Saturday, May 31, 2014

The Do’s and Don’ts of Praying Children Sunday School Lesson

Purpose of Lesson

This lesson is Part 2, in a 10 part series on The Lord’s Prayer, and focuses on Jesus’ introduction

to this prayer. The instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples help us to understand the attitudes

that God wishes for, from us, when we pray.


Needed materials

• Bible

• Scripture cards

• Washable markers and white crayons

• Chart paper or dry erase board, and markers

• Paper

• Tape


Preparing for the Lesson

Before the lesson, you should:

• Gather your materials

• Print this lesson

• Write scripture references on white paper with white crayon

1. Matthew 6:5-8

2. Proverbs 15:8

3. James 5:16

4. 1 Thessalonians 5:17

5. Romans 12:12

6. 1 John 5:14-15

7. James 5:15

8. Colossians 4:2

9. Philippians 4:6

10. 2 Chronicles 7:14

• Add in some fake cards with silly drawings

• Reflect honestly on your prayer life. How could you improve it? How does your prayer

life bring you closer to the Lord?


Game—Bible Verse Scavenger Hunt
Before class, place the scripture reference cards and the fake cards that you made around the

room, hiding them according to the age level of your class.


You may want to place them in obvious places or attach them to brightly colored paper, so that

they are more visible, or you could place them in bright envelopes.


When the class arrives, explain to them that the cards are hidden (in envelopes or on colored

paper, etc.) Tell them that the messages on the paper will be hidden until they use a special

decoder. They will find out afterward if it is a message to them from God’s Word, or a silly

message from you.


After all of the messages have been found, pass out washable markers to each child, and have

them color over the messages that they found. The marker won’t stick to the crayon, so the

message will be visible. Have the children put the special messages from God in one pile, and

the silly messages from you in another pile.


Lesson script

We started a new lesson last week. Can anyone remember what we learned about? Prayer, right!

Next week, we’re going to start studying the Lord’s Prayer. That was the example prayer that

Jesus taught his disciples. But first, we’ll learn a few more things about prayer.


Last week, we learned our prayer triangle; that we talk to God the Father, through Jesus, the Son,

by the power of the Holy Spirit. This week, we’ll learn some of the things we should or shouldn’t

do while praying. Let’s read what the Bible has to say about praying.


(Read Matthew 6:5-8)


That is what Jesus told his disciples, right before he taught them the Lord’s Prayer. What are the

two things that Jesus said not to do while praying? (Allow response)


The first was not to be like the hypocrites. A hypocrite says they believe one thing, but act

like they believe another. Prayer is a conversation between you and God. When you have a

conversation with a friend, you don’t stand on a corner, shouting it out for all the world to hear,

do you? No, I didn’t think so. The same goes for praying—we should pray in private, in our

own heads, to God. We can worship God in public, but we have to remember the small, private

conversations, as well.


The second is to not babble. God doesn’t need us to repeat everything for Him a bunch of times.

He already knows what we are going to say, before we do! We have to trust in God, that he will

answer our prayers when his timing is right—and that we may not understand the answer—but

that we cannot badger God into doing what we say.


Let’s look at what the Bible says we should be doing when we are praying. Let’s look at these

secret messages that you found while we played our game. Some are messages from the bible

about prayer, and some are silly messages from me.


Each verse fits into one of these five categories (write these across the top of whiteboard or

paper):

• Pray righteously

• Pray in faith

• Pray without ceasing

• Pray humbly

• Pray in thanksgiving


(After reading each verse, have the children vote on which category they fall under, and tape

them under the appropriate heading. For laughs, sprinkle in some of your own silly messages.)

Great job, everyone! Now we know the five things that we can do to help us to pray better.

• We pray with a right heart

• We pray knowing that God hears us

• We pray without stopping, in everything we do

• We pray with humble hearts

• We pray to thank God for everything He has given us


Most importantly, we remember when we are praying, that we are talking to God, who is

perfectly perfect, and we are sinners. And even though we are all sinners, God loves us all, very,

very much! Let’s all remember these things, while we pray together, now.


Sample Prayer

For this new morning, and its light; for rest and shelter of the night; for health and food; for love

and friends; for every gift your Goodness sends; we thank you, Gracious Lord. Amen.

Find more Sunday School lesson ideas on our Free Children Sunday School Lesson Helps page.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment