Timothy Club (P1-3) Year 1

Transcription

1 Date: 13/14 September 2014 Lesson 5: Prayer of Intercession I Small Group Leader s Guide Theme: Prayer Objective: That the children will learn to pray for others by standing in the gap for them. Bible Text: Genesis 18:16-33 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 Ball Bobble (15 mins) Materials: 2 balls per group (GKidz to provide) The children form a circle. They have to throw a ball around the group until each person has a chance to catch and throw. The trick is they have to throw it in the same order each time. They can throw the ball clockwise or anti-clockwise. They can throw the ball across to one another. After the children had played for a few rounds, you can add another ball to increase the level of difficulty. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 1

2 Lesson (20 mins) Today we are talking about another form of prayer called Intercession. Intercession comes from the root word intercede which means to stand in the gap or go between. Let me explain. Let s pretend that Jayden needs to borrow a pencil, and he knows that his schoolmate Mary has a few pencils with her. But he is afraid to ask her to borrow the pencil because he doesn t know Mary. However he knows Isabelle, Mary s good friend. So he asks Isabelle to ask Mary if she can lend him a pencil. Isabelle then goes over to Mary and says, Hey, Jayden would like to borrow a pencil from you for a short while. What is Isabelle doing? Isabelle is standing in the gap between Jayden and Mary. This same thing happens in our prayer life. When you intercede, you are standing in the gap between God and the person you are praying for who doesn t know God. You are praying to God on behalf of your friend. You know God and you know your friend, so you can stand in the gap between them. In today s Bible story, we will see how one man interceded and stood in the gap for 2 cities. Role-Play: The Leader will act as God, 1 child to be Abraham. Every time Abraham gives a number, the rest of the children will have to count to that number. One day, a long time ago, God and two angels appeared to Abraham. Abraham prepared a big feast for them. After dinner, God told Abraham that He would destroy the 2 cities Sodom and Gomorrah because of their wickedness and sin. This really bothered Abraham because his nephew, Lot lived in Sodom. Abraham pleaded with God, What if you find 50 righteous people in the city? Will you spare the city? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 50 together) God said to Abraham, I will spare the city for the sake of the 50 people. Abraham said, What if you find 45 righteous people in the city? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 45 together) God said to Abraham, I will spare the city for the sake of the 45 people. Then Abraham said, What if you find 40 righteous people in the city? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 40 together) God said to Abraham, I will not destroy the city for the sake of the 40 people. Then Abraham said, Oh God, please do not be angry with me, what if there are 30 righteous people in the city? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 30 together) And God said, I will not do it if I find 30 people. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 2

3 What is Abraham doing? He is standing in the gap for Sodom. Then Abraham said, What if there are 20 righteous people? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 20 together) And God said, I will not destroy the city for the 20 s sake. And Abraham said, Oh please do not be angry with me and I will speak one more time. What if 10 people shall be found there? (Have the rest of the children to count from 1 10 together) And God answered, I will not destroy it for the sake of the 10 people. Discussion 1. What were the 2 cities mentioned in this story? (Ans: Sodom and Gomorrah) 2. Why did God want to destroy these 2 cities? (Ans: Due to their sin and wickedness) 3. What did Abraham do? (Ans: He pleaded with God not to destroy these 2 cities) 4. What made Abraham want to intercede for these 2 cities? (Ans: Partly because his nephew Lot who was staying in Sodom) 5. How many righteous people did Abraham bargain with God so that He would not destroy the city? (Ans: From 50 to 10 people) 6. Why do you think God listened to Abraham and granted his requests? (Ans: God has mercy over even the 10 people) Activity Intervening by Interceding (15 mins) Materials: Newspaper articles, one per child (Leader to bring), Intercession Template (GKidz to provide) 1) Give each child a newspaper article from The Straits Times to read silently. 2) Give them the Intercession Template (See Appendix, GKidz will make copies) *** The template is called Intervention through Intercession. Explain to the children that intervention means to involve ourselves in a situation to change it around. We can change global situations around by praying! 3) The children have to summarise and write a prayer. For example, if the article is about a natural disaster, he can pray for God s protection upon the people. If there are people who are hurt in the disaster, he/she can pray healing for the people. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 3

4 4) Have 1 or 2 children to share what they have written or prayed for. This week, ask the children to sit down with their parents and together read newspaper articles and pray for the people who are affected by the natural disaster or accident. Character / Virtue Focus: Perseverance (15 mins) Perseverance is sticking to something and being committed to do it. Let s follow up on our 3x3 prayer from last week. If the children did not bring their 3x3 sheet again, get a new one (only for those who didn t bring). Guide the children to fill in their 3x3 names and then spend some time praying for these friends. At home, tell the children to be praying for their friends daily and asking God for a blessing that these friends need. Tell them to write down what they hear from God in their notebook and come back with this information next week. Tell the children to pray daily that these friends will be able to come for our Children s Day celebration on 4 and 5 October. This week (13/14 September) Create 3x3 groups, and commit to praying daily for these friends. Ask God for a specific blessing for each of the 9 friends. Next week (20/21 September) Share about what God spoke to each GKidz child about his/her 3x3 friends. Create a card to bless these friends, and give it out to them, along with the Children s Day invitation flyer Following week (27/28 September) Follow up and ask friends about whether they are able to make it. Intercede for their friends and pray that nothing will stop them from coming. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 4

5 Appendix Prayer Template News Prayer The news article is about. I can pray for: Dear Lord, I pray.. Copyright 2014 by GKidz, FCBC Page 5