Was there ever a more urgent time? I’ve been a believer for almost 50 years, but my prayer life has never been more active than this past year. I’m not bragging; I’ve needed God like never before- this is actually more of a confession. Prayer can and should take on many forms. However we choose to do so, it’s important that we teach our littles that their Creator loves them and wants to know their hearts.

When the kids were young and I was teaching Sunday School, we used to use ACTS for teaching them how to pray. ACTS is an acronym idea, easy to remember, for structured prayer that stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication:

• Adoration: praising God for who he is and what He’s has done
• Confession: confession of sins- thoughts, words, and deeds, and for putting other things before Him
• Thanksgiving: thanking God for all He has done
• Supplication: asking God to bless, heal, and answer needs

I liked this method. It reminded me to praise, to confess, and to give thanks BEFORE. Before asking and pleading. Before. Let’s face it…..we usually go to prayer in supplication, in asking. We are designed to be in fellowship with Him, and we crave His presence and direction in our lives. We can use tools like this, yes, and we can also model how to just speak to the Lord from our hearts.

We don’t to have to make prayer complicated; the Lord just wants us to seek Him and teach our littles to do the same. And if you think kids won’t understand, just give it a try. There’s something inside of them that just seems to recognize this is good. Maybe they were created that way :).

My two year old grandson has a simple beginner’s prayer book, My First Book of Prayers by ZonderKidz. He loves it. When we read stories before bed, he is drawn to it and listens carefully. There’s an illustration on each page from a Bible story, and then there’s a simple prayer regarding that topic. There are simple teachings and prayers for: gratitude, hard work, forgiveness, wisdom, courage, friendship, purpose, peace, sharing, kindness, honestly, love, happiness, generosity, patience, and it ends with The Lord’s Prayer.

We may read two or three prayers a night, hands folded (if Nana can act the juggler), and then we pray a simple prayer for the family. Then Leo says AMEN, and it might just be the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. He already recognizes it as something special. The older he grows and the more he learns, the more he’ll understand the beauty of prayer and the need for it in his life. I’m grateful that my daughter and son-in-law are leading their boys in faith.

As we BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS, we can use a simple prayer book to lead them in talking to the Lord. We can model from the start that He is omnipresent and available. Teaching them to pray in place of letting worry and anxiety take over is such a gift we can give our children. There are so many folks that need our prayers right now. I think we are teaching both compassion and prayer when we lead our littles this way. And that sweet little sound may add a bit of peace to your heart too.

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