Pray . . . at ALL times
I knelt down at the edge of my son's bed and leaned in toward his small body. I clasped my hands together and asked if he would say the bedtime prayer. He closed his tired small eyes and recited, "Thank you God for the food we are about to eat. Amen."
My son had been accustomed to praying only for dinner and praying at bedtime. At that particular moment he merely got confused about which one he was praying for and resorted to the dinnertime prayer. This instantly revealed to me that he believed prayer only came on two occasions: dinner and bedtime.
The Bible tells us to "[p]ray without ceasing," which means to pray at ALL times and never stop. (1 Thess 5:17, NKJV) I have shared this with my children on various occasions as a reminder to them that they can talk to God at anytime they want. I instruct them that they can pray for big things or small things. They can pray at any time during the day OR night.Prayer is an important part of Instilling a Life Long Passion for Worship to our Lord.
I recall when my first child was an infant. She would cry endlessly throughout the night. With swollen eyes and a weary body, I would drag myself to her crib and try to figure out what was causing her pain. I would change her pamper, feed her milk, burp her, massage her, cover her, etc. I remember thinking that I could not wait until she could talk so that I would know what she needed from me.
Years ago I heard a lady share that she taught her daughter the power of prayer by keeping a record of prayers and God's answers to her prayers. This lady stated that when her daughter was very young, she wrote down all the times her daughter experienced trials and record the prayers that were lifted up. When the situation passed and the prayer answered, she would insert a "praise report" detailing how God responded. She did this throughout her child's school years. Eventually, when her daughter became an adult and left home she presented this prayer notebook to her. She wanted her daughter to know the power of prayer and take that with her throughout her life. So, she provided her years of proof to show her child the effectiveness of prayer to God. This is an awesome example to follow!
The Book of James says, "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16 NKJV). This is a great promise to us and our children. However, we also need to instruct our children HOW to pray.
Jesus clearly instructs us on how to pray and how NOT to pray. Jesus states "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do" (Matthew 6:7 NKJV). This is important for children because they tend to be drawn toward repetition, but here we see that Jesus does not want us to have such repetitious prayer with Him.
On the other hand, Jesus tells us how we should pray. He says "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation but deliver, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and power and glory forever. Amen" (Matthew 6:9-13 NKJV).
This prayer instructs us on how to pray and, in turn, enables us to instruct our children how to pray. First, we start out with calling out to our "Father" which shows our intimate relationship with Him. Secondly, we glorify Him as we see Him for who He is "Hallowed be Your name". Thirdly, we express our faith and hope in Him "Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven".
Fourth, we ask for Him to provide us for what we need that day "Give us this day our daily bread". Fifth, we ask for forgiveness "And forgive us our debts" and we acknowledge that we first must forgive others before coming to Him in prayer "As we forgive our debtors". Sixth, we ask for God's strength to overcome and protect us from any temptations to sin "And do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one".
Seventh, we glorify Him and praise Him by stating "For yours is the kingdom and power and glory forever". Lastly, which is not mentioned in these verses, is we must ask this all in Jesus Christ's name. This is important because it is only through the blood of Jesus that we are even able to enter into His presence and communicate with Him.
If we want truly Instill a Lifelong Passion for Worship in our children to experience God's power in their lives, then we must teach them WHY we pray and then teach them HOW to pray. Prayer is necessary and vital for a intimate relationship with God, so if we truly want our children to have an intimate relationship with God and worship Him then we must first teach them how to talk to Him.
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