Power of Prayer

The focus of this family time is to use five easy steps to teach your family that As part of His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches His followers how to pray by giving them a model to follow—what we often call “The Lord’s Prayer.”

MEMORY VERSE: 

God listens to me and hears my prayers. I can praise Him.  Psalm 66:19–20

Learn the Memory Verse together and say it throughout the week to help your family remember and apply what they have learned.

STEP 1. GATHER!

Whisper a phrase from the list below into a child’s ear and encourage the kids to pass the phrase around the circle by whispering it until the phrase has reached the end. Encourage the last child to say it aloud. Play several rounds, starting with a different child each time. As you present choices, indicate which side of the room represents each option. To crank up the fun, you can call out specific ways kids can move to their preferred side of the room: crab walk, hop, slide, slither, dance, skip, gallop, tiptoe, side step. 

• Here are some things you can whisper in the child’s ear: 
• “I can talk to God any time.” 
• “God always hears my prayers.” 
• “Jesus teaches us how to pray.” 
• “Prayer is talking to God.” 

STEP 2. READ THE BIBLE AND WORSHIP

STEP 3. DISCUSSION !

Use these questions and points to have a conversation with your children about the Bible story.

REVIEW THE BIBLE STORY  

• Was it hard to hear the statements we whispered to each other?
• In God’s big story, what did people do to make themselves look better? (pray loudly in front of others) 
• Do you think it’s hard for God to hear us if we are whispering or praying silently in our heads? Why or why not? 
• What is something you think Jesus wants us to pray about? 
• What have you prayed for? 
• When do you pray? 
• Why do you think it’s important to pray? 

Sometimes it’s hard for us to listen and hear, like we may have experienced in this activity, but God always hears us! That’s why Jesus teaches us to pray to God. We can always talk to Him, and He is always listening! Whether we whisper our prayers or shout them, God hears all of them.

Mission Moment

John Newton

(1725-1807)

Have you ever been on a boat? Have you ever been on a boat when there have been big waves and lots of wind and ran? It can be quite scary.

John Newton was a saylor. He was used to being on boats - even with big waves. His boats carried people from Africa to America, but not for holidays. The people on his boats were sold for money so they belonged to other people. That was a very bad thing to do! Jonn Newton's job was bad and John was bad too. He said bad words and did bad things - and he did not want to be Jesus' friend ...

But then ... one day ... his boat was on the sea with bigger waves than he had ever seen. The boat was breaking up. The boat was sinking.

John was scared. He asked Jesus to help him. The storm stopped. John said sorry for all the bad things he had done. Jesus forgave him! He became Jesus friend.

John changed his job. He started telling other people about how they could be Jesus friends too. He told people how cruel it was to sell people for money. He gave talks and wrote books. More and more people heard his amazing story, if he could be Jesus" friend anyone can.

STEP 5. Pray!