Lord, Teach Me to Pray for Kids (Discover 4 Yourself Inductive Bible Studies for Kids)

This is an engaging way to teach children how to study their bible and find the answers they need. This book focuses on prayer but has a lot of good extras in that aspect. My son is excited to work on this book.

I was very excited about this book. My children, ages 8 and 10, and I were doing the study together, and I was hoping that all of our prayer lives would become richer. When we got to day 4, however, I realized that this author's particular theology was not at all in line with our belief system -- and the belief system of a very large portion of Christians. I appreciate that Christians have different beliefs on a variety of issues, but it is only fair for the author to be upfront with her views, especially when she is writing a children's book and when many (I would guess most) Christians would not share her views. I felt ambushed and tricked.The author takes the view that children should learn to pray by using the inductive method of Scripture interpretation. The author explains: "Inductive means you do straight to the Bible yourself to discover what it means, instead of depending on what someone else says it means." I will be honest; this technique did not seem appropriate for elementary-aged children. They lack the reading comprehension skills and life experience to engage in serious Biblical interpretation; for this reason, God has given children parents and religious leaders, to help them make sense of their spiritual journey. That being said, I can see that empowering children in this way could be very motivating to children, so I kept on going. Big mistake.On Day 4 of the 28-day program, the author began covering the Lord's Prayer, both from Luke and Matthew. My children committed this to memory several years ago, and we say as a congregation during church each Sunday. When discussing this prayer, the author ignored her earlier "empowerment" speech and instead told the children exactly what to think about the Lord's Prayer (so much for induction!). Unfortunately, her views are not in keeping with our family's or our church's views, nor do I believe that they are a fair reading of the Scripture that she cites. Referring to Matthew 6:7, she asks this question: "So does that sound like Jesus wanted them [the disciples] to just memorize "the Lord's Prayer" and repeat it back to God? [Space for the child to write an answer.] No. First, Jesus says not to use meaningless repetition. That means that Jesus doesn't want them to repeat words that have no meaning to them. In verse 9, he tells them to "pray, then, in this way," Jesus doesn't want them to pray by just repeating the Lord's Prayer."Of course, all Christians believe that they should not pray with "meaningless repetition." I am flabbergasted that I have to type this, but apparently it is necessary: reciting the Lord's Prayer is not "meaningless repetition," unless you do not understand that language that you are speaking and no one has provided you with a translation. The Lord's Prayer is a very meaningful part of many Christians' prayer life; to call it meaningless repetition is offensive to many Christians, and it was very confusing for my children to hear such a perspective being presented as if it were the obvious conclusion.My children, of course, immediately saw the difference between prayerfully and meaningfully taking Jesus's words and making them their own as part of their prayer to God. They were easily able to "induce" this meaning, even if the author failed to see this distinction.I realize that some Christians do not routinely recite the Lord's Prayer; I respect that decision. Nevertheless, if the author is going to criticize the recitation of the Lord's Prayer -- in a book on prayer meant for children, no less -- the author ought to make that very clear so that parents can decide whether that message is in keeping with their beliefs.You can probably tell that I am quite angry about this book. As a parent, I work hard to shield my children from influences that could harm them physically, mentally, or spiritually. I did not, however, think that I had to "pre-read" a book about Christian prayer. Buyer beware.

Currently going through this with my almost 10 year old son, and he loves it. He really enjoys the "soldier" theme, and is grasping all of the concepts that are being taught about what an inductive Bible study is. I have found each lesson to be just the right length - not too long or too short. I will definitely be using more of these studies in the future.

This is for kids, but we did it as a family and it was fantastic. It's a little meatier than a devotional and while my 4th grader loves it my 2nd grader didn't like all the activities in it. It slowed down my 4th grader, so she started doing it on her own. It taught me a lot as well as the kids and I have went from children who focused their prayers on "me" and now they focus their prayers on God's will. AMAZING.

As I mention is other reviews, that these studies are really good but the NIRV bible version would have made them better. My 6th grader liked this study and had a lot to say about the way we pray. It was really cool to see him think for himself and offer his own opinions.

It is worth purchasing these study books even if you don't have the bible that she recommends. For the most part, you can do most things with any bible. For the few questions you need the bible version she recommends you can use Blueletterbible.com . This book is so detailed and full of scripture while remaining fun and entertaining for children. My son is 11 and spends time each morning with this book as his direction for quiet time.

My 7 year old is enjoying this. He usually does my adult precept studies with me so this is a lighter study for the summer and he enjoys the puzzles. My 6 year old is not ready for this but we try to jnclude him as much as possible. It's a good one to start with when using these materials.

Thanks Kay for helping us help our kids discover 4 themselves what God’s word says and how to apply it to their lives.