Lesson 14: Saying Our Prayers

Aim:
* To review the Lord’s Prayer
* To learn what to pray about
* To make a prayer rounder

Materials
* The Lord’s Prayer – Matthew 6: 5-13
* word cards of the Lord’s Prayer
* Pictures from “What Shall We Pray About?” by Andy Robb
* prayer rounder patterns
* scissors, paper fasteners, coloured pencils

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Review The Lord’s Prayer
3. What shall we Pray about?
4. Activities – Make a Prayer Rounder, memory game
5. Review the lesson
6. Prayer

1) Review The Lord’s Prayer
‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

The Lord’s Prayer was part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus gave the people some advice about the proper attitude to have in prayer. He said not to pray in public like the hypocrites. He also said to pray alone and that God already knows what you need before you ask. Then he gave people a pattern for prayer.

* Practice saying the prayer aloud. Use the word cards to help. Can the children put them in the correct order?

2) What shall we Pray about?
* What do we pray about in the Lord’s prayer?
– That God’s kingdom and His will can happen on earth and in heaven
– That God can forgive our mistakes
– That we can forgive other people’s mistakes
– That God can help us not to be tempted to do wrong things

* What else can we pray about? Ask for suggestions. Here are some examples
– Our family,
– Our friends
– People at school
– To say thank you for the good things in life . . .
– People who help us
– People who aren’t well
– For courage when we are afraid
– Animals

* Look at the pictures from “What Shall We Pray About?” to generate discussion. (Say thank you for the good things in life, for animals, for the people who help us, for courage when we are afraid)

* God answers prayer
– Read the story to show that God listens to and answers prayers
My sister became so ill that she was taken to the best doctors available but was sent back home with no improvement. The primitive scopes that were available in the late 30’s revealed some kind of lung congestion. This problem continued for some time and since she was only about a year old her coughing and gagging scared us very much.
Finally one night my Dad placed my little sister in the center of our living room floor and had my Mother, myself and two older sisters kneel around her while he prayed to God for help.
The next morning Mother went downstairs to do the washing and while there heard a loud coughing noise upstairs. She rushed up and found my sister had spit up a large glob of decayed watermelon seeds from her lungs. The little tyke was completely restored to clear free breathing. I was five years old at that time and can truthfully say now, close to sixty years later, that I have never doubted that God answers prayer.

3) Activities
* Make a Prayer Rounder:
1. Colour the pattern and write your prayer request on the lines of the wheel
2. Cut out the patterns. Be sure to cut out the window.
3. Insert a paper fastener in the middle of the patterns.
4.Turn the circle to remind you of things you can pray for
This Prayer Rounder can remind us of the many people and things we should pray for.

* Word cards
Memorize the Lord’s prayer by using the word cards.
– Play the memory game using two sets of cards. Put the cards face-down. Each player turns two cards face-up. When the cards match, the player keeps them and takes another turn. The winner is
the person with the most pairs.
– Lay the cards, face-up. Who can put them in the correct order?
– Lay the cards, face-up. Cover them with a cloth. Remove one card. Take the cloth away. Which one is missing?