Remember
Breath Prayer
Breath in: You are Good
Breath out: And you always love me
Song Themes: Giving thanks to the Lord for His endless love
Remember one another
Is anyone celebrating something that happened this week? Let’s share so we can all thank God together.
Is anyone struggling, feeling sad, lonely or scared? How can we pray for one another?
Remember what we learned last week
Practice the Following Jesus Liturgy (With our youngest kids only focus on the portion that we’re currently learning)
Leader: Who remembers what we learned last week?
P.R.A.Y. - Pause, Rejoice, Ask, Yield
There are many ways to pray. it's helpful to begin by calming our minds and bodies. Then we can focus our hearts on God's goodness by giving thanks. After that, God invites us to ask Him for the things we need, so we pray for others and talk to Him about the things that are important to us. We don't want to forget the "Y". We yield to God, or say "yes" to His plans, by letting Him know that we trust Him no matter how things turn out because He's a good Father with good plans.
Reflect: PRAY
We have learned that there are many ways to pray. Prayer is simply talking with God. Talking with God is as simple as talking to our mom or dad. We tell Him the things that are important to us. We tell Him how we're feeling and what we need. We enjoy knowing He is with us and He loves us, just like we enjoy being with our family and friends. Prayer is simply living life in friendship with God and knowing that He's always available to us.
As we grow in friendship with God it becomes easier to talk to Him and know He is listening. We get more comfortable praying for our family and friends and the things we need and want. We learn how to say "thank you" for the good gifts He gives us.
When Jesus taught His followers to pray He included an important challenge. He instructed them to pray for their enemies, the people who rejected them, were mean to them, and treated them poorly. That was surprising! Jesus invites us as His followers to forgive those who hurt us and pray for them.
Read or Watch Jesus Storybook Bible: A Little Servant and the Proud General
Respond: Talk to Jesus
Discuss:
In the story we listened to, who was prideful?
Who was forgiving?
What did the servant girl do? - Call on Elisha to help
How is Elisha like Jesus in this story?
How did the servant girl's actions impact Naaman?
As you are talking with the kids, try to draw comparisons between the girl's actions and prayer. She sought help from God. We can call upon God to help the people in our lives who are not kind to us, being mean, and acting disrespectfully. God loves to heal broken and hard hearts like Naaman's. When we pray for our enemies it helps us to be able to forgive them and not become mean and bitter ourselves.
Encourage discussion and questions around the topic of prayer, forgiveness, and how we relate to our "enemies".
Experience: Empty Chair
(Ages 4+)
If space allows, set up a chair for each child. Try to give enough space between chairs that the kids can feel like they have a private space.
Each child will sit in front of a chair. We will pretend that the chair is a throne and that God himself is seated on the throne.
Tell the kids that we are going to be quiet for 2 minutes (keep it short for younger kids and extend the time for older kids). In that time you can tell God anything that you want. You can pray for someone who is an enemy and ask God to heal their heart. You can tell God thank you or ask him for something that you need. Have the kids pray quietly or silently so they are not distracting one another.
Then open the time in prayer and let them know that you will tell them when the time is up. When you're finished talk about the experience.
What was it like trying to talk to someone that you can't see?
How did you feel?
How do you think God felt when He heard you talking to Him?
Answer questions and follow the children's lead.
Encounter: Sing and Share
If there is time, play the song and have the kids listen to or sing the lyrics. The lyrics are a story about the legacy of prayer and how we can come together as family to talk to Jesus.