prayer for Children

Prayers for Children

Catholic Prayer Book for Children

Journey to the Heart, Centering Prayer for Children

The Lion Book of 1000 Prayers for Children