Prayers for Children

Created in the image of GodLiving in the Spirit
Light a Candle for Children
September 10, 2014

 Scripture Reading: Psalm 114

 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,    at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water,    the flint into a spring of water.—Psalm 114:7-8

Today we begin a season of prayer for children as a part our preparation for the celebration of the Children’s Sabbath on October 19, 2014. Started by the Children’s Defense Fund more than 20 years ago, the Children’s Sabbath is a weekend set aside for peoples of all faiths to come together in solidarity for the future of our children. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) initiated the Light a Candle for Children to encourage all peoples of faith and particularly Christians to pray for children each day for 40 days leading up to the Children’s Sabbath. Beginning today and continuing through the Sunday of the Children’s Sabbath these devotions will be provided to assist in your meditation and prayer. If you wish to know more about the Children’s Sabbath visit http://www.childrensdefense.org/ . For more information about Light a Candle for Children and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) daily meditations on children go to https://www.discipleshomemissions.org/dhm/dhm-ministries/family-and-childrens-ministries/light-a-candle/

Since I live in Oklahoma, I will be providing each day some facts from the lives of Oklahoma children. These will be taken from KIDS COUNT a project of the Anne E. Casey Foundation. KIDS COUNT tracks the status of children nationwide and you can trace it down to your county. That information can be accessed at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/.

Why do we prayer for children? I think our scripture today answers that question. We serve and awesome God whose very image is planted in the souls of each of us. God wants all of God’s children to thrive and be a blessing to one another. God is calling us to make that happen as God’s envoys in the world today. Let it be so.

 Oklahoma Fact: in 2014 Oklahoma ranked 39th among the states in Overall Child Well-Being

Prayer: Lord make us conduits of your love as we strive to open doors of hope for the children of our world. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of American. Used by permission. All rights reserved.