Choose one kid to be Sullen Joe — must be poker-faced
Another kid has 30sec to do anything to try to get a response from Sullen Joe (sing, dance, funny faces etc)
Without touching
From a short distance away
If unsuccessful, another kid gets to try.
2. LESSON: New Covenant Prayer
When praying, many people think God is like Sullen Joe. We have to do all sorts of tricks to get His attention. We say, “Please” and beg and cry to get what we want.
Under the New Covenant, prayer is not begging God. It’s not even like writing a wish list to Santa Claus. It’s a conversation with our Father in Heaven.
Jesus told this story once:
Luke 11 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
A common misinterpretation of this story is that we have to be persistent to beg Goduntil He answers.
This comes from a wrong image/picture of God:
God is reluctant to answer
God is probably asleep and doesn’t want to get up
However the truth is:
God is not a reluctant friend but a Loving Father
He is ever ready to hear us and bless us.
He is not grumpy; don’t have to be pestered
We can go boldly and freely to Him anytime(e.g. son of the President of the USA doesn’t need appointment to see his dad)
Knowing God as Father changes the way we pray.
God has given us all things through Jesus’ Finished Work on the Cross
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
We don’t pray to ask God to do something. We look back to the Cross and claim what Jesus has done for us already! We speak it into our lives and see it come to being.
Our prayers move from “Please God” to “Thank you God”. We thank God for what He has done for us.
New Covenant Prayer:
Knowing who our Father is
Declaring what Christ has done and expressing our thankfulness
3. Suggested Activities
Break into groups to share and get kids to pray for their/each other’s various needs.
