This FHE Lesson on prayer discusses the common struggles we have with prayer and how we can overcome them.
Scripture
Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.
Hymn
Sweet Hour of Prayer | Hymn #142
1. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
2. Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer!
Thy wings shall my petition bear
To him whose truth and faithfulness
Engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
Believe his word, and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my ev’ry care
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
I’ll cast on him my ev’ry care
And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Lesson
Begin the lesson by asking this question: Why is prayer so important?
Read aloud: Prayer is an essential principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Through prayer, we communicate with God and build a relationship with him, a relationship that will allow us to grow to become more like him. Prayer provides us access to strength, direction and counsel, and helps us align ourselves with God’s will.
Prayer is so important that we are commanded to “pray always” in multiple scriptures.
Have volunteers to read the following three scriptures:
Ask: What does it mean to you to “pray always”? What do these scriptures teach us about prayer?
Read aloud: Even though prayer is important, it isn’t always easy. We may be asked to pray always, but there are times when we may not want to pray at all. There are a number of things that can hold us back from praying. Here are a few:
- Don’t Know How (We don’t know how to pray)
- Ceiling Bouncers (We don’t feel our prayers are heard and that prayer is pointless)
- Don’t Have Time (We don’t prioritize prayer and use our time to do it)
- Trouble with Consistency (It’s hard to make it habitual)
- Trouble with Content (Our prayers don’t feel meaningful or vulnerable)
- Struggling with Trials (We may feel angry at God or too in pain to reach out)
- Sin or Shame (We don’t feel worthy to approach God)
Ask: Do any of these resonate with you? Have you ever struggled to pray?
Share any personal experiences about the struggles we face with prayer.
Ask: What can we do to overcome these struggles?
Read aloud: If you struggle to pray, do not feel ashamed. None of us are perfect at prayer. God does not want prayer to be another thing we check off our to-do lists. He wants to communicate with us in a meaningful and personal way. He will be patient with us as we learn how to reach out to him.
Finish the lesson by sharing any more personal experiences and bearing your testimony of prayer.
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Treat
Treat
Lemon Honey Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
-1 cup quick oats
-0.8 cups oat flour
-1,5 tsp baking powder
-⅛ tsp salt
-2 tbsp coconut oil
-1 egg
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-5 tbsp honey*
-juice and zest of ½ lemon
Directions:
- Mix together in a bowl all the dry ingredients (quick oats, oat flour, baking powder and salt).
- Whisk together in another bowl all the wet ingredients (coconut oil, egg, vanilla extract, honey, lemon juice and zest).
- Combine the dry and wet ingredients and stir just until incorporated. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 160 Celcius/ 325 Fahrenheit degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the cookie dough into 12 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet, and flatten using a fork (see picture above).
- Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet.
- Enjoy the cookies with a glass of milk!
(Courtesy of kiddieliciouskitchen.com)
Activity
ActivityEasy Trivia Relay Race
For this game, you’ll need a dry erase board and some dry erase markers. You can also use a chalkboard and chalk. Split up your family or group into two teams and give each one a single marker. Prepare a list of trivia questions your family would enjoy. Some examples include:
- What is 12 divided by 2? (6)
- What is the highest grossing movie franchise? (Marvel Universe Films)
- What was the top song of 2016? (Love Yourself, Justin Bieber)
- Who was the original voice for Mickey Mouse? (Walt Disney)
- The Dewey Decimal system is used to organize what? (Books)
- How many colors are in the rainbow (7)
When you ask a question, one person from each team must run up and write the answer on the board. The first to correctly write the answer gets a point. If you guess incorrectly, the next person in the team must run up to the front. Teams may collaborate and try to determine an answer before running up.
