Sis. Becky Smith

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Sis Becky Smith

Helping Your Children Pray

Prayer is merely talking to God and it can be as simple as talking to a best friend or a neighbor. There is also power in prayer; like asking a king for help! As parents, we should be helping our children embrace this wonderful gift of prayer from an early age. Below are some expert tips taken from Children’s Ministry Magazine to help you nurture conversations with God and your children.

Ages Birth to 2

You may think that this is too early of an age to begin prayer. This just isn’t so! If toddlers can learn to crawl, walk, and talk….they can learn to pray.

Thank Yous—All prayer, at any age, should include thanksgiving to God. Thank yous are great for this age: thank you, God, for my teddy bear; thank you, God, for my cookies; thank you, God, for my mom and dad; thank you, God, for my church; thank you, God, for Jesus. Saying a sincere “thank you” through out the day is a great way to cultivate that God hears our prayer and deserves our thanks for everything in our lives.

Saying Grace—Meal time is a great opportunity for little ones to learn how to pray—but have you ever thought of praying over snacks? This is as simple as teaching them to follow the behaviors that are modeled; fold hands, close eyes, give thanks for the food, and say ‘amen’. This is habit forming and reminds us to talk to God about our daily needs.

Echo Time—Pray one brief sentence at a time and teach each child to echo.

Singing—Sing the songs you remember from your childhood…The B-I-B-L-E, Jesus Loves Me, This Little Light of Mine and so forth. David was a singer and even made up his own songs to the Lord. You can do this with your child as well!

Silliness—Allow prayer to be goofy sometimes so kids see it’s fun to talk to God. Have you ever shouted in a prayer, whispered in a prayer, or said a prayer while lying flat on your back?

Ages 3 to 5

Do you remember the first time you heard a child pray? There is nothing to describe their innocence, honesty and the simple faith that they have. We want to develop a heart for prayer in our children.

Influence---Children are like sponges—they soak up everything around them. We must model prayer for them and teach them that God loves them. They are paying attention to you, even when you think they aren’t.

Partnership—Much of what kids this age experience mostly occurs in the home. Parents can be the defining factor in whether their children develop a love for God and a heart for prayer. Pray WITH your child and teach them that God wants to talk with them.

Power—Don’t underestimate the power of children praying! Kids love to talk and we must capitalize on this love. What better way to help them improve their vocabulary by teaching them to talk to God? God waits to hear from us everyday and he never tires of our voice.


Ages 6 to 9

They read! They write! They can do math! They can do anything….almost. Kids this age struggle with praying on their own. What questions hold them back from exploring and embracing prayer the way they do many other things?

How do I use this thing? Kids need God’s Word in them. As they become readers, teach kids to look up Bible verses. Have them read prayers that others prayed in the Bible. Teach them how the Bible helps their prayer life.

What will my friends think? You don’t have to wait until they are teenagers before the influence of their peers begins. Kids this age often pick friends who are like them. If their friends don’t pray or talk about prayer, they may begin to think prayer is only done at church, with your family, or done by grown-ups. Work with the Children’s leaders at your church, by encouraging your child to lead prayer with their groups.

Well, what do we believe? Prayer should be expected just like we expect our kids to put on a seat belt when they get in the car. Prayer needs to be a cornerstone of faith. It is something you do and they do all the time, in every situation. This needs to be modeled and encouraged.

Ages 10 to 12

By this age, if they were brought up by Christian parents and taught in Sunday school, children know that God loves them and Jesus died for them. They also know that prayer is a special conversation with God. Prayer may come natural to them.

The Little Things—Kids may feel comfortable praying for the “big” things in life a healing, a doctor’s visit, dad’s job, preteens may wonder if God cares about the “little” things in their lives. For example, should they pray about the upcoming science test, fear of someone at school, or how their feelings were hurt when they weren’t invited to a party?

All Things—You can be confident in telling preteens that God does care for things---Big and Little! Read to them from the Word about the birds of the air (Matthew 6). Tell them God knows when a small sparrow falls to the ground (Matthew 10). Tell them counted every hair on their head and numbered them (Matthew 10)

No matter how silly or unimportant their problems or concerns are, God wants children to bring them to Him! Surely if God cares about the birds of the air, he cares about them. In this case, they can pray about everything—big or little—no matter what their age. Because what concerns them…concerns God.



 

Jan 24,2009          Family Game Night:  A Lifelong Lesson

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt…..for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

Matthew 6:20-21

These cold winter days have had me thinking about the days of my childhood.  Days that were so cold, even kids that loved the snow wouldn’t dare to step outside.  Being cooped up all day and getting bored quickly as most kids do, our family would gather around the dinner table for a fun game of Monopoly.  It was our favorite family game and as I think back on it, it has taught me a lesson or two.

My dad, sister and I were very competitive in this game.  We showed no mercy as we bought and traded properties, built houses and later hotels, and tried to acquire the most money.  We were ruthless as we demanded our rent when one of us, almost broke and destitute with nothing but a railroad left, landed on a pricey hotel space.  Finally when the game was over and some lucky person had acquired all the property and money—which was most often my dad—the pieces all went back into the box ready for someone else to play another day. 

As I reflect back on those days, a thought came to my mind.  When life is over, I can’t take anything with me; it all goes back in the box.  Just like with Monopoly, I can spend my time here on earth acquiring material things, trying to amass wealth and aiming for the top.  But in the end, when I have died, all my ‘pieces’ go back into the box for someone else to play with.  Did I lay any treasure up in heaven along the way?  Or did I tear down the barns I had to only build bigger ones?  Things that are eternal will be the only things that matter.  Did I focus only on the temporal?

I Timothy 6:9 says that those who desire to be rich will fall into temptation and a snare and will drown in destruction.  Not that God doesn’t want to bless us or want us poor—He wants us to seek His kingdom first and then, all these things will be added to us in due season and in right measure.  He wants our desire to be for Him and nothing else because in the end, this will be the only thing that doesn’t go back into the box.

As I continue this family tradition with my family, albeit with Monopoly, Jr., I don’t want to waste the opportunity to teach my children about the true treasure that matters—the one we can lay up in heaven to spend in all eternity.

Sept 29- 2008 

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword …Hebrews 4:12

Self-esteem.  When we hear that word we often think of those uncertain teenage years when at one time or another our self-esteem was low or perhaps non-existent.  We don’t often think of elementary aged children, let alone pre-school children, experiencing self-esteem issues.  But they do.  My daughter, now four, started doubting herself when she was around 3 years old.  “But mommy, what if I mess up?  I can’t do that!”  “I can’t; I’m too nervous”  “I’m afraid”, were comments that she would make about various things.  I didn’t even know she knew what nervous meant, but these negative thoughts were stopping her from experiencing life to the fullest.  They were causing her to think less of herself than she should.  They were stealing her victory.   The devil wasn’t waiting until she was a teenager; he was after her now.

In Ephesians 6, we read about the Armor of God.  The only offensive weapon mentioned is the sword.  The belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, and helmet were not offensive; their purpose was defensive, to protect against the enemy.  The sword was designed to defeat the enemy’s plan and rescue lives.  Ephesians 6:17 tell us to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  We are to use that word to defeat the enemy, Satan, who has come to steal, kill, and destroy.  If he can get children to THINK wrongly about themselves, he knows that later on down the road, he can get them involved in things such as illicit drugs, sex, rebellion, and destroy their lives.  He speaks little lies to them such as, “You can’t.  It’s impossible.  You are not smart. You’re nothing. You are by yourself”, and when they don’t have the truth to counter-attack with, they begin to accept those lies into their heart.  I want to equip my children to know the truth and that the truth lies within the pages of God’s Holy Word.  I want to help them sharpen their sword so they can defeat the enemy’s attack on their life. 

About a year ago, a good friend sent me a chart (see below) that has helped me to begin to teach Darby what God says about her.  Now when she says, “I can’t do it”; I tell her that God says, “You can do all things through Christ”. We have ‘cut down’ that lie and replaced it with the truth.   That chart is now on my refrigerator and we refer to it when I begin to notice those self-esteem killing lies surfacing.  The bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that God loves us.  Helping our children—from birth through their teenage years—come to the realization of that is the greatest self-esteem booster we can give them.  

I can remember as a kid that I wanted to attend summer camp at Camp Nathaniel.  Missionaries came to my school and talked about Jesus and spoke of how much fun we would have at camp.  Always one to be ready to go anywhere, I thought, Sign Me Up!  I’ll just ask my mom for the camp fee and pack my clothes and be ready to hit the road.  But come to find out, the camp was free.  Free?  This is even better than I thought; there is no way my mom would say no now.  But, it was free only in terms of money.  I had to earn my way to camp.  Each month of the school year, I had to complete a Bible lesson and memorize 5 memory verses from the Bible.  When the missionaries came back, I turned in my lesson and recited my verses.  If I wasn’t prepared, I had to learn those verses and say them along with the new ones next month.  Once I completed the lessons, I could go to summer camp for free. 

I worked through those lessons and memorized those verses. That wasn’t always easy because I also had verses from Sunday school to remember as well and like any other kid, I didn’t always want to study.  But I did earn my way to camp that year and had a wonderful time, even learning more scripture while there.  I continued to do this for 8 more years.  At the time, I didn’t really realize how important what I was doing was.  But now as an adult, those verses that I hid in my heart help me to be closer to Jesus and to remember what He said in His word.  We won’t always have our bible available to read and in times of trouble we will need scripture to lean on, so I appreciate those missionaries that understood that and equipped me to know God’s Word.

How are you helping your child to hide the Word of the Lord in their heart?  Is it something that you are depending on the Sunday school teacher to do for you?  We make sure that our kids can do the 3 R’s—Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, but do make sure they can do the big M—memorize scripture? It’s often over looked as important and may seem a bit ol’fashioned, but it works. By helping your child to memorize scripture, you are helping them to not sin against God. What can be more important than that?

Sis. Becky Smith

Idea:  Memory Verse Box

You’ll need a recipe card box, 3X5 cards, markers for decorating the outside of the box, and a Bible. 

You can select a few verses for your child to learn and write them on the index cards.  Additionally, if your child can read, you can spend a few evenings digging into God’s Word and allowing them to choose a few verses to memorize.  The verses don’t have to be word perfect—your goal is for kids to gain understanding.  Each week let your child choose a scripture card to study for the week.

  For non-readers, you can choose the card and then help them learn the verse—by singing it, repeating it over and over, or playing a game.  Display the box in a location where everyone frequents, such as the kitchen or living room.  When your kids know the verse, have them also tell you why the verse is important to them.  Place the card in the back of the box and select a new card.  At the end of the year, you both can look back over what was learned and celebrate.

Parent Ponderings/ Strengthening the Family