I’ve been teaching children in the church setting for many years. I love teaching children the truths of the Bible. I love helping them understand that we serve a God who loves us no matter what. One of the most amazing things that I can teach kids is that they can talk to God at any time. Have you ever noticed that when teaching children, they are always eager to share a prayer request? I mean any prayer request—A sick cat’s third cousin might be bitten by a squirrel?!?! Kids believe in the power of prayer. They believe that God can do anything and He hears them when they pray.

I love that blind faith of the child that God is bigger, better, and always there. Teaching kids to pray early and pray often is such an important gift you can give to children. In our home, we have always prayed with our kids and allowed them to pray as well. We want our children to know that prayer is a gift that God has given to us.

We take opportunities throughout the day to pray with and for our kids. Here are a few ideas:

• On the way to school. My wife actually started this practice when she was taking our boys to preschool. Somewhere along the way she heard Priscilla Shirer mention that she always prayed over her boys and prayed specifically that they would be “men of honor, integrity, and character.” Now that our boys are older and my schedule allows, I get to take our two youngest boys to school each day. On our ride to school, we pray for the boys’ teachers by name, any tests that might be happening that day, and we always end our prayer by asking God to help my boys to be men of honor, integrity, and character. My wife, Abbey, prays for over our oldest sons as she takes them to middle school.
• Mealtime prayers. I know that this might sound obvious, but how are you using your mealtime prayers. My wife and I rarely voice our mealtime prayers, instead, we choose one of our four sons to ask for God’s blessing over our meals. Now that our oldest son is almost a teenager, sometimes he acts shy, but he knows that he can talk to God and we expect him to. I love hearing him pray. In fact, I love hearing each of my boys pray. I don’t think that there is anything inherently wrong with the short sing-song prayers for meals kids often say, but we have never incorporated those into our family. We have always encouraged our boys to pray in their own words and truly speak from their heart. I think hearing our boys praying helps us know them better and understand their fears. 
• To focus on holidays. A few years ago, my wife and I realized that we needed to help our boys focus more on the true meaning of Christmas than the gifts. We searched and didn’t really find a great Christmas devotional, so we wrote one! Each year, we use our book, The Way to the Manger, to help our boys remember why we celebrate Christmas. At the end of each devotional, we have one of our boys say the suggested prayer, thanking God for His gift of Jesus. Having Christmas covered, we realized we needed to do the same thing for Easter, so our new book, The Way to the Savior, will be out in January!

Take time to teach your kids how to keep their focus on God by talking with Him daily!

Jeff Land is Children’s Pastor at Sugar Creek Baptist Church in Sugar Land, Texas. He and his wife, Abbey, have authored numerous parenting articles and devotions. They are the proud parents of Reed (12), Nash (11), Will (9), and Tuck (8).

Click below to order:
The Way to the Manger (Christmas)
The Way to the Savior (Easter)