The Prayer of Every Parent: Teaching the Faith in a Changing World

Did you grow up with traditional family devotions?

Many of us visualize parents and children gathered around the dinner table after a relaxing dinner. But did you ever consider that thanking God that your sick two-year-old in the back seat didn’t vomit on the way to the doctor’s office was a kind of family devotion? After all, even a quick prayer of thanksgiving from a mom’s heart reflects lifestyle faith.

Godly Instruction in a Changing World

Few of us live in a religious bubble. In our ever-changing, fast-paced world, we might be more concerned about the cost of groceries than a child’s faith formation. That might explain why family devotions aren’t a major topic of discussion! However, elements of Christian faith can easily be integrated into twenty-first-century life.

Wondering about family devotions is a natural subject for me. When I had three preschoolers under the age of four, I was scribbling on McDonald’s napkins about how God was at work in our children’s lives. Those scribbles formed the core of my Little Visits with Jesus books.

A note I saved from a reader years ago still warms my heart. The mom wrote, “My kids are doing the same things talked about in the devotions.”

In spite of the fact that we communicate today on social networks, use OTT (over-the-top technology), and buy from shoppable ads, many aspects of raising children haven’t changed. Kids still ride bikes and read books. Parents still set appropriate bedtimes. Kids may be zipping on e-bikes, books may be digital, and the nighttime clock may be on a cellphone, but one thing hasn’t changed: Today and every day, children need to grow up with Jesus.

The first-century world in which young Timothy was raised didn’t stop Lois and Eunice, his grandmother and mother, from godly teaching (2 Timothy 3:14–17). These devout women, who accepted Christianity, had a sincere faith. What a fabulous model for us today! The transfer of enthusiasm that accompanies our sharing of the faith is communicated by what we say, what we do, and how we live.

Learning the Faith at Every Age

Engaging with faith formation principles begins so simply with a young child. A toddler can fold his hands, bow his head, and say, “Thank you, God,” before pinching breakfast cereal between sticky fingers. Even a two-year-old delights in seeing a lightning bug shine outside his bedroom window, as his parents say, “God made the world and God made lightning bugs!” Matching a child with developmentally appropriate concepts, including “I can talk to God” and “God made the world,” resonates at every age.

A preschooler who “cooks” plastic food on a play stove hears an observant parent comment, “God gives us good food.” Will the four-year-old connect that remark to going to church on Sunday? Probably not; she’s too busy playing!

And that’s just fine, because the link still exists between God and everyday life. What a great integration of faith and life in the world of a preschooler!

Teaching Moments in Daily Life

During the time of Martin Luther, reading was limited among the general population. That’s when children learned Bible stories by looking at the stained glass church windows. Songs and chants sung by choirs were audio reminders of biblical truths as the language of the people eventually replaced the ancient languages of the church. Even years ago, multiple delivery systems reinforced the faith-life connection for people of all ages.

A three-year-old who learned that God answers prayers will ask as an eight-year-old, “Why doesn’t God heal Grandma’s cancer?” Through the early years, a child has personally experienced that God cares for His people. Now, she learns that God’s timeline might differ from ours—a fact many of us older people sometimes forget!

Among older children, developmental changes become obvious. They develop new interests. Friends become dominant. Although parents continue as primary teachers, the peer group becomes a path to spiritual growth. The rate of individual development varies; that pace is sometimes dramatic during adolescence. The attributes of God and definitions of moral character don’t change, but differences are obvious in what a child takes away from situations, relationships, and experiences.

When I wrote the Little Visits books, I visualized a triangle: God, a child, and a parent. Any words I wrote were merely a starting point that would be finished by God. That three-sided shape is a timeless model and still valid today; this fact of generational faith will never change.

Now, decades after I tracked God’s actions on fast-food napkins and shopping lists, the same triangle forms the basis for the devotional prayers my husband and I offer each night. Although each of our five grandsons was made in the likeness of God (Genesis 1:27), they are individuals. Yet every prayer ends with the same line: May my grandchild know Jesus as his Savior.

That is the heart of the faith-life triangle. That is my prayer for every child.

Read more from Dr. Mary Manz Simon, whose titles have sold more than three million copies in English and are translated into eleven languages.