As the local church I serve dedicates January to personal stewardship, a recommitment to holy habits, we will invite families to read through the book of Proverbs and pray through each room of their home as a practice to claim their home, their family, and all aspects of their lives for the Lord. The new year is a perfect time! It’s standing up and physically proclaiming, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

We prepared a brochure for students to easily carry from room to room as they blessed each space with family-friendly language with these prayers for various rooms.

AT THE FRONT DOOR
Touch the front door, and pray by saying: In Jesus’ holy name, let there be peace in this house and to all who live in it. Bless this house and all who enter it. Amen.
Matthew 18:5 

IN THE HALLWAY
Pray by saying: Loving God who sent your own Son to be born in a stable, bless this house and may it always be a place of love and peace. Amen.
Luke 2:16

IN THE FAMILY ROOM OR LIVING ROOM
Pray by saying: Lord God Almighty, we ask you to bless this room so that those who live together in this house love you Lord with all their heart, soul, and mind. Let us see what is good in each other and live together in goodness and love. Amen.
Hebrews 3:12-13

IN THE DINING ROOM
Pray by saying: Heavenly Father who sent Jesus to share food and drink with his friends, we ask you to bless this dining room so that all meals will be shared with each other in delight and thanksgiving. Amen.
Luke 24:30 

IN THE KITCHEN
Pray by saying: Lord Jesus, who generously serves others with kindness and joy, bless this kitchen and all the work that is done here. Just as you made breakfast on the beach for your friends after you rose from the dead, let us make our meals and clean up with a sweet spirit of helpfulness. Amen.
John 21:12

IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM OR UTILITY ROOM
Pray by saying: Heavenly God, just as you feed and clothe the birds of the sky and the flowers in the fields, let us put on clothes of helpfulness, compassion, clean talk, and respect each other. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Amen.
1 Peter 5:5

IN THE BATHROOM
Pray by saying: Creator God, bless this bathroom so that everyone in this house may be pure and clean both outside and inside. Amen.
Isaiah 1:16

IN THE BACKYARD
Pray by saying: Lord, from the very beginning You have been like a home to us where we feel safe and loved. Before you created the mountains, from the beginning to the end of time, you are God. Bless this backyard that it would be full of life and beauty. Let everyone who lives here always care for Your earth and do all we can to take good care of Your creation. Amen.
Psalm 90:1

IN THE GARAGE
Pray by saying: Thank you for the blessings of cars, trucks, vans, and all the ways we have to get to and from our home. May the Lord keep us kind, wise, safe, and patient as we go out and come back home. Amen.
Psalm 139:3

IN THE BEDROOMS
Pray by saying: It is the Lord who makes us sleep in safety even though He never sleeps or naps. Lord God bless the one(s) who sleep here. Protect us from all evil and temptation so we will be ready to serve you every day. Amen.
Psalm 120:3-4

FINISH IN THE AREA THAT IS FAMILY CENTRAL
Pray by saying: Most gracious Father, this is our home; let Your peace rest upon it. Let love live here, love for one another, love for others, love for life itself, and love for You God. Let us remember that just as many hands built this house, so many hearts make a home. Amen.
Proverbs 3:33

Praying through our home is a holy habit we practiced when we moved into a new home, at the beginning of each new year, and whenever prompted by circumstances. Teaching children to pray for their homes and each other is a holy habit that can carry through life and an amazing offensive weapon against family strife, contention, and even the occasional contrariness.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” Romans 8:28a

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 reads ““Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home . . . “

We’ve gone a step further when we sit at our home . . . we regularly pray through our kid’s bedrooms. This is not a superstitious little ritual. This is a powerful claim of your home, your children, and all aspects of their lives for the LORD. It’s standing up and proclaiming, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) Stormie Omartian, author of Power of a Praying Parent, is quoted as saying, “Everyone’s house needs a spiritual housecleaning from time to time, especially in the rooms where our children sleep and play.”

A holy housecleaning is done periodically as a matter of principle, but definitely whenever we feel troubled by something in our child(ren). If he/she is becoming fearful, rebellious, angry, depressed, distant, strange, a disciplinary problem, or having bad dreams and nightmares, sometimes simply praying through the room can change things quickly. I have seen a change in spirit in my children after every time I have done so. My prayer always started, “LORD, if there’s anything in this room that shouldn’t be here, show me.”

As we entered the teen years, I explained that for his/her own peace and blessing, we would clean the room of anything not of the LORD. Did she/he like it? No, not always. Did we have to remove anything from his/her room? Yes, sometimes. We removed anything that promoted drug or alcohol use, violence, disrespect to family members, or anything we knew would encourage disobedience to God’s word. It didn’t take long for them to welcome it, even ask for it.

We found that music was the most common item of removal because kids trade and copy. So no headphones, no tvs, nor computers were ever allowed in bedrooms. That way I could hear what was being sung and I would ask God for the discernment of what battles to pick.

And when we still struggled through a season, I enlisted the help of his/her small group leaders, my prayer group (who could pray for my children when I was in such distress I couldn’t pray beyond, “Help!”), and their youth pastor. Their spiritual leaders maintained their loyalty to my kids and I never did anything that would harm their need for confidentiality. Youth culture and children’s issues are what they dealt with daily and they were our greatest resource. These folks are here to help us be the godly parents God intended. It’s the personal relationships we have with real people just a bit further down the road of parenting than we are who will set up our kids and us for the greatest possibility for success to navigate a real world for a real God. Today, I get to stand in that role for others. To God be the glory!

“Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” Psalm 24:8

(This updated posting was originally posted September 2011)

Inspired by my local Chick-Fil-A, we invited littles to bring a stuffed animal to the Sunday afternoon CLUB345 & K2Club for a Stuffed Animal Sleepover at the beginning of Thanksgiving week.

Preparation:
* Registration form designed to clearly share this was for stuffed animal and not little people.
* Ordered sleep masks for party favors.
* Provided supplies for a holiday simmering potpourri for each participant.
* Secured roller cart for easy transportation.
* Name tags for our stuffed friends.
* List of photos to be taken.

Soon after the students left, we began rolling our stuffed friends all over campus to stage photos on one phone. It took about two hours. Once I edited the photos, I scheduled them on our closed McEachern Kids Facebook group every 20-30 minutes from 6pm-11pm, then at 7am-8:30am. The interactions on Facebook by the adults was often and hilarious.

The next morning, we greeted our friends in pajamas with donut holes, birthday cookie cake (our intern and photographer’s birthday was the previous Friday), and cereal leftover from the time-change Sunday cereal bar. So many opportunities for parents and kids to chat, play games, and share breakfast 9am-10am.

We took more pictures and lay hands on our stuffed friends to offer a blessing before dismissal.

Goals: Increased social media traffic, time for bigs to engage in holy play with their littles, bigs to learn their little’s church friends. All goals were met. Next year we’ll include the Ambassadors in the staging and photography.

“For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.'” Psalm 122:8