Materials
Provide Bibles, paper, and pencils.
Optional: Provide Bible costumes.

Preparation
On a sheet of paper write one of the scripture references below these questions:
* Who are you?
* Why did you pray?
* How did God answer you?
* How did you feel?

Scripture references
Possible answers are in parenthesis. Do not include these on the student sheets
1. Genesis 24:42-46, 52
(Abraham’s servant; to find a wife for Isaac; provided Rebecca; bowed down before God).
2. 1 Samuel 1:2,10,11,27; 2:1
(Hannah; no children; son; praised God).
3. 2 Kings 20:1-5
(Hezekiah; sick; health).
4. Jonah 1:17; 2:1,10; 3:3
(Jonah; swallowed by fish; fish spit me out; obeyed God).
5. Luke 18:13,14
(tax collector; I was a sinner; forgiveness; God forgave me).
6. Acts 9:39-41
(Peter; Dorcas’ life; raised Dorcas).
7. Daniel 9:1-20
(Daniel’s prayer follows the pattern of II Chron 7:14)

Details of Daniel’s prayer
1. KNEES – Humble yourself
….v7,8 – Acknowledge shame is your fault, a result of your sin
….v16 – Our sin affects others
….v18b – Admit we have no righteousness
2. HANDS- (hands with palms together in a praying hands position) Pray
….v2-3 Daniel was reading the scriptures… and discovered that something there pertained to him, so he asked God to do what he had already promised.
….v16-18 Asked for God’s mercy
3. EYES – Seek God’s face.
….a. v2-3 Daniel was seeking God through reading the scriptures…
….b. Meditated on God’s attributes
…….NOTICE all the characteristics and attributes of God mentioned in verses 4-18.
….c. Sought God’s favor (v13)
4. BODY – Turn from your wicked ways
….a. points out the wickedness they have committed… and includes himself – “we” (v5, 6, 10, 11)
….b. was a time of personal confession v20

Application
God answered prayers in Bible times, and He answers prayers today. These stories are about people who prayed and about the answers God gave. Guide them as they answer the questions regarding each Scripture. Assign one youth the part of the reporter. He or she will ask the questions. Assign the parts of the Bible people to the other pupils. They will answer the questions. Practice the interviews. Have the groups share one or more interviews.

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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Materials
Slips of paper with the following words written on them, one word/phrase per piece of paper.
Lamb
Bread
Shelter
Fortress
Crown
Water
Rock
Banner
Shield
Vine
Light
Hiding Place
Alpha
Omega
Life
Cornerstone
Way
Foundation
Gate
Truth
Door
Stone
Word

Activities
Choose one of the following activities

1. Play a game of “What Am I?”
Give each child a word. They must describe characteristics of the word without saying the word. The rest of the students must guess the word.

2. Play a game of charades or pictionary
In charades they must act out the word without speaking until someone guesses it. In pictionary they must draw a representation of the word without talking. Award points to the participants or teams who correctly guess the word first.

3. Name the Objects
Some of these are easily illustrated with objects. Place the objects on a tray and show them to the children. Then quickly cover the objects. have children name as many of the objects as possible from memory. Reward their answers.

4. “What am I?”
Tape one to the back of each student so that they cannot see what is written. They must wonder about the room and ask questions of each other to discover the identity of the word on their back. All questions must be answered by a simple “yes” or “no”.

Application
Explain that all these objects were used as descriptions of Jesus. Ask or explain how each object reveals some aspect of Jesus and ultimately of God. Just as the objects reveal aspects of Jesus, the Bible tells us that Jesus was an exact representation of God.

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.

Learn More…

Materials
Large sheets of Mah Jong Paper or butcher paper or white wrapping paper, dictionary, thesaurus, Bible Dictionary

Activity
We should all have special qualities as Christians. Some of the qualities are found in Colossians 3:12 Read it aloud. Discuss with the group what it means to “put on” or “clothe yourselves with” these qualities. How could a person do that? Stress that to “clothe yourself” with these things means that you practice them and do activities that promote the qualities of compassion, kindness, humility, etc.

1. Ask the students to make a list of the qualities from the Scripture. Then have pupils look up synonyms or definitions for these qualities. What are other words that mean the same thing?

2. Each student must pick a quality, such as “the coat of compassion” or “the shirt of patience” to illustrate. Pupils should write other words on the clothing, such as synonyms or definitions of the qualities they have chosen.

3. Make sure each quality listed in the Scripture is illustrated by someone. There will probably be some silliness involved, especially if someone wants to do “the socks of kindness”!

4. Ask, “Why did you choose that particular article of clothing to illustrate that charaecteristic?”

Application
The Purpose of this activity is to get the participants thinking about what these qualities really mean, and about how important these qualities are in their own lives.

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.

Learn More…

Materials
Supply of crumpled up newspaper sheets for each team

Activity
Have kids form two teams, and have teams move to opposite sides of the room. Designate one team as the Cartoon Team and the other team as the Giants Team. Give each team a supply of papers.

The goal is for the teams to get their opponents “out” by hitting them with paper wads. Each team must stay on their side of the room. When someone is out, they must lie still on the floor.

Further explain that kids on the Cartoons Team are out when they’re each hit once by a marshmallow, but kids on the Giants Team aren’t out until they’re each hit five times.

Let kids play until one team is out. Ask:
· Was this a fair fight? Why or why not?
· Is there really a winner when fighting or violence occurs? Why or why not?

Have everyone stand on one side of the room. Then stand by yourself on the other side of the room. Say: We’re going to play the game again, but this time you’ll be one team, and I’ll be the other team by myself. It’ll take ten paper wads to get me out, but only one to get any of you out.

On “go,” simply stand in place without throwing any paper wads. When you’ve been hit ten times, fall to the ground, and pause for a minute.
· How did you feel when I didn’t fight back?
· What does this passage say about returning violence for violence?

Application
Lead kids into a brainstorming session and discussion on practical responses to violence and retaliation. In John 8:1-11 Jesus refused to use violence as punishment for her sin, even though she derserved to die for her sin. Instead he chose to forgive her.

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.

Learn More…

Materials
Divide groups into teams and provide each team with 4 sheets of paper, scissors, several straws, some string, a couple rubber bands, 4 ice-cream sticks, 2 paper plates, a pencil, 4 styrofoam or paper cups, and some tape.

Activity
The group is given the task of creating a platform to hold a stack of books. The platform must use ALL materials and be at least 10cm tall. The group which builds the platform which can take the pressure of the greatest number of books wins. In case of a tie, the platform that is tallest will win.

Debrief
These platforms are like our lives. We all start with the same things, but the spiritual foundations we build will determine how much pressure our Christianity can take before we fall into temptation or spiritually collapse.

Added Illustration
No one saw it coming. Nobody could have ever predicted it. But during construction of the Quebec Bridge in 1907, something horrible happened. At five-thirty in the afternoon on August 29, a steelworker perched high above the water on the bridge heard a loud noise that sounded like the blast of a cannon exploding. At that very moment the largest section of the massive structure suddenly collapsed, sending 19,000 tons of steel crashing into the St. Lawrence River. Of the 86 men who were working on the bridge at the time, 75 were killed instantly.

Later, after an extensive investigation, it was learned that the fateful bridge was destined to collapse from the start. Investigators found serious flaws in the original design. As a result, it was built improperly, causing a terrible tragedy.

As awful as something like that is, even worse is the way some people’s lives collapse under the stress and strain of everyday life. Lives are destroyed today because they are built from faulty designs. There are fatal flaws in their lives which lead to devastating consequences.

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.

Learn More…