Clever ideas for how to create a simple and effective prayer journal for your little ones. What to include along with pictures of samples.
by Julia Bowen
Ugh! I just want to feel close to God and spend time with Him! I want to be the mom that has so much put together that I have time to pray. I want my children to grow up praying to God. But, the fact is I am way too overwhelmed. I am so tired!
This is how I felt when I was pregnant with my third, and I just couldn’t seem to wake up earlier before it was time for my other two to wake up. I knew once the baby came it was only going to be harder to wake up early. Even though I knew BW methods would help, baby would still need to eat at night for a season. My toddler was having a hard time adjusting to mommy being pregnant and kept waking up early to snuggle with us in bed. I knew that I needed to establish the rule of “You can only get up when mommy gets you up,” but I just didn’t have it in me. Day after day I would only pray, “God help!”
Prayer Journal for Mom
That’s when I got the idea of my prayer binder. I needed help focusing on what mattered when I prayed. I built it with different sections that prompt my prayers and build my faith with key verses. I pray through each section for just a few minutes, and most days it only takes 30 minutes to pray through the whole binder. Even though I may not pray through the whole thing every day, it is a great tool. Yes, my ideal time to pray is in the morning when everything is quiet. But, for the stage of life that I was in that just wasn’t my reality.
It didn’t look pretty, and it was just thrown together with random things. But, it worked. I could pray with kids awake. But, I still would have interruption after interruption. I knew that if my kids thought they were doing the same thing I was doing they would feel important and not interrupt so much. I kept giving them prompts from what I was praying and created a simplified version for my kids to pray with by themselves.
Creating a Prayer Journal for Kids
Praying is having a conversation with God, and I wanted to help my kids have an idea of what to talk about. The kid’s prayer journal helped me get more time with God and helped me teach my kids to pray.
I wrote out topics from my own binder and made them a more simplified version. There are 8 topics or sections.
- Worship
- Thankful
- Me
- Clean Heart
- Fruit of the Spirit
- Armor of God
- Ask
- Family
- Friends
- Other
- Church
- Nation
- Lost
- God’s Word
I prayed with my kids through the journal for a few weeks before they were able to do it on their own. My first attempt was way too much for my not yet reading and writing preschooler. So, I took it down to mainly pictures. Here is the breakdown of the journal:
- Worship – Singing songs to God and Names of God
I tell my child to think of a Bible song they like, and we sing it together. Somedays we still do this together. Then, we worship God by remembering who He is with the names of God. Even with my youngest, he will point to the words even though he doesn’t always know what they say. And somedays I will read them to him.
- Thankful – Thank God for one thing or just what you are thankful for today.
I have my youngest draw a picture and my oldest to write in this section each day. I leave a good portion of empty pages in section.
- Me – Prayer focused on them
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- Clean Heart – Asking God for forgiveness and a time for us to forgive others
- Fruit of the Spirit – Gal. 5:22
- Armor of God – Eph. 6:10-18
- Ask – Asking God for whatever is on their hearts to ask
The Fruits of the Spirit are written on fruit, and the Armor of God titles are next to pictures of each piece. My youngest just points and says the names he remembers. I also found a kid’s version of the Armor of God prayer, and we say it together sometimes after we have had our alone prayer time. I leave a few pages in the section for when my child learns to write.
- Family – Praying over the family, thanking God for them, blessings for them, their needs, and protection.
One page is a picture of our family. On the next page is extended family like grandparents, aunts/uncles, and cousins all on the same page. I leave a few pages in section for when my child learns to write.
- Friends – Praying over our friends, thanking God for them, blessings for them, their needs, and protection.
I found pictures of them playing with their friends to add to this section. I leave a few pages in section for when my child learns to write.
- Other – This section might look different for each family.
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- Our church – Thanking God for our church and pastor. Praying for wisdom, blessings, and protection.
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- Our Nation – Thanking God for our freedom and praying for our leaders to have wisdom, blessings, and protection.
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- Lost – Praying to God for the lost in the world. Praying for God to help us know how to be a light in this world and for the lost to be found. For the lost to know God as their savior!
- God’s Word – This is for our family memory verse.
Since we homeschool, we have a Bible lesson every week and a topic such as Joy or Obedience. We post a memory verse for the family to see all week. We have also done two different verses before. For example, our younger son memorized Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.” But, our oldest memorized Proverbs 10:17, “People who accept discipline are on the pathway to life, but those who ignore correction will go astray.”
My oldest will write the verse every day in his prayer binder. My younger son will repeat the verse after me, and then I give him a sticker for his prayer binder. This section has another good portion of pages.
This kid’s prayer journal has truly helped me have more time with God while my children are awake. And, it has created a huge bonus of teaching my children to talk to God on their own. I pray that when you are feeling the overwhelm of whatever season you are in right now that prayer is where you land. Putting your trust in God will bring you peace and joy. I hope this prayer journal will help you have more time with God and raise up your little prayer warriors!
About the author: My name is Julia Bowen. I have been married to my best friend for 16 years. I am a mom to three of the best kids. Malachi is nine years old, Gabriel is four years old, and Trinity is 11 months old. We have done BW with all three of our children. I grew up in Illinois but have lived in Birmingham, Alabama for the last 6 years. While homeschooling and being a leader in my church are all things I enjoy, my favorite is being a mom.
