October 9th, 2009 Pastor Dan Posted in SevenLakes Info |
This week in “How to Lose Your Faith in 4 Easy Steps” we talked how important prayer is in the life of a follower of Jesus. Prayer is not a means to inform a God that is clueless or demand from a God that is gutless. It is not something that takes a certain lingo or depends upon a status. Prayer is our means to communicate to God. God commands us to pray so that we are in communication, trusting Him, seeking Him, communicating with Him. I put together a few steps to try, a few thoughts to ponder, and a few resources to check out! Pastor Dan
Simple steps on how to PRAY:
1. Press “pause” Stop, drop, and pray. Take time out of your day to stop and drop whatever you’re doing and point your attention to God. Before meal times, put the fork down, and thank God for this gift of a Lean pocket…for the food God gives and everything else. When you feel overwhelmed, stop, drop and pray. Ask for wisdom, direction. When you get great new, stop, drop and pray and thank God.2. Use words Talk it out. Speaking out loud can help you not get distract. For some of us, speaking out loud is important, can’t get as distracted. Use written prayers. I am currently enjoying a book called Leadership Prayers. His words resonate with my heart. Other resources; My Prayer Book; Power of a Praying Wife, Power of a Praying Husband; Pray and Play BibleJournal. Writing our your prayers can be powerful and insightful. It also allows you to go back and see how God has answered your prayers in the past. 3. Share your heart Prayer comes from a relationship. So share your heart, whether it is eloquent and beautiful or not. Share it even if it’s confusing and unclear. Pray what you need to pray. Get it out there. Lay it before God. 4. Shout Amen Amen means simply, Let it be so! We can be confident that we have been heard – not because we’re worthy but because God in Jesus, is merciful. He listens, He cares and He’s Got it! However God will have it be, let it be.
Prayer at CrossPoint
Prayer Chain – If you have a prayer need, let me know and we will send it out to our prayer chain.
Prayer Team – Every Sunday we have people that you can talk to and pray with about issues on your heart.
Prayer and Pancakes – The second Sunday of the Month we have Prayer and Pancakes at 9:00am at the Seven Lakes Library. Join us for pancakes and a time of prayer for our community and ministry! Interested, click here.
Home Teams – Join a group of families that come together to build relationships, have fun, study God’s word, and pray for each other. Interested, click here.
Family Resource
| Prayer Jar (Cut each of these apart and place them into a jar. Draw one out of the jar each day for a new way to pray with your children.) |
| Thank God for the world He created. Take turns going around the room, completing this sentence. Thank you God for creating _________. |
| Pray for friends who don’t know Jesus or for friends or family to know Jesus even better. Take turns going around the room, completing this sentence. Dear God, I pray (a name) gets to know Jesus better. |
| Anywhere Prayers. Take a walk around the building and even outside. Each time you enter a new room/place, thank God for being with you everywhere you go and for hearing your prayers no matter where you are! |
| Friendship Prayer. Show children the sign for friend. (You link your two pointer fingers together-right on top of left and then switch them-left on top of right.) Have children sit together in a circle and link their pointer fingers together like you do for the sign friend. Have each child in the circle complete this prayer. Thank you God, for my friend (name). At the end conclude with thanking Jesus for being our best friend. |
| Remind children that whenever we do something wrong we can tell God about it and tell Him we are sorry and He always forgives us. Place a dot on each child’s hand with a washable red marker. Then say a prayer asking God for forgiveness. Allow the children time to think about something they did wrong and name it silently in their head. After the prayer have the children wash their hands or hand out wipes and remind them that Jesus washed their sins away just like this dot when He died for us! |
| Praise prayer. Think of wonderful words that describe God. Have children share a few and then have children take turns finishing this sentence. God you are so ________. Example, awesome, strong, good, loving, powerful, etc. |
| Sing a song as a prayer. Jesus Loves Me…anything! |
| Take turns thanking God for a different animal He created. |
| Have children share something they are good at. Thank God for those talents and ask to help us give God the glory for those talents. |
| Say an echo prayer. You pray line by line and have the children repeat after you. Try to include a praise, a confession, a thanksgiving and a request. |
| Post-it note prayers. Have children draw a request on a post-it note or they can tell you and you can write them down. Post the notes in the classroom and remember to pray for those things throughout the week. |
| Hold hands in a circle as you prayer today. Go around the circle giving each child a chance to pray. When they are done or if they don’t want to pray out loud they should gently squeeze the hand next to them letting the next child know it is his/her turn. |
| Ask children to share requests about something they need Jesus to do, such as heal a sick friend. While you prayer have the children hold their chairs up off the floor a little bit. When you are finished praying they can set their chairs down. Explain that this is kind of what it feels like when we can give our worries to Jesus. |
| Share ways to love a neighbor or family member. Fill in this prayer. Dear God, help me to (action) (name). |
| Share some things that scare you. Remind the children that Jesus promises to always be with us a help us when we are scared. Dear God, Thank you for always being with us and watching over us. We love you! Amen |
| Take a prayer walk outside. Touch a tree-thank God for the tree, touch the grass, the flowers, etc. Thank Him! |
| God, I trust you every day. (Put your elbow in your hand and fold it down on top of your other arm-making the sign for day.) To listen (point to ears) To the prayers I pray (fold hands) I trust your help in all I do (make strong muscle arms) Help me do big things for you (Jump high on the word big) Amen. |
| Say this prayer three times. Encourage kids to make the face of the feeling you say each time. Dear God, When I’m (afraid, sad, mad) Please help me to remember that you’re my help. Amen |
| Praise Prayer- Dear God, I love you so much! I love you more than… Amen. Give several children a chance to complete the sentence. |
| Dear God, thank you for giving us the Bible so we can learn more about you. If time, you can have them share their favorite thing they know from the Bible. |
| Remind children that prayer is just talking to God. Today when you pray pretend you are talking into a telephone. Use your thumb and pinkie as the phone. Dial up God and when you say Amen-hang up! |
| Have children share something they are thankful for…after each thing do a Yeah God! Start with your arms down low, reach them high and shout, “Yeah, God!” |
| Have children hold their fists clinched real tight while you pray. Ask God to forgive us for not being nice to our friends, saying this we don’t mean, disobeying our parents, hurting our brother or sister, using not nice words. Thank you for loving us and forgiving us. Amen. Tell the children they can release their fists. Share that that is how God’s forgiveness feels. |
| Sing to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me” Thank you, God, for answered prayers. Thanks for being everywhere. Thanks for listening when I pray. I know you hear each word I say. Oh, God, I love you. Oh, God, I love you. Oh, God, I love you. You hear me when I pray. |
| Thank you God that you love us so much you died for us on the cross. Thank you that you are so powerful and mighty that you rose again on Easter morning. Close your prayer by giving each other high fives for the awesome love and power of God! |
December 5th, 2009 at 11:58 am
[…] that she must like. A good way to say her taste is to look at her jewelry collection in progress. Prayer - crosspoint7lakes.com 10/09/2009 This week in “How to Lose Your Faith in 4 Easy Steps” we […]