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Lesson 6

Hearing God’s Voice

Wind, Fire, & Smoke

Unit Game

Play the Books of the Bible Game you have chosen for today’s lesson as students arrive and settle in. Start with 10 books and continue to add more each week as the children learn their order. This should only take up about five minutes of your time. The point is to repeat a handful of games throughout the year so that the kids memorize the books of the Bible over time. If the students are new to it, feel free to help them find the answer so the game keeps moving.

Prayer

We are always going to begin our lessons with prayer, because we want the Holy Spirit to be the One who is leading our lessons. 

Pray, thanking and praising God for everything He does for us, and that He loves us and wants to teach us more about Him. Thank God for His Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead the lesson and open up hearts and minds to be able to understand the truth of His Word.

Lesson

Review

Hearing God’s Voice

We have been learning a lot about how and how not to pray. But we also learned that prayer is more than just talking to God, it’s also listening to God. Have you been wondering how God speaks to us? God speaks to us in many different ways. I think everyone has wondered at some point if God can speak to us in an audible voice—in a voice we can hear out loud. What does it sounds like? God can speak to us audibly, but it’s not something that happens very often. That doesn’t mean that it can’t happen though. Maybe you even know someone who has heard the audible voice of God. (Share if you have a story, and, at your discretion, allow the students to share if they know of a story. The point is that they should know it is possible for God to speak this way—we don’t want them to be unbelieving—but in reality it doesn’t happen all the time.) 

Let’s look at some stories in the Bible where God spoke to people with a voice that everyone could hear!

The first story is in Exodus 19:16-19, when the Lord met with His people, Israel, on Mount Sinai. Read, or assign a reader.

This sounds like a pretty scary experience doesn’t it? But it also sounds exciting! God showed Himself in a way that could be seen, heard, and felt. [Note for older students: What is God’s literal presence which can be seen, heard, or felt? His manifest presence.]

What happened first, in verse 16? What were all the things they saw and heard? There was thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and a very loud trumpet sound.

But none of those things were the Lord’s voice! What did the Lord’s voice sound like when He answered Moses, in verse 19? Thunder. (NASB and ESV. NIV has “voice of God.”)

The next story is in 1 Kings 19:11-13 when the Lord met with the prophet Elijah on Mount Sinai, many years later. Read, or assign a reader.

What three things happened before Elijah heard the voice of God? A strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire.

What did Elijah hear after those three things? A gentle blowing, and then the voice of God. (NIV “a gentle whisper.” ESV “the sound of a low whisper.”)

It seems like Elijah knew the sound of God’s voice. He watched and waited while the wind broke the rocks on the mountain, but he knew that was not God’s voice. Then there was an earthquake, but still he waited. After that, there was a fire, but still Elijah knew it wasn’t the Lord yet. When He heard the gentle blowing (or a gentle whisper), Elijah came out of the cave. I don’t know about you but I would be kind of scared to come out of the cave after all of those things happened! But Elijah knew God was there and He trusted Him. When he came out of the cave the Lord spoke to him. 

If you have younger students you can skip to the next section.

[Older Students: Let’s read another story about when the Lord’s voice sounded like thunder.

John 12:28-29. Read, or assign a reader.

In this story it seems like God did speak in a voice that could be heard and understood, but not everyone heard His voice the same way and understood it. Some of them thought it was an angel, and others said it was only thunder! It seems that it depended on what the people’s attitude was. Some of them may have been skeptical and unbelieving, and others had more faith to believe that they had really heard a voice from heaven. And still others heard the voice, knew that it was God and not an angel, and wrote down what God said. 

Let’s look at a few more stories of when God’s voice could be plainly heard by all of the people.

Luke 3:21-22. Read, or assign a reader.

In this story, Jesus is being baptized. What happens first after He is baptized? Heaven is opened. 

What comes down out of heaven? The Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove. 

Then what? A voice spoke from heaven.

Matthew 17:1-6. Read, or assign a reader.

In this story Jesus is on a mountain with His disciples, Peter, James, and John, and He is transformed before them and suddenly they can see Him as He really is—His face shines like the sun! Then what happens? Allow answers.

A voice speaks out of the cloud. Have you noticed anything that seems to come along with God’s voice in a lot of these stories? There is a cloud.

While Peter is speaking, a cloud forms around them and a voice from heaven speaks. What do the disciples do when they hear the voice? They fall down on the ground. ]

If you have younger students, continue from here:

The Bible is full of many amazing stories like these ones, where the Lord speaks to men in awesome ways. It sounds like God’s voice can sometimes be very loud like thunder, and even scary, just like when He spoke to the Israelis on Mount Sinai. But He also speaks to people in gentle breezes, like He did with Elijah. He can even speak to children like you!

Let’s read about a little boy who heard God speak to him in an audible voice! 

1 Samuel 3:1-10. Read or assign a reader.

This story is one of my favorites! It is so exciting and amazing to think of the Lord actually coming and “standing” near Samuel and speaking to him! Wow! Try to imagine this happening to you. What would you do? How would it feel to know you are hearing God’s actual voice?

In the beginning of this story it says that hearing from the Lord was “rare” in those days and didn’t happen very often. But the Lord chose to speak in an audible voice to a little boy. The priest was Eli, but God spoke to the little boy rather than to him. So don’t think that God only speaks to leaders or people who seem more “holy” to you! He can speak to you just like He spoke to Samuel. You may not hear His voice out loud, with smoke and thunder and fire, but you will definitely hear His voice inside your heart if you ask Him to speak to you. 

God has spoken to His people throughout the Bible, and revealed Himself through clouds, smoke, fire, earthquakes, and His thundering voice. But the most important part of this lesson is that God wants to speak to us, His creation, and He wants to spend time with us. 

From the time of Adam’s creation the Lord has wanted a relationship with mankind. That’s the reason He created us! In the beginning, He walked with Adam and talked with him. When sin entered into God’s creation and separated us from Him, His first thought was how to come back into relationship with us. He disciplined and punished Adam and Eve, but He also gave them the hope that one day the Seed of the woman Eve would be victorious over satan (Gen 3:15) and we would be able to come freely into His presence one again. Jesus is that Seed (descendant) of the woman, and when He died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins He accomplished that promise from God. Now we can confidently enter into God’s manifest presence once more!

The main way that we can have a relationship with God is through prayer. We can enter into God’s presence whenever we want to! God is a person and wants to talk with us just like a friend. And He wants to speak to us all the time–even more than we want to spend time with Him. He is ready and waiting for you to speak to Him. He wants to hear everything that is happening in your life. He already knows everything that is happening in your life (because He is omniscient), but He still wants to hear about it from you. What an awesome thought to know that our Creator is waiting for us to speak to Him! Don’t you think that maybe we should also be waiting to hear from Him and expect that He will speak to us, just as He spoke to all of these people we have been reading about? I do! As we already learned, you don’t have to be someone special, holy, or even an adult for God to speak to you!

I hope you are excited to start spending time talking to God and listening for His voice! Great job listening today. 

Review Questions

1. What is prayer? Talking to God. Having a conversation.
2. There are two parts to a conversation, and there are two parts of prayer. What are they? Talking and listening. 
3. Can God speak to us in an audible voice which can be heard out loud? Yes.
4. Does is happen very often? No.
5. Did it happen in the Bible? Yes.
6. What did the people of Israel hear and see when God came down onto Mount Sinai to speak with them? There was thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and a very loud trumpet sound.
7. What did the Lord’s voice sound like when He spoke to Moses? Thunder.
8. What did Elijah see and hear before the Lord’s voice spoke to him? A strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire.
9. What did Elijah hear after those three things, right before he heard the voice of God? A gentle blowing.
10. What little boy heard the audible voice of God? Samuel.
11. Do you have to be someone special for God to speak to you? No.
12. Does God want to speak to us? Yes.
13. Does God speak only to holy people, or special people? No. He can speak to anyone.
14. Why did God create us? To have a relationship with us.
15. Who is the promised Seed of the woman Eve? Jesus.
16. What did sin separate Adam and Eve (and us) from? God’s holy presence.
17. Since Jesus died for us on the cross, what are we able to enter into now? God’s (manifest) holy presence.
18. How does God know what’s happening in our life before we talk to Him about it? He is omniscient.
19. What is the main way that we can have a relationship with God? Prayer.
20. Will God speak to you if you ask Him to? Yes!

Older Students:

21. What came down from heaven when Jesus was baptized? The Holy Spirit came down like a dove.
22. What did everyone hear after heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit came down like a dove? A voice from heaven. God’s voice.
23. How did Jesus look different when He was revealed to His disciples on the mountain? His face shone like the sun. His clothes glowed.
24. What surrounded His disciples when Jesus was transformed on the mountain? A cloud.
25. What did they hear when this happened? God’s voice from heaven.
26. What did they do when they heard God’s voice? They fell down.

Memory Verses

Choose a memory verse that fits your class’ abilities. Or choose more than one and award prizes accordingly.

Non-Readers/Beginner Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 NIV 

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:1-2 NIV

Older Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.” Psalm 34:15-16 NIV

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4 NIV

Play the Memory Verse Game you have chosen for today’s lesson or play the memory verse song to review the memory verse.

Lesson 3

How to Pray

An Attitude of Trust

Unit Game

Play the Books of the Bible Game you have chosen for today’s lesson as students arrive and settle in. This should only take up about five minutes of your time. The point is to repeat a handful of games throughout the year so that the kids memorize the books of the Bible, so this really shouldn’t take a long time. If the students are new to it, feel free to help them find the answer so the game keeps moving.

Prayer

We are always going to begin our lessons with prayer, because we want the Holy Spirit to be the One who is leading our lessons. 

Pray, thanking and praising God for everything He does for us, and that He loves us and wants to teach us more about Him. Thank God for His Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead the lesson and open up hearts and minds to be able to understand the truth of His Word.

Lesson

Review

What have we been learning about? Prayer.

The Lord is able to look at the attitudes and motives of our hearts because He is omniscient. What does omniscient mean? He knows everything!

Does anyone remember what an attitude is? Allow answers.

An attitude is how we feel when we are doing something. We learned that we can even have a bad attitude while we are doing something that is good.

Does anyone remember what a motive is? Allow answers.

A motive is the reason why we do something. God cares about our motives! He cares about our attitudes and our motives just as much as He cares about what we do. What should our attitudes and motives be when we pray? We should be praying humbly and honestly, not showing off in front of others.

Meaningless Repetition  

We have been learning a little bit about the Lord’s Prayer. Did you know that sometimes people memorize the Lord’s Prayer and say it over and over, thinking that since Jesus said this prayer it must be extra special or magical, and God will definitely answer them if they say it enough? But that’s not why Jesus gave it to His followers. Do you remember why Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer? Allow answers.

Jesus gave us the Lord’s Prayer so we would have an example to follow—like a map or an outline of how He expects us to pray. But He also gave us instructions on how and how not to pray. We read a little bit of those instructions last time. Let’s keep reading the rest of them today.

Matthew 6:7-8. Read, or assign readers..

In verse 7, what does Jesus say we shouldn’t do when we pray? Repeat things over and over. 

Jesus called that meaningless! But yet, that’s what many Christians have ended up doing with the Lord’s Prayer. I think maybe Jesus knew that someday people would try to do that, so He warned us not to do that. That’s not why He gave us this prayer.

Who uses meaningless repetition, according to Jesus? The Gentiles. 

Gentile is a word for anyone who is not a Jew. Most of us are Gentiles. In the time of Jesus, before the gospel (the good news about Jesus), most Gentiles were unbelievers and people who worshiped false gods. That’s who Jesus is talking about: unbelievers. 

A lot of false religions actually require people to chant things over and over. But we aren’t supposed to be like unbelievers when we pray!

Why did Jesus say the Gentiles (unbelievers) would repeat their words over and over when they prayed? It’s at the end of verse 7. They thought they would be heard by God because of their many words.

We also shouldn’t pray meaningless words over and over thinking that our hard work will get us noticed by God. The Bible assures us that when we come to God sincerely (in truth) and humbly (not thinking we know everything), then God wants to hear our prayer and He is pleased by it and He will answer our prayer—even if the answer is “No,” or, “Wait,” or, “Yes!” We don’t need to say it over and over! We can trust Him!

When we think that saying it over and over will get our prayers answered, are we really trusting that God is all-powerful and that He wants to answer us? Or are we trusting in our own efforts? What do you think? Allow answers.

The heart behind it isn’t really trust when we pray like that. In verse 8, Jesus says to not be like the Gentiles, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” We aren’t supposed to be afraid that God won’t answer us, like the Gentiles (who are unbelievers, or worshipers of false gods), but instead we should be trusting that God knows us (He is omniscient) and He knows what we need before we even ask.God wants us to relax and remember He is a good Father who will provide for us and protect us. He wants us to have a heart attitude of trust when we pray.

Persistence

Jesus gave us an example of how to pray with an attitude of trust in Matthew 7:7-11. Let’s read it together. Read, or assign a reader.

What three things does Jesus say we need to do? Ask, seek and knock.

He said that if we ask, seek, and knock we will be given what we need, find what we are seeking, and the door will be opened to us. In the original language it says something more like “keep asking,” “keep seeking,” and “keep knocking.” That sounds like we need to be persistent! Persistence is when you don’t give up right away and keep trying. 

If you have younger students you can skip to the next section.

[Older Students: Persistence is different than the “meaningless reputation” that Jesus warned us not to do. Meaningless repetition is about earning an answer from God. It’s like working at it. Persistence is just not giving up, and trusting that God will answer. It’s actually a big part of trusting God when we pray. We ask, seek, and knock, but when we don’t see an answer right away we don’t give up. Sometimes when we don’t get an answer to our prayer right away it’s easy to say, “I guess God doesn’t want to answer my prayer,” or, “He must not really care about me or my problem.” But is that the right attitude to have? Is it an attitude of trust? Allow answers.

When we give up right away it’s actually like telling God we don’t think He cares about our prayers. It’s not an attitude of trust. If you ask your parents for something that you really need, but they don’t answer you right away, you probably ask again because you know they love you. If we know that someone loves us, then we will ask them again. If we don’t think they care, then we probably will give up. So of all people that we ask something from, when we ask God for things we should not give up, because we know He loves and cares about us more than anyone else on earth!

Jesus reassured us in the next few verses that God will give us what we ask Him for and He does care about our needs. He said, in verse 8, “For everyone who asks (or keeps on asking) receives, and he who seeks (or keeps on seeking) finds, and to him who knocks (and keeps on knocking) the door will be opened.”]

Younger students continue from here:

Who does Jesus compare our Heavenly Father to in verses 9-11? Allow answers. A father giving good gifts to his children. 

Jesus says that even earthly fathers who are sinful usually want to give their children what they ask for. You could even say that most of the time even criminals love their own children and give them good things, or at least try to, right? Jesus is saying “how much more” will our Father, who is holy and perfect and good and loving, give us what we need? The answer is a lot more!

Have you ever asked for something for your birthday or for Christmas and your parents, or maybe another relative or friend, gave you something even better than what you asked for? That has happened to me! I’ve asked for something I wanted, but I didn’t ask for the best version of that thing, and someone gave me an even better version of what I asked for! Well, God is like that! Since He knows us better than anyone else—even our family and parents—He is able to give us things we didn’t even know we wanted or needed. 

Do you remember what word do we use to describe how God knows everything? Omniscient.

Jesus also told a few parables about prayer. Let’s look at a couple of them. 

Luke 11:5-9. Read, or assign a reader.

Wow, this friend doesn’t sound like the greatest friend does he? He won’t even get out of bed to give him a few loaves of bread! What does Jesus say in verse 8 is the reason the friend will give him what he asked for? Let’s read it again. Have someone read the verse again. Allow answers.

Jesus said that even if the man won’t give him the bread because he is a friend, he will give him what he asks for if he is just persistent. There is that word again! What does it mean? Allow answers.

It means not giving up right away! Keep trying! If someone is banging on your door in the middle of the night and won’t stop, wouldn’t you be annoyed? What would you do? Allow answers.

I know that I would want the person to go away as soon as possible so I could go back to sleep! I think I’d give him whatever he wanted! That seems to be Jesus’ entire point when He says to ask, seek, and knock—and keep doing it until you get what you ask for. If it works with a bad friend, it will definitely work with God who is the best friend we could ever ask for!

Let’s look up one more parable about prayer. Luke 18:1-8. Read, or assign a reader.

What does the unrighteous judge say to himself in verses 4-5? Allow answers.

I think Jesus is making the same point again! This widow is being persistent! She won’t give up! She is bothering the judge so he is sick of seeing her and hearing her ask for justice.tJust to get rid of her, he gives her what she asks for.

Jesus is telling us how to pray. He is making a contrast between our loving, holy, Heavenly Father and a bad friend, a bad judge, and a sinful, earthly father. He is saying, “Even these people—who aren’t really that nice, or even good friends, or just judges, and who are sinful—still give people what they ask for if they are persistent!” 

Jesus is reassuring us that we should pray and not give up, because God is a lot more faithful than the lazy friend who wouldn’t get out of bed to give the man the bread. And He is also a righteous judge—not an unrighteous one like the widow had to pester to get justice from! Jesus is saying we can trust that God wants to answer us, and He cares much more about us than anyone else on earth—even our earthly fathers. I think we should pray and not give up, since Jesus said so, don’t you?

Great job listening to the lesson today!

Review Game

Play the Review Game you have chosen for today’s lesson using the questions below.

Review Questions

1. What did Jesus call it when people prayed something over and over, thinking that the more words they prayed the more they would be heard by God? Meaningless. Meaningless repetition.
2. What prayer do some Christians pray over and over thinking it will magically help their prayer be answered? The Lord’s Prayer.
3. Who did Jesus say used “meaningless repetition” when they prayed? The Gentiles. Unbelievers.
4. Jesus said our Heavenly Father ______ what we need before we even ask. Knows.
5. When we think that saying the same words over and over will get our prayers answered, are we really trusting God? No.
6. When we do that are we trusting in God or trusting in our own effort (work)? Our own effort.
7. Does God want to answer our prayers? Yes.
8. What three things does Jesus tell us to do when we pray? Ask, seek, and knock.
9. Are we supposed to just ask, seek, and knock one time? No. 
10. What are we supposed to do? Keep asking, seeking and knocking.
11. When we keep asking, seeking, and knocking what will God do? He will give us what we ask for.
12. What is persistence? Not giving up right away. Keep trying.
13. What do most earthly fathers want to give their children when they ask for something? They want to give them the good things they asked for.
14. If our earthly fathers who are sinful give us good gifts, what should we expect from our perfect Heavenly Father? Good gifts. He will give us what we ask for.
15. God is able to give us things we didn’t even know we wanted or needed because He knows us better than anyone else—even better than we know ourselves. He is ____________. Omniscient.
16. Why did the lazy friend finally get up and give the man what he asked for? Because he was persistent.
17. Why did the unrighteous judge finally give the widow what she asked for? She wouldn’t stop bothering him. What word describes the widow? She was persistent.
18. What does Jesus want us to be when we pray? Persistent.
19. What should our heart attitude be when we pray? Trusting in God that He will give us what we need.
20. Jesus wants us to pray and ______________. Not give up.

Older Students:

21. What is the difference between meaningless repetition and persistence? Meaningless repetition is not trusting God, but is working to earn an answer. Persistence is just not giving up, and trusting God will answer.

22. When we give up right away when we ask God for something, what are we really saying in our hearts? We don’t trust Him. We don’t feel He cares enough to answer us.

23. When you know that someone loves you, do you trust them to eventually give you what you ask for? Yes. 

24. What if it takes a while, do you think you’d ask them again, since you know they really love you? Yes.

25. What point is Jesus making with all of His stories about prayer? We need to be persistent! Don’t give up! 

26. Why do you think Jesus uses such ungodly, sinful examples of people who give people what they ask for? To show that even with ungodly, sinful people, persistence pays off. God is much more loving than anyone else so He will definitely answer us.

Memory Verses

Choose a memory verse that fits your class’ abilities. Or choose more than one and award prizes accordingly.

Non-Readers/Beginner Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 NIV 

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:1-2 NIV

Older Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.” Psalm 34:15-16 NIV

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4 NIV

Play the Memory Verse Game you have chosen for today’s lesson or play the memory verse song to review the memory verse.

Lesson 2

How to Pray 

Having the Right Attitudes & Motives

Unit Game

Play the Books of the Bible Game you have chosen for today’s lesson as students arrive and settle in. This should only take up about five minutes of your time. The point is to repeat a handful of games throughout the year so that the kids memorize the books of the Bible, so this really shouldn’t take a long time. If the students are new to it, feel free to help them find the answer so the game keeps moving.

Prayer

We are always going to begin our lessons with prayer, because we want the Holy Spirit to be the One who is leading our lessons. 

Pray, thanking and praising God for everything He does for us, and that He loves us and wants to teach us more about Him. Thank God for His Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead the lesson and open up hearts and minds to be able to understand the truth of His Word.

Lesson

Review

Does anyone remember what we learned about last week? Prayer.

Does anyone remember what prayer is? Talking to God. Having a conversation with God.

What are the two parts of a conversation? Talking and listening.

What is the word we use to describe feeling close to someone? Intimacy.

What is the word we use to describe how God knows everything? Ominiscent.

Attitudes and Motives

Today we are going to learn a little bit more about praying. First we are going to focus on the talking part of prayer. We are going to learn how we should pray (talk to God), and how we should not pray. Did you know there can be a wrong way to pray?To find out the right way to pray we are going to look at how Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Jesus gave His disciples something called the Lord’s prayer. Has anyone ever heard of it? Allow answers.

Does anyone know where we can find the Lord’s Prayer? Allow answers.

The Lord’s prayer can be found in Matthew 6:9-13 (The Lord’s Prayer can also be found in Luke 11:2-4, but the version we are most familiar with is found in Matthew). Let’s read it. Assign a reader or read yourself.

Jesus didn’t mean that His followers (including us) needed to say this exact prayer every time they prayed. That would be silly! But He gave it as a guide—like a map or an outline of how He expects us to pray. The Lord’s prayer begins with praise and submission to God. It has thanksgiving for all that God does for us, it has confession and forgiveness of others, and it has a place for asking God for the things we need as well. It is the perfect guide to use when we pray! 

We will look at the Lord’s Prayer more closely in our next unit. Right now we are going to look at the instructions Jesus gave His followers about how and how not to pray. How we do something is just as important as what we do. So Jesus gave his followers instructions on what their attitude should be when they prayed.

Can anyone tell me what an attitude is? Allow answers.

An attitude is how you feel inside your heart when you are doing something. You can have a good attitude or a bad attitude. You could have a joyful, happy attitude—or you could have an angry or rebellious attitude.

Have your parents ever told you to change your attitude? Allow answers.

Maybe they told you to change your attitude when they told you to wash the dishes, or take out the garbage, or do your homework? If you obeyed, but had a bad attitude about it (like being grumpy and complaining) you were doing the right thing, but how you did it was wrong. Parents can usually tell when their kids are doing something with a wrong attitude! God can also tell when we are doing things with a bad attitude, because He is omniscient! Omniscient means that He knows all things. Doing the right thing while having a bad attitude is actually sinful behavior. God looks at our behavior on the inside as well as the outside! Since we are all humans, we are all sinful and we are all guilty of having bad attitudes sometimes.

Jesus also told His disciples what their motives should be when they prayed. Does anyone know what a motive is? Allow answers.

 A motive is the reason why you do something. Both motives and attitudes are very, very important because they happen inside our heart. Both of them can be either bad or good. In other words, we can have sinful attitudes and motives, or we can have righteous attitudes and motives. Our attitudes and motives usually come out in the things that we say and do. 

Praying Humbly

Now, let’s get back to the instructions Jesus had about prayer. He had some things to say about attitudes and motives in the verses right before He gave the Lord’s Prayer.

Let’s read them now.

Matthew 6:5-6. Read or assign a reader.

Who did Jesus say we shouldn’t act like when we pray? The hypocrites. 

What a funny word! A hypocrite is a word for someone who should know better, and tells everyone else what the right thing to do is, but then they go and do the wrong thing themselves. 

What did Jesus say they loved to do that we shouldn’t do? Stand and pray for everyone to see.

What do you think their motive was? (Why they did what they did.) Allow guesses.

They probably wanted to be seen by men so people would think they were very spiritual. Jesus said when they do this “they’ve had their reward in full.” That means, that’s all the reward they will get! They were praying with a prideful attitude, instead of a humble attitude. They wanted everyone to look at them and think they were really great! 

Does anyone know what humble means? Allow answers.

Humility is thinking of yourself honestly. Some people think to be humble means to think everyone else is better than you, but that wouldn’t actually be true! To God we are all valuable and he loves all of us, but we are also all sinners in need of Jesus to save us from our sin! Being prideful is the opposite of being humble. It’s thinking you are better than others. We need to think of ourselves honestly—humbly! 

We want to learn how to pray with the right heart attitude, and motives, so we are going to keep looking at what Jesus had to say about how we should and shouldn’t pray.

Jesus said the people who prayed in public because they wanted to be noticed wouldn’t get any more reward than that—being noticed. But wait a minute! That means there must be a reward waiting for those who pray with the right motives and attitude, don’t you think?

How does Jesus say we should pray? It’s in verse 6. Privately.

That’s right! The heart behind it is that we shouldn’t be praying to show off. That would be the wrong attitude and motive! Our prayers should be honest and sincere. We are supposed to be praying to God, not trying to look good.

Who does it say will reward us? The Father (God), who sees what is done in secret. 

That’s right! So we shouldn’t pray so we can be noticed by others. We should pray because we want to talk to God!

Jesus actually told a parable, which is a story. Jesus told “parables” to illustrate a point He was trying to make. They weren’t necessarily about things that really happened, but they helped the people to better understand what He was teaching. He told this parable to show how we shouldn’t be prideful when we pray and we are going to act it out! 

Assign parts and act out the play: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

This parable is found in Luke 18:9-14. Let’s look at Luke 18:9 to see who Jesus was telling this parable to. Read or assign a reader.

Who did Jesus tell this parable to? People who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt (which means they looked down on them, thought they were better than them.)

Who were the two men who went up to the Temple to pray? A Pharisee and a tax collector.

A Pharisee was someone who knew God’s Word and served Him. You could think of them kind of like a pastor or someone who teaches the Bible. They were leaders. 

Do you expect the pastor to know how to pray with the right heart attitude? Allow answers.

But every Christian should know how to pray, right? Allow answers. Yes they should!

The tax collector was a sinner. He wasn’t really following God’s law, and he wasn’t a leader. There was nothing special about him.

Which one prayed the right way, according to Jesus? The tax collector.

What was it that Jesus said the tax collector did right? It’s in verse 14. Let’s look at it. Read or assign a reader.

He humbled himself.

From this parable, we get the idea that God was really pleased with the tax collector’s humble prayer. God isn’t impressed by things that people are usually impressed by. He looks on the inside of a person, at their heart’s thoughts and motives.

If you have younger students, you can move on to the next section.

[Older students: Let’s read a few more verses about what God has to say about the motives of our hearts.

Proverbs 16:2. Read, or assign a reader. 

From this verse we get the idea that even we may not understand our own motives completely, but God does! How is He able to understand and “weigh” our motives? He is omniscient.

1 Samual 16:7. Read, or assign a reader.

In this verse we see that the Lord is telling us something about His character—how He thinks and acts. He says that He doesn’t get impressed by the person’s outward appearance like men do. He looks inside the person, at their heart! He is able to do that because He is…. Omniscient.

James 4:3. Read, or assign a reader.

In this verse, and many others, we learn that it’s even possible God will ignore our prayer if we have wrong motives in our hearts! He will hear us, because He always hears us, but He may choose not to answer us if we have wrong motives or if we are purposely sinning. That’s a scary thought! I think that should give us a healthy fear of having wrong heart attitudes and motives. What do you think? Fear is sometimes a good thing! If we have a healthy fear of cliffs, we are less likely to fall off of one, right?

1 Peter 3:12. Read, or assign a reader.

This verse is quoting another verse from Psalm 34 and it’s saying the same thing as James. The Lord wants to answer the prayer of those with right heart attitudes and motives, and He doesn’t want to answer the prayers of the unrighteous. In fact, it says He is against those who do evil. That should be a warning to us! It matters how we live.

Proverbs 28:9. Read, or assign a reader.

Wow! This verse actually says the prayer of the person who is breaking the Law is actually an “abomination.” An abomination is something that “causes disgust or hatred.” I don’t want my prayers to God to make Him feel disgust or hatred, do you?

After reading all of those verses about the Lord not listening to prayers and hating them, let me reassure you that the Lord always hears when people cry out to Him in repentance, honesty, and humility. Remember the tax collector? He knew he was a sinner and He prayed to the Lord sincerely (in truth), and humbly (without pride), and the Lord was pleased with His prayer and answered. We can learn from all of these verses and examples that God is always pleased with an honest, humble prayer, no matter who the person is, or what their past has been like. ]

Younger students continue from here:

The tax collector’s heart attitude was humble. He knew he was a sinner and he admitted it and was repentant. His motive was that he wanted mercy from God. He had the right attitudes and motives. The Pharisee had a prideful attitude. He thought that because he was following all the rules on the outside, he was better than the tax collector. He was trusting in his own righteousness. His motive was earning God’s approval by doing good works. But his heart was wrong. He was looking down on someone else. And it turns out God was more pleased with the person he was looking down on!

Great job listening today.

Review Game

Play the Review Game you have chosen for today’s lesson using the questions below.

Review Questions

1. There is a right way and a wrong way to pray. True or false? True. 
2. What is the Lord’s prayer? A prayer Jesus gave His followers as an example to follow.
3. Are we supposed to say this exact prayer every time we pray? No.
4. What is an attitude? How you feel inside your heart when you are doing something.
5. Doing the right thing while having a bad attitude is ____. Sin.
6. Can God tell when we are having a bad attitude while doing something good? Yes.
7. How is God able to know that we are having a bad attitude while doing something good?He knows everything.  What is it about Him that makes Him able to know that—what is the word we’ve learned? God is omniscient.
8. What is a motive? The reason why you do something.
9. What is a hypocrite? Someone who knows the right thing to do and tells others to do the right thing, but then does the wrong thing themselves.
10. What does humble mean? Thinking of yourself with honesty.
11. How does Jesus say we should pray? In private. Not showing off.
12. How did the tax collector pray the right way? He prayed humbly.
13. How did the pharisee pray? Pridefully.
14. What was the motive of the tax collector? He wanted mercy from God. Repentance.
15. What was the motive of the pharisee? He wanted to earn God’s approval. Showing off.
16. What is a parable? A story that is told to make a point. They aren’t necessarily true.
17. Whose prayer was God pleased with? The tax collector’s.
18. Even though we are sinners, God will still hear and answer our prayers if we have what? The right attitudes and motives. Humble, repentant hearts.

Older Students

19. Who is able to “weigh” the motives of our hearts? God.
20. What does God look at when He looks at a person? Their heart.
21. What do people usually look at? The outside of a person. Their appearance.
22. Why might God not answer your prayer? If you have bad motives.
23. What kind of prayer is an “abomination” to God? The prayer of a person who turns away from God’s Law.
24. God might ignore someone’s prayer if their motives aren’t good or if the person is purposely sinning. True or false? True.
25. The Lord _______ to answer the prayer of those with right heart attitudes and motives. Wants.
26. We should have a healthy _____ of having the wrong heart attitude and motive. Fear.
27. What should we learn from all of these verses about God ignoring the prayers of sinful, unrepentant people? It matters how we live. We should want God to hear our prayers, so we should make sure we aren’t acting sinful and unrepentant!
28. God is always going to be pleased with what kind of prayer?  An honest, humble prayer.

Memory Verses

Choose a memory verse that fits your class’ abilities. Or choose more than one and award prizes accordingly.

Non-Readers/Beginner Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 NIV 

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:1-2 NIV

Older Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.” Psalm 34:15-16 NIV

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4 NIV

Play the Memory Verse Game you have chosen for today’s lesson or play the memory verse song to review the memory verse.

Lesson 1

How to Pray

Spending Time With God

Unit Game

Play the Books of the Bible Game you have chosen for today’s lesson as students arrive and settle in. Start with 10 books and continue to add more each week as the children learn their order. This should only take up about five minutes of your time. The point is to repeat a handful of games throughout the year so that the kids memorize the books of the Bible over time. If the students are new to it, feel free to help them find the answer so the game keeps moving.

Prayer

We are always going to begin our lessons with prayer, because we want the Holy Spirit to be the One who is leading our lessons. 

Pray, thanking and praising God for everything He does for us, and that He loves us and wants to teach us more about Him. Thank God for His Word. Invite the Holy Spirit to lead the lesson and open up hearts and minds to be able to understand the truth of His Word.

Lesson

Talking to God

Have you ever wondered what prayer really is? It sounds like a silly question, but sometimes it’s easy to forget what even the simplest things are, because we take them for granted and don’t stop to think about them.

Does anyone want to explain what prayer is? Allow answers.

Prayer is how we talk to God. It’s having a conversation with Him. A conversation takes two people. It’s talking and listening. We talk and then listen to what the other person has to say. We do our best to understand what the person is saying because we want to get to know them. If we don’t bother to listen to what they are saying and try to understand them, it’s not really a conversation!

How important do you think conversation is in a relationship? Allow answers.

Have you ever tried to be friends with someone who doesn’t speak your language? Is it easy? Allow answers.

Have you ever tried to be friends with someone who doesn’t talk very much? Or maybe you are the friend who doesn’t talk a lot? Allow answers.

What about your family? Is it important to talk to them? Allow answers.

The most important relationships we have on this earth are usually with our families. So it is very important for us to talk to our family, because we love them and we should want to have good relationships with our family. The point is, it’s very important to talk to someone if you want to get to know them. If we want to keep a good relationship with anyone we need to talk to them, because the only way to get to know someone is by having conversations! The more we get to know someone, the closer we become to them. Usually the closer we are to someone, the more we talk to them. So the relationship gets better the more we talk and listen to each other.

So, if prayer is supposed to be a conversation, and it’s the best way to get to know someone, how important do you think it is to pray to God? Very important!

Our relationship with God is the most important one we will ever have, so it’s very important!

When someone spends time talking with you, how does that make you feel? Allow answers.

When someone wants to spend time talking to us it makes us feel loved and valued! They want to get to know us! They care enough to listen to us! 

Conversation is very, very important in every relationship we have. Whether the conversation is silly, short, serious, or even sad—conversations build something called intimacy between us and that other person. Intimacy is when we feel close to someone, and they are close to us. A close friend is someone we are intimate with. It could also be a parent, or a loved one who we feel very comfortable, close, and familiar with. But intimacy is even more than that—someone we have intimacy with is someone we can trust enough to say anything to, and we know that they aren’t going to make fun of us or reject us. 

Can you think of anyone in your life who is like that? Allow answers.

Hopefully you can think of someone, but even if you can’t, the amazing thing is that God wants to be intimate with us! He already knows us intimately, because He is omniscient, which means that He knows everything, but He wants us to know Him and He wants us to have an intimate relationship with Him. Prayer is one of the best ways for us to have that kind of intimate relationship with Him.

Because what is prayer? A conversation with God.

And how do you build intimacy with someone? By having conversations with them.

Listening to God

Prayer isn’t just about talking to God though, it’s also about listening to God. There are always two parts of a conversation! Talking and listening! If it’s all talking or all listening, is it really a conversation? No! 

Listening is the part that is usually a little harder for us. Listening is hard, right? We have to be patient, we have to wait, we have to be quiet. But when God speaks to us, it is the most amazing thing ever! The God of the universe wants to speak to us! Did you know that? 

He wants to talk to us, but He also wants to spend time with us. And we should want to spend time with Him. Prayer is also about being in God’s presence. This is why we spend time at church worshipping and praying and just enjoying His presence.

Have you ever thought about God wanting to spend time with you? Allow answers.

The Bible is all about God wanting to spend time with us, His creation. He spent time with Adam in the garden. He talked to Noah, Abraham, Moses, and then He even dwelt among the people of Israel. He came down in a cloud and in fire. But when Adam and Eve sinned it separated them from God’s holy presence. That’s why God sacrificed an animal for their sin—so that He could be reunited with His creation. That is also why He sent Jesus to die for our sins, so that a way could be made for us to come into His holy presence.

If you have younger students you can skip to the next section.

[Older Students: When Jesus died on the cross the Bible tells us that the veil (a heavy curtain) that separated the Most Holy Place in the Temple, where God’s presence was, was ripped in half! Jesus’ death on the cross, which paid for our sins, made the way for us to come back into communication with God Himself. Let’s read those verses now.

Matthew 27:50-51. Read or assign a reader.

This is what happened at the moment when Jesus died on the cross. This shows us that the point of Jesus dying was not only to atone (pay) for our sins, but also to bring us back into the presence of God—the veil no longer separates us from the holiness of God. 

Since man is sinful, the priests of the Temple were not able to enter God’s holy presence in the Holy Place without first offering a sacrifice (an animal had to be killed in their place), and even then, only the High Priest was allowed to go behind the veil into God’s manifest presence. God’s “manifest” presence means God’s literal presence that can be seen and felt. God is always with us, but there are times when He reveals Himself in a way that He can be seen (like when He appeared in fire and smoke to the people of Israel) and felt. 

The High Priest was the only one who went into the Most Holy Place once a year to make atonement (payment) for the sin of the people of Israel. No one else was allowed into the Most Holy Place. But Jesus changed that. Now we can also come into God’s holy presence because Jesus has made the ultimate atonement for our sins by giving Himself as a sacrifice. His sacrifice—His blood—is better than the blood of animals. He is the perfect, sinless, “Lamb of God.”

Let’s read some more verses that explain how Jesus’ death has brought us back into God’s presence. Hebrews 10:19-22. Read or assign a reader.

These verses have a lot in them that can be hard to understand, but don’t worry, we are going to go through them one by one! 

What does it say we have confidence to enter into, in verse 19? The Holy Place.

We just read about the Holy Place, right? Where was the Holy Place? In the Temple.

How are we able to enter the Holy Place? By the blood of Jesus.

Let’s read verse 20 again. Read. 

This says something about a veil! Just like the veil that separated the people from the Holy Place in the Temple. The author of Hebrews is explaining how Jesus’ body is like the veil. His body was broken from us. The veil was torn, to bring us into the manifest presence of God! Wow! This should speak to us that God cares very much about being in our presence. Look what Jesus went through to be with us! He brought us to the Father. We should want to be in His presence! 

How did it say we should enter God’s presence in verse 19? With confidence.

Other versions say to enter God’s presence with “boldness.” How are we able to be so bold? By the blood of Jesus.

That’s right! It is not by our own efforts, but by Jesus’ blood that we can be confident.Let’s continue reading verse 21. Read. 

What does the author say Jesus is? A great priest. 

Earlier in Hebrews the author calls Jesus our High Priest. (Heb 3:1, 4:14) Do you remember what we said the High Priest does? Allow answers. 

He enters the Most Holy Place to offer atonement—which means payment—for the sins of the people. Isn’t that exactly what Jesus has done for us? Yes! 

Let’s read verse 22. Read.

What does it say we should do? Draw near. 

“Draw near” means to come close. That means we are supposed to come close to God’s presence “with full assurance of faith,” which means we can relax and know that we are forgiven and able to enter into God’s presence with confidence. Jesus paid the price for our sins so we are able to spend time with Him and experience His manifest presence in our lives, all because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. That’s what it means when it says our hearts are “sprinkled clean from an evil conscience” and our bodies are “washed with pure water.” These words are taking us back to the Temple worship. The priests would wash their bodies before coming into God’s presence. We are washed by the blood of Jesus! (This is also where we get baptism from.) And when it talks about our hearts being “sprinkled,” it means they have been sprinkled with Jesus perfect, sinless blood, which cleanses us. The priests of the Temple were supposed to sprinkle things with the blood of the sacrifices to make them holy. Everything in the temple, including the priests, had to be “consecrated,” or made holy, so that God’s presence could dwell among them. Jesus has done all of those things for us so that we can come into God’s presence now, wherever we are, and whenever we want to. ]

Maybe you already know that Jesus is also called “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” We usually sing about Jesus being “Emmanuel” at Christmas when we celebrate Jesus coming to earth as a baby and living among us.  But it’s more than just about Jesus coming as a baby and living on the earth for a while. “Emmanuel” came so that we could also be with Him. The reason Jesus came to earth was to bring us back into a relationship with God. He wants to communicate with us. He wants to spend time with us! What an amazing thing! We have so much to be thankful for.

Great job listening to the lesson today. Let’s play a review game and see how much you can remember about what we learned.

Review

Play the Review Game you have chosen for today’s lesson using the questions below.

Review Questions

1. What is prayer? Talking to God. Having a conversation.
2. There are two parts to a conversation, and there are two parts of prayer. What are they? Talking and listening.
3. God wants to __________    _________ with us. Spend time.
4. What separated us from God’s presence? Sin.
5. What has God done so that we are able to be in His presence now? Sent Jesus to die for our sins. And before that animals were sacrificed.
6. Is it important to spend time talking and listening to God? Yes.
7. Why is it important to spend time talking to God? To get to know Him and have a relationship.
8. What is the word we use to describe feeling close and being able to trust someone? Intimacy.
9. How to we become intimate with God? Spending time with Him, talking to Him.
10. How is God able to know us intimately before we even talk to Him? He knows everything.
11. What is the word we use for God that means He knows everything? Omniscient.
12. How does it make you feel when someone spends time talking to you and listening to you? Loved. Cared for.
13. Does God want to spend time with us? Yes.
14. What is another name for Jesus that means He is with us? Emmanuel.
15. Why did Jesus come to earth to die for us? To make a way for us to come back into God’s presence and be with Him.

Older Students:

16. What happened inside the Temple when Jesus died on the cross? The veil was torn.

17. What did the veil separate us from? The Most Holy Place where God’s presence is.

18. What does it mean that the veil was torn? We are able to come into God’s presence.

19. What is God’s manifest presence? His presence which can be seen or felt.

20. What was the job of the High priest? To go into the Most Holy Place once a year and make atonement (payment) for the sins of the people with an animal sacrifice.

21. What did the High Priest need to do before he could go into the Most Holy Place? Offer a sacrifice for his own sin.

22. What has Jesus’ blood done for us? Allowed us to enter God’s holy presence.

23. What does “draw near” mean? To come close.

24. What are we supposed to have when we enter God’s presence? Confidence. Boldness.

25. What are we washed by? Jesus’ blood.

26. What sprinkles our hearts clean? Jesus’ blood.

Memory Verses

Choose a memory verse that fits your classes’ abilities. Or choose more than one and award prizes accordingly.

Non-Readers/Beginner Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 NIV 

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Psalm 139:1-2 NIV

Older Readers:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the earth.” Psalm 34:15-16 NIV

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalm 139:1-4 NIV

Play the Memory Verse Game you have chosen for today’s lesson or play the memory verse song to review the memory verse.