We want to share our faith with our kids. I truly believe it is my greatest calling to pass onto my children my faith. From who God is, what the Bible says, what it means to be a Christian to knowing how to have a personal relationship with Him.
There are several ways to pass on faith to children. Today I want to scratch the surface on the topic of prayer. Even before their own salvation, there is so much that can be taught on prayer. And what a vital thing to teach our kids, as it is our life line to our Great Creator.
Again there is numerous ways to go about this, I am just sharing a few methods that we have and our currently doing with our young children.
Learning about Prayer in the Bible. There are several great prayers already written, as well as a lot of information about prayer in the Bible. On either a special occasion that relates to the prayer given or just because we will look up some of these. Read them, talk about what was going on at the time, what is important about that particular prayer.
A Prayer for Guidance - Psalm 5 (I really like verse 3 and 4)
A Prayer of Faith in Time of Distress - Psalm 6
Prayer and Praise of Deliverance - Psalm 7 (I really enjoy verses 11-17)
Prayer and Thanksgiving for the Lord's Righteous Judgements - Psalm 9 (see verses 6-9)
The Model Prayer - Matthew 6:5-13 (also Luke 11:1-4)
Forgiveness and Prayer - Mark 11:25,26
Jesus Prays for Himself - John 17:1-5
Jesus Prays for His Disciples - John 17:6-19
Jesus Prays for All Believers - John 17:20-26
In Everything by Prayer - Philippians 4:6
Pray without Ceasing - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Do more than just read these verses, engage them to dig deeper. Was there a particular word that you could put into a simpler term? Ask them questions about the passage. Talk about why prayer is important. Teach them how much God loves to hear them pray. Much like a parent knows their child loves them, but how great it feels to hear it from their mouths.
Change it up. I love the simple prayer my kids had learned in church to pray over their snack in class. But it started to get repetitive and the kids would just speed through it. So yes during our meals we ask God to bless the food and the hand who prepared it, and may it be nutritious to our bodies. But now we ask them to pray for something they are thankful for in addition to what they learned. Also switch who prays for the meals, including yourself. At a time we have had them pray for 3 things they were thankful for, for every one thing they asked for. It often sounded like this, "God please let us win our game tomorrow, thank you for the candy we got to eat today, and thank you for Daddy having safe trip home, and thanks for letting the sun come out so we can play outside. Amen."
Pray for others. Is someone sick, or needs healing? Is someone going through hard time with something? Is there a friend that they are thinking about? Is a brother going to have a game, or a doctor's appointment, or test coming up? At bedtime we have asked them to think of someone they want to pray for. How heartwarming it is to hear.
Pray over them, so they can hear. A good way to teach is by example. We pray for their health, that they may come to know Christ, pray for their future wife, and thank God for something special for each child. It might sound something like this, "Dear God, please help these boys recover from their allergies, I pray that they sleep well tonight, that they come to know you and grow in faith, please be with their future wife and keep her safe and that she will also know you and have a personal relationship with you, thank you for giving me Josh who is so caring and helpful, thank you for Matt and the laughter he brings into our home, thank you for Sam and the hugs he gives, thank you for Daniel and joy he brings, Amen."
Ask for request. Sometimes they don't want to pray, and that's fine. But I often ask if they have anything that they want me to pray for them. This might be for help in a certain area where they fall short in, forgiveness with a sin (like hurting one of their brothers), or over someone that has been on their mind. I find the younger ones seem lost for words at times, but still have some input on what they want to pray for.
Pray for forgiveness. So here lately we have been letting each one (not including Daniel, who still doesn't speak much) pray. They pray for at least one thing they are thankful for and one thing they need to ask God to forgive them. At the end of the prayer if it has to do with forgiving of an action to someone in the room (like hitting or being mean to one of the brothers) I tell them they also need to ask forgiveness of the person who they hurt. Or they could ask help for something. This has more or less been the case with my oldest. He ask God to help him control his anger. To help him to not exaggerate over things.
Prayer is so basic that everyone almost takes it for granted. Passing your faith down generations to come takes effort. For them to know why we pray, who we pray to, and what can we pray about is fundamental to their spiritual growth.
Psalm 55:16,17 (NKJV) 'As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me. Evening and morning and at noon, I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.'
As parents it is our job to disciple our kids. So in the next few post I will be sharing how we do that in the most practical ways.
