Our next point is also a priority. As we look at the life of Christ in the Scriptures, He was a teacher. One of the most direct questions the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them was "Lord, teach us to pray..." Luke 11:1
Train Up A Child Day Six
6. Train them to a habit of prayer.
Prayer is the very life-breath of true religion. It is one of the first evidences that a man is born again. "Behold," said the Lord of Saul, in the day he sent Ananias to him, "Behold, he prayeth" (Acts 9:11). He had begun to pray, and that was proof enough.
Prayer was the distinguishing mark of the Lord’s people in the day that there began to be a separation between them and the world. "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26).
Prayer is the peculiarity of all real Christians now. They pray, — for they tell God their wants, their feelings, their desires, their fears; and mean what they say. The nominal Christian may repeat prayers, and good prayers too, but he goes no further.
Prayer is the turning-point in a man’s soul. Our ministry is unprofitable, and our labour is vain, till you are brought to your knees. Till then, we have no hope about you.
Prayer is one great secret of spiritual prosperity. When there is much private communion with God, your soul will grow like the grass after rain; when there is little, all will be at a standstill, you will barely keep your soul alive. Show me a growing Christian, a going forward Christian, a strong Christian, a flourishing Christian, and sure am I, he is one that speaks often with his Lord. He asks much, and he has much. He tells Jesus everything, and so he always knows how to act.
Prayer is the mightiest engine God has placed in our hands. It is the best weapon to use in every difficulty, and the surest remedy in every trouble. It is the key that unlocks the treasury of promises, and the hand that draws forth grace and help in time of need. It is the silver trumpet God commands us to sound in all our necessity, and it is the cry He has promised always to attend to, even as a loving mother to the voice of her child.
Prayer is the simplest means that man can use in coming to God. It is within reach of all, — the sick, the aged, the infirm, the paralytic, the blind, the poor, the unlearned, — all can pray. It avails you nothing to plead want of memory, and want of learning, and want of books, and want of scholarship in this matter. So long as you have a tongue to tell your soul’s state, you may and ought to pray. Those words, "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (Jas. 4:2), will be a fearful condemnation to many in the day of judgment.
Parents, if you love your children, do all that lies in your power to train them up to a habit of prayer. Show them how to begin. Tell them what to say. Encourage them to persevere. Remind them if they become careless and slack about it. Let it not be your fault, at any rate, if they never call on the name of the Lord.
This, remember, is the first step in religion which a child is able to take. Long before he can read, you can teach him to kneel by his mother’s side, and repeat the simple words of prayer and praise which she puts in his mouth. And as the first steps in any undertaking are always the most important, so is the manner in which your children’s prayers are prayed, a point which deserves your closest attention. Few seem to know how much depends on this. You must beware lest they get into a way of saying them in a hasty, careless, and irreverent manner.
You must beware of giving up the oversight of this matter to servants and nurses, or of trusting too much to your children doing it when left to themselves. I cannot praise that mother who never looks after this most important part of her child’s daily life herself. Surely if there be any habit which your own hand and eye should help in forming, it is the habit of prayer.
Believe me, if you never hear your children pray yourself, you are much to blame. You are little wiser than the bird described in Job, "which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, and forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear" (Job 39:14-16).
Prayer is, of all habits, the one which we recollect the longest. Many a grey- headed man could tell you how his mother used to make him pray in the days of his childhood. Other things have passed away from his mind perhaps. The church where he was taken to worship, the minister whom he heard preach, the companions who used to play with him, — all these, it may be, have passed from his memory, and left no mark behind. But you will often find it is far different with his first prayers. He will often be able to tell you where he knelt, and what he was taught to say, and even how his mother looked all the while. It will come up as fresh before his mind’s eye as if it was but yesterday.
Reader, if you love your children, I charge you, do not let the seed-time of a prayerful habit pass away unimproved. If you train your children to anything, train them, at least, to a habit of prayer.
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We taught our girls to pray before they could talk. I can remember my little 7 month old Shelby covering her eyes with the back of her hands while her little fingers curled in just slightly as we prayed before our meals and then her little head popping up at "Amen" with this most glorious smile on her face... she was learning to pray. The same came with my Bekah.
Then I remember the day that they were able to to say "Amen".
Then I remember the day that they "prayed in tongues" and the only word we could really catch was the ending "Amen" but we knew they were praying right along with us.
Then I remember when my little 2 year old Shelby would say the blessing before a meal and she would thank God for each individual item on her plate... except the item she did not want to eat. :-)
We would ask her, Shelby why did you not bless the corn, "I don't like corn" would be her reply...
Then we began the quiet times that were focused for her. And we prayed at meal time, we prayed at bedtime, we prayed at Bible study time... we prayed when we were scared, we prayed when someone hurt us... we prayed with them.
When our Shelby was 3 years old she was sitting on the couch and I was in the rocker giving the infant Bekah a bottle and Shelby out of no where says, "Momma, I need to ask Jesus into my heart." I was shocked and surprised and simply said, "well okay Shelby, you can do that." Then she did. She sat there on that couch in her precious 3 year old body and she prayed for Jesus to come into her heart, all on her own, no prompting or leading from me. When the Holy Spirit convicted her and said pray... she was ready... she knew how to pray.
Several years ago we realized our girls meal time prayer was becoming a mere repetitional ritual that must be done before they knew we would let them consume food. The "God is great, God is good..." is wonderful to teach our children the habit of praying before a meal and being thankful for our food... but it was now time to push them a little farther.
We had them stop this repetition and begin praying with their own words. Then low and behold it did not take long for their own words to become repetitive and ritual, they had turned their own words into a new "God is great God is good..."
So my husband checked them on it and once again he had to remind them to pray for today. To pray with sincerity. To think of someone today who needs prayer for a specific thing, to think of one thing today that they were thankful for, then also thank God for this food today, and thank Him for being God.
We are also teaching our children to pray God's Word. Now that they are old enough to study it for themselves, it is time they learn to get serious about praying according to God's will and not their own.
A wonderful study that we have used with them to help teach this is Lord, Teach Me To Pray. If this is an area you struggle with yourself, do this study with your child, trust me you will learn as well :-)
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