FSM 250 / FN 359 DO
PRAYER IDEAS FOR ALL -- SPECIAL ISSUE
January, 1994, Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland
Contributed by Our Worldwide Family
(Compiled by Family Care) art by Jeremy & Jacques Elan
CONTENTS:
A. Prayer Ideas for Young Children
1
B. Skit & Dress-up Prayer Ideas (Children, all ages)
3
C. Bedtime Prayer Ideas (Children, all ages)
4
D. More Prayer Ideas (Children, all ages)
5
E. Prayer Ideas for All (Children, JETTs, Teens, Adults)
6
F. Prayer Lists & Charts Ideas to Help Us Pray More!
8
A. PRAYER IDEAS FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
Ways to Pray
1. Prayer Warrior: Instead of asking, "Who wants to pray?", have one child be the "prayer warrior" for the day, or part of the day. Make a badge for the "prayer warrior" to wear while on special duty. You could divide up the day so several children will have "Prayer Warrior" slots.
2. Pray in different areas in the house, or switch seating arrangements for the prayer!
3. Have a little platform for the child to stand on or a chair to sit on when he/she prays.
4. Put a crown on the child who is praying.
5. Have the child hold a picture of Jesus while praying, to help them concentrate their thoughts on Jesus.
6. Have small children repeat your prayers phrase by phrase. This helps to keep their attention when in a group.
7. Quiz Prayer: The teacher or Shepherd prays, leaving blanks in their prayers, such as: "Lord, please bless & heal Mama's _______!" & everyone responds, "eyes", etc.
8. Try a different way of starting out prayer. Instead of always saying, "Thank you Jesus...Hallelujah..." etc., tell Jesus, "We love You" or blow Him kisses.
9. For beginner readers, write out simple prayers for each prayer request & then go around the circle reading the prayers & praying them together.
10. Pray "The Kingdom Prayer" having the children say one phrase each of the Lord's Prayer.
Prayer Activities
11. Marching Prayer: March while praying, like having "walking vigil" or like we do when on a "Jericho march", going around in a circle & praying & praising.
12. Write your prayer requests on a whiteboard or chalkboard with little illustrations. You can even write each child's name beside what they will pray for.
13. Draw simple pictures of the things to pray for, & distribute them to each child. Let them look at the picture when they pray for it. Afterwards they can colour & hang them up as prayer reminders.
14. Make a set of prayer cards for toddlers, each card with a one-word prayer with a picture. Even if they cannot read the word at first, they know what it is by the picture. Here are some examples: Grandpa, Mama, parents, babies, dog, birds (or any pets you may have), cooks, handymen, witnessers, etc!
15. Have a picture of Jesus with a basket underneath & give the toddlers pictures or drawings of the things or people to pray for. Then each one can take a turn bringing these "requests" to Jesus by "laying them at Jesus' feet", i.e. in the basket under the picture of Jesus.
16. Make a beautiful Promise Box decorated like a treasure chest that the children open every day. It can be filled with enlarged verses from the Memory Book, or photocopied Feed My Lamb verses with pictures.
17. Make a Temple Time Tent, and place inside it a picture of Jesus and a little prayer chart with different prayer requests on it, along with some quotes on prayer. You can make it nice with flowers, a Promise bowl, etc. The children love to go in there to have a little prayer time for a few minutes. This also teaches them to develop a personal connection with Jesus.
18. Post a Prayer List, and beneath it put two bowls, one empty & one full of red hearts. Whenever someone stops there to pray for one of the prayer requests, they move a red heart to the other bowl. See how fast the empty bowl fills with the red hearts.
19. "Calling Heaven": Using a toy telephone or an old telephone set that is not being used anymore, have each child call Jesus & talk to Him, thanking Him for something or presenting a petition.
20. Make a little Prayer Book with a picture of Jesus on it. Let the kids help to put in the prayer requests & verses to claim, & use it daily for prayer time together.
21. Around the Circle Game: The children sit in a circle & one walks around the outside of the circle with a prayer request in his hand. He drops the prayer request behind one of the children, who then picks up the prayer request & stands up to say a prayer for it. Then that child gets another request & continues the game.
22. The children sit in a circle & cup their ears with their hands. They then take turns praying as quietly as possible one at a time. Any of the children who heard the prayer can raise their hand & tell what the child prayed for.
23. The children lie down, turn off the lights & pray, looking at a picture of Jesus that has a light shining on it, or out of the window at the moon & the stars.
24. Try cloud-gazing outdoors with the kids taking turns praying short prayers out loud to Jesus.
25. To help the children concentrate, ask them to imagine in their minds a picture of what they are praying for, or describe to them what they should think of (like in "Prayer Power" about creating a mental picture).
26. The children (even as young as two and three year olds) sit in a circle & get quiet & listen to the Lord & then share what the Lord told them. Be serious about what they say, as they will be, and you may be surprised what the Lord shows them.
27. Teach the children to hear from the Lord by having them pray & make decisions after their own leading. Use all the little opportunities that there are where smaller decisions need to be made as times to learn prayerfulness & to follow the Lord.
28. God's little speakers: The children form couples. One child whispers a prayer topic into the ear of his or her partner & the partner then prays the prayer out loud.
29. The children sing a short prayer making up their own melody.
30. Sing the song: "When the Spirit of God moves in me, I sing like King David." When you get to the part: "When the Spirit of God moves in me, I pray like King David," stop & give each child a turn to pray for their prayer request.
31. Board Games: "The Promises of Power" Game (Activity Book 4, page Q80).-- Instead of quoting each verse, pray a prayer with that verse. Many of the games in Activity Book 4 can be adapted to use as Prayer Games. Other examples of Games that can be adapted are "The Soul winner Game" (page Q57-59); "The Holy Spirit Game" (page Q69-75); "Kids All Purpose Game" (page Q88-91); and "The Space City Game" (page Q92-93)--for example you could read a prophecy if you land on "Promise", pray a prayer if you land on "Blessing", pray against our enemies if you land on "Green Door" etc.
32. Hide & Seek: Hide prayer requests around the room, then when all are found get together & pray for them.
33. Treasure Hunt: Hide the prayer requests around the Home or in a room. Have the children hunt for them. When they find one they stop & pray for it & then go on to find the rest. They can either pray on their own silently, or when they find one, call out "I have one!" & then all stop for a moment as the person reads their prayer request & prays out loud.
34. Powerful Prayers: The prayer warrior says a short one sentence prayer & then everyone in the group repeats it with real "umph!"
35. The cook (or handyman, etc.) could give the children a card requesting to pray for him/her throughout the day. A verse to claim could be added. The following day the cook could write a little thank you note.
36. Take the children around to the people working around the house, like the handyman, the translators, etc., & pray for them.
37. Fishing for Prayers: Write out different prayer requests with a thin permanent marker on paper approximately 4cm x 4cm. Fold the paper. Then take some old corks from wine bottles, & attach small metal loops to each one. Roll each prayer request around a cork & fasten with a rubber band. Put them all into a plastic container with water. Make a "fishing rod" by taking a pencil & attaching a string with a hook on the end made with a paper clip. Each child can have a turn to "go fishing" & fish out a "prayer boat"! When they get a "catch", they open the prayer request & pray for it!
B. SKIT & DRESS-UP PRAYER IDEAS (Children, all ages)
38. Dress up like Bible characters for prayer.
39. Someone can dress up like Jesus. The children pray the prayer requests & "Jesus" smells them like beautiful flowers & writes them all down. At the end Jesus could quote a promise He gave us, for example, "If you ask any thing in My name, I will do it!"
40. Make a "prayer cloud" where you get on a mattress or a bed, close your eyes & imagine you are looking down on the witnessers, cooks, etc. & praying for each of them. This & other little "skits" (such as praying in Abraham's tent, King David's palace, etc.) help to make prayer lively & different.
41. Have a "surprise visit" from someone dressed like a person from Eastern Europe, South America, Japan, etc. They could share testimonies or talk about their country, asking everyone to pray for them.
42. Spaceship Prayer: Everyone is very quiet as they climb into the imaginary spaceship & sit down (this can be in a dimly lit room, sitting in a circle on the carpet). Ask if the seat belts are tightened, have good prayer for your "trip" & countdown "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-blast-off!" Have someone make a humming noise as the spaceship takes off for the Throne Room where it arrives a few seconds later. Everyone sits with eyes closed as you announce that you are all going to see Jesus. The spokesman thanks Jesus for taking this special time for us, & explains the reason for the visit, presenting the prayer petition. He thanks Jesus for taking time to hear our request & for how well He takes care of us, for giving His Life for us & for giving us Grandpa & Mama & the Family. Then everyone thanks Jesus & all blow kisses & wave as the Spaceship starts humming again & soon you come down through the roof of your Home & boom!....You are back in your room!
43. Coming before the Throne Prayer: Act out some prayer principles for the children & at the same time have them take part in the skit & cover some prayer requests. One idea could be a person bringing their prayer before the Throne of Grace & at the same time portraying "difficulty in spiritual communications." Ask all the teens & adults in the room to make light noise--sing, talk, share testimonies with the one next to them, etc., & all the children close their eyes. Then someone (playing Jesus) whispers or quietly calls one of the children's names. It's difficult for the child to hear because of all the distractions & talking, but he can ask everyone to get quiet so he can hear what Jesus has to say. Then once he hears his name, he goes up to the "Throne of Grace" where "Jesus" tells him his prayer request. He turns around & asks everyone to join him in praying for the prayer request.
44. "Spirit Trip" Prayer: After talking about the importance of praise, the children shut their eyes, & you lead them in a "spirit trip". Tell them praising the Lord leads them up to Heaven & into the courts, etc., describing what it's like, until they reach Jesus' feet, & once they get there, they present their petition.
45. Act It Out: Pretend that you are in the situation you are praying for. For example, if you are praying for Dad & Mama, you can have two people pretend they are Dad & Mama, & they both pray for each other. Or you can pretend you & your team is about to go witnessing so you can pray for that.
46. Practice with children how to pray with someone to receive Jesus by acting it out in skit form. Have someone be the unsaved and others be the witnessers. Teach what things should be said in a Salvation prayer. Or, for children who are learning the local language, teach them a prayer to memorize in that language, and then act out a skit using this prayer.
C. BEDTIME PRAYER IDEAS (Children, all ages)
47. With very small children, just before putting them to sleep, their teacher can begin to sing a song from "Sweet Dreams Tonight." When they hear it, they know it's time to get together to hold hands & pray for the night.
48. The children like to sometimes kneel beside their bed to pray.
49. Before going to bed, have the kids all get quiet. Light a candle (Please make sure it's safe & out of the children's reach. Blow it out if you leave the room.) & read something about prayer. This helps them to calm down in the spirit.
50. Bedtime Whisper Prayer: One person goes around & whispers in everyone's ear the name of a person for them to pray for privately that night. The next day they can talk about who it was & what they prayed for.
51. At bedtime, when the little children can't sleep, teach them to use their energy to talk to Jesus. Tell them to imagine all going in a spaceship with an Angel taking them up to Space City. Then they see Jesus & sit on His lap & talk with Him. He likes the children to talk to Him, & He likes to be their Friend. Jesus asks them if they would please talk to Him more when they are lying on their beds & come & visit Him at bedtime.
52. Go around & pray individually with each child for specific things that happened that day, a special personal prayer for each one.
53. Have a little see-through plastic pocket by the kids' beds where they can change the picture periodically to different pictures of provisioners, witnessers, etc. to help them visualise who or what they are praying for. Or put pictures of Jesus or Space City in the pocket.
D. MORE PRAYER IDEAS (Children, all ages)
54. All the boys (or all the girls) pray.
55. Every second child can pray.
56. All those whose name starts with a certain letter get to pray.
57. Let the children choose who should pray. You can give them some ideas at first, such as "Everyone with red socks" (or any distinguishing feature). Then let them come up with ideas. You'll be surprised at their ingenuity!
58. Alphabetical prayer: Pray for things starting with a certain letter or phonetic sound: "A"--Aunties, apples, etc. "H"--health, home, etc. Or have a praise meeting doing the same: "Thank You Lord for Apples, Aaron, Angels, etc."
59. Read KTK stories on how God depends on our prayers. (See TK list in Activity Book 4, page U23. Some examples to choose from are: "The Big Yellow Taxi," "The Gadget Board," "Stop the Train," "Stop, Look & Listen," "The Operator," "Prayer Adventures Parts 1-4".) Then make a prayer list of things that the children think they should pray for. Let them pray for the things that they have a burden for. It helps them to be sincere & tune in more & realise the importance of their prayers. Then when the Lord answers they can see that it is a direct result of their prayers!
60. Have a surprise bag! Make a new card every morning containing a new special prayer request to pray for, & add it to the bag. Then, from time to time throughout the day, have someone pull out a request to pray for, or post that request to pray for all day long.
61. Make an illustrated "Prayer Bulletin" of different topics & ask the children what topic they want to pray for. They might choose health, for example, & then they pray for all the people they know that need healing.
62. Prayer bell: Ring a bell every hour during school hours to signal everyone to pray for any timely prayer requests. The children's groups, even the youngest children, get very involved in this method, & every time they hear the bell are anxious to stop right away to pray.
63. Make a little prayer chart where you draw or paste pictures of the different things you need to pray for. When it gets answered, mark it with "TYJ!"
64. Photocopy & enlarge some of the Power Prayers, & post them in various places around the Home, such as the "wake-up" & "bed-time" prayers next to the children's beds, the "Get-out" prayer by the Get-out closet, etc. This helps remind us to pray, & especially helps the younger ones know what to pray for.
65. Make an "answered prayer" chart in the shape of a tree & add the fruit of answered prayers as they come to pass!
66. Make little hearts & write promises inside & put them on the wall. In a box have prayer requests, & when you pray for them claim the promises on the wall. This is a good way to teach the children how to use the promises & apply them correctly, i.e. healing verses for requests for healing, etc.
67. Put up different & colourful prayer charts in the children's rooms with special prayer requests, so they can see these at nap times & before going to sleep & thus be encouraged to pray more.
68. Make wall murals with paper or painted flowers with verses on them.
69. Watch & Pray Prayer: Imagine you are out where you can't stop & close your eyes to pray. Continue with what you are doing, praying with your eyes open, as though carrying on a normal conversation.
70. Make a "Loving Jesus" book for the children with favourite prayer poems from the "Rhyme Book", things the Lord shows the children, prayer requests, etc. that they can pray at Quiet Time or before bed.
71. Talk to Jesus Time: As a united activity, have quiet talking to Jesus time in a dark room with Jesus' picture in the spotlight & a "loving Jesus" song tape playing.
72. Have two OCs or JETTs take Prayer Vigil time together while the rest of the class is doing a clean-up job, such as dishes. Give them a little list of who & what to pray for.
73. "I Love You" Prayers: Go around & count your blessings, each person beginning by saying "I Love You Jesus! Thank You for..."
74. Secret Prayer: Each person chooses someone in the Home &, without letting the person know, goes & does "detective work" to find out what they need prayer for. Pray for them for a week & then go & tell them after a week what you prayed for.
75. Use Kidz Mags for prayer activities:
a. Read the story "The Long-Distance Prayer" from the prayer stories Kidz Mag (Kidz 80 DFO), then stop and get quiet for a minute and ask the Lord to show you anyone who may need your prayers at that time. Silently pray for the situation or people the Lord shows you, then go around and share who you prayed for.
b. Choose a story from Kidz 80 DFO on how the Lord answered prayer and protected the missionaries from danger (for example, "Deliverance in the Jungle" or "Fire from the Sky"). Then think of possible dangerous situations that some of our Family members may be in, and pray for them (for example, ministering to gang members, in places where fires, earthquakes or floods might be, etc.).
c. Read some Family Adventure stories on answered prayer in Kidz 78 DO. After you read one, tell a testimony of some similar situation and miracle that happened to you or to someone you know.
E. PRAYER IDEAS FOR ALL (Children, JETTs, Teens, Adults)
76. Spin a bottle to choose who prays next!
77. Pray by alphabetical order of names.
78. Write all the different ways to pray on separate pieces of paper. Put them all in a bowl & then take turns picking one piece of paper & praying the way it says on the paper.
79. Ask the children how they would like to pray. Sometimes they come up with very original & fun ideas.
80. Choose teams to pray for a subject, each team choosing a way to pray! It's fun because you never know how the next team is going to pray, & sometimes it's surprisingly original!
81. Pick a number: The leader of the meeting decides how many people are needed to pray. For example, if three people are needed to pray, he secretly chooses three numbers, between one & however many are present. Then each member picks a number, & the three people who picked the secretly chosen numbers would get to pray!
82. Pray by sun sign: All the Libras pray for Grandpa, & the Scorpios for Mama, etc.
83. ABC prayers! Go around, each one praying a one word or one phrase prayer, choosing topics in alphabetical order. For example: the first person prays for something beginning with "A", such as "Angelic protection", & the next person uses "B". If you get to a letter & can't think of anything that begins with it, that letter can be skipped.
84. Musical Hat: Pass a hat around with prayer requests in it, while you play some music. When the music stops, the person with the hat picks a prayer & prays it.
85. Listen to Memory Book Song Tapes & pray after every song, in turn, or with a short time of silent prayer, or by passing different prayer requests around so that there is a prayer after every song.
86. Pray for somebody: Put the names of everyone in the Home on pieces of paper. Fold up the papers & put them in the prayer box. Have different ones choose the name of someone in the Home & pray for & claim a verse for them. You could even write out & give the person the verse that you claimed.
87. Make two groups: One group has conversational prayer & the other group quotes a verse from the Promise Box; then switch the groups.
88. Rhyme Prayer: Pray in a chain, making simple rhymes. For example, "Jesus, please bless this day"...(next person:) "And keep us safe as we play"...etc. until you run out of things that rhyme with "day" & change it to another word.
89. Hugging Prayer: One person prays & then hugs another person who then prays. Continue till each person has had a turn to "hug & pray".
90. Winking Prayer: Similar to the above suggestion except you pass the prayer to the next person by winking at them. Try to keep eyes closed during the prayer, but open after each prayer to "catch the wink".
91. One Word Chain Prayer: The first person starts with one word, the next person adds the next word, next person another word, & so on until a full prayer is made. "Jesus" "bless" "us" "as" "we" "go" "out" "now" "and" "anoint" "our" "singing." This method probably wouldn't be very good in a desperate prayer situation, but for passing time in the car or as a time redeemer while waiting for some activity to start, it can be fun.
92. Silent Prayer: Pass out the requests, & have one minute of silent prayer. Afterwards each person claims a verse out loud for the topic they prayed for.
93. Topic & Verse: Someone calls out a topic, then a few others quote different verses to claim for that topic. Pray a one sentence prayer & then go on to a different topic!
94. Fruit Salad Prayer: Have people pray short prayers in different languages.
95. Thankfulness Prayer: People spontaneously call out things they are thankful for, & everyone praises the Lord in between!
96. Prayer Bingo: Everyone gets five or six verses from the Promise Box, & then the leader of the meeting reads out the prayer requests from the Prayer List one by one. As each prayer request is read out, whoever has a verse that directly applies to the prayer request stands up & calls out, "I've got one!" & the first one who stands up is the one who gets to read their verse & claim it in prayer.
97. Ping-Pong Prayer: Someone is chosen to begin prayer & when he finishes, he calls out the name of the next one to follow. This way everyone keeps attentive to hear when their name is called to pray.
98. Sit in a circle & decide on a theme & each one say a one word prayer about that theme. For example, if witnessing is the theme, each one would say one word like "souls", "Posters", "witnessers", etc.
99. Take a prayer walk, praying prayers of thanksgiving for all the Lord's blessings & His Creation.
100. Pray a poem! There are many to choose from in the Rhyme Book, Good Thots, the Mops, etc. (For some ideas see: "Prayer" in Mop 2, page 768, paragraph numbers 18, 24, 27, 144, 145, 187. "Communion with God: Prayer"in Good Thots page 663:398, 667:412, 669:422. Rhyme Book pages 268-269; 272-278; 280-283.)
101. Roll Dice: Number the prayer requests, & roll dice to choose your prayer request.
102. Use the Memory Book to find a verse to go with the prayer. Or use a whole section, passing the book around, each one claiming the next verse or quote.
103. Begin prayer time by listening to a tape of Grandpa praying & singing.
104. Go around in a circle & pray a prayer using the first letter of your name. (For example, if your name is Mercy, you use the letter "M", & can pray for Mama, etc.)
105. Pray for the Family by Continents, each one praying for a different Continent. The kids really enjoy finding their Continent & laying hands on a globe or a map!
106. Sing a prayer! There are many beautiful songs that are or can be used as prayers! Such as "Evening Prayer", "I Surrender All", "Make Me a Blessing", etc. (Use the index in the Family songbooks to find prayer songs.)
107. One word prayers of praise! Name things, people, etc., you are thanking the Lord for!
108. Everyone hold hands two by two, & pray together quietly.
109. Using the Promise Box, each one chooses one or two promises. They take turns reading one of the promises and saying a prayer based on the promise.
110. Put the prayer request into a verse, for example, Phil.4:19, "But my God shall supply all your 'socks' according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," etc.
111. Instead of just praying for things you need, have rounds of praises for things you have already received. Thank the Lord for all He has done to fill the Angel's "thanksgiving basket"! (See Family Fun Video Show #3, Storyteller: "Prayer Petitions & Thankfulness.")
112. Prayer Songs: Make up a song where you can sing different prayer requests. For example:
"We've Got a Lot to Be Thankful For": Each one adds their own verse of what they would like to pray for.
"If You Just Put Your Trust in Him": Sing specific prayer requests: "If we pray with our whole heart, He'll give us the van we need," etc.
"Let's Talk about Jesus": Modify it to, "Let's say a prayer, Lord bless the handymen," then the next person sings, "and bless the babies," next one, "and bless the provisioners," etc., ending up with, "Let's say a prayer more & more!"
113. Silent Prayer with Music: For five minutes put on a pretty music tape & have silent prayer while the music is playing. Have Memory Book sections or a Promise Box available to find verses to claim in prayer.
114. Sing a memory verse song for the situation or people you're praying for.
115. Explain the requests one at a time & as each request is made, choose a song (usually a verse song) to claim with all your heart for that request.
116. Prayer Pairs: Divide the group into teams of two, and give each pair a prayer request. Have the pairs pray a conversational prayer, one starting, the other continuing, then back to the first, etc., until they have finished praying for their request.
F. PRAYER LISTS & CHARTS--IDEAS TO HELP US PRAY MORE!
117. Compile prayer lists by topics such as "Grandpa & Mama", "Daily Prayer Requests", "Thankfulness Prayers". Keep them in envelopes according to the topics. For example, in the envelope marked "Grandpa", have cards that say "For strength", "For his health", "Good sleep" & so on. Keep all of these "Prayer Props" together in a nice box.
118. Make a prayer list, & record the answers to prayer with the date it was answered for all to see!
119. Categorised Promise Boxes according to topics or themes are a real blessing. For example, Healing, Protection, Angels, etc. (See "The Promises of Power" game, Activity Book 4, page Q80. For younger children, "Feed My Lambs" verses in Activity Book 4, page R14, can be enlarged, pasted on cardboard & even plasticised if possible.)
120. Make numbered daily prayer requests & everybody can draw a number & pray for the request they got.
121. Prayer graph/chart: Make a simple chart on graph paper. Every time you pray for the Outreach team, colour a square on the graph & see how the more you pray, the more the Lord does for Outreach.
122. Write out some promises with some decorations on them & put the same promise on the back written in the local language.
123. Make a prayer calendar with a specific country or need to pray for on different days. You can also put a picture on each day of the calendar to depict what you are praying for. (See Kidz Mag #69 DFO, page 11 for a Prayer Calendar to copy!)
124. Prayer Calendar: Keep a calendar posted with all upcoming events marked, both Worldwide & local. Check the calendar for any events to pray for that day. (Write in any specific dates of court cases, etc., from the Junior FUN & Worldwide Prayer Lists.)
(End)
Copyright 1996 The Family