God, tell me a story about…prayer

Garden of Gethsemane

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

Read Matthew 26:36-46 

1 – Where does Jesus go to pray? Who does He go with?

2 – How is Jesus feeling? (verses 37 and 38) What are other words we could use instead of “troubled” and “sorrow”? (check a Thesaurus)

3 – Have you ever felt troubled? (concerned, distressed, pained, scared, confused) What did you do or what do you do when you feel that way?

4 – In verse 39, what does Jesus ask for? But then, how does He end His prayer? What does that mean, “Yet not as I will, but as you will”? Have you ever ended a prayer that way? How about your parents?

5 – Why does Jesus want the disciples to pray? (verse 41) Here, the disciples have forgotten or dismissed how much they need God to strengthen them. Have you ever forgotten about this? When or why?

Read Luke 23: 32-46

6 – In His final hours, Jesus continues to talk to God, what does He say? (verses 34, 46) Does Jesus have any sins to confess? Why or why not? Is there anything that you need to confess?

7 – In KidVenture we talked about how prayer should be honest, humble and continual. What words would you use to describe how Jesus prayed?

8 – Why did Jesus die on the cross? What can you do to remember the sacrifice Jesus made? What can you do to thank Jesus for the sacrifice He made?

This week’s challenge

The snow is melting, let’s go outside. Grab a backpack and fill it up with books and go for a walk. After a few minutes, give the backpack to someone else to carry. Continue to pass the backpack until everyone’s had a turn. When you get back, talk about how when we hide our sins (or don’t confess our sins) it weighs us down, it makes us tired or makes us feel weak, just like carrying the heavy back pack. But, when we confess our sins to God, he forgives us, he takes our sins away, this gives us energy and makes us stronger (like how we felt once we gave the backpack away). Finish off by reading Psalm 32 together.

 

And, just because, here’s a video telling the story of Easter.