Prayer Basics for Youth (Lesson 4: When Should We Pray?) (A youth curriculum resource based on the book Prayer Basics: The Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How of Prayer and brought to you by the National Prayer Center, a ministry of the General Council of the Assemblies of God.) The National Prayer Center Equipping the Church......Answering the Call
Prayer Basics For Youth LESSON 4: Now Is the Right Time STUDY TEXT: Psalm 102:1-8,12,13,18-22; Matthew 7:7-11; Mark 4:35-41; John 14:1-4; Romans 1:18-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:17,18; Hebrews 12:14 OBJECTIVE: WHAT is the point? God wants us to make prayer a priority no matter what s happening in our lives. WHY is it important? We need a constant commitment to prayer because hard times can make us lose focus on God and good times can distract us from His plan for our lives. HOW should I respond? Commit to making prayer a priority, then go to God in prayer and praise no matter where you re at in life. KEY VERSE: 1 Thessalonians 5:17,18 Pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God s will for you in Christ Jesus (NIV). Getting Started ACTIVITY: Out of Focus Divide the class into two or more teams and supply a small wastebasket and stack of scratch paper to each team. Line up each team 10-15 feet from their wastebaskets and announce that, one by one, they will crumple a piece of paper and toss it into the basket. The team making the most baskets in one minute wins. But before you start, display a pair of extremely strong eyeglasses (or similar item that blurs vision) that the team of your choosing will have to wear while shooting baskets. Play the game, awarding a small prize to the winners. Then discuss how the team with blurred vision did. Talk about how their blurred vision and inability to focus made it more difficult for them to compete. EXPLAIN: One of the biggest reasons we need to pray consistently is because the challenges of life can make it more and more difficult to focus on God. Good times can distract us from His incredible plans for us. And hard times can tempt us to focus on ourselves and our own solutions. We must make prayer an ongoing priority no matter where we re at in life. ACTIVITY: No Time Like the Present Present this question to students, Name ten things it would be unsafe or unwise to put off once you realize it needs to be done? (Lighter examples include using the rest room, writing a report due the next morning, zipping your zipper or otherwise adjusting a piece of clothing, and filling an empty tank of gas. More serious situations might involve going to the doctor or confronting a friend about drug use.) Discuss what the consequences might be if you decided to procrastinate on each of these items. Talk about which ones would be most serious to ignore, and why.
EXPLAIN: Priorities say a lot about who we are and where we re at in life. Everyday decisions on how we spend time, money, and energy say much about what s most important to us. However, we also often find ourselves in circumstances that demand urgent action on our part. Nowhere is this more true than in our relationship with God and specifically in how we pray. Prayer is the foundation of that relationship, so it must be at the top of the list on our daily agenda. But we also face moments when prayer is urgent we need to talk to God right away. In both cases, we have an incredible promise: God is waiting to hear from us. So whether you re sitting alone in your room or facing a crisis that needs immediate attention, it s always the right time to pray. Digging Deeper 1. Seek God when life is hard. ACTIVITY: Get Closer Display a small fan and turn it on. Have a volunteer stand at the far end of the room as far from the fan as possible. Ask him or her to describe how well the breeze from the fan can be felt at that distance. Then have the volunteer walk slowly toward the fan before finally placing his or her face right up to the front of it. As this is going on, the volunteer should describe how the breeze feels. Explain that the fan didn t speed up or somehow blow more air on the volunteer. Instead, the location of the volunteer is what changed; he or she moved closer. In the same way, there are times when we feel like God is very far away. Life s circumstances leave us wondering if we re all alone. But when we move closer to God by focusing on Him and talking to Him regularly, it becomes more and more clear that He is there, just as powerful and just as concerned about us as ever. EXPLAIN: Life can be hard sometimes. We get let down or hurt by someone we care about. An unexpected problem leaves us wondering what to do. Our situation seems so difficult that we almost feel afraid to make a decision. Here are some examples as well as some ideas on how to stay focused on God when times like these strike. Avoid the trap of bitterness. PONDER: Invite students to think about a time when they felt really let down by a friend, or were treated unjustly in a situation they could not control. Then ask them to evaluate how they responded in that situation. Was it the right response? What did their response say about their relationship with God? What, if anything, do they wish they had done differently? ASK: How do most people respond when they re let down, betrayed, or feel like they have been treated unjustly? (Explain that bitterness is one of the most common responses. People get angry at others, at life, or even at God. Obviously, a reaction like this will only harm our walk with Him. The better choice is to reject anger and bitterness, and trust God for solutions, knowing that He always has our best interests in view.) Have a volunteer read Psalm 102:1-8,12,13,18-22. Ask students if they can relate to the feelings of the Psalmist and why. Note that we might not face the same situations, but we all
encounter times when life is hard or even unfair. We can choose to be angry at God, or we can trust Him. We can ignore God, or we can call out to Him in prayer. When we reject bitterness and look to God, we won t be disappointed. Don t let fear sink you. Have a volunteer read Mark 4:35-41. Ask students how they would have felt if they d been in that situation. Would they have questioned if God cared about them, or would they have stayed strong in faith? EXPLAIN: Sometimes life can make us feel afraid, unsure, and even helpless. A person we care about has a serious illness. Our parents are fighting, and talking about splitting up. Dad just lost his job, and now it doesn t seem like there will be enough money for the basics of life, much less plan for college. During those times we are tempted to lose sight of God, to stop communicating with Him because we re so focused on the problem. We might even wonder if He still cares about us. But that is where faith comes in true faith that s shown by a commitment to pray. Will doubt get the best of us, or will be stay focused on God? The choice is up to us. ASK: Invite students to name the kinds of situations in life that would make them most afraid, and why? Then talk about how prayer can help them deal with each situation and even make them stronger for the experience. Focus on God s promises. ASK: Ask students if they ve ever been really disappointed. What was the situation, and how did it affect them? How did it affect their relationship with God, if at all? Ask a volunteer to read John 14:1-4, then explain that Jesus prepared His disciples for the biggest challenge they would ever face. He was about to be put on trial, convicted, and executed. They would, in response, need to place full trust in His words and promises or they would become disappointed and discouraged. We, too, will face circumstances that will tempt us to doubt. The remedy for this is to focus on His promises, which we do by searching His Word and staying in touch with Him through prayer. BRAINSTORM: Have students name as many reassuring promises of God as possible in one minute. Challenge them to identify where these appear in Scripture. Then talk about how each one will help in hard times. Also discuss how faithfulness in prayer will reinforce each promise. Examples include: God will never leave us (Deuteronomy 31:8); Nothing can separate us from God s love (Romans 8:38,39); God will give us direction (James 1:5). 2. Praise God when life is great. ASK: How do you think most people would say we achieve success in our lives? How would you say we achieve success? (Take time to discuss their answers.)
EXPLAIN: It s not unusual to hear people say that the greatest source of success and happiness in life lies in ourselves. What we achieve depends on our time, our money, our talents, and our effort. As a result people are often inclined to congratulate themselves for the good things the success and accomplishments in their lives. But the Bible presents a different picture. Have a volunteer read 1 Thessalonians 5:18, then emphasize that this verse is usually highlighted when rough things happen to us. But the principle applies in the best of times, too. We need to focus on thanking God when everything is going great and sometimes that s hard to do. Success can form a trap in our relationship with God, making us selfreliant and even proud. ACTIVITY: Distribute paper and pencils, and have students list seven things they would most love to have if money were no object. When they finish have them list seven things they are grateful to God for placing in their lives. Then ask: Which list was easier to make, and why do you think that is? Talk about how big of a role gratitude to God plays in our lives, and how big of a role is should play. Have a volunteer read Romans 1:18-23. Point out that this passage describes ingratitude by people who have little time for God and would rather thank themselves for the great things that actually come as a result of His blessings. When we succeed in life, when we find ourselves enjoying the good things, our first reflex ought to be offering a prayer of praise to God. DISCUSS: Ask students if they ve ever felt like they ve been taken for granted. Maybe they helped a friend or relative with a project and didn t get so much as a thank-you in return. Or they volunteered for something, then discovered that it was just assumed they d be doing that task permanently. Talk about how it feels when this happens. Why do they think even close friends and relatives would take them for granted? Explain that sometimes we just assume someone is there, and forget about their sacrifices, and even their feelings. Have a volunteer read Matthew 7:1-11, then have students identify what it says about the ways God is involved in their lives. Note that these aren t miracles; God is simply making it possible His creation to have food, clothes, and the other necessities of life. Discuss if students think it s common for Christians to make thanking God for these things a part of their prayer lives. Why might people fail to give thanks? ACTIVITY: Ask students to name their favorite praise songs, listing their responses on the board. Then ask them to recite their favorite lyrics from these songs. Talk about what these songs say about praise. Why do we spend time praising God? How much of our prayer time should be spent in praise? How will praising God consistently for the big things as well as the little things affect our relationship with Him? Finally, challenge students to examine their own lives. Do they spend adequate time praising God? Do they worship Him for big and small things? Challenge students to make praise a regular part of their prayers not just during worship songs and services. It s always a good time to praise.
3. Make prayer your constant priority. ILLUSTRATION: Recite the list of world records for endurance below, discussing what it would be like to perform each feat. (Source: Guinness Book of World Records, Bantam Books, New York, 2008.) Talk about how long students think they could endure each of these things. The world record for holding one s breath: 16 minutes 13 seconds. The record for longest consecutive time laying on a bed of nails: 300 hours. Most rotations in one minute while hanging from the ceiling by holding a power drill: 141. Farthest distance travelled by doing the worm move at one time: 141 feet 9 inches. Longest continuous time doing karaoke: 38 hours 30 minutes. Longest time controlling a soccer ball with the head while seated: 4 hours 9 minutes 26 seconds. Longest full-body contact with ice (unclothed and buried in ice up to the shoulders): 1 hour 30 minutes. Longest handshake: 9 hours 19 minutes. Discuss how a person might have built up the stamina to perform such feats. Note that no one could do any of these things indefinitely. There is a limit to how long we can do any single act or activity. Relate this to a proper understanding of what it means to be in constant prayer, as outlined in the Scripture below. Have a volunteer read 1 Thessalonians 5:17, then invite students to describe what they think this verse means. Do they believe they actually are supposed to be in prayer all the time? Explain that it would be pretty intimidating to think of prayer this way. After all, we often run out of things to say after a few minutes. EXPLAIN: This verse isn t talking about bowing our heads and mouthing a prayer day and night for the rest of our lives. Instead, it refers to an attitude the kind of focus and perspective that God wants every Christian to have. Notice the verses that surround these words. They talk about being joyful always and giving thanks in all circumstances. These are attitudes, and they are maintained regardless of where we re at in life. We don t tell ourselves to be joyful all the time. And we don t go around repeating Thank You, Lord over and over when times get tough. But we can easily recognize thankful Christians and joyful Christians just by spending time with them. Joy and thanksgiving seem to always be there in their attitudes. And the same can happen with prayer. Yes, we need to bow and actually pray, and often. But prayer without ceasing refers to a line of communication with God that s always open. We re always ready to talk to Him, and to hear what He has to say. DISCUSS: Talk about what situations in life seem to cause us to lose focus on prayer. Emphasize that it can be easy to pray when life seems to be crashing down around us: there s a family crisis, someone we love is really sick, or we re about to go through a big transition such as high school graduation. Strangely, it s often just normal, sometimes-boring day-to-life when we start to lose focus on prayer. Maybe talking to God doesn t seem so urgent. Or we run out of things to say. Whatever the reason, consistency in prayer and focus aren t easy.
BRAINSTORM: Have students come up with ideas for how we can maintain a consistent prayer life, as well as an ongoing focus on talking with God. Here are some ideas: Have a specific list or idea of what you need to talk to God about. Don t limit your prayers to the things you and others need. Include prayer for wisdom, opportunities to share your faith, and help resisting temptation and standing firm in your faith. These kinds of things are ongoing issues for all Christians. Remember that Christianity is a relationship with God. Like any relationship, communication is normal, natural, and necessary. We can feel free to talk to Him whenever, just as we do with any close friend or relative. Resist the urge to think of prayer as something that happens only in crisis mode. Imagine if you treated a friend that way only talking to him or her when you had a big problem or wanted something. The friendship would be strained, to say the least. We will have a strong prayer life and pray without ceasing when prayer is something we look forward to doing. Making It Real MINISTRY ACTIVITY: Close the class time by challenging student to take a look at their own level of focus on and desire for prayer. Consider passing out paper and pencils and having students respond to the following questions: Do hard times ever cause me to struggle in my relationship with God? Why? Do I give God the credit, and do I praise Him, for the good things in my life? How can I be more consistent about doing this? Do I spend enough time praising God? How is my attitude about life affected after I ve spent a lot of time praising God? What s the biggest barrier keeping me from praying more and focusing on God consistently? How can I overcome this barrier? Gather students together for a time of prayer, encouraging them to seek God on behalf of each other. Make this prayer time a moment of asking God to help you have a better understanding of why prayer is important, as well as a stronger commitment to holding an attitude of prayer at all times. MINISTRY ACTIVITY: Emphasize to students that there are several things they can do to make prayer a more consistent part of their lives. Note that there will always be distractions, and sometimes prayer will just seem hard. Encourage them to note their answers to these questions on the same sheet used in the activity above. Then, using these responses, they can develop a strategy to achieve a better, more consistent prayer life, and put that strategy into action. Finally, pray with them, asking God to give them strength to follow through on this important priority. Where can I go a specific room or place that will give me the most privacy and the least distractions when I pray? What time of day am I most likely to be able to focus on prayer? What time is most difficult for me to focus?
What are the most common distractions I face when I try to pray? How can I overcome these distractions? What are the easiest excuses I tend to use when it comes time to pray and I m tempted to do something else? How can I answer these excuses? All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.