Materials
Set up a checker board or chess board with grains of wheat according to the following story.

Illustration
Some time ago there was a display at the museum of Science and industry in Chicago. It featured a checkerboard with 1 grain of wheat on the first square, 2 on the second, 4 on the third, and 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. A few squares down the board there were so many grains of wheat they couldn’t fit on one square. Above the display was this question: “At this rate of doubling every square, how much grain would you have on the checkerboard by the time you reached the 64th square?” Ask youth how much grain they think that would be?

After they finish giving their answers, give them the correct answer: “Enough grain to cover the entire subcontinent of India 50 feet deep.”

Debrief
Our faith may start out small, but as God uses it, the end result can be very large! 2 Corinthians 9:6

Application
Give each youth a grain of wheat and ask them to visualize it as a representation of some area where they need to trust God. They must take it home and place it in a prominent place where they will see it regularly and be reminded to pray.

Variation
Leave the board in place, but remove the grains of wheat and place them in a bowl next to it. Every time a prayer is answered youth must place a grain of wheat on the board and grab another grain of wheat to place with thier previous one at home. As prayers are answered the grains will grow and youth will have a visible reminder to pray and that God answers our prayers.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
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