Teach Them to PRAY.....with JOY!

            Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Whether you know it or not…someone is watching your example to see if you’re drinking your serving of JOY!

            Are you in the habit of praying?  I’m not just talking about saying the rote blessing before meals or the “Now I lay me down to sleep” when you go to bed at night.  I’m talking about real, heart-felt communication with God.   

Even the youngest child understands that prayer means “talking with God.” But they won’t know exactly how to do that until they see and hear prayer being modeled before them.  It is NEVER too soon to pray with and for you children.

As parents hold their infant, they can pray for his/her growth and development, for his love for the Lord, for wisdom to make Godly choices.  Then as the child grows, if he hears his parent or loved one praying, he will learn to emulate those prayers.  Before long, the child will be praying from his heart.  What a sweet joyful sound…to hear a young one praying!  If a child learns to pray when he is young, he is much more likely to continue to pray when he’s a teenager and an adult.

God loves to hear all of our prayers, because we are all his children.  But the innocent, sincere prayers of a child must touch His heart in a special way.  Encourage your children in their prayer life by helping them to memorize scriptures to pray.  For example: Help me, Father, to rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, REJOICE!!!(Philippians 4:4)

Teach your children by example….Show them how to drink in the Joy Juice of Jesus faithfully!