Lessons on Praying for Children
Lessons on Prayer
for
Children
of
Wheatland Ministries
Revised 8-2016
The lessons are designed for use in:
VBS
Children’s Church
Sunday School
Camps
©Lewis T Turner 2012
INTROCUCTION to Children and Prayer
INTROCUCTION to Children and Prayer
Welcome to the Children and
Prayer Course. A challenge was presented
to me a few years ago—and the challenge was to find a way to explain the
spiritual heart in a way that children could understand.
To many children and adults,
the heart is a physical organ that pumps blood.
This concept is sometimes referred to as a “concrete” concept of the heart.
Understanding the spiritual
heart is different and this course is designed to offer a way to help teachers,
parents, and ministers to be able to explain the spiritual heart. It also explains what it means to invite
Jesus into one’s spiritual heart.
This course booklet contains written
lessons and there are also a podcast for every lesson that is available. Some of the podcasts are presented as if the
podcast is being used to teach children.
This type of presentation should be an example of ‘one way’ the concept
of the lesson can be taught.
The lessons and podcasts
follow the course document that is titled:
the ‘Heart’ that explains the heart using the Hebrew word for heart,
going back to the time of Abraham. The
meaning of the word for heart is derived from those Hebrew Letters and the
Letters used in the time of Abraham.
You may wonder why we went
back to Hebrew in explaining the heart.
We attempted to get back to the oldest meaning of the word heart in ta
Biblical context. Meanings of words have
changed over the years, and sometimes there has been so much change that the
meaning today is not close to the original meaning. Therefore—with that understanding—let’s move
forward with the course lessons.
The lessons focus on being
thankful—especially as it relates to a home, that Jesus Cares for us, What
Jesus wants of us and how prayer helps, That Jesus is our Friend, and provides
basic instruction on helping Children invite Jesus into their spiritual heart
or spiritual house.
As you work each lesson, take
time to write your own reflection thoughts, and work through the activities
recommended for each lesson to help teach children to pray.
It should take about 10-15
minutes to present each lesson, especially when the children interact, which is
encouraged.
May the Lord bless you in
leading children to the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
For Teacher
Training:
- Teacher Training is always recommended even though the podcast do present the course material simply.
- In teacher training—it would be helpful to listen to each podcast and after each podcast, it is recommended that there be a discussion time let by a moderator.
- The course uses the meanings of the letters for the Hebrew word for heart to help children (and adults too) to learn about their spiritual heart. The course booklet contains both the lessons and the document on the Hebrew word for heart.
- Encourage prayer from the children.
- Teach what it means to invite Jesus into their heart—you may want to use the term your Spiritual House. Don’t be afraid to give and invitation—especially to the older children.
Introduction…………………………………………………………… 2
Lesson 1: We Should Be Thankful………………………... 4
Lesson 2: Jesus Cares About Us……………………………. 7
Lesson 3: Our House,
Our Spiritual House…………….
8
Lesson 4: Prayer is Needed to Keep Us Clean………… 11
Lesson 5: Jesus is Our Friend………………………………... 13
Supplemental Instruction:
Instructions for the Teacher ... 16
For Parents and Teachers………………………………….. 18
References……………………………………………………….... 19
Supplemental Material: Hebrew Meaning of the
Word
Heart……………………………………………………
20
Welcome to the Prayer for Children Course. We will be covering teaching children how to pray and helping children to understand their spiritual heart. We will also be showing ways we can pray for children.
Now starting with
Lesson 1
We Should Be Thankful
Matthew 6:9
(HCSB) (1)
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your Name be honored as Holy.”
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your Name be honored as Holy.”
At the start of the Lord’s
Prayer—we find the giving of reverence, or respect and honor; we honor and
respect God when we praise Him. Praise
is a way to be thankful. Did you
know God loves praise? He loves a thankful
heart and He wants to hear our praises to Him—when we pray; when we sing; and
when we work and play.
When we pray, and give God
praise, we are praying to Our Father in Heaven, who is God. God likes it when we call Him “Our
Father”. He listens to us because He
loves us, and children are very special to Him; Psalm
22:3 Basic Bible in English
“But you are holy, O you who are seated among the praises ofIsrael
“But you are holy, O you who are seated among the praises of
He is interested in us,
especially, when we show Him when we are thankful and giving praise to
God, each day.
God loves praise very much
and Something else happens when we praise God.
PS 22:3 says: God sits among the
praises we give to Him. HE IS WITH
US! God loves to be among us when we
praise Him—where-ever you are, singing praises to God at church, or at home, at
school, and at play.
Helping children learn to
give thanks to God is very important.
Take time to study the
activities in this lesson and use them to help children express thanks to God.
I would like to make a note here about thankfulness
and the article with the lesson “Hebrew Meaning of the Word Heart” Part I of that article has a focus that may
help in teaching children to be thankful. Part I
You may want to
compare the picture of the letter ‘Bet/Beth’ (above) to the house where you
live. You may have more rooms in your
house than in a tent—but, both represent “a home”. The people who live with us, are usually family—or—loved
ones who are close to us. These
people (loved ones) live close to us--inside of our house, where
we live. Jesus wants to live with you,
too!
Most children should be
able to give thanks for their family and home.
The next lesson will be
covering that Jesus Cares about us.
Children learn the most
when they see what they are being taught practiced by others.
· Activity: What are we thankful for? I thank God for:_________________
·
Suggestion: Shouldn’t we be thankful for our home?—Note
to teacher: Introducing thankfulness for
our home is a good way of introducing the concept of the concept of the
heart. See Part I in “Hebrew Meaning of
the Word Heart”.
Here are some other examples:
1.
(for)
loving me and calling me “special”.
2.
(for) my
family (or loved ones).
3.
(for) Giving
me a house (a place to live) with my family.
4.
(for) Giving
me some friends; most of all, for Jesus, Who wants to be my Friend—Who loves
me.
Song: Praise Him! Praise Him!
Praise Him, Praise Him, all ye
little children,
God is love, God is love.
Praise Him, Praise Him, all ye
little children,
God is love, God is love.
Lesson 2
Jesus Cares About Us
Did you know that Jesus
cares about us?
We all have things we worry
about. The Apostle Peter tells us that
we should give those worries to God.
1 Peter 5:7 (NLT)
(2) “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”
God does care for us. Still we have a tendency to worry. What does
“worry” mean? It is something
that bothers you, a lot—and becomes a big problem, too difficult for you to solve
by yourself. Perhaps, you wish that you
could get someone to help you, but you don’t know who you can tell and trust
enough, who will not tell someone else.
Looking back to the verse
we just quoted, I Peter 5:7, it tells us we can tell Jesus and give our worries
to Him. Jesus is someone you can
trust: Jesus cares for
us—and loves all the children. He will
understand us and our problems. He wants
us to talk to Him about anything that concerns us; He will listen to us and He
will help us, too.
Did you know that Jesus
will help you? — Why not ask Him to help you? PS 54:4 says God is
my helper”. (KJV)
Lesson 3
Our House-our Spiritual House
You may want to
compare the picture of the letter ‘Bet/Beth’ (above) to the house where you
live. You may have more rooms in your
house than in a tent—but, both represent “a home”. The people who live with us, are usually family—or—loved
ones who are close to us. These
people (loved ones) live close to us--inside of our house, where
we live. Jesus wants to live with you,
too!
Now let’s take a step
further and look at a place where we may feel free to share. Do you ever invite someone to come to your
house? Usually the person you ask to
come to your house is a friend whom you trust and enjoy sharing a lot of items
and concerns and worries with? Have you
ever thought that your body is like a house?
We each live inside of a house—called a “body”, which is where
our spirit (or what makes us – ‘US’) lives.
God
gave each one of us a body (which we can think of like a house); He put a
special place inside us, called a ‘heart’, which is like an inner
room of our body, where our spirit lives.
That room where what makes us, what makes us a unique special person—‘Us’
lives. Let’s take an example that may
help a child to understand this concept.
We also have a physical heart, inside us, too, which pumps the
blood to our whole body; but now, we are talking about a spiritual-heart.
That room where what makes us—‘Us’ lives.
Let’s look at an example that a child would understand. As we grow, we often have worries that we
want to tell to someone whom we can trust.
It may be a Dolly or a Teddy bear. When we hold a Dolly (or a Teddy Bear, or even
a pet) close to us, we are saying, “you are mine…; and, I am yours”. When we invite Jesus into our spiritual
heart, (the inner room of our body), we are asking Him to be a close and loving
Friend, one whom we can tell about our worries, about and share about our
problems, and also the good things. To
be able to do that is much like what we do when we hold our dolly or Teddy
Bear, or pet—close to us, telling them personal things. Having Jesus close to us is saying to Jesus,
“I want you to be my Friend…and I want to be your friend, too.
Jesus cares
about you and you can share with Him, when you invite Jesus to be with you.
2 Notes to the teacher—
1. This lesson ties into Part II of the “Hebrew Meaning
of the Word Heart”. (attached at the back of
this book)
2. As you share this training
with children, an activity that may help them understand is to write a brief
prayer asking Jesus to help. Below are
some examples.
Activities—write a short
prayer:
· Jesus, please help me to find someone to play with,
today, who is kind and likes me.
Sometimes, no one wants to play with me, and that makes me feel “left
out” and sad. Help me not to worry. Thank You, Jesus for understanding my needs.
· Or—Jesus, my
Mommy (or Daddy) has been very sick and I worry that something bad might happen
to her (or him). Please help my Mommy
(or my Daddy) to get better, soon. Thank
You for being my good friend and caring for my family.
· Or—Jesus, please help me do well in school. I am worried how I will do on my test,
today. Please help me to remember the
answers, to do well. Thank You, Jesus.
Lesson 4
Prayer is Needed to Keep Us Clean
Welcome to the Children
and Prayer Course, Lesson 3. In the past
two lessons we studied That we should be thankful and that Jesus
cares for us. We also learned that one of the letters in
the Hebrew word for heart represented an inner chamber of a dwelling, tent, or
house. This letter Bet is shown below:
We have learned that we
have a house, and periodically we need to clean the house, and whenever we go
into a house, dust and dirt is carried in on our shoes, and periodically we
need to clean the house and the inner room, which is where we live. We do this through asking Jesus, through
prayer, to help us, and He will.
Today’s lesson is focused
that Prayer is needed to keep us clean.
The Bible says, we all
have sinned (Rom 3:23)—What is sin? When
we do something wrong, we are sinning and it leaves bad stains- stains like
those we get from grass or dirt that make our hands, shoes, and clothes dirty;
That dirt gets carried into the house making it dirty. When we do wrong, those stains from the sin
hurt God; sin, which is doing something wrong, makes Him unhappy. Sin can stop God from being able to help us. Psalms
66 verse 18 paraphrased says “If I
regard sin or wrong doing in my heart, the Lord will not hear me”. It is important to tell God what we have
done wrong and to ask Him to forgive us.
When Jesus forgives us, He makes us clean—inside
our heart; and God can help us not to do the wrong things, again.
Now let’s read 1
John 1:9 (GW) (3) “God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, He forgives
them and cleanses us from everything we've done wrong.”
So—when you have done
wrong, when you are naughty, ask Jesus for forgiveness, and to cleanse you, and
help you make things right—so you can follow Him.
When we invite Jesus to
cleanse our heart, He will help clean your heart, because He loves you. Jesus wants to be a part of your family
too. Jesus wants to be a very close
friend to you—so you can say “I am Yours, and You, Jesus, are mine. That is
what inviting Jesus into your heart is about.
Inviting Him to be a friend who will help you be clean, and make it
possible to live with Him in heaven when you die.
When he becomes part of
your family, you also become part of God’s family. God loves you very much, and wants to live
close to you and for you to live close to Him. Inviting Jesus into your heart is about
being a part of God’s family who loves you very much.
In the next lesson we will
learn that Jesus is our Friend.
Prayer activity.
Ask Jesus to help you to
forgive others who have done bad things to you.
Maybe one of your classmates took something that was your’s. Ask Jesus to help you not to be angry with
(him or her). Pray for that person and
ask the Lord to help you to forgive them.
In the next lesson we will
learn that Jesus is our Friend.
Activity: Memorize I John 1:9 1 John 1:9 (GW) “God is
faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us
from everything we've done wrong.”
·
Note to
teacher—This lesson ties into Part III of “Hebrew Meaning of the Word Heart”.
Lesson 5
Jesus is Our Friend
We
have shared that we need to be thankful.
We learned that Jesus loves and cares for you. We have learned that Jesus wants to help us
be clean. He wants to live with us in
our inner house, which is our spiritual heart.
Today,
we are learning that each day, we should talk with Jesus. He is our Friend, someone who we can trust, and we need
to learn how to talk to Jesus; to start, we talk to Him in the same way we talk
to our own friends—about what is important to you.
Talking
to God is actually what prayer is. When
we talk to Him, we call it ‘praying’.
Don’t be afraid to talk to Jesus; talk to Him like you would talk to
others—your family and friends; your dollies and Teddy Bears; and
pets. Jesus wants you to talk (pray) to
Him about what is important to you—about your thoughts and activities; about
your problems and your happiness—anything you want to talk to Him about. And when you pray, don’t forget to praise
Him and give Him thanks!
Did you know that Jesus calls us His
friends?
John 15:14-15 “I have called
you friends”(KJV)
We are very special friends of His; and He wants to be our Best
Friend; He loves us and understands us better than anyone else.
We
sing some songs like:
· “Jesus Loves All the Children”
· “Jesus Loves the Little Children”
· “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”—because
Jesus is truly our Friend.
When we invite Jesus to
come and live inside us—where He has made us ‘us’, called the heart—He wants to
be your best Friend and Savior.
He wants to live with you and be a true Friend and a best Friend
to you. All He is waiting for you to do,
is to invite Him into your heart, now by saying a simple prayer—like this. “Lord
Jesus, I invite you into my heart today and ask you to be my Friend and Savior. Thank You, Jesus, for forgiving my sins and
calling me Your Friend. Amen.”
·
Note to
Teacher—This lesson fits in with Part IV of “Hebrew Meaning of the Word Heart”.
Activity—Sing one of the
above songs suggested in this lesson and memorize John 15:14-15 (above)
Recap—
· We shared that we need to be thankful.
· We learned that Jesus cares for us and loves us.
· We learned that Jesus wants in live in our inner
house, our spiritual heart.
· We learned that Jesus wants to help us be clean.
· Prayer is talking with Jesus. Each day we should talk with Jesus. He is our friend, and we need to learn to
talk with Him—a way to start is talk to Him much in the same way we talk to our
own friends, about what is important to you.
Remember a friend is someone you can trust.
Prayers
to consider:
·
Jesus, You
love me. Thank You, for loving me. I love You;
I love You because: ___________.
Examples: 1. (because)
You love me and call me Your Friend.
2. (because) You listen to me
whether I am happy or sad.
3. (because) You made me and care about me.
·
Jesus, I
get sad when a friend does something bad to me.
Please help me forgive him/her.
Please help me to love them like You do.
Please help me to be happy again.
Thank you, Jesus.
·
Jesus, today,
I want to ask You to be my Friend. I ask
You (invite you) to forgive me for my sins-those things I have done wrong. I want You to always be my Best Friend, and
be close to me. Today, I am inviting you
to please come into my heart, my spiritual hear, my house. Thank you, Jesus, for being my Savior and new
Friend, today.
·
Dear Jesus,
I have done wrong to______. Please
forgive me. You said in the Bible, that
if I confess my sin (tell you my sin), you would cleanse my heart from
sin. Thank you, Jesus, for forgiving me
and making me clean again. Please help
me, not to sin. Thank you, Jesus, for
being my helper and Friend.
Supplemental Instruction
(Instructions For the Teacher)
These lessons have taught
about the inner room in our being that we call the heart. There are 2 letters in the Hebrew word for
heart. We have looked at one called Bet,
now we now will be looking at the other letter which is the 1st
letter of the Hebrew word for heart-
Lamed ל
Or as represented in an early Alphabet, used in the
time of Abraham, this letter was written looking like a shepherd's staff.
The meaning of the letter
is: Go toward, learn, teach, urge
forward (1a).
The symbol representing
the letter, represents a shepherd staff which is used in shepherding, to
pulling or drawing a sheep from danger, or to draw or urge a sheep
to the shepherd. One analogy to the
meaning of this letter might be our English word invitation,
where we invite or urge people to our house to that inner/inside room of our
house where we bring friends
—or in a spiritual
context—inviting the Lord Jesus to the inner room of our being—our heart.
Putting the meaning of the
two letters together for the Hebrew word for Heart, לֵב, gives us a possible meaning of the word heart, which
is: “the urging to the inner room of our house”. Rephrased in a way that
might help us understand we have—the invitation to come to the inner room of
our house.
Understanding that concept
as we teach the meaning of the word heart, it should encourage us to give the
invitation for a child or friend or associate or an acquaintance or a
relative—for them to invite Jesus into the inner room of their heart. Do not be afraid to give them that
invitation. The step of asking others
to invite Jesus into their heart is a difficult step for many people. Remember that when we do give the
invitation, we are not alone because God’s Holy Spirit is with us to help us.
He will take what you have shared, and invite and urge the other person to turn
to Christ, using the invitation you have presented. We just need to be faithful in teaching and
sharing God’s Word.
As we apply and teach
these concepts of the heart, may the Lord Jesus, encourage us to help others to
understand what it means to invite Jesus into their heart, and to give them
opportunity to invite Jesus into their spiritual heart. May God bless all who teach and apply this
word about the heart.
For Parents and Teachers,
Through the use of this
course, our children have learned the following about Jesus. We have learned that He is our Friend and
Helper; and to learn how to pray to Jesus each day. Also, this week, in VBS, the children have
learned 4 concepts of prayer:
1. To be thankful and Praise God and the Lord
Jesus
2. Jesus cares about us.
3. Jesus wants to live with us in our spiritual
heart, our inner house.
4. Jesus wants to help us be clean.
5. Jesus is our
friend, and we can talk to Him as a friend.
When we invite Jesus into
our spiritual heart, He becomes our friend and helper.
*****
One more thought about
these lessons—though this material is designed for teaching children, the
concepts can help many “Grown-ups” too.
It is possible that many adults do not really understand their spiritual
heart, and that Jesus wants to be our friend and care for us. Perhaps the simplicity of these lessons will
help them too.
References:
(1)Holman Christian Standard Bible online at BibleGateway.com
Scripture taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003,
2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.”
(2) “Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by
permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton , Illinois 60189
(3)“Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®. Copyright
1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.
All rights reserved.” (http://www.godswordtranslation.org)
Supplemental Material:
Hebrew Meaning of the Word Heart
Strong’s number H3820
Hebrew Word: לֵב
Transliteration: lēb
לֵ Lamed: to teach, learn, go toward—represents
the desire or aspiration to learn from the Teacher.(1)
ב Beth: household, house of the
Lord. An earlier form of the early
Alphabet, this letter was written as: 
--which represents a nomadic tent or
house. As a person enters the house, he
will come into a room. The room shown in
the illustration of “Beth”, is an inner chamber (house or a tent). It is similar to rooms in a house where we
retreat to live.(1)
--which represents a nomadic tent or
house. As a person enters the house, he
will come into a room. The room shown in
the illustration of “Beth”, is an inner chamber (house or a tent). It is similar to rooms in a house where we
retreat to live.(1)
Note: In this training, we are focusing on helping
to explain the heart to very young children, and working to keep things simple
at their level. This training focuses
only on the letter ‘Beth’ in the Hebrew Word for heart.
Part I
You may want to
compare the picture of the letter ‘Bet/Beth’ (above) to the house where you
live. You may have more rooms in your
house than in a tent—but, both represent “a home”. The people who live with us, are usually family—or—loved
ones who are close to us. These
people (loved ones) live close to us--inside of our house, where
we live. Jesus wants to live with you,
too!
Part II
Your body is like a
house. We each live inside of a house—called
a “body”, which is where our spirit (what makes us – US) lives.
God gave each one of
us a body (a house); He put a special place inside us, called a ‘heart’, which
is like an inner room of our body, where our spirit lives. We have a physical heart, inside us,
too, which pumps the blood to our whole body; but now, we are talking about a spiritual-heart. For example, when we hold a dolly (or a
Teddy Bear, or a pet) close to us, we are saying, “you are mine…; and , I am
yours”. When we invite Jesus into our
spiritual heart, (the inner room of our body), we are asking Him to be a close
and loving Friend, one whom we can tell about our worries , about our problems,
and good things too. It is much what we
may do when we hold like holding our dolly or Teddy Bear, or pet—close to us,
telling them personal things. Having
Jesus close to us is saying to Jesus, “I want you to be my Friend…and I want to
be your friend, too.
Part III
When we invite Jesus
into our heart to be close to us, we will want to learn from Him and how to live
for Him. When you ask Him into your
heart, He will become part of your life and, in addition to your own family at
home, you will become part of God’s family, too. You will meet many of God’s family at
church, which is God’s House. Jesus loves
you very much and really wants to live inside your spiritual heart, so
you can live close to Him and He can be a very close Friend to you—so
you can say, “I am Yours” and “You are mine” to love.
Part IV
When Jesus comes
into your heart, He will always be your Savior and Best Friend, and you will
always live with Him, forever.
Jesus loves you very
much and is waiting for you to invite Him into your life—He wants to come to your
house and be invited into your heart, (inside your
body—and be a part of your life); are you ready to ask Him to come into your
heart, today?
Part V
Lamed ל
In the time of Abraham, this letter looked like a shepherd's staff.
The meaning of the letter is: Go toward, learn, teach, urge forward
(1a). The symbol represents a
shepherd staff which is used in shepherding, to pulling or drawing a sheep from danger, or to draw or urge
a sheep to the shepherd. One analogy to
the meaning of this letter might be our English word invitation,
where we invite or urge people to our house to that inner/inside room of our
house where we bring friends—or in a spiritual context—inviting the Lord Jesus
to the inner room of our being—our heart.
Putting the meaning of the two letters together for the
Hebrew word for Heart, לֵב, gives
us a possible meaning of the word heart, which is: “the urging to the inner
room of our house”. Rephrased in a
way that might help us understand we have:—the invitation to come to the
inner room of our house.
Understanding that concept as we teach the meaning of the
word heart, that teaching should include giving the invitation for a child or
friend or associate or an acquaintance or a relative—for them to invite Jesus into the inner room of
their heart. Do not be afraid to
give them that invitation. The step of
asking others to invite Jesus into their heart is a difficult step for many
people. Remember that when we do give
the invitation, we are not alone because God’s Holy Spirit is with us to help
us. He will take what you have shared, and invite and urge the other person to
turn to Christ, using the invitation you have presented. We just need to be faithful in teaching and
sharing God’s Word.
As we apply and teach these concepts of the heart, may the
Lord Jesus, encourage us to help others to understand what it means to invite
Jesus into their heart, and to give them opportunity to invite Jesus into their
spiritual heart. May God bless all who
teach and apply this word about the heart.
Ref: Meanings of Hebrew letters: Ref: Yarah Ministries:
http:webpages.charter.net/yarahministries/alphabet.html
©2012
Lewis Turner
Cannot
be reproduced without permission.
