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In Luke 11:1 the disciples of Jesus made a request of their Master Teacher, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Just as Jesus taught his disciples to pray, we as teachers need to teach our students to pray—not only by example but by instruction. “Let’s take a knee” has been heard in the first and second grade classroom over the last few months. We have been having a special prayer time several times a week. Our pattern:
P is for Praise. In our praise time we pray verses back to God telling Him how great He is. We also pray His names and character qualities to worship Him. After a corporate prayer introduction, the students continue with quiet prayers of worship.
R is for Repent. In our repent time of prayer, we pray a verse about how God removes our sins, forgives us, or cleanses us when we confess. We continue this part of our prayer time in quiet confession of whatever the Holy Spirit reminds us of as we listen quietly.
A is for Ask. In our ask time of prayer, we pray verses about how God hears us and can answer our prayers. We pray for a few prayer requests that have been mentioned corporately, followed by quiet prayer for any request each individual is burdened for that morning.
Y is for Yield. We read in Proverbs 16:3, “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” This is one of our favorite verses to pray during our yield time. We spend a few minutes yielding ourselves to God in particular areas for that day’s work.
What a blessing to hear first and second graders quietly speaking prayers to their God! When asked if he likes our morning prayer time, one student responded with, “Yes, I like our prayer time because it makes my day smooth.”
“Lord, teach us to pray!”