Teach us

to pray
A series of five lessons on prayer

T
Text: Paul Reid
Illustrated by: Didi Hegnauer
Colour by: Tim Shirey
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 Teach us to pray

Table of contents

Lesson Page

Introduction 3

Overview 5

Lesson 1 It’s a thrill to be able to talk to God 7

Lesson 2 Prayer - the Christian’s spiritual oxygen 15
Lesson 3 My prayers bring joy to God 23
Lesson 4 Other people need my prayers 31
Lesson 5 Let’s learn to pray better 39

A Christian needs to pray (carry-over activity - lesson 2) 47

Summary of steps for counselling the child who wants to come to Christ 48

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 Teach us to pray

Introduction

The aim of the series is to teach the children the privilege and importance of prayer. Of course we don’t
want this just to be an intellectual knowledge; we really want them to learn to pray to God. Here are some
ways in which you, the teacher, can help your pupils to learn to pray:
1 By explaining the principles of prayer, based on examples from the Bible.
2 By using illustrations from your own life. The children love to hear these examples. Each teacher can
draw from his own experiences of how God taught him to pray and answered his prayers.
3 By giving illustrations of children who prayed to God. These up-to-date examples will help them to
apply the principles of prayer, and the models of prayer in the Bible, to their own lives.
4 By helping the children to take part in prayer in the class, under your guidance and encouragement.
Encourage the saved children to pray with you in the class, for specific topics, as you teach them.
Before each lesson think of children who could take part (however briefly) in the class. You might also
ask them to write their prayer on a slip of paper, if you think it would help them to be less nervous
when it comes their turn to pray.
5 By encouraging the children to pray to God on their own, in their homes or wherever they are. Until
they really pray to God on their own, they have not truly learned to pray. Or to put it another way,
if as a result of these lessons the children are not praying to God, then the learning/teaching process
has been ineffective or incomplete! You could ask children if they have prayed that day, commending
them if they have, and if not, encouraging them to do so, suggesting practical helps and ideas. (Be
careful to comply with child protection guidelines of your country.)
6 In the last lesson we have taught a little about the importance of corporate prayer. If you have children
from Christian backgrounds, you can encourage them to take part in prayer in Sunday school and
even in their church prayer meetings, as well as in their family devotional time and with you in the
Good News Club®. You might even like to form a Prayer Band for the saved children of your class -
they could meet for about 15 minutes before the regular class, or at some other time. You could help
them by suggesting various topics for prayer, telling them how God is answering their prayers, etc.
Remember above all, that your aim is not only to talk about prayer, but to help the children to pray! Your
example will be so important too, as the children see how much prayer means to you! Ask God to make
your teaching and your example such a blessing that the lives of the children will be changed!
The flashcard series “A Quiet Time” could be used for 6 to 7 weeks (5-10 minutes each class) before the
prayer time of the Club, as a follow-up to the present series.
Keep the unsaved children in mind too!
This series of lessons is not primarily evangelistic, though the Gospel has been included in various places.
You can stress the need for salvation in other parts of the programme - for example in the songs, or in
a short object lesson that you could include, or in a missionary story. It is important that the unsaved
children know that you are available to help them if they have spiritual problems, and especially if they
want to receive Christ as their Saviour. At any time during the hour’s programme, or during the lesson
itself, as the Holy Spirit guides you, you could say something like:

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 Teach us to pray

“If you have not yet asked Christ to be your Saviour, and you are concerned about your sin, you need to
turn to the Lord today and receive from Him the wonderful gift of forgiveness and eternal life. You could
do that right where you are sitting, or at your bedside when you go home. However, if you would like to
talk to me about it, I would love to help you and show you how you can become God’s child today. After
the others have left, come up to the front row. I’ll sit down and explain to you more about how you can
become a true Christian.”
With regard to prayer, the over-all teaching for the unsaved child is: God promises to answer the prayers of
His children, but He also delights to answer the prayer of the boy or girl who turns to Him in repentance
and faith. Psalm 117:1, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!” The psalmist, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls on all creation to praise God. All men and women, boys and girls,
owe Him a debt of praise and gratitude as the Creator and Giver of every good gift. It therefore seems
correct to teach all children (whether saved or unsaved, preschoolers or older ones) to give thanks to God
the Creator, for His goodness and blessings, His love and care. Nevertheless the joy of communicating
with God as our Heavenly Father is restricted to those who have been born into His family, through faith
in the Lord Jesus (John 1:12-13).
Therefore it probably would be wiser for the teacher not to ask for volunteers during the prayer time. It
would be better for him to invite children whom he knows are Christians, to lead in prayer.
If however, unsaved children offer spontaneously to pray, we could allow them to do so, assigning to them
topics like thanking God for His love in giving us loving parents, good homes, food and clothing, health,
and friends. But it would be inappropriate for these unsaved children to give thanks, for example, for
Christ dying on the cross for them, or for them to pray for the conversion of other children.
The central truth of each lesson
A “central truth” has been brought out in each lesson. You, the teacher, should keep this in mind as you
give the lesson; don’t be content simply to tell Bible stories! In the outline of each lesson you will find the
“central truth” stated (though the Holy Spirit may lead you to bring out some other main teaching from
the Bible passages.)
Under the title “progression of events” and in the lesson itself the following abbreviations are used: “CTS”
means the central truth applied to saved children; “CTU” means the central truth applied to unsaved
children.

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 Teach us to pray

Overview

Central
Lesson Application Memory verse
truth
It’s a thrill to be It is a joy and Unsaved: You really cannot enjoy this “... For my soul trusts in You; and in
able to talk to God privilege to talk to privilege until you know the shadow of Your wings I will make
God Christ as your Saviour my refuge ...”
Psalm 57:1
1 Samuel 22:1-5 Saved: Talk to God about Psalm 57:1
1 Samuel 23:14 everything!
- 24:22

Prayer - the The Christian Saved: You should pray to God often Repeat Psalm 57:1
Christian’s spiritual needs to pray in order to live the way God
oxygen wants you to
2 Kings 18 - 19

My prayers bring God so loves to Unsaved: Little is given in this lesson “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth
joy to God hear my prayers - in other parts of the shall show forth Your praise”
programme (eg in suitable
Matthew 21:10-17 Psalm 51:15
choruses) you can teach
Luke 17:11-18
Gospel truths
Psalm 40:5
Revelation 5:11-14 Saved: Praise and thank God, and so
bring joy to Him!
Other people need God tells me to Saved: Pray for family, teachers, “... Far be it from me that I should sin
my prayers pray for others missionaries, rulers, sick against the Lord in ceasing to pray for
people and friends you ...”
Genesis 18
1 Samuel 12:23

Let’s learn to pray Learn to pray in a Unsaved: This teaching is almost Review the previous verses
better better way exclusively for Christian
children - an evangelistic
Daniel 9:1-4,16-19 emphasis could be given in
Jeremiah 29:10-14 other parts of the programme
Mark 9:14-27 Saved: Follow the guidelines about
praying which God gives us
in the Bible

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Teach us to pray

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Lesson 1
It’s a thrill to be able to talk to God

Scripture for teachers  Wordstrips: “It is a joy and privilege to talk to

Psalm 57:1 God” (central truth)
1 Samuel 22:1-5 Lesson outline
1 Samuel 23:14 - 24:22
This reading is quite long but it is a thrilling account Introduction
of God’s care for David. It will be a blessing to you Jason pushed his bike into the garage ... CTS
and to the children, as you explain the lesson to
them. Progression of events
Central truth 1 David as a boy composes his prayer-songs to
It is a joy and privilege to talk to God God CTS
Application 2 Illustration: Sue prays to God in moments
Unsaved: You really cannot enjoy this privilege until of happiness CTU
you know Christ as your Saviour
3 David overcomes the giant
Saved: Talk to God about everything!
4 David escapes from Saul
Note for the teacher
5 Testimony from saved child/helper/teacher
As you tell the incidents from the life of David,
of prayer to God in difficult moments
don’t become too involved in the details, or the
lesson could become too long. Keep the central 6 David’s prayer to God in difficult moments
truth constantly in mind. 7 David in cave pursued by Saul
Preparation for participation by the 8 Examination of last verses of Psalm 57
children
At one point in the lesson, we have suggested that 9 Illustration: Paul’s birthday party, and
a child in your club (we have called her “Suzanne” subsequent questions CTU
in the notes) give a short testimony of an occasion
Climax
when God answered a prayer. Choose a suitable
older saved child, or a helper in your class. Talk to What a joy to be able to talk to God
her (or him) a day or two before the club and help
her to prepare the little testimony. Conclusion

There are also places where some children can read Two or three children participate in prayer
verses. Choose suitable children and let them know
beforehand if possible so that they can bring their
Bible to club and be prepared to read.
Memory verse
“... For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of
Your wings I will make my refuge ...” Psalm 57:1
Visual aids
 Flashcards: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, 1-4, 1-5, 1-6, 1-7 and
1-8

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 Teach us to pray

Lesson
Flashcard 1-1
Jason pushed his bike into the garage, and carried his running shoes
and sports kit into the house. He was just bursting to tell his mum
and dad all about the 200-metre race at school. He did not quite
know how to start, because he felt a little mixed up inside - he was so
pleased and happy, but a little disappointed too as he had not done
quite so well as he had hoped. He knew that they would understand
exactly how he felt.
He ran into the room and shouted, “Guess what!”
“Well, how did you do?” asked his mum and dad, smiling.
Jason quickly pulled the bronze medal from his pocket, saying, “I
came third!”
He told them about the race and how he had run as fast as he could,
but Jim and Peter had just got to the finishing line before him. It was
great to tell them every detail and when they hugged him and told
him that they were very proud of him, he was so happy.
CTS You know, it is wonderful to have somebody like your parents or a
good friend to whom you can talk - someone who will listen to you and
understand how you feel. But it is just as good (in fact it is far better)
Show card with central to be able to talk to God about anything. A real Christian can always
truth: “It is a joy and
talk to God and be really happy inside knowing that God always has
privilege to talk to God”.
time for him, always loves him and understands exactly how he feels.
Do you know those little cartoons that say, “Happiness is ... a warm
hug” or “Happiness is ... having a good friend”? We will make up a
better one - “Happiness is ... being able to talk to God in prayer.” That’s
true, isn’t it? Yes, it certainly is!

Flashcard 1-2
Many years ago, in fact over a thousand years before the Lord Jesus
was born, lived a young man called David. He talked a lot to God in
prayer. This story about David is from the Bible, and so of course it
is true.
David was very good at playing the harp. He had learned to play while
he was a boy watching his father’s sheep out on the hills. He was even
asked to play for King Saul. In the Bible we have many songs or psalms
that he made up, to sing and accompany himself on the harp. In fact
they are mainly prayers to God, because David loved God. He enjoyed
so much being able to speak to Him and tell Him all that was in his
heart and mind. Sometimes he was very, very happy and his heart was
just bubbling over with happy things to tell God. At other times he
had real problems, for example he had enemies who made fun of him
and tried to harm him. He told God about his problems too, in fact
he sang them to God, and he felt so much better afterwards.

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 Teach us to pray

Are there moments when you feel especially happy to have the Lord CTS
as your Saviour and friend? Isn’t it wonderful just to be able to talk to
Him about everything, like David did away back in Bible times?

Flashcard 1-3
Sue was a nine-year old girl who attended Good News Club®. Sue had
enjoyed the club so much that Friday afternoon. She had been thrilled
to hear the Bible story and to sing some of the songs that they all liked
so much. Sue had put her trust in the Lord Jesus as her Saviour the
previous year and she was so happy to be a true Christian.
After club she skipped home and went to her bedroom. Her mum and
dad did not go to church. They did not know or love the Lord, so Sue
could not talk too much with them about the wonderful things she
was learning from the Bible. So by her bedside she knelt down and
poured out all her joys to God in prayer.
If you have Jesus as your Saviour you can do this too - you can tell God CTU
all that is in your heart. But maybe there are some boys and girls in
this class who have not received Christ as their Saviour. Your sins have
not been forgiven and God is not your Heavenly Father. You know,
you need to turn from your sins, the laziness and the selfishness, the
bad temper and other ugly things that separate you from God. You
need to ask Jesus to be your Saviour and to come into your life, like
Sue did. Will you do that today? Take Jesus to be your Saviour this
very day and start living to please Him.

Flashcard 1-4
But let’s go back to the story of David. While he was still quite young,
God chose David in a wonderful way to become king of Israel, after
the evil King Saul who was reigning at that time. Later David became
a brave warrior too. I am sure you know the great story of how God
helped him to kill the giant Goliath. He was young and his only 1 Samuel 17:1 - 18:9.
weapon was a sling and a stone. But he had learned to trust God, and
God gave him the victory.
Everyone began to praise him as a wonderful fighter and said that he
was even better than the wicked King Saul. Of course that made Saul
very angry and from that moment he made up his mind to kill David.
David had to run for his life. And do you know something? It seems
that from then on he wrote many more songs or psalms to God. He
had so many problems, and he felt afraid and sad sometimes. So he
talked to God many, many times. Nearly every time by the end of the
prayer, he was feeling much happier, remembering that God knew all
about his troubles, and that God was in control of everything.

Flashcard 1-5
Yes, Saul was really determined to kill David, and he had to hide in
desert places and in the mountains far from the king’s palace. It wasn’t

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 Teach us to pray

that David was a coward, but God did not want him to fight in order
to become king. God had promised he would be king in good time.
Thousands of years ago King David talked to God about his great
difficulties. Today many people still face difficulties and problems
You might like to help about which they would need to pray to God. I have asked Suzanne
“Suzanne” by having her
here if she would tell you of a time when she talked to God in prayer
give her testimony about
prayer in the form of a about something that had happened in her life, and about how God
short interview, answering answered.
some questions like
these: But let’s get back to our exciting story from God’s Word. How did
David feel during the years of hiding and being hunted like a rabbit?
“Suzanne, was it a happy
or sad occasion that you Wouldn’t it be interesting to be able to see right into his mind at that
are going to tell us about? time? Well, the thrilling thing is that we do know what he was thinking,
OK, will you tell us about because he wrote down some of his prayers that he later sang to God.
it please? He taught his family and his friends the words of his songs, and they
How did you feel before learned to sing them too. Many people still sing these lovely psalms
you prayed? or prayers to God when they go to church on Sundays.
Did you feel the same Let’s hear the words from the beginning of one of these prayers.
after you had prayed?
Before the class, have two or three older children look up Psalm 57 and prepare to read
Isn’t it wonderful to be the first two verses.
able to talk to God about
things like that?” John, will you read the first verse and, Mary, you read the second verse
of Psalm 57. We will all think about what David is saying to God as
he starts to pray.
The two children read the verses.

“Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in

You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until
these calamities have passed by. I will cry out to God Most High, to
God who performs all things for me.”
Aren’t those lovely verses? What is David saying to God?
Let the children answer.

Yes, he is asking God to be merciful to him and to help him, just like
a mother hen protects a little chicken under her wings when there is
trouble. Isn’t it great that God is so powerful and so loving. He wants
to care for you.
Do you know when this prayer was written? If you look at the top of
Perhaps a child or your Psalm 57 it says these words in some of our Bibles, “... of David when
helper could read these
he fled from Saul into the cave.”
words too. The more the
children participate in the
lesson, the better they will Flashcard 1-6
remember.
Let me explain to you some more about what happened. Several times
David had to hide from Saul. On one occasion he and his band of men
were hiding in a very big cave when Saul was nearby hunting for him
with his army. In fact Saul went right into the cave for a rest. David
and his men backed away into the darkness and pressed up against

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 Teach us to pray

the walls of the cave. Saul did not even know that they were there and
David could easily have jumped out and killed him.
Indeed, David’s soldiers said to him, “Now is your chance. God has
brought him here so that you can kill him.”
But David answered that he would never take the life of the king. That
would be sinning against God. David let Saul escape, and did not harm
him. I am sure that in his heart he was thanking God that he himself
and his men had not been killed or captured.
Let’s look again at the prayer that David wrote one day in one of those
caves. You remember that at the beginning he was asking God to protect
him. And God answered his prayers many, many times. What does
David say to God as he comes to the end of his prayer?
Let two children read verses seven and nine.

“My heart is steadfast [fixed], O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing

and give praise ... I will praise You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will
sing to You among the nations.”
How did David feel at the end of his prayer?
Let the children answer.

Yes, talking to God certainly did help him, didn’t it?

Flashcard 1-7
We all have difficult times, even Christians who love the Lord Jesus.
Let’s think of an example that just might happen to you. Let’s imagine
that it is Paul’s birthday. He’s one of your best friends at school, but
for some reason that you don’t understand, you are not invited to the
party. It hurts to watch the other boys going into Paul’s house just
down the street, and to feel so left out! What do you do?
Let the children think and answer.

Yes, the very wisest thing - you close your eyes and talk to the Lord in
prayer. Now boys and girls, you help me imagine the words that you
would pray to God in a situation like that.
Ask the children to raise their hands and suggest what might have been said in prayer.
The Christian child might tell God of his sadness; thank God that He loves him and
understands how he feels; and he might ask God to help him to still be a good friend to
Paul. You may need to help them a little, as they think over this situation.
Then ask one or two more questions like these:

1 How do you think you would feel after praying? (Probably a good
deal happier, knowing that God understood your sadness.)
2 Do you think Paul would invite you to the party after all?
(Probably not. God does not always change the circumstances.
More frequently He changes our reaction to them - how we feel
about them.)

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 Teach us to pray

3 How do you think you would behave towards Paul the next day?
(You could ask God to help you to be kind and forgiving.)

Flashcard 1-8
CTU What a joy it is to be able to talk to God about happy things and sad
Show card with central things too. This is a special privilege for God’s children. If you still do
truth.
not belong to God’s family, because you have not turned from your
sins and have not trusted in Jesus as your Saviour, then this privilege is
not yours. But if you are concerned about your sins, this very afternoon
you could come to Christ and ask Him to be your Saviour. He loves
you, He died for you and He wants to forgive you and give you new
life. Come to Him today!
We are going to finish our lesson today by letting two or three of you
talk to God in prayer. It would be sad to have a whole lesson on prayer,
and then not to pray, wouldn’t it?
Help the children to suggest things that they would like to talk to God about, and gently
encourage some to take part aloud. Make sure that each child who is to take part, knows
when it is his turn, and then he remembers clearly what he is going to tell God.
Review questions
1 Why was Jason very happy but a little disappointed too? (He had
won a bronze medal in the race, but was disappointed not to have
come first.)
2 In what way was Jason’s conversation with his parents a picture of
prayer between a Christian and God? (A Christian can tell God all
that is in his heart; God understands completely; God can comfort
us where we have failed; etc.)
3 What did Sue want to tell God in her prayer after the Good News
Club? (She told Him all about the wonderful things she was
learning from the Bible.)
4 We read a part of a psalm today in which King David was praying
to God. Which one was it? (Psalm 57.)
5 What did he pray at the beginning of the psalm? (“... For my soul
trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my
refuge ...” Psalm 57:1.)
6 What did he pray at the end of the psalm? (“I will praise You, O
Lord, among the peoples; I will sing to You among the nations.”
Verse does not need to be quoted exactly.)
7 When did David pray these words to God? (When he fled from
Saul and was hiding in a cave.)
8 We imagined in our lesson that you had not been invited to a
birthday party and that you prayed to God about it. For what
could you thank God, even though you would feel left out? (For
example, that He loves you and understands how you feel.)

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 Teach us to pray

9 What could you ask Him for in this hard situation? (For example,
for you to keep on being a good friend to Paul; for God to comfort
you.)
10 Think of two other difficult moments when a Christian boy or
girl can pray to God. (Answers will vary.)

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Lesson 2
Prayer - the Christian’s spiritual oxygen

Scripture for teachers Lesson outline

2 Kings 18 - 19 Introduction
You will not need to explain all the events of The diver on the ocean floor CT
these two chapters to the children, but you need
to be familiar with the story and the historical Progression of events
background.
1 The Assyrians conquer surrounding
Central truth countries
The Christian needs to pray
2 Even Samaria falls CTU
Application
Saved: You should pray to God often in order 3 The Assyrians march against Jerusalem
to live the way God wants you to 4 King Hezekiah’s urgent need is to pray to
Preparation for participation by the God and to trust in Him in this emergency
children 5 Illustration: situations in which Christian
At the end of the lesson it is suggested that the children would need to pray to God
children use a piece of paper to draw (or explain - Temptation to steal money CTS
in words) three situations when they would need - Threatened by a bully in the street CTS
to pray to God. You could photocopy the outline - Facing a difficult subject at school CTS
on page 47. - Confessing sin to God CTS
The children could do this work at home or right 6 Hezekiah receives the threatening letter from
there in the class (if there is time and space) and in Sennacherib
this case you will have to provide pencils, colours,
7 He prays to God for deliverance CTS
etc.
8 God answers through Isaiah that He will save
Memory verse
His people
Repeat Psalm 57:1
Visual aids Climax
 Flashcards: 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7 and He sends His angel to destroy 185,000 Assyrians
2-8
 Wordstrips: “The Christian needs to pray” Conclusion
(central truth) and “You should pray to God Hezekiah and Jerusalem saved CTS
often in order to live the way God wants you to”
(application for the saved child)

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 Teach us to pray

Lesson
Flashcard 2-1
Have you ever seen a film of a diver going down into the depths of the
sea to look for ships that were wrecked years previously, or maybe to
search for treasure? It is an exciting world down there at the bottom of
the ocean, isn’t it? But it is also a dangerous place to be. It is difficult
to live and work in that watery, blue-green world that is so different
to the world we are used to in the sun and air and warmth up above.
There is one thing tht keeps the diver alive and able to do his work.
Do you know what it is? Yes, it is the oxygen that he takes down in the
aqualung that he carries on his back, or that comes to him through a
long tube from the ship up on the surface of the sea. He breathes the
oxygen to keep himself alive. But if he were not able to breathe it in,
he would very quickly die there on the ocean floor.
CT Do you know, children, that prayer for us as Christians is like oxygen
for the diver. We live in a world where it is difficult to do what is right
and to please the Lord. We are surrounded by sinful things that would
quickly drown us spiritually. That is why it is so important that we
pray continually to God and trust in Him. Prayer is like our spiritual
oxygen that we breathe in.
Last week I taught you how wonderful it is to be able to speak to God
in prayer. But I don’t want you to think that prayer is simply something
pleasant that we can do sometimes, like eating ice-cream. It is much,
Show card with central much more important than that. It is so important that if you don’t
truth: “The Christian
pray, it is really impossible to live the way God wants you to, and to
needs to pray”.
grow into a strong Christian and to work for Him.

Flashcard 2-2
Today we’re going to think about a man in the Bible, God’s Holy
Word. This man realised that the only way out of a terribly dangerous
situation was by prayer to God. His name was Hezekiah and he was
the king of Judah, who lived about 700 years before the Lord Jesus
came to Earth to live. He was a good king who loved God and tried
to guide his people in following God’s laws (2 Kings 18:6).

Flashcard 2-3
But the people of Judah had a cruel and powerful enemy - the army of
the Assyrians. This great army fought against the other countries one by
one and defeated them. At last they reached the city of Samaria, which
was right next to Judah. The people of Samaria had heard God’s Word
many, many times as it was taught by God’s prophets and messengers.
But they had not heeded the many warnings that God had given them,
to turn from their sinful ways and trust in Him. And now God allowed
the Assyrians to conquer the city and to carry the people away as slaves
into a foreign land.

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 Teach us to pray

Boys and girls, you must be very careful to heed what God says to you CTU
through His Word. Here in this very class, I have often told you how
God wants to save you from your sin. He even sent His own dear Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to be punished for your sin. But I am afraid
that some of you have not listened to God’s Word which tells you to
turn from your sin and trust Jesus as your own Saviour. If you don’t
turn away from your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus, God will have to
punish you one day for your disobedience to His voice. Turn to Him
this very afternoon and receive the wonderful gift of salvation that He
offers to you.

Flashcard 2-2 (again)

Maybe Hezekiah had thought that the Assyrian army would never
conquer Samaria. But God allowed them to do so.
“Now, whom will the Assyrians attack?” Hezekiah wondered.
Well, do you know what happened? This terrible army turned south to
attack the land of Judah where Hezekiah was king. I am sure that the
people of Judah were very, very frightened. King Hezekiah sent much
gold and silver to Sennacherib the king of the Assyrians to keep him
from attacking. But on and on came the mighty army.
If you had been able to go up close to King Hezekiah and whisper
some good advice into his ear, what would you have told him to do?
Let me make some suggestions and you tell me which is the most
important:
1 “Organise your army really well and train the troops.”
2 “Give all your soldiers good spears and shields.”
3 “Make the walls and towers round your cities bigger and
thicker.”
4 “Tell God all about your terrible trouble and trust Him to guide
you and help you.”
Yes, that advice to pray to God and trust in Him was the most important
action that Hezekiah could take. He did the other things as well, but
to pray and trust in God was by far the most important. Do you think
he realised that?

Flashcard 2-4
That’s the lesson that you and I have to learn too in many difficult CTS
moments in our lives. Show card with
application for the saved
For example, what would you do if one day Satan put a terrible child: “You should pray to
thought like this into your mind? “Look, you want to play with the God often in order to live
the way God wants you
video machines, don’t you? Well, go and sneak a couple of euros from
to”.
your mother’s purse. She’ll never know and you can have lots of fun
playing down in the video arcade.” Yes, you would need to pray very
quickly, “O Lord, help me. I can’t overcome this temptation without

17
 Teach us to pray

Your help!” And make up your mind that by the Lord’s help you won’t
steal that money. He will help you!
Or maybe in your street there is a bully who frightens you. You could
pray, “O Lord, thank You that You are with me and that I can trust in
You.” Or you could pray the words of King David that we learned in
our memory verse. Let’s say it again together.
Say the memory verse together.

God can take away your fear and give you peace in your heart.

Flashcard 2-5
Or maybe there is some subject at school that you find difficult. You
need to pray about that too, don’t you?
Or suppose that one day you lost your temper and said bad words.
How much you need to pray to God to forgive you, asking Him
too to help you not to get further from His side and not to do other
wrong things.
As God’s children we need to pray a lot each day don’t we? That’s the
Show card with way to keep close to the Lord and live lives that please Him.
application for the saved
child. If you think it appropriate, this would be a good moment to let children tell of experiences
of their own when they have prayed to God in difficult moments. Or you could encourage
them to think of situations where they could pray to God for help.

Boys and girls, you’ll notice a wonderful thing - as you take these
problems and difficult situations to the Lord in prayer, He’ll bring peace
into your heart and He’ll take away the storm of worry and fear.
But let’s get back to King Hezekiah again. Forward came the terrible
and powerful army of the Assyrians, right up to the walls of Jerusalem,
the capital. King Sennacherib, their wicked leader, sent three messengers
to call for the surrender of the people of Judah. They stood near the
city and roared out their insulting words. They wanted not only King
Hezekiah’s messengers to hear the threats, but also all the people of
Jerusalem who were listening from their positions up on the broad
walls that protected the city.

Flashcard 2-6
Sennacherib’s men shouted, “Don’t trust Hezekiah your king. He can’t
possibly save you. And you need not trust in God either! He can’t save
you! Did the gods of other kingdoms that we have conquered, save
them? Of course not!” (From 2 Kings 18:29,33.)
He even compared the true God of Heaven to the false idols of the
heathen people! The people of Jerusalem trembled at those wicked
threats and insults against them and even against God Himself.
Sennacherib also wrote down all these threatening messages in a letter
which he sent to King Hezekiah. What do you think Hezekiah did
when he received it? Let’s look at what the Bible tells us. Sharon (or

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 Teach us to pray

my helper) is going to read it to us. I want you to listen very carefully

and tell me four things that King Hezekiah did when he received the
letter, and then I want you to think, which of the four things he did
was the most important?
Sharon reads 2 Kings 19:14-15a.

“And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and
read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it
before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord.”
Now let’s think, what were the four things?
Let the children help find them. It may be necessary to read the verses again.

Yes, he read the letter, he went up into the House of the Lord, he spread
it out before the Lord and he prayed.
Flashcard 2-7
And which is the most important? Yes, he prayed. I want to read to
you a little of his lovely prayer.
Read as much of this wonderful prayer (2 Kings 19:15-19) as your pupils will be able
to listen to with attention. You may want to shorten it according to their attention span.
But trust the Lord that the children will capture something of God’s great power and
Hezekiah’s trust in Him.

Do you think that God heard the prayer of Hezekiah, His child?
Yes, of course, just as He will hear yours, no matter what it is, and in CTS
any problem situation. I am sure that right away Hezekiah felt that
wonderful peace in his heart. He too was making his refuge in the
shadow of God’s mighty wings! God not only heard his prayer, but
He answered.
First of all He spoke to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah and
told him that the Assyrians would not conquer Jerusalem (2 Kings
19:20,32-34). They would not even shoot an arrow into the city, nor
hurl a spear against its walls! But how could God save His people from
this powerful and cruel army?

Flashcard 2-8
Well, that same night God sent His angel into the camp of the Assyrians
to destroy them, and in the hours of darkness 185,000 men. When
the remainder got up in the morning, there were thousands of dead
bodies all around them. They could not possibly attack Jerusalem now!
So they turned back to their own country and Hezekiah, his people
and the city of Jerusalem were saved! They could not have beaten
Sennacherib’s army, but God did it, when they prayed to Him and
trusted in His power. Hezekiah and his soldiers did not even have to
put on their armour!
There are many moments each day when, as a Christian boy or girl, CTS
you need to pray to God. You need to ask Him to help you with the
particular problem you face at that time. It may be opposition such

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 Teach us to pray

as Hezekiah faced, or it may be the danger of falling into sin. Or you

may need to ask God for His forgiveness if you have done something
that is wrong.
Review questions
1 A diver has a very dangerous job working under water. What keeps
him alive? (Oxygen.)
2 In what ways is a Christin living in this sinful world like a diver?
(We are surrounded by sinful things that would quickly drown
us spiritually - prayer is like our spiritual oxygen that we breathe
in.)
3 What was the king called whom we studied today? (King
Hezekiah.)
4 Who was the powerful enemy of King Hezekiah and his people?
(Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, and his army.)
5 Why did God allow the Assyrian army to capture the city of
Samaria? (The people of Samaria had not heeded the many
warnings God had given them to turn from their sinful ways and
trust in Him.)
6 When the army got close to Jerusalem, what did the leaders do
to frighten the people of the city? (King Sennacherib sent three
messengers who stood near the city and shouted for the surrender
of the city.)
7 What were the four things that Hezekiah did with the threatening
letter that he received? (He read the letter, he went up into the
House of the Lord, he spread it out before the Lord and he
prayed.)
8 Think of three difficult situations when you could “spread your
problem out before the Lord in prayer”, like King Hezekiah did.
(Answers will vary. Examples in the text include the temptation
to steal money; being threatened by a bully in the street; facing a
difficult subject at school; confessing sin to God.)
Carry-over activity
A Christian needs to pray
You may wish to I am going to give you each a pencil, some colouring pencils and a
photocopy the template
piece of paper, divide into three parts.
on page 47.
I want the younger ones to draw three pictures of times when you
need to pray to God - maybe at school when you are struggling with a
difficult problem; or maybe in your own home when the devil tempts
you to tell a lie; or maybe playing in the street when you want to ask
God to protect you from some danger; or maybe even in the Good
News Club as you ask God to help you to listen to His Word. Think of
places where you need to pray for God’s help, as King Hezekiah did.

20
 Teach us to pray

The older ones can draw a picture or describe three situations in a

paragraph or two. Put a title over the top, “A Christian needs to pray”
and at the bottom “at home”, “at school”, “in the street”, “in Good
News Club” or whatever you choose.
Remember that if you are still not a Christian, a child of God, the Lord
only promises to answer the prayers of His children. But of course you
can draw the pictures. We are praying that very soon you too will be
a true Christian.

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Teach us to pray

22
Lesson 3
My prayers bring joy to God

Scripture for teachers  Wordstrips: “God so loves to hear my prayers”

Matthew 21:10-17 (central truth) and “Praise and thank God, and
Luke 17:11-18 so bring joy to Him!” (application for the saved
Psalm 40:5 child)
Revelation 5:11-14 Lesson outline
Central truth
Introduction
God so loves to hear my prayers
The mother sheep and her lamb CTS
Application
Unsaved: Little is given in this lesson - in other Progression of events
parts of the programme (eg in suitable 1 Christ cleanses the temple
choruses) you can teach Gospel truths 2 The children acclaim Him as the “Son of
Saved: Praise and thank God, and so bring joy David”
to Him! 3 Their praise is accepted with joy by Christ
Note for the teacher CTS
If you have a copy of “Handel’s Messiah”, prepare to 4 Explanation of praise 
play the chorus “Worthy the Lamb” where indicated 5 Christ heals the ten lepers
in the text (or a good recording of the chorus “Thou 6 One returns to give thanks
art worthy”). This is not indispensible, but will be
7 Christ’s feelings of joy mingled with
a thrilling experience for the children if you can
sorrow 
introduce a short excerpt of this magnificent chorus
in your lesson. 8 Discussion
- Things that we can see for which to give
This lesson is complementary to lesson 1, where
thanks CTS 
you taught that prayer brings joy and peace to the
Christian. Here you want to teach that our prayer - Things that we cannot see for which to give
can bring joy to God, especially as we praise Him thanks CTS 
and thank Him. - The difference between “praise” and
“thanksgiving” CTS 
Preparation for participation by the
children 9 The importance of praying to the Lord each
At various points in the lesson (marked with  in morning and evening CTS
the outline) questions are suggested for the children 10 Scene of adoration in Heaven (Revelation 5)
to think about and give their answers. Be sure to 11 The chorus of “Worthy the Lamb” (from
include these or other questions to involve the “Messiah” by Handel) CTS
children more in the learning process.
Climax
Memory verse
If you know Jesus as your Saviour, praise Him
“O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show
every day
forth Your praise” Psalm 51:15
Visual aids Conclusion
 Flashcards: 1-8, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-7 Offer to take unchurched children with you to
and 3-8 church

23
 Teach us to pray

Lesson
One day when I was out for a walk I saw a big flock of sheep in a field.
One little lamb, however, had poked his way through a hole in the
hedge and found himself out on the road away from the other sheep.
Suddenly he felt a bit lonely and began to bleat “baa, baa” in his thin
little voice for his mum. The big mother sheep had very quickly noticed
that her baby lamb had wandered off and she began to call to him and
to search for him. In a moment she heard his bleat and right away she
ran as fast as she could towards the hole in the hedge to help the lamb
find his way back. She really seemed to be so happy to hear the little
bleat of the lamb!

Flashcard 1-8
In a way that makes me think of us as we pray to God. In our first
lesson we were thinking about how wonderful it is to be able to talk
to God - how happy it makes us! Then last week we were learning
how important and necessary it is to pray. But today I want us to learn
an even more thrilling and wonderful truth - it is that God is also so
CTS pleased when we talk to Him. Just like the mother sheep being so glad
Show card with central to hear the voice of the lamb, God, in a much more wonderful way,
truth: “God so loves to
hear my prayers”.
loves to hear the voice of His children!
In Psalm 40:5 David wrote, “Many, O Lord my God, are ... Your
Read (or have an older thoughts toward us.” That just means that God is constantly thinking
child read) the verse from
about us and waiting for us to speak to Him. You know the Lord
your Bible.
never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). He does not need to rest like we do. He is
constantly awake and His thoughts are turned toward you, just as if
He were waiting to hear you speak to Him when you wake up. As soon
as you wake in the morning, you can remember that God is already
thinking about you. At the beginning of the day you can spend a few
moments thanking Him for that, talking to Him and being close to
Him.

Flashcard 3-1
One day while He was living here on Earth, the Lord Jesus went into
the temple. Maybe He wanted to pray, or to listen to God’s Word. But
when He went in, do you know what He found? In the courtyard of the
temple there was a market taking place. There were lots of men selling
animals and doves that were used to sacrifice to God. Other people
were changing the money of travellers who came from all around.
Everyone was chattering and talking and shouting as they did their
business. No-one had remembered that they were in a building that
had been made to pray to God and to sing praises to Him and to hear
His Word. They did not think about God for one moment! The Lord
Jesus was hurt and angry. The Bible tells us that He drove all these
merchants and money changers out of the temple, shouting to them

24
 Teach us to pray

that God has said, “‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’, but Read (or have an older
child read) the verse from
you have made it a ‘den of thieves’” (Matthew 21:13).
your Bible.

Flashcard 3-2
When the noisy, chattering merchants were gone, some other needy
people came forward to meet with Jesus. Who were they? Well, they
were the blind and the lame people. With love and tenderness Jesus
healed them there. There were some children watching too and when
they saw the wonderful things that Jesus was doing they began to shout
happily, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” The “Son of David” meant
the Messiah or the Saviour Who had come to save His people! They
were so excited and pleased that Jesus had come!
But there were still some other people watching - the chief priests and
the scribes, the religious people who were supposed to explain God’s
Word and God’s thoughts to the people. Instead of being very happy
to hear the children shouting praise to the Lord Jesus, they were angry
and displeased.
They turned to Jesus and asked Him, “Do You not hear what they are
saying? Do You not hear that they are calling You the Messiah and
Saviour?”
What do you think Jesus replied?
He said, “Yes, I do hear. God has caused these little children to praise
Me.”
He was so very pleased to receive their praise. Those children had called
Him the Son of David. You can call Him other wonderful names. CTS
You can call Him “my God” and “my Saviour”. You can praise Him
because He is so great that He holds the whole world in His hands.
You can praise Him that He is so loving and so powerful, that He is
everywhere and yet so close to you.

Flashcard 3-3
Have you ever thought that only adults can pray and praise God?
There in the temple the adults had no praise to offer Him, but the
children did! Jesus not only allowed them to praise Him, He was really
pleased to hear their loving words. I don’t know if some of you go to Show card with
application for the saved
a prayer meeting in your church. Of course, you can always pray and
child: “Praise and thank
praise quietly in your heart, but don’t be afraid to pray out loud, too. God, and so bring joy to
Some older people might find it strange to hear a child praying, but Him!”.
the Lord Jesus will certainly hear you and He’ll be very glad to hear
your voice.
Do you understand now what it means to “praise the Lord Jesus”? Let’s
see who can explain it to me.
Let the children answer. Help them express what it means to tell the Lord how wonderful 
Question for the children
He is to us - that He is great and powerful, loving, all-wise, etc. to think about and answer.

25
 Teach us to pray

But let me tell you about another time when the Lord Jesus was pleased
with the words that a man said to Him.

Flashcard 3-4
One day the Lord Jesus was making a journey along the dusty roads
of Palestine with His disciples. As He came near a village He could
see a group of men who were keeping far away from Him, and were
shouting something to Him. Why did they not come a little closer?
Jesus listened to what they were shouting. These men were suffering
from a horrible disease called leprosy, so they were not allowed to come
near other people in case they caught the disease too. In those days there
was no way of curing leprosy, but somebody must have told them that
Jesus could, and that He was passing through that village.
So now they were standing and calling to Him so earnestly, “Jesus,
Master, have mercy on us!”
Jesus was full of love and power, and of course He wanted to help them.
He simply said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.”
The priests were the men who decided if a person had leprosy or not.
In other words, Jesus was saying to them, “Go to the priests and show
them that I have healed you.”
Hardly daring to believe that that could be possible, they stumbled off
on their crippled feet to see the priests in the city. As they went, they
suddenly discovered that they were healed. The leprosy was gone. Their
skin which had been diseased and marked, was clean and healthy again.
How happy they felt as they ran on shouting and laughing!

Flashcard 3-5
But one man stopped right there and turned back. Where was he going?
Back to where Jesus had met them! When he found the Lord Jesus, he
fell on his face before Him, giving Him thanks for having healed him.
How do you think Jesus felt? In part, He felt very, very happy and in
part He felt sad. I wonder could anyone of you explain why He felt
happy and sad at the same time.

Question for the children Let children make their suggestions.
to think about and answer.
Yes, He felt very happy because this man had come back to thank Him
for having healed him, but at the same time He felt sad that the nine
others had not bothered to say “thank you” to Him.

Flashcard 3-6
CTS Now, let’s think of some things that we can give thanks to the Lord for.
We can thank Him for things that we can see like food and clothes, and
we can thank Him for spiritual blessings that we can’t see like having
our sins forgiven. Can you think of three more spiritual blessings?

26
 Teach us to pray

Let children suggest things. You can help them to think of things like Jesus dying on the 
Question for the children
cross for us, giving us eternal life, always being with us, preparing a home in Heaven to think about and answer.
for us, etc.

And three other things that we can see, for which we should give
thanks?
Let the children take part again. Maybe you can help them to suggest things like our 
Question for the children
parents, our class, our friends, the Bible, etc. to think about and answer.

Now here is a really hard question. What is the difference between

“praising the Lord” and “giving thanks to the Lord”?
Pause for the children to take time to think and suggest an answer or two. 
Question for the children
to think about and answer.
Yes, when we “praise the Lord”, we praise Him for what He is - He is
powerful, He is loving, He knows everything. “Giving thanks” means
thanking Him for what He has done for us - dying on the cross for our
sins, forgiving us, taking care of us, giving us our food each day, etc.
Are both “praise” and “giving thanks” important? Yes, they are. When
we offer our praise and our thanks to the Lord, He really is pleased
and glad to hear our voices. Will you try each day to bring joy to the
Lord’s heart in this way? Every morning before you go off to school,
you can take a few minutes to kneel down by your bedside and read a
few verses of the Bible, and think about them carefully. Then you can
pray to the Lord, asking Him for His help and blessing on the day,
but also remembering to praise Him and thank Him.
Very often in the verses you read you will find out something about
God or the Lord Jesus, and as you think about that, you can praise
Him for it. Then as you go to bed at night, just before you go to sleep,
do thank Him for all His love and care. That will bring happiness to Show card with
application for the saved
His heart and to yours too!
child.

Flashcard 3-7
Now one last look for today at God’s Word. I want you to hear
something very beautiful in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. John,
the writer, was guided by God to describe what Heaven is like. God
showed him this wonderful place and right in the middle of Heaven
John saw a throne on which God the Father sat. Then some time later
he saw the Lord Jesus on the throne. John calls Him the Lamb. Do
you understand why he gives Him that name? Let me explain a little.
Before Jesus came to live on Earth, when anyone wanted to come into
God’s presence, he had to bring an animal (very often it was a lamb)
and it was killed and offered to God on an altar.
That person was really saying in this way, “I have sinned and done
wrong things. I deserve to die for disobeying your commands, O Lord,
but this lamb is dying in my place - it’s dying instead of me.” Those
animals could not really take the place of the people who sinned.
They were just a picture of the Lord Jesus Who came years later. He
was called the Lamb of God and indeed He did die for our sins on

27
 Teach us to pray

the cross. But after He had died, He rose again from the grave, and
went back to Heaven. He is now waiting there for us who love Him,
to come and join Him one day.
And in the book of Revelation John describes this wonderful scene in
Heaven. The throne of God is surrounded by thousands and thousands
of people who have been saved from their sins. They are all praying to
God and to the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God. What are they saying and
singing? Let’s listen to the words that we find in Revelation 5:13.
If you have a recording of Handel’s “Messiah” you might let the children listen to the
wonderful chorus, “Worthy the Lamb”. I’m sure it would really be a blessing, and would
help them to praise Him. (If you don’t have a recording, you could read the verses from
your Bible.)

Flashcard 3-8
CTS Isn’t that a wonderful song of praise? If you have asked the Lord Jesus to
be your Saviour, and you love Him, one day you too will be in Heaven
singing those wonderful words! But you don’t have to wait until you
get to Heaven where you will praise the Lord perfectly (much better
than we can now). God wants you to praise Him every day. You can
do so every morning as you speak to Him in prayer, and on Sundays
too He would be pleased if you made a point of going to church or
Sunday school. In church we meet together with other people who
love the Lord to pray to Him, to praise Him and to listen to His Word.
The hymns that Christians sing are very often hymns of praise to God.
If you are a true Christian, you can sing them with all your heart to
Show card with the Lord, knowing that He is listening and pleased with your praise.
application for the saved
If you don’t go to church, I’d be happy to take you with me. I would,
child.
of course, talk to your parents first about it.
Make arrangements to take unchurched children with you on Sunday to church.
Review questions
1 What did David the Psalmist tell us about God’s thoughts (Psalm
40:5)? (David wrote, “Many, O Lord my God, are ... your thoughts
toward us” - that just means that God is constantly thinking about
us and waiting for us to speak to Him.)
2 What did the children in the temple lovingly call Jesus? (The “Son
of David”.)
3 What wonderful names can we call Him? (“My God”, “my
Saviour”, etc.)
4 Can you tell me what “praise” means? (To tell the Lord how
wonderful He is to us - that He is great and powerful, loving,
all-wise, etc.)
5 How do you know that the Lord would love to hear a child praise
Him in the church prayer meeting? (When the children in the
temple praised Him, Jesus was really pleased to hear their loving
words.)

28
 Teach us to pray

6 Why was Jesus glad and sorry when one of the lepers came back
to thank Him? (He was glad because this man had come back to
thank Him for having healed him, but sorry that the nine others
had not bothered to say “thank you” to Him.)
7 Suggest five things that we can see for which to thank God.
(Answers will vary. Examples in the text include food; clothes; our
parents; our class; our friends; the Bible.)
8 Suggest three invisible spiritual blessings for which we can thank
God. (Answers will vary. Examples in the text include having our
sins forgiven; Jesus dying on the cross for us; giving us eternal life;
always being with us; preparing a home in Heaven for us.)
9 Think of two good moments of each day for praising and thanking
the Lord. (In the morning at the start of the day and in the evening
before going to bed.)
10 What does Psalm 51:15 say? (“O Lord, open my lips, and my
mouth shall show forth Your praise.”)

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Teach us to pray

30
Lesson 4
Other people need my prayers

Scripture for teachers  Wordstrips: “God tells me to pray for others”

Genesis 18 (central truth)
Central truth Lesson outline
God tells me to pray for others
Introduction
Application
Do you know what an intercontinental missile
Saved: Pray for family, teachers, missionaries,
is?
rulers, sick people and friends
The aim is to teach the saved children that they can Progression of events
serve as they intercede for others. We would also 1 Abraham a man of prayer, always building
want them to realise that to fail in our responsibility altars to God CTS
to pray is a sin against God, as the memory verse
indicates. 2 God visits Abraham and Sarah

Preparation for participation by the 3 Abraham entertains his three guests

children 4 God promises Abraham a son
At the end of the lesson, we suggest that each child
5 God reveals the possibility of the destruction
be given a page and pencil to list five groups of
of Sodom CTU
people for whom he needs to pray. The teacher
needs to have these supplies before the class, and to 6 Abraham realises that he can help by prayer
work out whether the children can use their seats or CTS, CTU
benches to lean on. Alternatively, you might need 7 Abraham prays for Sodom and Lot CT
to get some sheets of stiff cardboard.
This application is meant for saved children, but the Climax
unconverted ones can also take part. God destroys Sodom but saves Lot because of
It would be helpful too if you, the teacher, made Abraham’s prayer
the drawing of a hand and put the words on a
Conclusion
chalkboard, or on a sheet of card with felt-tip
markers, as you explain the activity to the children God wants you to pray for others - He can bless
(see the instructions at the end of the lesson). them through your prayers CTS
The smaller children can just draw the “hand”
without adding the words.
Memory verse
“... Far be it from me that I should sin against
the Lord in ceasing to pray for you ...” 1 Samuel
12:23
Visual aids
 Flashcards: 4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6, 4-7 and
4-8

31
 Teach us to pray

Lesson
Do you know what an intercontinental missile is? It is a terrible weapon
of war that can be fired in one part of the world. It goes far up into
the sky and then comes down in some other part of the world, and
explodes with tremendous power, doing terrible damage.

Flashcard 4-1
In one way prayer is like that, but instead of doing damage it does
just the opposite, it does good. You can be praying in one part of the
world, God hears your prayer up in Heaven and then the answer to
your prayer may be felt with tremendous power in some other part of
the world, maybe thousands of miles from where you are living. God
can bless there in that place because you prayed.
Yes, one of the most important kinds of prayer is praying for the
needs of other people. In the Old Testament we have the story of a
man who loved to pray. I wonder if you can guess his name. Here are
a few clues:
1 He lived about 2,000 years before Christ was born.
2 God called him to leave his home in the city and to go on a long
journey.
3 Often he did not know where God was taking him.
4 He was travelling constantly.
5 He lived most of his life in a tent.

Flashcard 4-2
Did you guess who it was? The man was called Abraham. Everywhere
that Abraham went, he built an altar of stones to God. On these altars
he would offer a lamb or some other animal to God and there he would
speak to God in prayer and draw close to Him. Abraham must have
left a long line of altars behind him because he was on the move for
many, many years. Are you a bit like Abraham? Everywhere you go
you talk to God in prayer - at home, at school, on your bike (of course
you would have to keep your eyes open as you pray on your bike!), in
CTS church, on the sports field. It really is wonderful to be able to talk to
our loving Heavenly Father in any place, knowing that He is always
by our side, ready to listen.
One day when Abraham and his wife Sarah were very old, God decided
to visit them. God wanted Abraham to be able to see Him, and so He
appeared to him in the form of a man. There were two other persons
with Him - probably they were two angels.

Flashcard 4-3
Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part
of the day when he saw these three visitors coming towards him.

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 Teach us to pray

Abraham was very kind and though he was very old, he ran to meet
them. He brought them back to his tent and got a servant to wash their
feet. Then Sarah prepared a lovely meal for their three guests - tender
meat, butter, milk and tasty cakes.
When the meal was finished God made a wonderful promise to
Abraham. He told him that Sarah would have a son. She was very, very
old and had never had any children, so she could hardly believe what
God promised. But, as God Himself said to Abraham, “Is anything Read (or have an older
child read) the verse from
too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14a). Of course not. Sarah would
your Bible.
have her son as God had promised.

Flashcard 4-4
But God had some sad news to tell Abraham also. God had been
watching the wickedness of the people in a city near to where Abraham
lived. It was called Sodom, and Abraham’s nephew Lot lived there. God
looked on Abraham as a very dear friend. He had decided to tell him
that the people of Sodom had been so wicked that He would have to
destroy them and their city. God must have felt very sad and so must
Abraham.
Sometimes we think that God is so kind and good that He could not
possibly punish sin. But the Bible teaches us very clearly that God is CTU
not only very loving and kind. He is also completely holy, just and
perfect. Sin is something very ugly and horrible to Him. God had to
punish the sin of the people of Sodom because they would not turn
from their wicked ways. Do you think that you can sin against God,
doing all kinds of wrong things like being unkind, telling lies and
cheating and do you think that God will take no notice? God can’t
just ignore your sin. But He does not want to punish you. In fact
He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus, down to this world to take the
punishment that you deserve. If you will turn from your sin and ask
Jesus to be your Saviour, God will forgive your sin. He will be so glad
to do that. He has no desire at all to punish you because He does love
you so much. But if you go on ignoring His love and continue in your
sin, God will punish you.
Why don’t you make up your mind to turn away from your sin today?
Come to Jesus and trust in Him as your own Saviour. He promises,
“the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). Read (or have an older
child read) the verse from
He promises to receive you. Before you leave the room today your sins
your Bible.
could be forgiven!
What could Abraham do to help Lot down there in Sodom where he
was in such terrible danger? It was so wonderful to be God’s friend and
to be able to have these lovely times of talking to God and listening to
Him. He was so glad that he did not have to fear God’s punishment.
But what about Lot? Abraham thought of one thing that he could do
to help. He could pray for his nephew, his wife and family.

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 Teach us to pray

Flashcard 4-5
CTS In this class there are quite a few boys and girls who are saved. You
belong to God. You are a bit like Abraham. You are friends of God.
You can talk to Him in prayer and enjoy His company. You don’t have
to worry about being punished for your sin because you know that
Jesus took your place and was punished for you. But what about your
friends? Are you concerned for them, the way Abraham was concerned
for Lot? Do you pray earnestly for them that they might come to know
Jesus? Other people need your prayers - your unsaved friends in school,
maybe even some members of your own family. Make sure that you
take time regularly to pray to God for their salvation.
CTU I would like to say to you boys and girls who are still not saved, that
I often pray for you and I was praying that even today some of you
Make yourself available might trust in Christ as your Saviour. If you would like to talk to me
for personal counselling.
about how to trust the Lord, I will be very happy to help you personally
after the class. You are always very welcome to stay behind and I would
love to help you. Come right up to my table here and I will be glad
to talk to you.

Flashcard 4-6
Abraham began to pray to God for Sodom.
He said, “If there were fifty righteous people (fifty people who want
to obey and please You) in the city, would You be willing to spare the
city for their sake?”
God said, “Yes, I will spare the city if there are fifty righteous
people.”
Then Abraham very humbly asked, “What would happen if there were
forty-five people who want to obey you?”
God replied, “I won’t destroy the city if there are forty-five.”
Abraham then said, “But if there are only forty?” and God assured him
that He would spare the city for the sake of forty.
Abraham kept on praying, “Lord, don’t be angry, but if there were
only thirty?”
Wasn’t he persistent? He was so concerned for Lot and his family.
“No,” God answered, “I will not destroy the city even if there are only
thirty righteous people in it.”
CT But Abraham still had not finished - he asked twice more! You know,
Show card with central God wants us to keep on praying for our unsaved friends who are in
truth: “God tells me to
such danger. Let’s be like Abraham who went back again and again
pray for others”.
to the Lord. He just kept on praying and praying for the people in
Sodom.
At last he asked, “If there were only ten people who wanted to do
right?”

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 Teach us to pray

God’s love was so great that He assured Abraham that He would spare
Sodom if He found only ten people in it who obeyed Him.
Abraham felt sure that there must be at least ten people in Sodom
who loved God, so he stopped praying. He felt so relieved to have
received these promises from God, and so this long conversation with
the Lord ended.

Flashcard 4-7
But do you know that God did not find ten righteous people in Sodom
and God had to destroy that wicked city. He sent fire on the city and
burnt it up completely and the people perished. It was like a great
earthquake and a volcano erupting all at the same time.
But what about Lot? Was all Abraham’s praying in vain? No it wasn’t.
God remembered Abraham’s prayers. Let’s read what it says in Genesis
19:29.
“And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, Read (or have an older
child read) the verse from
that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the your Bible.
overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.”

Flashcard 4-8
Just as Abraham was a wonderful blessing to Lot through his prayers, CTS
even though he was miles away from where Lot was living, God wants Show card with central
truth.
you to pray for other people and He can bless them through your
prayers. You can pray for unsaved people but also for Christians, that
God will help and bless them in their lives and in their work.
Review questions
1 In what way is prayer like an intercontinental missile? And in what
way is it completely different? (Both can be launched in one part
of the world and affect another part. The difference is that the
intercontinental missile does damage but prayer does good.)
2 What did Abraham leave behind him, everywhere he went?
(Altars.)
3 Why did he build altars? (On these altars he would offer a lamb
or some other animal to God and there he would speak to God
in prayer.)
4 Where was Abraham when God went to visit him? (Sitting at the
entrance to his tent.)
5 What was the promise that God made to Abraham and Sarah?
(Sarah would have a son.)
6 What was the sad news that God gave to Abraham? (He was going
to destroy the city of Sodom and all the people in the city.)
7 Why had God decided to destroy Sodom? (The people in Sodom
had been so wicked.)

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Teach us to pray

8 What do we learn about God as we think of Him destroying

Sodom? (God is holy, just and perfect and He must punish sin.)
9 What did Abraham do to help his relations in Sodom? (He prayed
for them.)
10 What was the smallest number of righteous people that Abraham
could imagine in Sodom? (Ten.)
11 Did God answer Abraham’s prayer? In what way? (Yes - He
destroyed the city but saved Lot.)
12 Which are the five groups of people that we have learned to pray
for? (Family; teachers, preachers and missionaries; rulers; weak
and sick; my friends.)
Questions to think about, but not to answer out
loud
1 Do you pray for me your teacher? Will you start today?
2 Are you praying for your unsaved friends? Are you as earnest as
Abraham?
3 Have you thought of making a little list of people that you should
pray for? It’s a good idea Why don’t you begin now?
4 Have you thought that it is a sin against God not to pray for others?
(1 Samuel 12:23.)
Carry-over activity
Praying for others
We’re going to do something together that is very simple, but very
important too. My helper is going to hand out a page of paper and a
pencil to each of you right now.
Hand out paper and pencil.

Now I want you to put your left hand down on the paper and draw
round it carefully with your fingers spread, like this big drawing on
the board (or card).
The older ones will write words beside each finger. The younger ones
don’t have to do that, but they will be able to remember what I say
too. We are going to think together of five kinds of people for whom
we need to pray.
If you hold your hand like this (fingers pointing up) your thumb is closest
to your body, isn’t it? Well the thumb reminds us to pray for the people
who live closest to us - our own family: mum and dad, our brothers
and sisters and other members of our family. Do you ask God to bless
your family? That’s the first group of people that we can pray for. Write
“family” beside the thumb.
Write each word at the appropriate moment on the board or card.

Now, the finger that we sometimes call our index finger. Who uses this

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 Teach us to pray

finger a lot, pointing and moving it like this?

Extend index finger and move it.

Yes, teachers, preachers, pastors and missionaries who teach and preach
God’s Word. You have seen me too using my finger like that here in
Good News Club, haven’t you? So this finger reminds us to pray for
teachers, preachers and missionaries. Do you sometimes pray for me,
your teacher? You could really help me by your prayers! I would really
appreciate that! What about our missionaries? I know we pray here in
class for them, but when you are on your own, do you remember to
pray for them? You could launch an intercontinental missile of blessing
thousands of miles away! Write “teachers, preachers and missionaries”
beside that finger. Put in the name of our missionary too.
Now this tallest, middle finger. Who do you think it reminds us to pray
for? The big, important people of our country. I mean the people who
govern our land - the Prime Minister, the Queen, the Government,
the Mayor of the city. God tells us in the Bible to pray for these people
so that they may make wise decisions and rule the country fairly
(1 Timothy 2:1-2). Write the word “rulers” beside that finger. Maybe
you never thought of praying for those important people, but God
wants you to!
Next we come to the fourth finger - the one that sometimes has the
wedding ring. In a way this is the weakest finger. If you play the piano
you will know that it is the one that seems to have the hardest time
playing the right notes. You can make nearly any finger stand up by
itself, but if you try to raise this finger by itself it takes quite an effort.
Try it! So whom would this finger remind us to pray for? Yes, for those
who are weak - the old, the sick, for widows, orphans and the poor.
They all need your prayers too. Don’t forget about them. Write the
words “weak and sick” beside that finger. Do you know of anyone
who is sick right now that you could pray for?
Lastly we come to the little finger. Whom does this finger remind us
to pray for? It tells us to pray for children, who are smaller than the
grown-ups. As we think of the little finger, we remember to pray for all
the boys and girls who are our friends. Some are Christians and they
need our prayers. But many do not know the Lord. Are you praying
for your good friends who aren’t saved? Be a good friend to the lost
like Abraham was to Lot! Write “my friends” beside the little finger.
Maybe you could put the name of one friend who is a Christian and rulers
teachers, weak
one who is unsaved. Pray faithfully for them! and sick
preachers and
Can you remember those five groups of people for whom God wants missionaries
my
us to pray? They need your prayers! friends
I have been asking you to pray for me. I need your prayers. But I want family
you to know that I pray often for you too! For you, boys and girls who
are not saved, that very soon you will trust in Jesus as your Saviour; and
for you, Christian young people, that you will grow more and more

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Teach us to pray

in your spiritual life. It’s a wonderful privilege to pray for others. Let’s
do so faithfully!

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Lesson 5
Let’s learn to pray better

Scripture for teachers Lesson outline

Daniel 9:1-4,16-19 Introduction
Jeremiah 29:10-14
Mark 9:14-27 Isn’t it funny to hear a baby say his first words?
Central truth Progression of events
Learn to pray in a better way
1 Rule 1: There must be no unconfessed sin in
Application our lives CTS
Unsaved: This teaching is almost exclusively for
Christian children - an evangelistic 2 Short moment of prayer for confession
emphasis could be given in the choice 3 Rule 2: We must pray according to God’s
of choruses or other parts of the will CT
programme
4 Example: prayer not according to God’s
Saved: Follow the guidelines about praying will CT
which God gives us in the Bible
5 Bible example: Daniel’s prayer
Preparation for participation by the
6 How can we know if we are praying according
children
to God’s will?
 Make sure that you include some questions as
you teach. There are over thirty included in the 7 Through Bible reading
text. Not all require answers but they stimulate 8 Through the Holy Spirit Who guides us in
the children to think and learn. Some important our prayers
questions have been marked  in the margin. The
answers to these (or similar ones that you think 9 Rule 3: We must pray in faith CT
of ) will be a good indication to you whether 10 Example: not praying in faith
the children are listening to your teaching,
11 Bible example: Father praying for son with
understanding it, and applying it to their own
unclean spirit
lives.
 At the end of the lesson, we have included a list Climax
of questions which review the teaching given. “Lord, I believe”
Divide the children into two teams and make the
quiz lively using some sort of visual aid. The quiz Conclusion
will also provide a good learning experience. Let’s ask God to help us learn how to pray in a
Memory verse way that pleases Him and in a way that He will
Review the previous verses love to answer
Visual aids
 Flashcards: 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7 and
5-8
 Wordstrips: “There must be no unconfessed sin
in our lives”, “We must pray according to God’s
will” and “We must pray in faith”

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 Teach us to pray

Lesson
Flashcard 5-1
Do you happen to have a baby brother or sister who is learning how
to talk? Isn’t it funny to hear them say their first words? Probably the
first words that a baby says is “mama” or “dada”. He makes his own
little sounds too, to tell you what he wants. When he says “baba” for
example, maybe he means “I’m very hungry. Please can I have some
food soon?” But he can’t say such a mouthful of words yet, so he just
says “baba” and probably his mum understands what he wants.
But wouldn’t it be terrible if a baby never learned to talk properly and
all his life said “baba” when he wanted some food; or if he just started
to cry like little babies do, when he wanted to say, “I feel pretty tired
and need a good sleep”?
You know, some Christians are a bit like a person who has never
learned to talk well - I mean when they talk to God in prayer. They
have never learned to pray and improve their prayers as they become
older Christians. I expect that God understands their prayers, but it
would please Him much more if they learned to pray better.
I’m sure that you want to learn to pray well, don’t you? Not always
to be a beginner in prayer, like a person who has just been born into
God’s family. Now I don’t mean that you have to learn big words and
use very nice expressions. No, there are much more important things
than that, and God has given us some rules in the Bible so that we can
pray really effectively and in a way that pleases Him.

Flashcard 5-2
Show card rule 1: “There The first rule that we are going to look at is: there must be no
must be no unconfessed
sin in our lives”.
unconfessed sin in our lives as we come to pray. Let me explain that
to you. Sometimes when you start to pray, you suddenly remember
some wrong thing that you have done - something for which you have
not asked God’s forgiveness. This fills your mind so that you can hardly
remember what you are trying to express to God in prayer. The Bible
teaches us very clearly that God won’t hear if there is unconfessed sin
like that in your life. Listen to these very serious words in the Bible.
Read some or all of these four verses, but leave out the references.

“Your sins have hidden His [God’s] face from you, so that He will not
hear” (Isaiah 59:2b).
“Then they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them” (Micah
3:4a).
“There is no answer from God” (Micah 3:7b).
“‘They called out and I would not listen,’ says the Lord of hosts”
(Zechariah 7:13b).

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 Teach us to pray

Aren’t those very solemn words? How terrible to pray to God, but in
such a way that God refuses to listen to us!
So, if we are aware that there are wrong things in our lives that we have CTS
not confessed to the Lord, we must do so right away. Otherwise the
sin will be like a great barrier between us and God, so that our prayers
cannot be heard by Him.
As we tell God about our sin, and sincerely ask for His forgiveness,
He promises to forgive us and to cleanse us from all our sin (1 John
1:9). Then we can talk to God about other things - we can pray for
ourselves and for others.
Now can you remember the first rule? Yes, there most be no unconfessed 
Question for the children
sin in our lives. Do you understand what that means? to think about and answer.

Let children answer.

Before continuing with our lesson we are going to pause just for a
moment and be quiet. If you are a true Christian but know that there
is some sin in your heart, just right now in the silence you can tell the
Lord about it and ask Him to forgive you. Maybe it’s a lie you told your
parents, or something you took that does not belong to you. Ask God’s
forgiveness right now. Later you might have to go to that other person
as well, against whom you sinned, and ask their forgiveness too.
Leave a few moments for the children to pray in silence.

Now let’s continue. I know that you want to learn more about prayer
today. God not only tells us in His Word that we should pray with no
unconfessed sin in our hearts, but also that we should pray according Show card rule 2: “We
must pray according to
to God’s will.
God’s will”.

Flashcard 5-3
What does that mean? It means that God wants us to pray for something 
Question for the children
to think about and answer.
to happen and that He also wants that same thing to happen. God
could not possibly do what you are asking, if He did not agree with CT
your prayer, could He? Let me give you an example. Suppose a little
boy of four years old came to his mother and said, “Mum, I want you
to give me five euros to buy a great big bag of sweets.” He would be
asking for something that his mother could not possibly agree with. All
those sweets would make him sick, and would be very bad for his teeth.
So his mum would have to say, “No, I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”
Sometimes Christian boys and girls are a bit like that little boy - their
prayers are really quite selfish and not according to God’s will. For
example, a boy might pray for a big, shiny, new bike. But God sees
into his heart and knows that he really wants it to show off to the other
children and to boast that he has the best bike in the street. If that is
why he is praying, it is quite likely that God will say, “No, I can’t give
you that bike. It would only be harmful to you.”
But if that boy was praying that God would help him to get some

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 Teach us to pray

money, and he is planning to share some of that money with others,

and to give some in the missionary offering, then it is more likely that
he is praying according to God’s will, don’t you think?

Flashcard 5-4
In the Bible we have a wonderful story of a man who prayed according
to God’s will, and God answered his prayer. His name was Daniel. Yes,
the same man who was thrown into the lions’ den!
He was living in the land of Babylon a long way from his home. The
Jews had been carried away into slavery in Babylon because of their
sin. Do you remember that I told you in an earlier lesson how the
Assyrians had attacked Jerusalem but when King Hezekiah prayed, God
destroyed the enemy army? Years later the Jews were still disobeying
God and doing wrong, and at last God allowed the Babylonian army
to capture Jerusalem and to destroy it. Many people were killed and
others were carried away into slavery.
Daniel was among those who were carried away to Babylon where he
lived for many years, far from his own land. When he was quite old
he was reading in the Bible one day. In the book of Jeremiah he read
(Daniel 9:2 and Jeremiah 29:10-14) that after seventy years in Babylon,
when the Jews turned away from their sins, and turned back to God
and obeyed Him, God would take them out of that foreign land and
bring them back to their own country.

Question for the children What do you think Daniel did when he read those verses from the
to think about and answer. Bible?
Let children answer.

Yes, he began to pray. He confessed his sins and the sins of his people
and he asked God to allow them to go back to Jerusalem, so that the
city would no longer be empty and abandoned (Daniel 9:16-19).

Questions for the Was Daniel praying according to God’s will? Yes, he was! How do you
children to think about know?
and answer.
Let children answer.

Yes! Because God had already said in His Word that it was His will for
His people to go back to Jerusalem after seventy years.
Some time later those prayers were answered. Thousands and thousands
of Jews returned to their own land, to rebuild the broken-down temple
and the whole city of Jerusalem which was in ruins.

Flashcard 5-5
Now you and I also want to learn how to pray according to God’s will,

Question for the children don’t we? I am going to ask you quite a hard question: how can we
to think about and answer. know if we are praying according to God’s will?

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 Teach us to pray

Let children think, and answer.

Yes, I really have given you quite a lot of help towards getting the
answer.
One way to know God’s will is as we read His Word, just as Daniel
did!
In the Bible God tells us what His plans are, and what pleases Him.
The more you read God’s Word, the more you will understand His
will. That is why every day as you pray, it is just as important to read
a few verses of God’s Word, and to think carefully about what you
read. In that way you will learn to pray more and more according to
God’s will.
Now I wonder if we could think together of some things that are
definitely according to God’s will, things that God clearly tells us in His
Word are part of His plans. I am going to suggest four prayers and I
want you to think with me, which of these prayers would be according
to God’s will, and which not. If you think the answer is “yes” try and
think of a verse from the Bible that would prove it. Do you understand?
Maybe all four of these prayers are according to God’s will, maybe only
one or two, or none. Let’s see. Here’s the first prayer.

Flashcard 5-6
1 “Dear Lord, please send more missionaries to preach the
Gospel.”
Is this according to God’s will? Yes, that prayer is according to
God’s will. And a verse to prove it? Mark 16:15b - “Go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Read (or have an older
child read) the verses
2 “O God, please save boys and girls in our Good News Club.” from your Bible.

Is this prayer according to God’s will? Yes, that too is according to

His will, isn’t it? And a verse to prove it? Matthew 18:14 - “Even
so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of
these little ones should perish.”
3 “Dear God, help each one of us who are saved to become strong
Christians.”
Is this prayer according to God’s will? Again, the answer is yes. In
2 Peter 3:18 God commands us to “grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”.
4 “Heavenly Father, help us control our tongues, and speak only
what is true and good.”
Is this prayer according to God’s will? Yes, because over and over
in the Bible God tells us to watch our lips and our tongues (eg
Ephesians 4:29).
So, all four prayers are according to His will.

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 Teach us to pray

We also know what God’s will is by the Holy Spirit Who lives in the
Christian. I’m going to read you a verse. Think hard about it and see
if you can understand.
Read middle part of Romans 8:26.
Read (or have an older “... For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought ...”
child read) the verse from
your Bible. That’s true very often, isn’t it? We don’t know what we should pray
for. But in the same verse we find out how we can know God’s will.
The first part of the verse says, “The Spirit also helps our weaknesses.”
That just means that God’s Holy Spirit Who lives in us, helps us in
our weakness and helps us to pray according to God’s will.
Isn’t that wonderful? When you pray you can thank God with all your
heart that the Holy Spirit lives in you. Just ask God that the Holy Spirit
would guide you as you pray. He wants to help you pray according
to God’s will.

Flashcard 5-7

Question for the children Now let me give you the third rule - it is that we must pray in faith.
to think about and answer. What were the first two rules?
Show card rule 3: “We Let the children answer.
must pray in faith”.
Yes, that’s right. When you are praying with no unconfessed sin,
and you are asking God to help you to pray for things that He can
completely agree with, then you and I need to pray in faith.

Question for the children What do you think “pray in faith” means?
to think about and answer.
Let the children answer.

It means believing that God is able to do what you are asking Him.

Question for the children Could you give me an example of how someone could pray and not
to think about and answer.
believe that God could do what He is asking?
Let the children answer.

I’ll give you another example. Suppose that in Good News Club you
have prayed that God would bring other children next week. But when
you go outside and you see your friend Tom you think, “Oh I need

Question for the children not invite him. He’ll never come anyway.” Were you really praying in
to think about and answer.
faith, believing that God would bring new children?

Flashcard 5-8
When the Lord Jesus was here on Earth, a father came to Him one
day in terrible distress. He brought his only son to Jesus. The son had
an evil spirit which made him shout out, and foam at the mouth, and
tried to destroy him by throwing him into a fire or into deep water.
You can imagine how this poor father felt, especially because his son
had had this terrible problem for many years.
Read (or have an older He asked Jesus very earnestly, “If You can do anything, have compassion
child read) the verses
on us and help us” (Mark 9:22b).
from your Bible.

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 Teach us to pray

He did not really sound too hopeful, did he?

Do you know what Jesus replied? He also started his sentence with
the words “If you ...”
He said, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believe”
(Mark 9:23).
Then the father cried out, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark
9:24b).
That was a good answer, wasn’t it? He realised that his faith was not very
strong but yet He did believe that Jesus could cure his son. And the
Lord Jesus wonderfully healed his son and drove out the evil spirit.
Sometimes you and I feel like that man, too. As we pray we could say,
“Lord I believe that You are able to do this, but help my unbelief. I
want to pray with faith that You are willing and able to answer my
prayers.”
Did you notice what Jesus promised in that conversation? He said 
Question for the children
all things are possible to him who believes. Isn’t that a great promise to think about and answer.

for us all? God can do all those difficult things, that are completely
impossible to us.
Can you remember our third rule for prayer now? Show cards with the three
rules.
 God wants us to pray in faith.
And the other two rules?
 Pray with no unconfessed sin in our lives.
 Pray according to God’s will.
I am sure that each boy and girl here who knows the Lord Jesus and
loves Him, really wants to learn to pray better and better. If you have Make yourself available
for personal counselling.
some problems about praying or questions you would like to ask,
don’t be afraid to come and talk to me after the class, and I will help
you all I can.
Let’s bow our heads just for a moment and ask God to help us to learn
how to pray in a way that pleases Him and in a way that He will love
to answer.
Lead in prayer.
Review questions
1 What is the first rule we have learned about praying? (We must
pray with no unconfessed sin in our hearts.)
2 If you start to pray and you remember something wrong that you
have done what should you do? (First of all, ask the Lord to forgive
you. Secondly, you might have to ask another person to forgive
you too.)
3 What does God promise to do if we confess our sins to Him? (To
forgive us and to cleanse us from all our sins - 1 John 1:9.)

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Teach us to pray

4 What is the second rule that we have learned about prayer? (We
need to pray according to God’s will.)
5 What does that mean? (It means praying for something that God
completely agrees with.)
6 Give me an example of when a child asks his mum or dad for
something that is not according to his mum or dad’s will? (Answers
will vary. Example from the lesson: the child who asks for five euros
to buy a bag of sweets.)
7 Give me an example of a prayer that would not be according to
God’s will. (Answers will vary. Example from the lesson: “Give me
a lovely new bike, so that I can show the others that mine is the
best in the street.”)
8 There are two ways that we can know what God’s will is. What is
one way? (By reading God’s Word.)
9 What is the other? (By the Holy Spirit Who lives in the Christian’s
heart - He will guide him in his prayers.)
10 Give me an example from the Bible of someone who prayed
according to God’s will. (Daniel praying for the Jews to return to
Jerusalem.)
11 Could you give me an example of a prayer today that would be
according to God’s will? (Answers will vary. For example, “Help
me to obey my parents” - Ephesians 6:1.)
12 What was the third rule? (We must pray in faith.)
13 What does that mean? (We must believe that God is able and
willing to answer our prayers.)
14 When the father with the son who was tormented by an unclean
spirit came to Jesus, he started his prayer with the word “if ”.
Could you complete the sentence? (“If You can do anything, have
compassion on us and help us.” The words would not have to be
exactly right.)
15 Jesus replied with a sentence beginning also with “if ”. Can you
complete it? (“If you can believe, all things are possible to him
who believes.”)
16 The father then said a wonderful sentence, showing that he was
struggling with his doubts, but that he did believe the Lord could
answer his prayer. What did he say? (“Lord, I believe; help You
my unbelief!”)

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 Teach us to pray

A Christian needs to pray

Carry-over activity - lesson 2
A Christian needs to pray

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 Copy, cut out and keep in your Bible

Summary of steps for counselling
the child who wants to come to Christ
Make sure the child understands about
God
Who is God?
God made us. He speaks to us through the Bible.
God is holy and pure. He loves us.
Sin
What is sin?
Sin is disobeying God‘s commands. It is against God.
Speak about specific sins.
The child is a sinner by nature and act. (We sin because we are
sinners.)
Sin deserves punishment.
The Saviour
Who alone can take away your sin?
God the Son died on the cross for sinners.
The Lord Jesus rose again from the dead.
He is Lord of all.

Explain how to be saved

Explain what the Lord wants us to do, and what He will do.
Use a Bible verse (John 1:12; 3:16; 6:37; Acts 16:31;
Romans 6:23 or 10:13).
What does the Lord want you to do?
What will the Lord do?
Warn about difficulties.
Ask: “Do you want to trust Christ, or would you rather wait?”
Encourage the child to pray audibly (if ready).

Speak about assurance of salvation

Go back to the Bible verse you used.
Speak about a changed life.
Tell him what the person who is truly trusting in Christ can know.

Give (later) some advice about the Christian life

Read and obey your Bible.
Talk to God, our Heavenly Father.
Tell others what the Lord has done for you.
Ask God to forgive you when you sin.
Meet with other Christians.
Remember the Lord promises: “I will never leave you” (Heb 13:5).