Creating Culture:

In creating a culture of prayer in our homes, the first two things that pop into my brain are the things that have become a cliche’ in the conversation of prayer at home—pray before bed and pray at meals. That’s step one: this is communicating that we are wanting to thank God for what he has given us eg: food, home, family. And also thank him for his protection and love covering us before we sleep.

Example:

When working towards building a culture of prayer in your home, it starts with you, the parent, guardian, or grown-up in the household. How are you showing your prayer life to your kids? When you’re having your prayer time, invite your kiddos to join you! Give them the space to see how you interact with God. Kids learn from watching you, they will model what they see. That’s why it is so important for them to see how you interact with God.

Share:

It’s not only important for your kids to be allowed into your prayer time, but for your prayer time to seep into your life. When you’re doing life, how often do you stop and acknowledge God’s presence in the space you’re in? This is a healthy way to model how God is always with us and wanting to talk with us. Praying when something amazing happens and giving thanks to God lets our kids know we are a thankful household. When we talk to God when we are experiencing something difficult, we are showing that we are trusting God even when we don’t know the outcome.

Talk About It:

Another way to create a prayer centered culture in your home is to have conversations about prayer, what it is and how we pray. We are created to commune with God. What a great opportunity we have to steward the little hearts we have in our care towards the heart of the Father.

It is such an amazing opportunity we have to help our kids get to know what prayer is. Understanding prayer is a foundational concept which they can carry with them their whole lives. As a parent, or guardian, it is so amazing that we get to share what this means and we get to model this for our kids! Below we have some questions and conversion helps for you and your family to engage in a conversation about prayer!

Questions and Conversation Helpers:

• What is prayer?
  Prayer is the open door God has given us to talk with him. Prayer is a conversation that doesn’t ever have to end. When we talk to God, we can talk to him about anything. Something so great about prayer is that God hears us everywhere we are!
• Why do we pray?
  When you accept Jesus into your heart, that was the first day of your relationship with God! When you’re friends with someone you want to tell them everything and hear everything they have to say; that’s how it is with God. He wants to hear what you have to say and wants you to be able to hear what he has to say to you!
• How do we pray?
  Praying is talking to God, you can pray with other people, or by yourself. You can pray out loud or quietly. There isn’t just one way to talk to God, He can even hear your thoughts, so you don’t even have to speak out loud at all!