Article By: Dee Jones, President of Light 2 World, Inc.

My family loves “movie night”. On many occasions, we may pick the same movie! One of our favorite movies is “War Room” by the Kendrick Brothers.
One of the main characters “Miss Clara” sang funny melodies of joy when her prayers were answered. She was a woman of faith and she had a prayer plan for every area of her life. My nieces and I would watch this movie whenever we visited each other. Now that my young family members are college-age, we still laugh about those times together. School is starting again.

As I recall a recent radio report, the announcer noted struggles teachers endure and the situations their students experience at home and in class. Many children suffer from anxiety and fear. As my special child enters another year of school, I am led to develop a “prayer plan” for this school year.

How can your child develop a strategy for prayer in their personal “War Room?” My little guy is not a fan of reading or writing. Thus, we can enhance these skills in small segments. I cannot think of a better skill to foster than prayer, reading, and writing. Below are several ideas to get you started.

  1. Poster board, glue, markers, index cards or a Picture Journal.
  2. Be a role model. Kids do what they see parents do. Pray together whenever possible using your prayer board or prayer journal. A composition notebook can be used by posting pictures and writing.
  3. Teach your child to pray scripture. My first book includes scripture prayers that I wrote for various issues of my life. Kids can do this too. For example: To pray this scripture, Philippians 4:6-7 for my son, it would go like this. “Lord, help me not to worry about school or my classmates. Give me peace on my first day of school and help me to think about you when I start to get stressed. Thank you Jesus, Amen.”
  4. Set a special time in the morning, before meals, at bedtime. Also, when sirens are heard. A dear Bible teacher taught me to “stop and pray” whenever I saw police or firefighters heading to a scene. We stop and pray.
  5. To enhance reading and writing skills, help them write short prayers and post them each week. Your little one may also start a prayer journal.
  6. My First Prayer Journal for Kids by Karol Robayo at Amazon.com
  7. Use a prayer calendar to schedule prayer time for teachers, assistants, administrators, secretaries, parents, bus drivers, students, siblings, babysitters, etc.

A few of my favorite prayer scriptures:

  • Psalm 100
  • Proverbs 3:5-6
  • Philippians 4:6-7
  • Joshua 1:6
  • Matthew 6:9-13 The Lord’s Prayer

Start small, be consistent, and have faith!

Read more articles from VOM Magazine here: www.veteransoutreachministries.org/vom-magazine