How to Pray: For Children
by Mihran Kulhanjian
My Dear Young Friends,
The Holy Bible is filled with wonderful truth and great promises that God gives to you. But, sometimes the Bible is hard to understand, especially when you are young. God wants us to come to Him in prayer with everything on our minds. God is listening to everything you tell him in prayer. God knows your heart. He knows everything about you, even the number of hairs on your head. (Matt. 10:30) Lay all your concerns on Him, because He is waiting for you to talk to Him; and you talk to Him in prayer.
Did you know when you pray and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you repent (turn away) from your sins and begin to live holy as the Lord commands, the Saints in Heaven rejoice? (Luke 15:10) This is because you are honoring God by having faith, and believing in Him.
God is worthy of much worship and much love because He is the creator of all and by His Son, Jesus He offered you eternal life. This is why we must love God our Father with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Matt. 22:37)
Remember friends, God loved you first and He wants you to love Him. You love Him by being obedient to His commandments: do not lie, do not steal, do not wish for things that belong to someone else, do not use God’s name as a cuss word, do not make any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth (Exodus 20:4). And there are other commands of the Ten Commandments you should obey (Exodus 20). Love God and love all people—God commands this. And if we love Him we will obey His commands.
Love is gentle, love is kind, love is patient, love is selfless not selfish.
God says: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and though mayest live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)
You may, at a young age, feel that you cannot do much to serve God. But you can. Your faithful obedience to your parents is serving the Lord is a wonderful way because you are obeying what the Lord commands. (Exodus 20:12: Honour your father and mother. This is the fifth commandment and only commandment with a promise)
How to Form Your Own Prayers, Effectual Prayer and Praying According to God's Will
This section is coming soon--please move on to the next section
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The three children’s prayers that follow were written by Matthew Henry and first published in 1710. The prayers are from his book, A Method for Prayer, with Scripture Expressions Proper to be used Under Each Head.
Matthew Henry (1662-1714) was a Puritan preacher. He started preaching at 23 at a church in Chester, England, not too far from Wales. He was a prolific writer and is best known for his Bible Commentary of the Whole Bible in seven volumes. Henry was a man of deep prayer as were many of the Puritans.
Note: The 18th century English might be difficult to read. (thou and thee can be changed to "you", "art" is "are", "thy and thine" is "your", "madest" is "made". *Extol (to praise passionately)
Use these prayers to help craft your own prayers, in your own words and from your heart. When you pray ask the Holy Spirit to guide in fervent prayer. Little children of God, talk to God--He is listening.
1.
A Prayer to Be Used By Children
Children's Prayer
O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee; my father’s God, and I will extol* thee.
Who is a God like unto thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. When my flesh and my heart fail, thou art the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Thou madest me for thyself, to show forth thy praise.
But I am a sinner; I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
God be merciful to me a sinner.
O deliver me from the wrath to come, through Jesus, who died for me, and rose again.
Lord, give me a new nature. Let Jesus Christ be formed in my soul, that to me to live may be Christ, and to die may be gain.
Lord, I was in my baptism given up to thee; receive me graciously and love me freely.
Lord Jesus, thou hast encouraged little children to come to thee and hast said that of such is the kingdom of God; I come to thee: O make me a faithful subject of thy kingdom, take me up in thy arms, put thy hands upon me, and bless me.
O give me grace to redeem me from all iniquity, and particularly from the vanity which childhood and youth is subject to.
Lord, give me a wise and an understanding heart, that I may know and do thy will in everything, and may in nothing sin against thee.
Lord, grant that from my childhood I may know the holy scriptures, and may continue in the good things that I have learned.
Remove from me the way of lying and grant me thy law graciously.
Lord, be thou a Father to me; teach me and guide me; provide for me and protect me and bless me, even me, O my Father.
Bless all my relations (father, mother, brothers, sisters), and give me grace to do my duty to them in every thing.
Lord, prepare me for death and give me wisely to consider my latter end.
O Lord, I thank thee for all thy mercies to me: for life and health, food and raiment, and for my education; for my creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for thine inestimable love in the means of grace, and the hope of glory.
Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift; blessed be God for JESUS CHRIST. None but Christ, none but Christ for me.
Now to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, that great name into which I was baptized, be honour and glory, dominion and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.
Our Father, which art in heaven, etc.
2.
Another paraphrase on the Lord’s Prayer, in the words of the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism.
Assembly's Shorter Catechism
Our Father in heaven, we come to thee as children to a Father able and ready to help us.
We beseech (ask) thee, let thy name be sanctified; enable us and others to glorify thee in all that whereby thou hast made thyself known, and dispose of all things to thine own glory.
Let thy kingdom come; let Satan’s kingdom be destroyed, and let the kingdom of thy grace be advanced; let us and others be brought into it, and kept in it, and let the kingdom of thy glory be hastened.
Let thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven; make us by thy grace able and willing to know, obey, and submit to thy will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; of thy free gift let us receive a competent portion of the good things of this life, and let us enjoy thy blessing with them.
And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. We pray that for Christ’s sake thou wouldst freely pardon all our sins, and that by thy grace thou wouldst enable us from the heart to forgive others.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Either keep us, O Lord, from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Lord, we take our encouragement in prayer from thyself only and desire in our prayers to praise thee, ascribing kingdom, power, and glory to thee: And in testimony of our desires and assurance to be heard through Jesus Christ, we say Amen.
3.
Another prayer drawn out of my plain Catechism for Children which will be easy to those children who have learned that Catechism. (1703)
Catechism for Children
O Lord, thou art an infinite and eternal Spirit, most wise and powerful, holy, just, and good.
Thou art the great God that madest the world and art my Creator; and thou that madest me dost preserve and maintain me, and in thee I live and move and have my being. O that I may remember thee as my Creator in the days of my youth and never forget thee.
Lord, give me grace to serve and honour thee, to worship and obey thee, and in all my ways to trust in thee, and to please thee.
Lord, I thank thee for thy holy word, which thou hast given me to be the rule of my faith and obedience, and which is able to make me wise unto salvation.
I confess, O Lord, that the condition which I was born in is sinful and miserable. I am naturally prone to that which is evil, and backward to that which is good, and foolishness is bound up in my heart; and I am by nature a child of wrath; so that if thou hadst not raised up a Saviour for me, I had been certainly lost and undone for ever. I have been disobedient to the command of God and have eaten forbidden fruit.
But, blessed, and forever blessed, be God for the Saviour Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God and the only Mediator between God and man, who took our nature upon him and became man, that he might redeem and save us.
Lord, I bless thee, for his holy life; give me to follow his steps. I bless thee for the true and excellent doctrine which he preached; give me to mix faith with it. I bless thee for the miracles which he wrought to confirm his doctrine; and especially that he died the cursed death of the cross to satisfy our sin and to reconcile us to God; and that he rose again from the dead on the third day and ascended up into heaven, where he ever lives, making intercession for us, and hath all power both in heaven and in earth; and that we are assured he will come again in glory to judge the world at the last day.
Lord, I thank thee that I am one of his disciples; for I am a baptized Christian; and I give glory to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in whose name I was baptized.
Lord, be thou in Christ to me a God and make me one of thy people.
Be thou my chief good and highest end; let Jesus Christ be my Prince and Saviour; and let the Holy Ghost be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.
Lord, enable me to deny all ungodliness and worldly, fleshly lusts, and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, always looking for the blessed hope.
Work in me repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; and give me to live a life of faith and repentance.
Lord, make me truly sorry that I have offended thee in what I have thought and spoken and done amiss, and give me grace to sin no more.
And enable me to receive Jesus Christ, and to rely upon him as my Prophet, Priest, and King, and to give up myself to be ruled and taught and saved by him.
Lord, grant unto me the pardon of my sins, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal life.
And give me grace to manifest the sincerity of my faith and repentance, by a diligent and conscientious obedience to all thy commandments.
Enable me to love thee with all my heart, and to love my neighbor as myself.
Give me grace always to make mention of thy name with reverence and seriousness, to read and hear thy word with diligence and attention, to meditate upon it, to believe it, and to frame my life according to it.
Lord, grant that I may receive all thy mercies with thankfulness, and bear all afflictions with patience and submission to thy holy will.
Lord, grant that my heart may never be lifted up with pride, disturbed with anger, or any sinful passion; and that my body may be never defiled with intemperance, uncleanness, or any fleshly lusts; and keep me from ever speaking any sinful words.
Lord, give me grace to reverence and obey my parents and governors; I thank thee for their instructions and reproofs; I pray thee, bless them to me and make me in every thing a comfort to them.
Lord, pity, help, and give comfort to the poor, and those in affliction and distress.
Lord, bless my friends, forgive my enemies, and enable me to do my duty to all men.
Wherein I have in any thing offended thee, I humbly pray for pardon in the blood of Christ and grace to do my duty better for the time to come, and so to live in fear of God, as that I may be happy in this world and that to come.
Lord, prepare me to die and leave this world: O save me from that state of everlasting misery and torment, which will certainly be the portion of all the wicked and ungodly, and bring me safe to the world of everlasting rest and joy with thee and Jesus Christ.
And give me wisdom and grace to live a holy, godly life, and to make it my great care and business to serve thee, and to save my own soul.
All this I humbly beg in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, to whom with thee, O Father, and the eternal Spirit, be honour, glory, and praise, henceforth and for evermore. Amen.
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More prayers to come by William S. Plumer and others.