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Lesson 3: What is Prayer?
Teaching children about prayer can be easy and difficult at the same time. Children between the ages of 6 to 8 are hopeful in the things they learn. They tend to believe anything they are taught, whether by you and their Sunday School teacher or the kids that they hang out with. Since you cannot always be there to hear and see what goes on when your child is around other children, it is a good idea to give them a healthy dose of prayer every day. Some suggestions for this would be starting your morning breakfast out with prayer by having everyone in your family participate together. Go around the table and each of you pray for something that you are thankful for. You can do this at dinnertime, too, but each of you pray about something that happened in your day that made you think about God. Be creative! Let your child help you decide your family prayer routine. Most importantly, please remember that they are studying you! Are you leading the kind of prayer life that you want them to have? You are your child's best example of how to have a personal relationship with God. Why Should I Pray?
Why Should I Pray? Prayer is talking with God just like you talk to any of your other friends. After all, isn't God a good friend of yours? He should be! Imagine yourself on a deserted island. There are no people anywhere! It is just you and the palm trees. What happens when you run and fall down? Who will you tell? Or, what happens if you run out of food? Who can you ask for more? No one! Well, this is how God would feel if we never talked to Him. He wants you to talk with Him. He wants to be close to you. But, He is waiting to see if you want to be close to Him, too. We can show this by prayer. Find Jeremiah 29:12,13 in your Bible. God says, "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." This is just one of many promises God makes to us in the Bible. God's promises are true. This passage is telling us that if we pray to God and talk with Him, He will listen to us. Isn't that exciting? I think so! Try closing your eyes right now. Fold your hands in front of you, like this: Repeat this prayer: Dear Lord, That was easy! In this simple prayer, you thanked God for giving you food to eat, you thanked Him for loving you, you asked Him to help you do things that are right, and you asked him to guide you through your day and night. In that simple prayer, you asked for many things. And, He heard it all. Talking to God does not have to be a long, boring process that you don't look forward to. You don't pray because you want to make your mom and dad happy. Prayer can be short and to the point. After all, God already knows what you need to live. He knows everything about you. Praying is your way of saying that you know God is real. It is your way of having a personal relationship with the One who created you. |
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