Let’s face it. Our little ones like to move and try new things. Teaching your child different ways and positions of prayer can have a great impact on their spiritual growth and relationship with God through prayer.
6 Positions of Prayer to Teach Your Child
When you think about it there are lots of ways that we communicate other than with our voices. Other ways of communication include facial expressions, sounds, and body language. These three ways of communication are especially important to young ones with limited vocabulary. They are also very useful for teens who just don’t like to talk to parents. So being well versed in these other forms of communication will serve a parent well.
God Speaks All Languages
There is not any language on the earth or off the earth for that matter that God doesn’t understand. We often put our kids in a box by only giving them one way to pray. Whether it is a song they sing at the dinner table to bless their food, or good night prayers said by the bed just before being tucked in, our kids learn to pray only in the manner that we lead them. Why not spice things up a little bit!
Deuteronomy 6 tells us that we should talk about the Lord with our children when we sit, rise, lie down, or walk down the road. I think we should include all of these positions and postures also when we pray.
So here are 5 positions of prayer that parents should teach their children, and participate in themselves.
Walking
Have you ever been on a prayer walk? Walking and praying is a great way to show God that you are “on the move” for Him and ready to carry out His instructions. It is also a great way to pray to claim God’s promises over an area of your life.
Joshua is probably one of the most famous Bible characters who went on a prayer walk. He and his army marched around the walls of Jericho seven times as part of God’s instructions and promise to help them take this city from their enemies. God also gave Joshua the promise that every place the sole of his foot touched would be his inheritance.
Are there some walls of difficult situations in your life or the life of your child that need to come down. What about being afraid of the dark? I know some kids are afraid of robbers at night.
Several years ago we did a prayer march around our yard. We took 4 wooden garden stakes and wrote Psalm 91 on them. Going outside we marched around the yard stopping in every corner. There we drove in one of our stakes and blew the shofar. We were walking and proclaiming God’s promise of protection over our home.
It was also great fun for the kids and it made an impression and caused a memory of God’s greatness to be formed in them.
Here are some other things you could march around.
- A map or a country you are praying for
- You child’s school
- A stack of bills in the floor
- A picture of someone that is praying for healing
- Your church
Really the possibilities are endless, for those of you with kids that are kinetic learners, I am sure they will be able to come up with lots of ways that you can prayer walk.
Dear God we believe in You and in Your promises. Today we are walking (marching) around ________________. This is to show we are claiming your promises for _________________ and to show that we are faithfully taking action to pray for ______________________. We claim that every need will be met in this situation, and that Your Holy Spirit would speak Your love into our hearts. God, You love _____________ and want _____________ to love you. The things that Your Word says are true! We ask that Your Word would go forth and do great and mighty things in ________________.
You can certainly be more specific with the promises you claim depending on what you are actually praying for. Does this type of prayer seem like too much for little ones? Then just simplify it! Get some shakers and some praise makers. March around your circle and just praise the Lord with these types of statements.
-
- We love you Jesus!
- Yes, Jesus loves me and __________.
- Specific Request: help _____get better, Let _____ love you more, Give us the answer
Bowing
The list of people who bowed now before God in the Bible is very long. A few names are Moses, Jehoshaphat, and King David. People didn’t only bow down to God, but they would also bow down to kings or others who had power over them. Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego refused to bow down and worship an earthly king because they only wanted to worship God.
The position of bowing shows God that you honor Him. It teaches us and our children that in God’s presence we feel humble because He is so good and big and powerful! Sometimes when our problems seem so big, we need to remind ourselves that God is much bigger.
Bowing down before God and praising Him by remembering everything that He is, gives us strength to face our problems head on because we know that God is on our side.
Bow down to pray:
Lord, I know that I am small and You are great and I am not strong but you are mighty. I believe You are all powerful and i can do nothing without you. Thank you for choosing me to do great and mighty things through Your power.
Standing
When we stand to pray we are showing God that we are ready for action and are waiting for His instructions. Standing also shows that we believe what God says is true even when we can’t see the answer. Just like the old song says, “I’m standing on the promises of God”. We can stand on God’s Word. His promises are always true!
Lord, Your Word says that because Jesus died for me, I can stand before You and be like Him. I believe that you have given be the power to do great things in Your name. I will go where ever you send me and do whatever you ask. Here I am, send me! I know that I can do whatever you ask because all Your promises in the Bible are true You are beside me and will never leave me.
Little ones – Jesus because you love me, I can stand up strong and tall! I am big enough to help and love my family.
When we lift up our hands in prayer, we show God that we are reaching up to Him in praise and that we are receiving gifts from Him. Praise is different from giving thanks. When we praise God we are giving Him a compliment about His nature. Whatever we need from God, we should first praise Him for.
If you need healing, praise God for being our Healer. Need wisdom, praise God for being all knowing.
Stand and lift up your hands to God and give Him a compliment!
God, I love You because You are _______________. I want to receive every good gift that you have for me.
Kneeling
Kneeling before God is most often how we teach kids to pray. This would be how we kneel at our beds at night to say prayers. Kneeling shows God that we want to come before Him and ask Him something. It is sort of like bowing in that we make ourselves low and humble before Him. It shows that we trust that His way is best and that we will follow what He says.
Kneel before the Lord and pray:
Father, I know that You have perfect plans for my life. Help me to listen to You and follow Your ways even when I want to do things my own way.
Little ones: Jesus, I love you. Thank you for loving me. Help me to do what is right. Please bless…
Lying Down
Those who laid down on their faces to pray in the bible were desperate for answers. They were often prophets who needed to hear from God. Lying down shows God that we are in awe of Him and that we hunger and thirst to know Him more.
Lie on your face and pray something like this.
Jesus, You are so wonderful and great that I can’t even imagine it. there is no way to tell how great you really are in words. I ant to spend time with you and know you more. Please come close to me and let e feel that you are with me.
I hope you have a great time exploring these prayer positions with your kids.
Remember most kids attention spans are about one minute per year. so if they are one year old, you should keep your prayers at about one minute. Unless, however, you have a future prayer warrior on your hands. In that case you can let the child set the limit.
Keep it simple for they little ones but don’t stay simple. Allow for your prayer vocabulary to grow as your child grows so that they will continue to seek God with a prayer life that is full of LIFE!
Here are some more great ways to help your kids grow up knowing they have a powerful God!
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