Over the years, my personal style of prayer has more and more become just setting my worries before God, bringing up people or situations I'm particularly praying for without specifically asking for anything or using many words, and then sort-of 'listening'. I now feel quite weird and presumptious asking for things.
But I am now praying with a toddler fairly often, as his main experience of praying. We cross ourselves and say the 'Our Father', and then we say some personal prayers. We tend to include quite a lot of thank yous, a bit of looking forward to things, some praying for specific people, and bringing up any worries. But all of the personal prayers feel a bit awkward, because I'm not very good at putting them into words in a way that makes sense to him, and because I don't feel comfortable about putting in 'requests'.
I tend to be very led by him (he always has a choice about whether we say prayers, and he usually chooses 'yes'. He has a choice about when we've finished, or when we should say more. He has lots of opportunities to suggest prayers), but he is still very young and I am very aware that I'm the one modelling how to pray for him, so it's not like he can lead the actual prayers!
I'm trying to do this with an eye to the future, for example teaching him the 'Our Father' which I will gradually explain as he gets older, and which will allow him to join in with others; starting and ending by crossing ourselves so that he learns to address his prayers to God, and so that the Trinity makes more sense when he's older. But I'm struggling with the more personal, spontaneous prayers, and they're the backbone of most prayer lives.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this, or useful formula prayers that I could use to get started and then adapt? What have you found effective?
Johnny Boy (Now with Top Contributing Technology)2011-05-04T09:46:46Z
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Since this is a toddler, who doesn't yet understand all of the complexity of religion, and the idea of being saved (remember that Jesus said baptism should only be done when a person is fully mentally capable and wants to make the commitment to follow him), you should do it like you are talking to an IMAGINARY FRIEND. That way the child can use their imagination to understand god, and not have to necessarily understand how god goes about listening and granting prayers.
i would pray with the little one just like you pray. start with praise, worship, thanksgiving, lifting up others, and asking for guidance. that sort of thing. teach him the habit of a silent time after prayer for listening to the Lord. teach him also that the Bible says we should pray without ceasing. in other words, besides a set apart prayer time, we can and should talk with the Lord all day, every day. choose some Bible verses about prayer and read them together before praying. God bless you.
there's an old song i remember by Cheryl Keagy, not sure if that's how to spell it, but it was called "little boy on his knees" and was about a mother teaching her son to pray and follow the Lord. absolutely beautiful. i'll see if i can find a link.. just a moment
When my children were younger, I found a cute children's prayer book in either a secular bookstore or a Catholic one. One of the prayers in it is "I see the moon and the moon sees me. God bless the moon, and God bless me".
You could take nature walks and thank God for the beautiful nature that you see.
You don't have to do anything "formal" at this age. Just be very basic and let the child know that God loves him!
Talk about things that concern the toddler and/or his family. I will not suggest any "formula" prayers because all prayers are supposed to come from the heart, like Jesus did. (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus said, "When praying, do not say the same things over and over again." (Matthew 6:7) With that being said, it was not Jesus' intent for us to repeat the "Lord's Prayer" verbatim; rather, he gave us an idea of the things we should pray for. (Matthew 6:9-13) So you can take phrases from that prayer but them in your own words. Moreover, just speak from the heart. Of course, it is best to offer thanksgiving and praise along with your petitions or requests. (Philippians 4:6, 7) One question though: You say that you have him cross himself when he prays so he learns to address his prayers to God, but is that necessary? In the Lord's Prayer, Jesus said to address Jehovah, our Father in heaven, by word. He didn't say that we should cross ourselves. And what purpose would that serve? If Jesus died on the cross, why would you want to make a figure on yourself of the very thing that was used to kill Jesus? If Jesus was killed by a gun, would it make sense to draw an invisible gun over yourself every time you prayed? Anyway, the best thing you can teach the boy is to address his Heavenly Father by name - Jehovah - and to ask his prayers in Jesus' name. (John 14:6) Lastly, I suggest the book, "Learn from the Great Teacher". It's based on the scripture at Luke 18:16 where Jesus said "Let the young children come to me." It's very kid-friendly because it has an abundance of colorful pictures, provides discussion points for you and the child, and is easy to read. Some of the chapters therein are: "Obedience Protects You", "Jesus Teaches Us to Pray", "A Lesson on Being Kind", "Is it Right to Fight?", and "Children Who Make God Happy". I've read the book and I think you will thoroughly enjoy it because it will be a great help to the young boy. If you want the book, you can receive it free of charge just by requesting it from Jehovah's Witnesses in your area.
"Over the years, my personal style of prayer has more and more become just setting my worries before God, bringing up people or situations I'm particularly praying for without specifically asking for anything or using many words, and then sort-of 'listening'. I now feel quite weird and presumptious asking for things."
I like that form of praying.
The bible says God's will for us is better than anything we can ask or think
The Lords Prayer is Our Model
You are great We follow You Take cares of our needs (you know what they are) forgive us
and march us into your glory
Don't over stress prayert, God knows what you need. Pray for is for you to know what God wants