Are Your Children Learning To Pray?

Ecc 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

My young ones were 3 and 4 years of age, and my heart was earnest for them to be godly. As I thought on the early Church, I imagined the people gathering together for fellowship and prayer. In my minds eye I saw them kneeling in prayer and worshiping God together for hours at a time, but where were their children? Ah, I thought, they must have been along side their parents on their knees as well, and learning to pray.

Learning to Pray!

The thought alarmed me! So with sober and careful willingness, I began to teach my children to pray.

In the morning after we read the Bible, we got down on our knees together, I began with a prayer of thanksgiving, the children took turns thanking God too, and then we prayed for family and friends, and so on. . . At first I kept the time to 10 minutes and gradually increased it until we were praying together for 2 hours at a time, (I was doing most of the praying.) We didn't pray that long every single day but there were many days that we did, and it was not a burden to them. My grown daughter now tells me that after awhile as time went on and I prayed, she would play with her hands and make up games, but most importantly, she was learning to pray, and so was I! I'll never forget the time after a long prayer session my 5 year old son exclaimed, "Mommy, I feel like gold is being sprinkled all over my head!"And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation. (Psalms 35:9). Yes, it was a very joyful time!


This was wonderful but I had to learn another lesson concerning prayer and that is; "Pray without ceasing." (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Yes, praying long hours together is good and teaches children the practice of praying together well... but fellowship with God does not stop as we get up off our knees. . . it's a daily and continual fellowship!

Are your children learning to Pray?
Are you?

When we are praying through-out the day; singing prayers to God, praising Him, falling on our knees and calling on Him for help in crisis, we are teaching our children to pray.

When our children have their own "child like" crisis we can teach them that all answers lie in calling on our Lord Jesus Christ. Any form of trouble, sickness, sadness, hurt, problems. . . Where do we teach our children the answers lie? (In man?) Oh, let us teach them to seek God for help first of all! Doing this will train them and teach them that Jesus Christ our Lord is the One they should go to for every need in every situation all throughout their lives!

Oh mothers! Let us teach our children to pray and draw near to God!
Let us pray earnestly for our own dear children, for their salvation and godliness!
God is faithful! We have a noble work to do!

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

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)