Timothy Club (P1-3) Year 1

Transcription

1 Small Group Leader s Guide Theme: Prayer Date: 6/7 September 2014 Lesson 4: Praying the Psalms Objective: That the children will learn how to pray using the Psalms. Bible Text: Matthew 6:5-13 Memory Verse: At all times, pray by the power of the Spirit. Pray all kinds of prayers. Be watchful, so that you can pray. Always keep on praying for all of God s people. Ephesians 6:18 (NIRV) Character / Virtue Focus: Perseverance Introduction We have started a new series on teaching the children on prayer. There will be various aspects of prayer that we will be covering such as What is Prayer? and How to pray? Other topics include Prayer Intercession and Praying in the Spirit. Prayer is really the foundation of growing closer to God. If children can learn to lay hold of prayer earlier in their lives, we believe they will go through life more victorious. In the course of learning to pray, they can also develop the character of Perseverance. So leaders, let s get on into this exciting journey with your kids. For this series, we want to specially acknowledge Karen Henley s curriculum on Prayer and Mark Harper s curriculum on Learning to Pray. Week 1 What is Prayer? Week 2 What do we pray? Week 3 How do we pray? Week 4 Praying the Psalms Week 5 Prayer Intercession I Week 6 Prayer Intercession II Week 7 Praying in the Spirit Connect/ Ice-breaker Rubbery Band Music (10 mins) Materials: Rubber bands (GKidz to provide) In this activity, the children are paired up. Each pair is given 5 rubber bands. They are supposed to make music with the rubber bands. They can attach the rubber bands on anything eg. books, bag, pencil case to make music. They are given 5 mins to practise and make music. The pair that produces the best music wins. Lesson (20 mins) Ask the children, How many of you can recite the Lord s Prayer? You may want to guide the children to review the Lord s Prayer by drawing the following symbols on the whiteboard. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 1

2 STAR: Our Father in heaven, may Your Name be honored. CROWN: May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done here on earth, just as it is in heaven. BREAD: Give us our food for today. CROSS: And forgive us our sins just as we have forgiven those who have sinned against us. FROWNING FACE: And don t let us yield to temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. SUN: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. You may want to award those children who can recite the Lord s Prayer with a sweet or a chocolate. Today we are going to learn another way to pray, that is using the Psalms to pray. Many of the Psalms are prayers. Sometimes when we run out of words or do not know how to pray, we can use the Psalms to pray. Quiz First, let s have a Quiz to discover more about Psalms. Please refer to the Appendix for the Quiz. (GKidz to provide quiz sheet for each child) Before the session, write out Psalm 121 (NIV) on the whiteboard. Read through it once with the children. I lift up my eyes to the hills Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not sleep The Lord watches over you The Lord is your shade at your right hand The sun will not harm you by night The Lord will guard you from all dangers He will guard your life The Lord will guard you as you come and go Explain to the children that they can personalize this Psalm this way by substituting The Lord with You and using words like MY, ME, I. Rewrite the Psalm as follows:- I lift up my eyes to the hills Where does my help come from? My help comes from YOU YOU will not let MY foot slip. YOU who watches over ME will not sleep YOU watches over ME Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 2

3 YOU are MY shade at MY right hand The sun will not harm ME by night YOU will guard ME from all dangers YOU will guard MY life YOU will guard ME as I come and go Have the children to read through the revised Psalm 121 again. Have the children use Psalm 121 to pray for themselves. They can start the prayer with Dear God, I will lift up my eyes to the hills... both now and forever, Amen. Ask the children if they can use Psalm 121 to pray for their family. Ask the children how they can rephrase Psalm 121. The children should be able to help you rephrase Psalm 121 as follows:- WE lift up OUR eyes to the hills Where does OUR help come from? OUR help comes from YOU YOU will not let OUR foot slip. YOU who watches over US will not sleep YOU watches over US YOU are OUR shade at OUR right hand The sun will not harm US by night YOU will guard US from all dangers YOU will guard OUR life YOU will guard US as WE come and go Have the children use Psalm 121 to pray for their family. They can start the prayer with Dear God, we will lift up our eyes to the hills... both now and forever, Amen. Activity (20 mins) Materials: A4 paper (80 gsm), straws, strings, double-sided tape, pens or pencils (GKidz to provide) Give each child a piece of A4 paper and 2 drinking straws. Ask the children to copy Psalm 121 on the A4 paper provided. Then tape one straw along the top edge of the page and one along the lower edge of the page. Give them each piece of string to tie on top edge of the page. It should look like a scroll. The children can hang it at home and pray through it with their families during Family Altar Time. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 3

4 Dear God WE lift up OUR eyes to the hills Where does OUR help come from? OUR help comes from YOU YOU will not let OUR foot slip. YOU who watch over US will not sleep YOU watch over US YOU are OUR shade at OUR right hand The sun will not harm US by night YOU will guard US from all dangers YOU will guard OUR life YOU will guard US as WE come and go straw In Jesus Name we pray, Amen. Character / Virtue Focus: Perseverance + 3x3 Prayer (15 mins) Perseverance is sticking to something and being committed to do it. Starting this week, encourage the children to commit to praying for their 3x3 friends on a daily basis. Group the children into groups of 3, and guide them to fill in the names of the three friends that they want to pray for daily for their salvation in the card that GKidz will provide. In total, each GKidz child should pray for 9 pre-believing friends. Guide them to decide on a time to pray daily e.g., first thing in the morning, when they do their quiet time, or every meal time while saying grace or during their F.A.T with their parents. In their 3x3 groups, get them to pray for their 9 friends together. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 4

5 QUIZ 1. Where is the Book of Psalms found? Is it in the Old Testament or New Testament? (Ans: OT) 2. Who wrote the Book of Psalms? (Ans: King David) a. Moses b. King David c. Jesus d. King Solomon 3. How many chapters are there in Psalms in total? (Ans: 150 chapters) a. 20 chapters b. 150 chapters c chapters 4. What is the longest chapter in the Book of Psalms? (Ans: Psalm 119) a. Psalm 1 b. Psalm 78 c. Psalm What is Psalm 119 about? (Ans: Word of God) a. Food b. Sheep c. Word of God 6. What is the shortest chapter in the Book of Psalms? (Ans: Psalm 133) a. Psalm 133 b. Psalm 150 c. Psalm 8 7. The Book of Psalms is an ancient form of writing. What kind of writing is it? (Ans: Poetry) a. Science b. Poetry c. History Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 5