4 Easy Steps to help our children listen to God - Guidelines for Parent/Carers & Leaders

4 Easy Steps to help our children listen to God

All of us are made by God to know God and an important part of knowing God is being able to hear him. We believe that it is important from an early age to help our children grow in their ability to hear from God. This can be done as part of a normal prayer time at home or in a group, we hope the following pointers will help get you started!  

1. Ask your child(ren) to sit down without distractions and tell them that we are going to listen to see if God has something to tell us
2. Ask the child(ren) to close their eyes (to help them concentrate) and to place their hands out open in front of them (resting on knees for example). We put our hands out to show God that we are ready to receive something from him
3. Parent/Leader to dictate prayer for the child(ren) to repeat after them - Father God, I am listening so please tell me something good!
4. Leave 1/2 minutes quiet time and wait for God to speak! Then find out what he said!

Other Notes:

•              Explain that God can speak in different ways. Sometimes we can hear him audibly but more often God speaks quietly into our hearts supported by what the Bible teaches. God also loves to speak to us through our imagination and therefore children can often see 'pictures' when they listen to God. You could ask them to imagine God is painting a picture and tell you what they see.
• ·       We can all hear God speak because we are all his children and Jesus taught us that God is our heavenly father,  we just need to listen.
• ·      There may be some children that find this time difficult. The expectation is that they all join in and have a go. They don't have to sit perfectly still or completely silent but just be ready to listen. Other leaders can be directed to support specific children and should be allowed to move around in specific cases.
• ·      Don’t worry if the children do not hear anything the first time or even the first weeks or months! It is important that we keep persevering it is about teaching the children how to do it and creating a culture where it is normal to listen to God and we become expectant to hear him speak
• ·      Write down anything exciting and let us know!