Teaching Children to Pray (Several Phases)

Teaching children to pray and to make prayer apart of their lives cannot be started too early! A daily devotional can be a difficult task for an adult to establish, but much easier for children. I have broken down this topic into several phases, each containing an object for the lesson.

Phase III - Daily Devotional (Starting Small)

In phase one of Teaching Children to Pray, children begin to learn to listen to God. In phase two, parents continue to direct children to ask God questions and listen to answers. To further teach this lesson, parents should show their children how to have a daily devotional. I have included some suggestions and thoughts for succeeding in this important step in our Christian walk with God.

Provide a nook or special spot for each child to go to meet with God. Explain that while God is with us always - and wants us to pray to Him continuously, it is also good for our spirits to grow by spending special time with Him.

• (For boys) You can compare it to a special workout...most of the day we are doing tasks that by their nature strengthen us and help us burn fat/calories (picking up the toys, playing games, washing dishes, etc.). But, to get really strong and healthy, we have to make sure we set aside a special "workout" time to focus entirely on building strength. In much the same way, we need to spend special time with God to focus on certain challenges, hear His voice without distraction, spend time in worship, and asking for Him to help others.
  
• (For girls) You can also compare it to getting dressed up for a special date with God. All day long, we are spending time with Him, learning about His creation, how much He loves us, and what He wants us to do when we grow up. But, God wants us to also spend some special one-on-one time with Him, cleaning our hearts in repentance, telling Him how much we love Him, and receiving all the beautiful things He wants to say to us.

Impress upon the children that their daily time with God is an appointment with Him and should be respected. (And you will probably need to make room in the family schedule to respect it.) When they make a promise to meet with Him daily, at that time, He promises to be there. When they do not show up, He still shows up...and waits. This will impress their soft hearts with the great love God has for us - He wants to be with us so badly that He WAITS for us, when we do not show up!

Let them pick out a journal and pen that will be specially designated for their thoughts and time with God. Teach them to write prayers and note how God answers them. This will motivate them to pray because of their developing relationship and the RESULTS they can see recorded. Their faith that God cares specifically about them and their issues will grow.

Later, in Phase IV, you can teach them how to pray.