Names for God

My prayer life took on a whole new dimension when I began praying with a Moms In Touch group several years ago. And it wasn't because I learned new, wonderous things, it was because we would spend the first several minutes praising God. Or "calling God names". Names like: everlasting, healer, provider, rock. And with each name, we would get ourselves in this place of realizing to whom we were praying. To a God who listens and is more powerful and loving than I could ever imagine.
So with that in mind, I have a new idea that you can start with your family. (Please adjust for your family's ages and attention spans.)
1. Read a story from the Beginner's Bible (and/or the correlating verses in your bible)
2. Let the kids help you think of a name that you can call God.(Sometimes our vocabulary stifles kids thinking)
3. Write that name in a margin in that story.(Yes, it is OK to write in the margins of our Bibles - you might want to establish with your littlest ones that only mommy and daddy can write for now, or the writing only happens when the family is togehter so they don't "write" all over their bibles.
4. Pray using that name for God and expand on it a bit.
ie:
Read "The Beginning"
One name you could write for God is "Forever"
Then when you pray, start your prayer with something like:
God You are forever, You were here before there was ANYTHING and you'll be here forever. That is amazing. You even knew me before I was born and you will know me forever. Wow!