Scripture: Nehemiah
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God wants us to repent of our sins and be restored to Him.
- Students will learn prayer is an important part of our relationship with God.
- Students will learn we must be prepared to do what God wants us to do even in the face of opposition.
- Students will learn the importance of prayer.
Guiding Question: How can students learn to pray for a specific topic?
Materials: Paper, pencil
Procedure: Review the story of Nehemiah including the importance of prayer, forgiveness, and being prepared to do what God asks of us. Tell the students that sometimes, they may feel that God is calling them to help a certain person or group of people. Praying to God and asking for His direction will help you figure out how to serve that person best. Explain that when we are serving others, we are imitating God’s character of being a servant, loving, caring, and patient. Talk with students about the importance of taking the time to pray about something a lot before making a choice or taking action about something.
Introduce the activity. Have the class decide on something important they all want to pray about for the next month. It should be something important. If they can pray about something that they can take action on after the period of prayer, that’s even better. Have them design a prayer schedule and talk about the things they want to pray about each day during the period of special prayer.
Additional Questions: How can students grow their personal prayer lives?
Supplemental Activity: Have the students create a prayer schedule and identify topics they want to pray about each day for themselves, family, friends, etc. Have the students journal their prayers each day and leave a space to go back and reflect on how God answered the prayer.