Can children practice prayer and fasting? They certainly, can! In this post, I share how I began to teach my children the spiritual discipline of prayer and fasting. Is this something that has crossed your mind as a parent or guardian then here is your step-by-step guide: How to involve your young children in prayer and fasting.
Activity Guides Yours Absolutely Free
As a special bonus for reading this post, I have also included my free prayer and fasting schedule/3-day guide. Along with songs and activity suggestions. Together they will help you to make this journey a blessing to you and your family as you draw closer to God. This is the exact schedule I used for my very first 3-days of prayer and fasting with my children. It’s sure to help!
Can my child Pray and Fast?
Until recently, I never thought of including my children in prayer and fasting. We spend lots of time intentionally teaching them God’s word and they both love to worship God. Ephraim who is now 5 is the musician and Hadassah who will soon be 3 is the worship leader. There is not a day that goes by where they don’t voluntarily spend time praising God. They love singing, dancing, banging on homemade drums, or anything they can find.
They certainly love God and are growing daily in His grace. However, prayer and fasting was not one of the things I thought of introducing to them at such an early stage in their lives. It was only after the wise counsel of my spiritual mentor, about the grace upon the children’s life I recognized it was something I should explore, and that I did. Honestly, I did not know how it would go or what to expect but I was amazed at the outcome. That’s why I am sharing this post with you. Parents, it is very possible for your child to engage in prayer and fasting.
Prayer and Fasting With Young Children
A Step by Step Guide.
When you have taken into consideration or desire to pray and fast with your young children there are some steps that can help make this more impactful for you and for them. So let’s look at those steps now.
Be Sure To Check Out This Post
The Greatest Commandment Bible Craft
1. Recognize that children are spiritual beings
Firstly, it is important to recognize that children are spirit beings just like you and I. As adults, we sometimes forget that they have a spirit. In the same way, our spirit connects with God, their spirit can also connect with God. Remember Matthew 18 reminds us that Jesus himself called children “the greatest in the Kingdom.”
There are so many things we have learned and can continue to learn about how God sees children. Although I worked with children for several years in ministry, sometimes I tend to forget God’s perspective of them. However, acknowledging this important fact will help us understand that your child can greatly impact the Kingdom of God through their act of prayer and fasting.
Read More Here About How God Sees Children
facts about God For Every Child
Remember parents, we won’t know all that happens spiritually as our children yield to God. Over and over through God’s word, we have read and heard of how God used children in His word and continue to even today.
2. Plan when you want to introduce your child to prayer and fasting
It’s always a good idea to plan when you want to participate in prayer and fasting. That is, of course with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For my family, this first time of prayer and fasting that included our children, coincided with a new season in both of their lives. Our son was about to enter kindergarten and our daughter was starting preschool.
Other times you might think about prayer and fasting with your children can be significant birthdays, or birthdays in general, the end of the year or beginning of the year, during a difficult season and the list goes on.
3. Speak to children about prayer and fasting
A week before you actually begin praying and fasting, start to speak to your children about what you are about to do. Do this daily until the day you actually begin. You may want to emphasize the following:
- that you usually spend time praying together during devotions, but a week from now you will; be praying and fasting
- that prayer and fasting include staying away from foods and tablets, TV, and other things you may really enjoy in order to spend more time drawing closer to God and learning more about Him.
- that you will be praying and fasting for a particular day or number of days, and some of what each day will include.
As you plan your season of prayer and fasting the Holy Spirit will confirm that you are on the right track. The Holy Spirit gave my family several confirmations that this was a good time to include the children in our prayer and fasting. I am certain He will do the very same for you.
Speak about praying and fasting every day until the day you begin you would be surprised to see how your children look forward to the time of prayer and fasting.
4. Put a schedule together.
Once you have determined the time and length of your family prayer and fasting, go ahead and put a schedule of activities together. Each day will be exciting to look forward to. Here are some of the main things you may want to include on that schedule.
- Times of prayer
- A devotional lesson and bible teaching for each day
- Times of praise and worship
- Bible-based activities that complete the lessons taught
- Substitutes for regular meals and snacks
Allow the Holy Spirit to help you choose the right activities for your family as you put your schedule together. I have included a free three-day schedule and prayer cards as part of the activity pack that you can use as you consider prayer and fasting with your children. This is the exact schedule I used with my family and it was very effective, remember though, it is important to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you.
SEE how DAVID CAN INSPIRE YOUR BOYS in this post
DAVID MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART
5. Carry out your Prayer and Fasting
Great you have followed the steps above and now the day is here for you to actually begin. Once you have been speaking to your children about this exercise prior to the day trust me by the first day there will be great expectations. And where there is an expectation to spend time with God be sure that He is going to be ready to help you succeed in your prayer and fasting. I will love to hear how it goes. Do share in the comments below.
Optional Steps You Can Consider
In addition to the steps taken above, here are some other things we did as parents to help make this prayer and fasting successful.
- Download bible based apps only. During the three days of prayer and fasting, we choose to reduce the use of the tablet and all screen time for a period of the day. All forms of screen time were reduced. And where there was screen time it was Bible-based. We used the Superbook Bible App and the Youversion Children’s Bible App for this.
2. Purchase child-friendly devotionals. For our children, we found a wonderful devotional from Veggietales called Growing Day by Day. There is one for girls and one for boys. There are 365 days in this devotional. Each day there is a lesson focus, a short explanation, a thought for the day, and a prayer. It is perfect for young children and quite easy to understand. It’s great to use and you will be able to use it after your prayer and fasting as well.
3. Use Bible-Based Homeschooling Curriculum. At the time of your prayer and fasting if you are a homeschooling parent. You can add some Bible-based curricula to your daily session. In my free activity pack, there are a few great sites you can choose from that offer free Bible-based curricula for several grade levels. One of my favorites is Kids Of Integrity. This website is filled with great free homeschooling lessons for children. The lesson plans include; prayer guides, character building for children, craft activities, and more.
Your Children Will Grow In Wisdom through Pray and Fast
Introducing your children to prayer and fasting will have great benefits. Some you will see now, others you may experience later. As I mentioned earlier, we don’t know how God will use our children, but we can certainly trust that He has the best in store for them.
I recall one of the days we were praying and fasting. My son Ephraim was having some trouble putting on one of his shoes, I encouraged him to try a little harder since he had already done the first one. To my surprise, he ran for the devotional and reminded me that earlier that morning he learned that parents can help. Well, he was right so I certainly helped him with getting his other shoe on.
Don’t Forget Save This Pin
Do know that, as you dedicate time with your family to God, your children will increase in wisdom, and their relationship with God will flourish. As a mom, I am sometimes amazed at the spiritual conversation my son has. I know the Holy Spirit is working in his heart. I encourage you today, if my children can do it then you can too. Start with small steps. I certainly plan to continue.
I hope this post was an encouragement to you. For some persons reading this post, it may be that you are a single parent or all members of the family may not be available to fast together that’s is quite ok. Don’t let that hold you back if you feel lead by the Holy Spirit to fast with your child. Then go right ahead. Remember the Lord is your helper.
HEre are some other post you might like
Check Them now or pin them for later
Be sure to stay safe and blessed.
And as always thank you for reading this post.
Wow! I was definitely encouraged by this post. I am not a mother as yet but this was a question that have already crossed my mind. How would I get my children to participate in prayer and fasting at a tender age? I know nothing is impossible with God. This post definitely helped. Looking forward to putting these suggestions into practice with the help of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Yana. May God continue to bless you🙏
I am so happy you were encouraged Kensha. Thanks for reading. Stay safe and be blessed