One of the most important things you can teach your children is to learn both to pray and how to pray.
The Disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. They obviously had seen and heard him pray and they wanted to learn to pray with the fervency and passion that Jesus demonstrated. We can learn from this.
If your children see and hear you pray — if they know mom and dad make prayer a priority in their lives they will want to pray. But if they never see you pray, or only at mealtime, then prayer is likely seen as just a ritual with little importance to real life.
When they are young the prayers are simple and very concrete. Just walking with your child gives an opportunity to say something like, “Thank you God for these pretty flowers that you made. Thank you for our legs that help us walk. Make our bodies strong so we won’t get sick.” Children grow to understand that prayer is simply a friendly conversation with God that you can do anytime.
Family prayer time can be a valuable time to teach prayer. Sadly, this is largely missing in our busy world. But it need not be. If started early, children will grow to accept and anticipate it. It need not be boring.
Creative ideas that involve varied age groups are available. During the teen years, and with hectic school activities it may have to be adjusted but it need not be totally dropped. But during those early impressionable years it provides a great teaching time.
You learn to pray for the concerns of each of the children and they learn that God is interested in every part of their life. They learn God forgives us when we tell him we are sorry.
They learn to pray out loud and hear their voices talking to God. It is sad that many adult Christians have never learned to pray out loud. They rob others of hearing their heart concerns and themselves of the fellowship of community prayer.
One family had a jar of smooth stones with a date on each of them. Each stone represented a time in the life of the family when God had met their need. They were establishing a legacy of answered prayer and of a God in whom they could trust.
Cheri Fuller has some excellent suggestions in her book When Children Pray by Multnomah Press. She suggests some good questions to ask at bedtime prayers.
“What was the happiest or some happy things that happened today? Let’s thank God for that. What was sad at school, or something you felt bad about or you had a hard time with. Could we pray about that? Was there something today that you did that you need to ask Jesus’ forgiveness for? If you could ask God to do anything in your life at this time, or help you with something, what would it be?” (Page 140)
To teach a child God loves them and wants to hear their voice in prayer is one of the most precious gifts you can leave your youngster.
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