Teaching Children Prayer And Other Principles
Oct 11th, 2008 by Zacharias Allred
Teaching children to pray is very important. The purpose of prayer is to help your child develop a relationship with the Lord. Teaching your child how to develop love and patience helps them better understand the nature of God. Here are some tips to help you.
Praying should be out loud. Your child may not readily understand what praying is. To help try replacing the word “pray” with the word “talk.” Encourage them to talk with God. It is said of men of old that they walked and talked with God.
Love and patience are important virtues to learn when learning to pray. Our children will have softer hearts and will have better understands about the way the Lord works in our lives. Samuel of old heard the still small voice of the Lord while yet a boy because his heart was right before God.
Understanding love is necessary when teaching your children to pray. Love gives us hope in the future and a feeling of security. When our children learn that the very nature of God is love they will want to be close to him.
Love is synonymous with God. Your children will understand what love is when you share with them your feeling for them. Why you do all that you do for them. God does all this for you as well because he loves you and your child.
Teaching children patience is necessary when teaching children to pray because God does not always give an answer right away. Kids are growing up in a world where everything is provided for them immediately. From the time they are babies all they need to do is cry and their caregiver rushes to satisfy their needs. Unfortunately, this crying does not stop just because they learn to speak.
One of the best ways to teach patience is to share with your child times when you feel impatient and how you cope with that emotion. When you are driving, for example, you want to get to your destination quickly. Consider telling your children that you are going to be patient so you do not put lives in danger. Show that there are natural rewards.
When we teach our children to pray we also need to teach them about love and patience. God is love and will always answer our prayers. We must be patient though and be willing to wait for him to answer us.
