The Importance of Prayer

Week 3: The Importance of Prayer

LARGE GROUP SESSION 1

[6 MINUTES]

Welcome all the kids this week’s In Focus Session!

This week we’re going to be talking about prayer.

· Prayer is an amazing tool we have as Christians.

· Prayer gives us the opportunity to talk with God any time we want to.

· It is through prayer that we seek forgiveness for things we’ve done, tell God how amazing He is and ask for our needs and the needs of others.

Objective:

· You have a basic understanding of the importance of prayer

· You know thew fundamentals of prayer

· That you are beginning to pray on your own, establish a prayer life.

1. Prayer is simply talking to God

God loves when we talk with him and the Bible tells us in

1 Thessalonians 5:16 to “Pray without ceasing,” which means that we should always be praying.

· Prayer should always come from a sincere person who desires to know God better.

I brought a video clip with me tonight to help us remember that prayer is sincerely and respectfully talking to God.

Video: Showing Respect to God Through Prayer

TEACH [7 minutes]

2. You can Pray about anything you want to, any time, any place

Prayer should be a time of showing respect to God, just like the video said, but you can talk to Him anytime you want from anywhere.

When we pray here at church.

· We want you to bow your head and close your eyes because this helps to eliminate distractions around you and stay focused on what you’re praying. But when you’re at home you can pray out loud or silently.

· You can pray standing up, sitting down, kneeling, or even lying in your bed.

· Sometimes at school you can just pray silently while on the playground.

· Wherever you are isn’t important as long as you are sincerely and respectfully talking to God.

Jesus gave us the Lord’s prayer in Matthew to teach us how to pray.

Let’s open our Bibles to Matthew 6:9-13 and read the model for prayer together.

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

According to the model Jesus gave us in Matthew, there are four basics things we should do when we pray.

Prayer should never be just you asking God for everything you want. When you pray, you should give praise to God, repent of your sins, ask for God’s will in your life and lastly make your requests known to Him.

Parts of Prayer: (On the Screen)

P - Praise “Hallowed be your name” vv.9

R - Repent “Forgive us our sins”vv. 12

A - Ask for God’s Will “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done” vv.10

Y - Your Requests “Give us our daily bread” “Lead us not into temptation” vv.13

Relate the parts of prayer to the example given in Matthew

Have kids turn to page____ in their journals to fill in their acrostic.

I know most of you have prayed before, but if you’ve never prayed in this way,

I want you to Remember these four (4) simple steps to praying:

Praise, repent, Ask for God’s Will and make your requests known.

Transition:

3. God does hear our prayers

I know for some of you, it can feel like God doesn’t hear your prayers. I want you to know that God absolutely hears all of our prayers. He is always listening, in fact, He is waiting to hear from you. Sometimes, it may not be the answer that we wanted which is why it seems like He didn’t answer.

4. God answers our prayer one of three ways:

· Sometimes God says “Yes!”

· Sometimes God says “No!” and

· sometimes He says “Wait!”

If you’ve been praying about something and it seems like God isn’t answering your prayer, it could be that He is saying “No” or “Wait.” This is where Praying for God’s Will in our lives comes in. God knows us better than we even know ourselves. He knows what we need more than we do.

When we are praying for God’s will in our lives,

· We’re asking God to do what is best for us.

· We are praying for God’s perfect plan for our lives. It may not make sense to us now, but God is faithful to care for us.

Whenever you pray, just remember that

God sees the big picture of our entire lives. If He says No! or Wait! To one of our requests, it’s not that He’s not listening. Instead, it’s that God is loving, all-knowing and all-powerful and will always take care of you.

Let’s pray together right now before we go into our discussion groups.

closing Prayer

GO TO SMALL GROUPS—