Scripture: for teacher background: Jer
33:3 Jer 29:13; 1 Thess 5:16,17; Matt 7:7-11
Making contact:
Isn’t it great to have a friend who wants
to talk to you and wants you to phone all the time.
You know they never have a
sinking feeling when they hear your voice on the other side. You know their
face breaks into smile!
With cell phones these days, you can send a friend a
quick message or just miss call to let them know you are thinking of them. It is
such fun.
It is wonderful to have a friend who says –
“Listen, if something is wrong even in the middle of the night – phone me – I
am there for you.”
I
wonder if any friend has ever said that to you?
Sometimes we get the feeling we mustn’t
call too much or they will get tired of us.
Exploration:
Learning to pray is first having the faith
to believe that God wants to listen to you and talk to you.
You can pray
beautifully but if in your heart you think God doesn’t care and isn’t listening
then there is a big problem.
So the first lesson is to know that the Bible
talks such a lot about prayer and gives so many examples of people praying and
praying and God loves our prayers and has promised to listen.
He says:
“Call on me and I will answer you.”
Jer 33:3
The 2nd lesson is that we can pray
anywhere and anytime, out aloud or in our heads. We can think pray or
talk pray. God can hear every thought and every word.
The good news is
that the Devil can’t hear what we are thinking but God can! Pray with all your
heart. Don’t use empty phrases that you have heard other people use.
There is a very good idea for praying that
we learn from our friend Daniel in the Bible. Why could he face a lions’ den?
Why was his faith so strong?
He had special prayer times with God.
He would go to the window and pray 3 times a day.
It is okay to pray on the run
while we rush around, but even a friend needs to sit down or go for a walk with
you when you have a heart to heart chat. God wants that and we need it. Jesus
did it and so should we.
So start. Choose a place – somewhere on
your own and talk to God. You might say: “Well I only have one sentence and
then what?”
Try this – Start by thinking about all the
names of God and then tell Him how you think He is great and awesome. Praise
and thank Him for who He is. He is light, holy, powerful, Almighty, the
creator, the good Shepherd, the Rock of Ages………
Then count your blessings for a while and
just say “Thank You Lord” Look around at what you have and where you
are. Look at yourself – ears to hear, legs that can walk etc. Look at the
people in your life and say thanks you for them.
Then look inside to see if you are clean.
You might need to say sorry to the Lord for something. Ask Him to show
you if you have made Him or someone else sad.
Then pick something to pray for. Pray
for your own family every day but if time is running short, divide other
people into days.
E.g. On Mondays, pray for all the leaders in your life – country,
teachers, church leaders; on Tuesday pray for your friends – make a
list……..etc.
Pray a lot for other people. One day God will show you what He did through your prayers. Each
one is powerful, so use this wonderful gift. Pray for people who do not believe
in Jesus. Maybe choose one such person and commit to pray for them every day
until they come to believe.
Pray for guidance for the day and commit your day to God. Ask God to fill you with
His love so that during the day you can be sensitive to people and their hurts
and needs.
Pray for protection over all your coming and going. “He
will protect you from all danger. He will keep you safe. He will protect you as
you come and go.” Ps 121:7,8
Jesus gives us many prayer tips. Next week
we will look at the prayer He taught His disciples, but He also said other
things about prayer. It is important to believe when you pray.
God often
tests us to see if we really believe in Him. So He can see if you really
believe. He wants to hear your prayer and wants to answer it. So pray in faith.
Children often have more faith than adults. Let your faith grow so that when
you are an adult you will have lots of faith. Jesus says we can ask. He wants
us to bring our personal requests to Him.
Pray for things you know that God wants.
Find examples in the Bible and pray them. Use examples and promises and tell
God you know that He wants this or that because in the Bible it says so. This
is praying according to His will.
Remember to be patient. It’s like a
robot – 3 colours – Red, Green and orange. Stop, wait and go. God sometimes
says “Yes” immediately, other times He says: “wait”. Because He knows the
perfect timing for that prayer, and other times He says: “No”. This is because
it isn’t what He wants and there is a bigger plan.
Praying in faith means that
you trust that God’s answer is the best answer and you can trust Him and relax
in His answer.
There are times to pray together for
someone in trouble. When Peter was in prison, the other Christians stayed up
all night praying for him.
Their prayers were so powerful that an angel freed
Peter and he just walked out of jail. There may be times when you need to come
together as a group and really pray hard through a crisis.
Another very important thing is to pray
in the name of Jesus. There are many gods out there and we need to name our
God.
When you pray using the name of Jesus, you are telling the spiritual realm
that your God is the Trinity God – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit.
Be specific. Don’t be vague.
There is power in the name of Jesus. If
you are afraid, say the name of Jesus out aloud! It’s not that it is magic.
Naming His name you are telling the whole
world who you believe in and who is Lord of all.
Application
To help children to pray aloud, sit in a
circle in groups of about 4 to 8 and pass a Bible around. As they receive the
Bible get them to say “Thank You Lord for…..” Let them think about something
that they want to thank the Lord for. If they don’t want to say anything let
them say “Amen” and pass the Bible on.
Avoid them holding hands or squeezing hands
or “pinkie” prayers. This always leads to giggling.
Do this Bible passing prayer regularly,
stretching them a little each time. Give other suggestions of what to pray for.
Challenge to Mission
Consolidation
There is a worksheet.
Memory Verse
“If you ask for anything in My name, I
will do it.” John 14:14
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