A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Kristin Stiles
Prayer is such an important component of the Christian life, and it is certainly a discipline that we want our children to learn and utilize themselves. We model prayer at meals and bedtime, but do we take the time to teach what prayer is and the different ways we use it to talk to God? Have we ever gone through a “systematic teaching” of prayer to show how it was used throughout the Bible? Probably not. I know I didn’t do that with my children when they were young. But, I didn’t have a great resource like this book to help me do that.
Any Time, Any Place, Any Prayer is an excellent book to introduce the purpose, practice, and history of prayer to a young child. Laura Wifler begins at the beginning: in the garden of Eden. She describes the open communication Adam and Eve enjoyed with God and how that was disrupted by their sin. She describes how God reminded people throughout the Old Testament to call out to Him. Then she explains how Jesus came to earth and how He had perfect communication with His Father through prayer and how He made a way for us to be in a right relationship with God. There is a simple, but clear presentation of the gospel message here. Next, she describes the promise and coming of the Holy Spirit. Then, she gives pages of examples of where, when, and how your child can talk to God. She ends with the hope that we have of one day being again able to have open, in-person communication with God like Adam and Eve did.
This book is beautifully illustrated. One thing that I really appreciate about the illustrations is that they provide a great deal of material for deeper discussion. When giving examples from the Old Testament of reasons people pray, there are illustrations of characters such as Miriam, Hannah, Jonah, and Nehemiah. Parents can use the illustrations along with the accompanying scripture references to read the prayers of these people and discuss the situations they were in. The illustrator does the same for people from church history such as Perpetua and Felicity, William Tyndale, Susanna Wesley, and John M. Perkins. Who are these people? Let’s see if we can find out! This is an opportunity for a mini-research project with your children. I enjoy a book that allows for this kind of interaction.
I highly recommend this book to help parents explain the importance and practice of prayer to their young children. I think this is a wonderful resource that was put together in a very practical and thoughtful manner.
Kristin Stiles is a home-school mom, a Sunday School teacher, and helps lead the “Young, Reading, & Reformed” children’s ministry at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA.
Buy the books
ANY TIME, ANY PLACE, ANY PRAYER: A TRUE STORY OF HOW YOU CAN TALK WITH GOD, by Laura Wifler