FAITH LESSONS – IMPORTANCE OF PRAYER
Lesson 17 – Importance of Prayer
How many of you like to talk? I know quite a few of you are big talkers. Prayer is talking to God. It’s telling Him what’s going on, asking for help, thanking and praising Him, and seeking forgiveness. Prayer is also about listening to God. Sometimes we talk too much about what we want and fail to listen to what God is telling us.
Why do we pray?
God already knows what is going to happen, He has already gone before us. But He wants us to talk to Him because He wants a relationship with us. Think about your best friend. If you never talked with them, hung out with them, or even looked at them, are they really your best friend? No. God wants to be our best friend. He wants us to talk with Him and tell Him our worries, our fears, and even funny things that happen to us. We can talk to God about everything!
Here’s what we know about prayer:
- God wants us to know Him: He created us for a relationship with Him. He wants to be our best friend!
- God really does answer prayer: God in His sovereignty chooses to use our prayers to accomplish His purposes and will. Certain things happen in response to prayer, so what we ask in prayer matters!
- God loves us through prayer: We get to know God through prayer and feel His love even greater.
- We love God through prayer: When we worship God in prayer, we tell Him we love Him and thank Him for all He has done.
Sometimes it can be hard to come up with the right words. We don’t always know what to say, but the Bible says the Holy Spirit speaks for us! Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” God gave us the Holy Spirit to make it even easier to talk to him!
When can we pray?
So, when can we pray? The answer: All the time! Prayer is not supposed to be just before dinner, bed and at church. We are to pray and talk to God all the time. Prayer is about you and God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “pray without ceasing”, in other words don’t stop praying. You can pray in the car on your way to school, at school, in a bathroom, in your own room, you can pray with friends, with adults, with strangers even. All the time!
What do we pray for?
We can pray anytime and we can pray for anything! But, if you need help finding a way to pray, I’ll teach you by using your own hand:
- Thumb: Praise God
- Pointer: Confess your sins and ask forgiveness
- Middle: Thank God
- Ring: Pray for others
- Pinky: Pray for yourself
- Palm: Close the prayer
See how the Lord’s Prayer is the prayer is follows the same format:
OUR FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN,
HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME, YOUR KINGDOM COME;
YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD,
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS AND SINS,
AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS.
LET US NOT ENTER INTO TEMPTATION,
BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE.
FOR YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, THE POWER, AND THE GLORY,
FOREVER AND EVER, AMEN.