How to Pray With Your Children
I have been praying with my children a lot more recently. If the kids are sitting down for breakfast and I am running late to work, I stop and pray over them God’s blessings. When there is a stubbed toe or cat scratch, we pray before finding the Barbie Bandaid. And when we do our evening tuck-ins, prayer comes before books, songs or tickles.
Sounds like I got it all together, right? NOT AT ALL! We are a work in progress … we are growing and growing in our faith. But here is what I have learned about how to pray with your children:
- Make it about God. Remember the ultimate point of the prayer . . . to communicate with our Creator . . . to praise Him for all things . . . to thank Him for the blessings he bestows . . . to ask Him for wisdom . . . to hand Him your worries . . . to claim His healing. Your children need to hear these words on a regular basis so they “get it” later in life.
- Make it about the child. After giving thanks and praise to God, we then pray about other friends and family. Then we conclude with our own desires and struggles. For each of my children, I use age appropriate words and always pray for: (a) their past day; (b) their evening protection; (c) their tomorrow’s blessings; and (d) their future contribution to the Kingdom.
- Make it fun and joyful. Last time I checked, there was not an Eleventh Commandment — Thou shalt not have fun. Instead, we are to go to the altar of God with our “exceeding joy” (Ps. 43:4). To me, this means having a joyful and vibrant voice of excite when I pray with my kids. Be animated. Let them experience joyful prayer flowing from your lips. It’s perfectly okay to say “dude” in your prayer with your six-year-old boy, which sounds something like this:
Father, I just thank you for the strong little man that you gave to our family. I ask that you continue to strengthen Dylan in all that he does. Build him. Use him. Make him into a great, God-loving, change all nations, people leading, prayer warrior dude!!!
When I see the smile on the little one’s face as we say Amen . . . I know that I reached his heart and mind.
There are really two major reasons to pray with your children. First, to communicate with God as a family. Second, to teach your little one how to pray. If you are just trying to check “pray with kid” off your checklist, then your heart is really not there. Are your praying with your children? Why not?
Are there any prayers you would suggest to start out with? I pray with my son sometimes, but he gets confused about it especially at dinner when he says ” I thought you bought the food” LOL. I would like for God and Praying to be a bigger part of my childrens life, but I want to avoid confusion and any lack of enjoyment in it! We are not regular church attenders but I Love the Lord and I want to teach my family as well that he is Life!
Thanks for the comments. I think you are very well on the right track. I think my job as a parent is more to reach their heart than to use the right, methodical words. It still has to be about God and to God, but I am more concerned about teaching my children that He is real!