Here is a free children’s Bible lesson on prayer, based on Philippians 4:6-7.

Big Idea: When we need peace we can pray to God! He will replace our anxiety, stress or fear with his peace.

Includes a fun opening game to set up the lesson.

Enjoy!

Looking for children’s ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!
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BIBLE LESSON FOR KIDS ON PRAYER

Bible: Philippians 4:6-7

Bottom Line: When we need peace we can pray to God! He will replace our anxiety, stress or fear with his peace.

GAME SUPPLIES:

  • Assortment of small, random toys and household items (avoid anything that would be dangerous to run with)
  • Buckets (one per team)

GAME PREP:

Divide the kids into several teams. 

The teams can be any size, but ideally there should be about six kids per team.

Establish a starting line and have the teams line up for a relay race.

Evenly distribute the assortment of toys and household items into the buckets. 

You will need one bucket of items per team, and each bucket should contain around 12 items.

Set the buckets beside the first runner for each team.

Choose one child from each team to stand across the room from the rest of their teammates.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME: 

Say: Today we’re going to be doing a relay race that involves running items across the room to a teammate.

But instead of simply handing these items to your teammate, you’re going to be placing them on your teammate as they attempt to balance them all on their bodies!

Note: If your children are younger and this won’t work well for them, you could have them put all the objects into one person’s arms to try to carry it all without dropping them. 

This will teach us how overwhelming it can feel to try to keep everything under our control, rather than trusting God (who is always in control).

Turn to address the children standing alone at the other end of the room.

Say: If you’re the balancer, you’re going to stand in a “T” shape with your arms sticking straight out to your side.

Turn to the other children.

Say: If you’re a runner, your job is to take turns picking an item from the bucket, running it down to the balancer, and placing it on their body. You can place items on their hands, arms, shoulders, or head.

If an item falls off of the balancer after it has been placed, it cannot be picked up and placed again.

After each team has placed all 12 items, I will count how many items remain on each balancer. The team with the most items wins!

In the event of a tie, the team that finished the fastest wins. Any questions?

Give them a chance to ask questions.

Ready. Set. Go!

Be sure to document the order in which the teams finished.

TEACH

Say: Have you ever seen a picture of a little lion cub?

Early in their lives, young lions might only be one or two feet tall. 

That’s closer to the size of a house cat than it is to the king of the jungle!

Because these cubs are so small, they are often targeted by other predators – things like leopards, hyenas, and even other adult lions.

Who would have thought it could be so scary to be a little lion cub! 

So how do these little cubs survive?

The cubs survive by depending on their mothers, adult lionesses who are not only willing to feed their young but also to fight for them!

A lion cub has a lot less to worry about because it can call on its mother for help. 

In the same way, we don’t have to be afraid because we can call on God for help!

Read Philippians 4:6-7.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Ask: When you think of a really peaceful place, what do you think of?

Give the kids a chance to answer. Consider sharing your idea of a peaceful place.

Say: When many of us think of peace, we think of a place that brings us a sense of calm – like a warm beach beside the ocean, a cozy cabin in the woods, or under the covers of our own bed at night.

Others might think of peace as something you can only have when life’s circumstances seem almost perfect – when you seem to get along with everybody and you’re free of any stress.

The problem with this is that life rarely seems so perfect!

The apostle Paul understood that he didn’t need everything around him to be perfect in order for him to experience peace inside of himself.

In fact, when he wrote to the Philippians, he was writing to them from prison! 

But he wasn’t there because of something he did wrong.

He was put there because some people didn’t like that he was teaching about Jesus.

So Paul knew as well as anyone that true peace is something that comes from God’s work inside of our hearts, not from making everything perfect on the outside.

Even so, there are times in our lives when we might be tempted to feel anxious or afraid.

Ask: What is something that makes you feel anxious or afraid in your life?

Give the kids a chance to answer. Then share an answer of your own.

Say: Maybe we’re worried about taking a test at school. 

Or what our friends will think about our new haircut. 

Or whether we’ll score during the basketball game. 

Or whether we’ll hit the wrong note during our piano recital.

But Paul reminds us that we really don’t have to be anxious about anything. 

Instead, we can tell God how we feel and ask for His help, and in return we will experience His peace in our hearts!

Ask: Why do you think prayer helps to give us peace?

Give the kids a few moments to think it through and answer.

Prayer helps to give us peace because we know that when we pray we are asking someone bigger and stronger than us to take care of us! 

Like a little lion cub calling out to its mother for help, we can call out to God for help too.

So while God may not always answer our prayers exactly the way we hope He will, He can always supply us with peace because we know He is in control!

When you’re anxious or afraid, just remember: When we need peace we can pray to God!

(End Lesson)

Looking for children’s ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!
bible sermons for kids sunday school lessons one year

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