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Everyone is heartened to live a life of prayer and to find devotion in communicating with Jesus daily. But if you’re a child without sufficient verbal skills, is this possible?
Christians are expected to live a life of prayer. They’re encouraged to devote portions of their days to prayer, for it to become a firm part of their routines. It’s supposed to be incorporated into their lives as a habit that comes as simple and natural as breathing.
Just as how it should be in any relationship, communication plays a pivotal role in religion. Faith thrives when believers communicate their problems, resolutions, and successes with Jesus. They become successfully one with their faith if they subconsciously run to Jesus to converse, an instinct they do whenever time allows them to. Whether they’re bringing up serious matters or simply a quick touch-up with the blessings they’re receiving, prayer must be a consistent habit.
Prayers come and go as they please for adults. With their capacity, they can communicate their woes and joys on a whim. However, such a mastery is absent in children.
Does This Mean They Can Pass Up On Communicating With Jesus?
Children may not have the same abilities as adults but can form a profound and genuine relationship with Jesus. What they need is the right teacher and guidance.
Pure as they are, children can become vessels of Christianity. They’re susceptible to influence, ever-changing their behaviors depending on what’s reinforced and rewarded by those around them. Molded by their environment, children have all the capacity and opportunities to live a life of prayer and faith. It’s merely up to the adults around them to encourage them to do so.
Equipping children to live a life of prayer may seem intimidating. They can be unruly and stubborn. With play typically dominating their minds, prayer can quickly be something they’ll find uninteresting. However, they will see beauty in everything when adequately guided. Even the most mundane and complex activities will be things they’re willing to dabble in. All it takes is the appropriate persuasion.
They may be unable to make logical and articulate sentiments expressing their innermost desires. But Jesus knows what lies in their hearts even before they’re communicated. He understands their raw wishes and hopes before they can verbally express them.
It’s important to remember that Jesus hears children’s prayers even when they’re primarily gibberish. They may not make any sense to the adults’ ears. But Jesus is an expert in His children’s language, even when they’re unintelligible.
After all, He listens to what their hearts speak more than what their minds dictate.
Encouraging them to live a life of prayer may be a challenging task. But it’s also not impossible. With the benefits children can gain, it isn’t something anyone can easily pass up.
The Easiest Way To Inspire Children To Live A Life Of Prayer
To live a life of prayer means the practice must be naturally incorporated into children’s routines. This means making prayer seem something they can easily insert throughout their days, not disrupting their already established habits and routines.
Adults must teach children to make prayer enjoyable and not a chore they must strictly accomplish. It shouldn’t be a burden that weighs down their days. Instead, prayers must be something to uplift them throughout their days. For children to live a life of prayer, consistency is crucial. Hence, adults must teach it so it’s regularly practiced but not burdensome.
The question now is how?
The easy answer is that they must build a stable and regular pattern of prayer to remember and practice daily. This breaks down prayer into sizeable pieces and heartens children to be consistent.
Showing Gratitude
This is as easy as listing all the things children are thankful for. This can be the things they’ve achieved throughout the week or the things they’ve received as gifts. To live a life of prayer, children must learn to be grateful for what they’ve received – recognizing blessings is a sign of love and appreciation for life. Hence, adults must encourage children to be thankful for what Jesus has provided.
The prayer doesn’t have to be complicated. They can start with “I’m thankful for…” and enumerate the list they’ve come up with. By consistently recognizing and thanking Jesus for everything, children will understand the goodness in God’s heart. They will also understand the role He plays in their lives.
Understanding His Word
For children to grow up and live a life of prayer, they must learn to understand and live by His word. This doesn’t mean forcing them to read through the Bible’s long texts. Instead, this encourages adults to narrate Jesus’ life as depicted in the text. This activity pulls them closer to Jesus, allowing them to see the wonder in His goodness and the life He’s lived. It can also encourage and make them understand how it is to live in His image.
While this activity doesn’t have a prayer accompanying it, reading and learning about Jesus’ life can work in a similar light. It opens children to understand His word and the Scriptures.
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