When you have kids, there is lots to pray about! Since our children were born, they became a natural part of this process. We pray at meals, at night, and anytime anyone gets a boo boo or has a pressing need during the day. We try to model the importance of being thankful and talking to God when we pray, not just calling off our wish list. For some reason (probably our sinful human nature), it’s hard for kids and adults alike to grasp the fact that God isn’t Santa Claus. We need to spend time Adoring God, Confessing to God, Thanking God, and presenting our requests to God (Supplication)–ACTS for short.
ACTS
ACTS is not an original idea that I came up with. In fact, it has been around for a long time, so there is really no way of knowing who came up with it. Even though it’s been around for a long time, many of us forget or neglect to do it. Is it really that important if it’s a man-made idea anyway? The truth of the matter is that it was actually God’s idea. (Just not in so many words.)
Jesus first presented the idea of ACTS when he taught us the Lord’s prayer. The purpose of the Lord’s was to teach us to pray. Jesus didn’t call it ACTS, but He did model the concept for us in Matthew 6.
ADORATION
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
SUPPLICATION
10 ‘Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
CONFESSION
12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
SUPPLICATION
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
THANKSGIVING
For Yours is
the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.’
Matthew 6:9-13 NASB
Easier Said Than Done
We need to teach kids to adore God, confess sin, and be thankful, but how? Click To TweetIt’s easy to say that we need to teach our kids to adore God in prayer, to confess, or even to be thankful, but how do we actually teach them to do this? Over the next several days, we will dive into the specifics of how to teach your children to pray. Of course, there is no one right way to pray, but lots of great ways to help our kids (and ourselves!) converse with God. We will take a look at some practical activities you can do with your kids to help them understand the different aspects of prayer and remember to implement them.
Until Next Time
Begin talking with your kids about the ACTS acronym. Explain what each letter represents…
Adoration–Showing that you adore God, telling Him what you love about who He is
Confession–Admitting to God the things that we have done wrong
Thanksgiving–Thanking God for all of our good gifts
Supplication–asking God for things we want and need
Have your child memorize the ACTS acronym. Try it out in your prayer time together. Then check back in to find more specific ideas for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication, and more over the next several days.
Do you struggle to remember the different aspects of prayer, or is supplication your default? How do you teach your children to pray?
I pray all the time and this is so great. It all begins and ends in the home and this is so positive, I love it.
Awesome. The Bible does say to pray without ceasing! I’m planning to address that verse too!
Prayer is so important
Definitely. I can’t imagine my life without it.
What a lovely way to display devoting and teach kids spirituality!
Thanks!
We are practicing praying with our kids and they are liking it! The best advice i have to give about it to do by example. My kids are young and so they love doing what mommy and daddy are doing and if they see how important it is for us, they want to do it too!
Example is best! My youngest is 3 and she LOVES to pray. In fact, she actually gets upset when it’s not her turn. We usually end up letting her open or close in prayer, even when it’s not her turn. 🙂
A great way to get the kids started off with praying!
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Good idea
A nice concept for the intentional religious.
This is such a great way to get children introduced to the wonders of God!
Yes; prayer is important in all religions, i try to simplify it for my children by telling them it’s a great way to show gratitude.Thanks
Great post! thanks for the tips.
I love this. We are strong in our faith and I plan on having our future children pray with us 🙂
Great way to teach them praying
Prayer is so important in every age thanks for that post
Yes. I think there is a special power in the prayer of children. They have so much faith!
I love your idea of “ACTS”. At first, I thought this was a post about the Book of Acts. lol I was going to say my kids and I are currently studying the Book of Acts for our weekly Bible study. But after reading your post, I understand now this is about prayer. And I think I can use this to add-on to teaching my children about prayer. Really love that you’re doing this with your children!!
Thank you. The people in the book of Acts were powerful pray-ers, so it should fit in nicely with what you are doing!
Our kids need God now more than ever. Super important post
You are right. They do need God now more than ever! One of my goals is to help people realize this and draw closer to Him.
What an important post. Prayer is so important and doing it together as a family is a wonderful way to spend time together.
Yes, not only is it important for our relationship with God, but as the saying goes, “The family that prays together, stays together.” 😉
These are really good ideas!
michenn
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I know I struggle with prayer personally. This is a really a good guide to follow when struggling with prayer. I pray with my kids every day and I think this will my kids understand prayer a little more. We do the “God is great, God is good and we pray for *insert needs here*” prayer. This acronym will help even me who struggles with what to say to God sometimes.
kids being involved in prayers is always a good thing, great post and quite deep for the right minds…
Thanks!
Very important to teach this to our children. Thank you for your thoughts!
Growing up, my parents in still the same teaching to me. As you grow older, you would appreciate it so much.
That’s great. Good parents are priceless.
Very useful reminder. Our relationship with God has to be fostered just as any other, even if His love in unconditional.
True! Thanks for commenting!
Sometimes I do accidentally leave confession out, so I’m thrilled to find your confession cards in the other post. My kids are good about keeping me on task, if I give them something to do.
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My son is almost four. The most we pray with him is at meal times and in church. I think I am going to start the ACTS method with him.
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I teach bible study and I one of the young adults over the youth ministry at my church. We recently taught our teens to pray using ACTS and I thought it was a great way to set the foundation to grow your prayer life. Not only did I teach them but it also helped me. Great post!