Everyday I enjoy the luxury of electricity. I blow my hair dry, cook meals and vacuum the floors with the power of electricity. I don’t see electricity. I can’t feel electricity, but I know how to plug into it to accomplish my endless daily tasks. Prayer is the vehicle God has provided for people to tap into the most powerful force on the face of this earth. Prayer is incredibly powerful, but there’s no need to shove safety covers in prayer outlets to protect children. Children need to experience prayer.

Surveys have concluded that this generation wants to make a difference in their world. What better way to make a difference than to tap into prayer?  In my thirty years of ministry to children I have never seen children as anxious to pray as this generation of children.

Enlarge their world by enlarging their prayer circle. Give them a vision of what they can accomplish through prayer. Encourage them to include local officials in their prayers. Pray for your city officials by name. Pray for your governor by name.

 And don’t forget the president. It is been an inspiration over the last few years that we hardly ever attend a service without the pastor having special prayer for the president and this nation. Even adults need reminders, so do your children. Encourage them to say a silent prayer every time they see his picture or hear him mentioned on the news. Prayer is much more than a church thing. Encourage them to have a prayer list beside their beds with the president’s name on it so they won’t forget to pray for him. We all have good intentions; our lives are just too full not to have reminders.

You might want to have a different prayer emphasis each week. Have a policeman come in and tell about what he does, then add adopt that policeman. Pray for God to protect him. Ask your guest policeman for specific ways to pray he/she would like to be remembered in prayer.

One church in my community went to the police station and asked if it would be OK for them to pray for the policeman in that precinct. When another precinct heard what the church was doing, they made a visit to the church. The captain of the precinct said, “You are in our precinct. You are praying for the wrong precinct. We want you to pray for us instead.” The pastor explained that they had already made a commitment to pray for the other precinct, but he would ask his people if they would extend their prayers to include their precinct as well.

Include your local officials in your prayers. Pray for your city officials by name. Pray for your governor by name.

And don’t forget the president. My pastor prays over the President and those in leadership at almost every service. Even adults need reminders, so do your children. Encourage them to say a silent prayer every time they see his picture or hear him mentioned on the news. Prayer is much more than a church thing. Encourage them to have a prayer list beside their beds with the president’s name on it so they won’t forget to pray for him. We all have good intentions; our lives   are just too full not to have reminders.

 

Has it been a while since you taught on prayer? Maybe this is a good time to do it. Check out our H.I.S. Army unit. We have taken the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern in our H.I.S. Army unit. It teaches children the power of prayer, prayer is a discipline; Get in Step, Forgiveness, Lead Us Not into Temptation and the Power of Praise.  This teaching unit has a strong military flavor, with Mojo a Gomer Pyle type character adding lots of laughter. It has stories; Bible stories, object lessons, skits and a reproducible take home paper. The teaching unit has 13 lessons for only $49.95. 

1.      God is not impressed with fancy words.

2.      Talk to God just like you would your best friend.

3.      Pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus.

4.      Remind them that God really hears them. Often children have more confidence that God hears the bad things they say, than that He would hear their sincere prayers.

5.      Encourage them to support their request with scripture.

6.      Pray in faith expecting an answer. We waste our time, if we do not pray in faith. Teach them to believe God for answers to their prayers.

7.      Encourage them to record their prayer victories in their prayer journal.