5 Steps to Teach Your Children How to Pray 

 5 Steps to Teach Your Children How to Pray

1. Make a routine

Matthew 18:20 – For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Make a routine of when you will want your child/ren to pray each day, and let it be a consistent event for them to do. Usually, most parents will ask for their children to say their prayers before bedtime. The best outcome would be to pray with them when you decide on doing it. It is most ideal to start from early on in age when they can understand your communications more clearly and can form and repeat sentences as well. Other routines include praying after you and the children wake and before each meal as a family.

2. Take position

Proverbs 15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

A lot of parents and their children will kneel to the side of the child’s bed, put their hands together, and pray together. If you have more than one child, you could either do the prayers together, or seperately for each child if that is the routine you want to establish. Other ways you can pray is to sit in bed with your child and pray together sitting up or laying down for instance. The most traditional way is kneeling by the bedside though. When praying together as a family before meals, all members are at the table and one will lead the others in prayer (most often the father).

3. “Repeat after me”

Proverbs 22:6 – Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

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Now, what do you say? How do you say it? Parents are to lead and guide their children on what they say in prayer. It can be as simple as saying, “Thank you Jesus, Amen”. Or it can start with “Dear God”, or “Dear Heavenly Father”. After that is up to you on what you want you and your children want to say more specifically and it can change each too, or stay the same. The foundation of the prayer should be easy for the child to understand and learn from, so that they know that praying to God, and specifically what about becomes meaningful to them. At the end, always end with “Amen” or “in Jesus’ name, Amen”.

Prayer is an important, and key component to our faith in God because that is our means of communicating to Him. By allowing our children from an early age to learn how to pray and the importance of it will strengthen their relationship with God. Jesus taught us how to pray to God by saying the Our Father. This is a popular prayer that is said by many Christians. Teaching your children this prayer is a fantastic idea, and it is very easy to memorize too, so that they could say it by themselves when need be.

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

4. Get the Bible out

Psalm 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.

When in doubt, get the Bible out. If you are struggling with what to say in prayer with your children, or you want a change of pace, taking the Bible out to read some scriptures is great. The Bible is Gods Word in how He communicates with us. A great start is to turn to the book of psalms and read some scriptures from there. This can be a good idea before or after a prayer is said also to finalize that moment of communicating with God or asking for something specific to God from reading His Word. This example also gives children the understanding that if they are struggling with understanding scripture or want to read the bible then say a prayer, then it all works so well together.

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5. Reward 

Colossians 4:2 – Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Romans 12:12 – Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

After praying, whether it is before bedtime, or first thing in the morning, before each meal you have as a family, children should be rewarded for these positive actions. How you choose to reward your children for saying their prayers is up to you, but it is a great way to continue encouraging and inspiring your children to seek The Lord, read The Word and talk to God, giving it all to Him in prayer. As they grow older, their faith will grow stronger as Christians. That in itself is a beautiful reward for parents to receive and see in return.

I hope that these steps on teaching your children how to pray has been helpful and encouraging!

God Bless

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