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ACTS Prayer with Children
From: KelleyJoWe do the ACTS prayer with our 5yo and 4yo. Here is how we do it.
A is for Adoration. It is easy to thank God for what He has done, but it is harder to praise Him for who He is, so my young children need help with this sometimes. We (the grown-ups) say "Dear Jesus/God, you are so _____" and we go around the room taking turns filling in the blank. We get answers like big, strong, healthy, etc. (Sonlight's Leading Little Ones to God has helped my 5.5 dd with this). My husband and I participate in filling in the blank, too. If the children are in a rut, using the same words night after night, we switch format slightly by singing a praise song.
C is for confession. Sometimes we talk about what we are going to confess before we start praying so as not to interupt the prayer with "but I didn't do any sins today" My two girls are getting good at helping each other remember what the other did; "remember when you..." My husband and I take a turn at confession, too. At first we were uncomfortable with this, but the kids already know we are not perfect. And we keep it light like lying to the telemarketer, over-reacting to painting with peanut butter, yelling so loudly when we disciplined, etc. There have been a few nights when we just cannot think of anything for one person, so we then thank the Lord for being our guide, and ask that if there are any sins, that He would bring them to mind so that we can make things right.
A WORD OF CAUTION:We want our family prayer time to be a time of intimacy with God, not a time to pick on each other; so, I thought I'd mention some ground rules dh and I have. Let's face it, public confession is hard at ANY age.
- No one helps remember another's sins unless help is asked for. (It almost always is.)
- A complete list for the day is not necessary. We ask for only 1 from each child. Sometimes they give 2.
- My husband and I never tell the girls their sins because we want them to learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and learn His voice, but we do ask leading questions. Usually we start with something positive. For example, on a day Amanda was really good to her little brother, I start with, "Were you kind to your brother today?" She thinks and says, "Yes." Then I ask, "Did you tantrum today?" If she does not remember the tantrum, I usually (not always) let it go and move on to the next question. The point is for her to confess to the Lord, not for Mama to tell her what to say. Sometimes I will say, "What about when you needed to pick up your dolls? Did you obey right away?" That will usually help her remember her tantrum without directly telling her about it.
- Let the children see a humbleness in their parents. We do keep our confessions light before them. But we let them hear in our voice that we think sin is serious. And I truly believe this makes a difference in their relationship as sisters. When they hear one another pray to the Lord asking for forgiveness for how they have treated each other, they forgive each other better, and ultimately, fight less.
T is for Thanksgiving. We each take a turn saying 1 or 2 things.
S is for Supplication. We say "ask for Stuff" becasue Supplication is hard to say. We break this down into 2 catagories. First we ask something for others like, "Help so and so get well," "Bless Grandma far away," etc. At first they needed lots of help with this, but now it's their strongest area. Then the second catagory is for ourselves, and believe it or not, after all that thanking and thinking of others, this is actually hard!! We ask for wisdom, good dreams, protection in certain situations etc.
Praying like this has been wonderful for us as a family. My husband and I have never really prayed together, but I have hope that we might someday because of this bedtime ritual. Having a format has helped my husband feel comfortable praying. The prayers are different every night, but the format is the same. Also, if we are in a particular hurry, we each take just one letter.
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