May to Pray! Part 3 of 4 Lessons May to Pray God s Praise I ll Say! Word: What does the Bible say? This week s verse: Psalm 9:1 I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. (NLT) This week s verse for Preschoolers: Psalm 9:! I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart Whispers: What truth is God speaking to us? Talk to God with praise! God hears and answers our prayers, and we praise Him for it! For Preschoolers: make up a song with these words and motions: May to Pray = prayer hands; God s Praise = hold arms up; I ll Say = cup hands over mouth for say Welcomes: What can we learn about these truths? So far this month, we ve talked about May to Pray Three times a day! and May to Pray When Life s Not Okay! We have learned the story of Daniel, who reminds us to pray persistently to God! And we learned the story of Hezekiah, who reminds us to call out to God when life is hard and anticipate God s answers to our prayers! This lesson, we are going to talk about what we should do when God answers our prayers! Our Bible story is about a woman who prayed continually to God about something very difficult in her life. Her name was Hannah, and she desperately wanted to have a child. Hannah was married to a man named Elkanah, but they had never been able to have a baby of their own. Background Info: Hannah s story is told in 1st Samuel 1-2, a book God inspired somebody really special to Hannah to write when he grew up! (That somebody really special was - guess who? - Hannah s answer to prayer!)
Hannah knew that only God could give her a baby. As she prayed about this, she promised God that, if He answered her prayer, she would praise Him by giving the child he gave her back to Him. Hannah prayed and prayed and prayed about this. She prayed so much that at least one person named Eli the priest thought she was crazy, but that didn t make Hannah quit praying! In fact, Hannah told Eli: I am a woman with a broken heart I ve been pouring out my heart before the Lord. Don t think of me as a wicked woman; I ve been praying from the depth of my anguish (1 Samuel 1:15-16 CSB) Hannah had learned to pray when life s not okay. She cried out to God about what made her heart hurt. After she told the priest Eli that she d been pouring her heart out to God, Eli responded to her with a blessing, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you ve made of Him. (1 Samuel 1:17 CSB) The Bible says that, after this, Hannah went on her way, no longer sad and discouraged. She believed that God had heard her prayer, and so she began to anticipate His answer. Do you believe that God hears our prayers? Yes He does! We can always be sure that God hears our prayers and will answer when we place our trust in Him. Listen to what God did for Hannah! The Bible says, The Lord remembered her, and Hannah became pregnant with a baby (1 Samuel 1:19). Nine months later, God gave Hannah the desire of her heart: a baby boy. She named him Samuel, because she said, I requested him from the LORD. (1 Samuel 1:20 HCSB) Hannah knew that this baby was her specific answer to prayer, and she was filled with so much joy because she knew that God had listened to the cries of her heart. Hannah didn t just get what she wanted from God and quit talking to Him, though! She responded by living out and speaking her praise to Him. When Samuel was old enough, Hannah did what she promised God she would do: she gave her son back to Him. Hannah returned to the temple where Eli the priest was, and she said: I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this boy, and since the Lord gave me what I asked Him for, I now give the boy to the LORD. For as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD. (1 Samuel 1:26-28 HCSB) Hannah lived out her praise by giving back to God the very best thing He had ever given her: her precious son Samuel. Then she began to say God s praises, which included these words: My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is lifted up by the Lord I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the LORD. There is no one besides You! And there is no rock like our God. (1 Samuel 2:1-2 HCSB)
Hannah was so grateful for what God did in her life that she prayed and rejoiced, setting a wonderful example to us of our theme this week: May to Pray God s Praise I ll Say! I want us to memorize this new verse to remind ourselves to praise God! Our verse is: Psalm 9:1 I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. Psalm 9:1 This week s verse for Preschoolers: Psalm 9:1 I will praise you, LORD, with all my heart Psalm 9:1 I m so proud of you kids for learning about prayer with me! Wonders: What questions do we have about this? What about Hannah s life was not okay? (she really wanted a baby) In what ways did Hannah respond to God s answer to her prayer? (she fulfilled her promises to Him; she gave Samuel back to Him when he was old enough; she praised Him!) Hannah gave up Samuel to God when He answered her prayers. How do you think you would respond if God asked you to give up something or someone that was really important to you? Have you ever prayed for something that God gave you, but, after He gave it to you, it cost you something else? What are some things that would be hard for you to give up if God asked you to? How can we live a life of praise? (be sure to always praise God for everything He has done for us!) For Preschoolers: What was Hannah sad about? (a baby!) What did she do about her sadness? (she prayed!) What did Hannah do when God answered her prayers? What should we do when God answers our prayers? Weavings: What else does the Bible say about these truths? Old Testament: A prophet named Habakkuk in the Old Testament went through really hard times with the nation of Israel. On behalf of his people, Habakkuk called out to God over and over again for help, and he asked God really hard questions, too. Every time he prayed, Habakkuk anticipated for God s answers. He said: I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what He will say to me.. (Habakkuk 2:1 HCSB)
God responded to Habakkuk s prayers, which is what the little book of Habakkuk is all about. And do you know how Habakkuk responded to God for this? He praised Him! The Bible says: A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet Lord, I have heard the report about You; Lord, I stand in awe of Your deeds.i will triumph in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation! Yahweh my Lord is my strength. (Habakkuk 3:1,2,18-19a). Habakkuk was confident that God would hear and would answer his prayers. King David wrote: I will declare all your wondrous works; I will rejoice and boast about You... (Psalm 9:1-2 CSB) And this is exactly what Habakkuk did: he boasted about God. To boast about something means to brag about it. It s not right for us to brag about ourselves - - - that is pride. However, it is good for us to brag about God. When He does something amazing in our lives, when He answers our prayers and responds to our cries, we should talk about this to everybody who will listen. We should declare God s praise from the rooftops; we should rejoice and sing about all He has done. God s good answers to prayer in our lives are things we shouldn t keep hidden. We should put His answers on display for the world to see, because we are proud that we serve such an amazing, caring God! Habakkuk did this. David told everybody about God s goodness, and Hannah proclaimed God s praises, too. They are all wonderful examples to us of this week s theme: May to Pray God s Praise I ll Say! New Testament: In the New Testament, another couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth had never been able to have children. They desperately wanted a child and cried out to God in prayer. Zechariah was a priest who worked in the temple, just like Eli had done during Hannah s time. One day, when Zechariah was in the temple doing his duties, an angel of the Lord named Gabriel appeared to him and said: Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John. There will be joy and delight for you, and many will rejoice at his birth (Luke 1:13-14 HCSB) What an amazing answer to prayer! But, just like Hannah (and David and Habakkuk and Daniel and everybody who has ever prayed!), Zechariah and Elizabeth had to watch and wait to see what God would do. The time came when God did exactly what said He would do: He gave them a baby boy. They named him John, just like God had told them to. Then, guess how Zechariah responded? He praised God, saying:
Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and provided redemption for His people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David (Luke 2:68-69 HCSB) Zechariah didn t just get what he wanted from God and quit talking to Him! Instead, he praised God and bragged about what God had done. We can follow both his example as we learn, May to Pray God s Praise I ll Say!!! Walking: How can we live out these truths? Let s talk about some of the ways God has answered our prayers! Are there any answers to prayer that we can write on our prayer request sheet? Are there other answers to prayer that our family has experienced that we should write down and remember? It is important that we stop and brag about God! This is how we praise Him by remembering and telling about all the good things He has done. This is a great time for you to fill in any answers to prayer on your prayer request sheet; it s also a great time to revisit the themes of continuing to pray three times a day and talking to God when life s not okay. Just because you haven t seen answers to those prayer requests yet doesn t mean you quit praying about them! Reiterate this to your children (and to yourself!). Take time to walk down memory lane and praise God for ways He has answered your prayers in the past! For Preschool Families: Throughout our day, let s look together for ways that God is answering our prayers! He provides the warm sunshine while we re playing outside, He keeps us safe when we re driving in our car, He gives us the food we eat each day, etc. (Giving practical examples is so great for our little ones. Add these praises to your prayer sheet, just as you added names of people to pray for.) Worship: How shall we respond to the Lord for these truths? Worship through Praise: Lord God, Your Word says that we don t have to worry about anything but that we should pray about everything, thanking You for what you have already done. (Philippians 4:6) And so, we do that, God. We thank You for all the ways You have already listened to and answered prayers for our family. You have been so good to us, and we praise You for all of these! Amen!!! Worship through Prayer: Lord God, Your Word says to, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. (Colossians 4:2 NIV) Help us to be devoted and persistent in prayer, never quitting praying, always watching for Your answers and then being grateful and praising
You when You answer. We bring our requests to You, and we thank You for what You have done. Amen! NOTE: For Preschool Families: Sing this week s jingle - May to Pray - God s Praise I ll Say! - with motions after praise and prayer time. Family Disciple Me: A final blessing from this lesson to speak over your children Just like Samuel and John were God s gifts to their parents, you are God s gift to me. And just like their parents gave them back to God, I dedicate you to God, too. You are an answer to my prayers, and I pray that you will serve God faithfully all the days of your life. Even though I know that life will not always be okay, I also know that I m teaching you to follow the God who hears your prayers and deserves your praise. And so I pray an anointing over you just like Samuel s parents and John s parents did. May God be with you all the days of your life, and may He hear and answer your prayers as you cry out to Him and anticipate His answers. May you be a grateful person praising and thanking Him always. I love you with all my heart. Amen. 2018 Tosha Lamdin Williams, Mommy Disciple Me