Parenting Points
Many followers of Jesus struggle with prayer and where to begin when teaching our kids. Often, we think of prayer as being formal and churchy and struggle to craft the eloquent prayers that we heard in church. It is hard for us to wrap our minds around having a conversation with an unseen God. We feel guilt that we don’t pray enough, yet we often don’t know where to begin. Our personal struggles with prayer lead us to not know where to even begin when it comes to teaching our kids to pray. In Luke’s gospel, the disciples ask Jesus how to pray (Luke 11:1). Jesus gave them what we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation” (Luke 11:2b-4 ESV). From this model of prayer, we see several priorities to shape our prayers and teach our kids how to pray.
Lift God’s Name High. Prayer begins with God. He is our Father who has a great name that is worthy of praise. Prayer begins by lifting His name high.
Remember God’s Kingdom. The kingdom of God is at hand, and He is at work in and around us. Prayer reminds us that there is a greater kingdom and takes our hearts and minds from our kingdoms to His.
Share Your Personal and Spiritual Needs. What are your daily needs? God cares about our physical needs and seeks to provide for us. We are invited to live each day depending on His resources instead of simply relying on our own. Prayer then moves from physical needs to spiritual needs. We seek God’s forgiveness when we fail to follow Him and allow Him to change us to look more like Him.
Ask for God’s Presence and Protection. The prayer ends with a reminder that we need God to protect and guide us in a world that opposes us. He will be with us and protect us as we walk with Him.
Prayer is an invitation for dependence on God and a reminder of how much we need Him. The Lord’s Prayer becomes a tool to help us to teach our kids how to pray as we learn to depend on God ourselves through prayer.
-Dr. Ben Birdsong
Missions Minister at Christ Church Birmingham
Writer and Speaker
