The children in your classes will have many times when they will need to know how to pray. I remember, as a young child, walking home from school during the Halloween season and being afraid of the decorations.
I had learned how to pray, so I prayed as I walked home. That gift of learning how to pray was the best gift someone could have given me.
Throughout my life, I have faced difficult situations, and I used what I learned as a child to pray and ask for God’s guidance.
Here are nine Sunday School prayer lessons you can teach your children.
The importance of prayer lesson
We want our younger children to understand the importance of prayer.
It doesn’t matter if we are praying for our family or first responders; prayer is an integral part of our lives. We need to teach our children that the most important thing they can do in times of crisis is pray.
Here is how to teach the children in your group that prayer is important.
First, start each lesson with prayer. It is important that we model prayer for our children
Second, teach Bible lessons with characters who prayed in their time of need. For example, some Bible Stories to use include Hannah, who prayed for a child. During her time of need, she asked God to give her a child.
Peter prayed in prison. And then had a great time as an angel walked him out of prison.
Third, set up prayer stations where children can leave prayer requests and also pray for requests that have been left behind.
Fourth, give children a prayer journal and show them how to keep track of their prayer life.
Here is a Sunday school lesson you can use to teach the importance of prayer
The purpose of prayer class
We want our young people to know the purpose of prayer. Here are ways to teach children the purpose of prayer:
We pray to build our relationship with God. God wants to be part of our daily lives, and when we pray, we bring Him into our lives.
God will move when we pray. The Bible says we have not because we have not asked.
Prayer changes the lives of others. God wants us to pray for other people.
Praying shows how much we depend on God. Christian living is full of difficulties, and when we ask God for help, we show the world that we depend on God.
Prayer releases our burdens. Your children don’t need to carry around burdens. God wants to take those burdens away. We can give them to God.
Here is a free lesson you can use to teach the purpose of prayer
How to pray study guide
We need our young children to know they can pray any time of the day, not just at night before bed.
Here is how to teach your children how to pray.
First, Use the Lord’s Prayer as Bible verses for memory work.
Second, make sure you are teaching children how to pray and not what to pray. Tell the children that God has given us the gift of prayer.
Third, Teach the hand method. One point for each finger.
1) Worship God with praise; say something about who God is, for example “You are my creator”.
2) Thank God for a blessing in your life
3) Intercede for some; bring someone’s prayer request to God
4) Confession. Tell God you are sorry for specific sins in your life
Lastly, bring your petition to God. End by asking God for your needs
Forth, Make sure children know they don’t have to use fancy words. God wants us to talk to our heavenly father, the same way we talk to our earthly father.
Using Jesus’ Name when we pray instruction
You want your youth group to understand why we use the name of Jesus when we pray. Why do we end each prayer “In Jesus Name” Or “In the name of Jesus Christ”?
Teach this when you are studying the Bible Verses in Hebrews and John.
John 14:13–14: “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
However, it is important to make sure the children know that Jesus Name is not a magical phrase.
We have the power to come to the throne of God through Jesus. Hebrews 4:16 tells us to come boldly to the throne of God.
In the Old Testament, people had to go to God through a high priest, but in this passage, we learn that Jesus is now our high priest.
In your youth groups, take time to use your small group discussion questions to talk about why we use the name of Jesus. Why do they have power in the name of Jesus? You will find that this leads to some very interesting discussions.
Make sure that your small group is led by an adult who has a good idea of how to answer questions that will arise.
Intercessory prayers for youth guide
We want to show our children how they can be prayer warriors. The Christian life is one of prayer. And the more we pray, the stronger we will be.
Intercessory prayer warriors will be people of courage, steadfastness, endurance, devotion, and self-sacrifice.
We can use Paul as an example of someone who had these qualities. We want our children and youth to have these same qualities so they can be prayer warriors.
For older children in our children’s church, we can challenge them to pray in a group setting. We can have them choose a prayer partner and pray for each other during the week
For high school children, we can challenge them to pray for their friends at school.
Have them learn to look for people who need prayer and to pray for them. Have your youth pick a quiet place where they can come to the throne of Grace every day.
Having a place set aside for prayer will become an important part of their devotional life.
For preschool children, you can ask them for prayer requests and then pray for them in your class.
This will be a favorite part of your Sunday school class. You will find the children love to hear their name when you talk to God.
Here is a free Bible study lessons to teach children to intercede
Old Testament Prayers for teens lesson
One of the most powerful ways to teach Prayer is through Bible Stories. You can use your youth ministry leaders in skits that will tell the stories of Old Testament heroes who are examples of prayer.
When you read the Bible verse telling us that people in the Old Testament prayed, ask the children if they can figure out why the person is praying, and what they are asking God for.
Pick stories where people prayed for a personal need, they brought a request for someone else, they worshiped God or thanked God for blessings, or they were wanting to know God more.
When you study the Old Testament prayers this way, your children will learn that prayer is much more than asking God for things they want.
When we teach about the Old Testament, you can show your young people that in the Old Testament, God spoke through high priests, or prophets.
But today the Holy Spirit comes to every believer. Jesus Christ is our High priest.
New Testament Prayers for young people lessons
There are many Bible verses you can use to teach the importance of prayers in the New Testament.
Here are some Bible passages from the New Testament you can use to teach children how to pray. God’s word has a lot to say about Prayer. Here are some Bible verses you can use to teach the concept of prayer.
Matthew 6:9–15 teaches how to pray
Matthew 21:21–22 teaches us that we will understand God’s will for our lives.
James 5:16 teaches us that righteous people pray
Luke 18:1–8 Teaches us to not give up when we pray
Hebrews 13:3 teaches us to pray for our brothers and sisters who are persecuted
I Thessalonians 5:25 teaches us to pray for missionaries and pastors
Here is a bible lesson about prayer with New Testament stores and Bible verses
Fasting when we pray for young adults lesson
Fasting is an essential part of learning how to pray. I would recommend having your youth leaders fast and pray so they can be an example.
How to fast:
It is important to note that all-food fasting is not advised for kids.
There are, however, a number of useful methods we can use to encourage our kids to fast. You can give them some ideas and examples, but I recommend teaching them to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance on which fast He would have them choose.
When we teach fasting, we need to make sure children know food is not the only thing they can fast with. Some examples you can give would be the following; the youth in your church can give up a cell phone. Children can give up video games or sweets.
The bottom line is that we are giving up something that is important to us.
Have the children write down on a piece of paper what God is asking them to fast from. This is a time for them to learn to hear God’s voice.
Remind the children to start and end each fast with prayer.
Teach Why we fast
Fasting enhances our prayers; you can see that in Mark 9:29 and Matthew 17:21
When we miss the object of our fasting, we are reminded to pray
The Power of Prayer Tutorial
There are many powerful prayers that we can pray every day. This is a lesson that we can teach through any Bible lesson. Whenever you see a prayer answered in your Bible story, make sure to point out the power of prayer.
As a side note, you will see this in just about every Bible story you teach.
God has consistently shown himself to be so dependable to me.
He has undoubtedly been there for you as well. You should share this with the children in your class.
Our children must understand that prayer is a powerful part of your life.
Tell them how He has helped you overcome difficulties and how your prayers have been answered. Explain that the Holy Spirit is leading and supporting you through your day-to-day.
Now I want to be very clear. Obviously, you need to be careful about the level of personal information you share. Make sure what you share is age-appropriate.
Here is a PDF of this lesson to show the power of prayer in Jesus’ life
Conclusion
To conclude, you want the children in your Sunday School and the teens in your youth group to know that Jesus wants to be their best friend.
From pre-school to elementary children, or preteen ministry to youth ministry… prayer is an essential lesson we should be teaching every week.
This is not a lesson you teach once or twice.
This is something you work into each lesson each week.