Prayer is an effective way to pass a spiritual legacy to our grandchildren. However, that is certainly not the only “benefit” to prayer. Among other things, Ephesians 6:10 – 18 tells us that prayer is our strong weapon in the battle against Satan and his hosts. Prayer is also a powerful means for drawing close to God and communing with Him.
The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
James 5:16b
When our grandchildren pray, they are receiving and utilizing one of the most precious gifts given to them by God.
Prayer is an amazing gift from God. When we (us, our children, our grandchildren, those of the coming generations) pray, we receive and employ one of the most precious gifts given to us.
The sad reality is, however, that the busyness of life often leads to our prayers being limited to mealtime, church life, or bedtime. It also leads to prayers that are very simple and short with our children and grandchildren repeating after us. No doubt, the repetition of basic prayers is a good beginning point for teaching the younger generation to pray, but we certainly do not want to leave them there.
If we want a praying generation to rise in our families and in our nation, it is essential that we help one another GROW in prayer. To accomplish this, we need to start praying and seeking in our own lives what we want to see in our children’s and grandchildren’s lives. And we need to believe that kids can pray, will pray, and will enjoy it.
The Discipling Work
When it comes to the work of discipling our grandchildren in prayer, most of us struggle. Many are at a loss for where to begin. Seeing the task as a daunting one, some find themselves a bit overwhelmed. After all… this is prayer! What we are talking about here is teaching our grandchildren how to converse with God!
Prayer is a conversation. However, is a conversation like none we have had or will ever have. As mentioned earlier, it is a precious gift from God that wields mighty eternity-impacting power while at the same time making space for us to draw closer to Him. Truth be told, prayer is a complex spiritual discipline that offers us the opportunity for continual growth. That’s one thing that makes it so amazing and at the same time a little overwhelming when we think about teaching it.
As you think about the work, you may be asking yourself how it is even possible that you can help your grandchildren develop a daily habit of meaningful prayer.
Let me begin by saying there are no guarantees or easy formulas. God created each of us uniquely. Our grandchildren’s learning styles and preferences are all different. Also, prayer is Holy Spirit work, and the Holy Spirit’s working does not fit into a well-defined, predictable box.
This doesn’t negate the task we have been assigned. We have a work to do. I pray you will find some of the following ideas helpful as you work to disciple your grandchild in prayer.
5 Helpful Ideas for Discipling Grandchildren in Prayer
BREATH PRAYERS FROM SCRIPTURE
Teach your young family members a short, easy, simple prayer that can be spoken in a single breath and repeated numerous times throughout the day. Cultivating the habit of Scripture-based breath prayers into the lives of your children and grandchildren will help them internalize God’s Word and enable them to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
CIRCLE PRAYERS
Form a circle, hold hands, and take turns praying one sentence at a time for each “round” of your prayer. To provide modeling for the younger family members, it is best to have an adult begin the prayer.
For those who are praying via some form of technology due to distancing restraints, simply determine the prayer rotation (your virtual circle) beforehand.
FIVE-FINGER PRAYER
Ask your child or grandchild to hold their hand out in front of them with their thumb toward their body. The fingers of the hand are then used to guide the prayer.
HEAD-TO-TOE PRAYER
Provide kids with a tangible way to talk with God. Head-to-toe prayers relate topics of prayer to different parts of their bodies. Have children point to their body part and pray as follows:
Toes: Pray they will always walk in God’s paths. Confess any ways in which they might have strayed from His path.
Knees: Honor God with words fit for a King. Confess when they haven’t bent their knees before God but instead tried to do things on their own.
Tummy: Thank God for all His provision.
Hands: Ask God for opportunities to serve family, friends, and neighbors.
Ears: Pray they would hear God’s voice above all others, and that they would listen for the needs of people around them.
Mouth: Pray the words of their mouth will be words that encourage and build others up.
Eyes: Pray they would seek God all their days. And that God would give them eyes to see the needs of others.
Head: Pray they would have the “mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16) and always consider others, think pure thoughts, and not be anxious or afraid.
A-Z Prayers
Use the alphabet as a framework for prayer. Select a topic (family, friends, thanksgiving, praise, those who serve our church family, missionaries, world issues, etc.) and pray A-Z for things associated with the topic.
