Enos demonstrates, so powerfully, the work and effort that is involved in praying sincerely. In the Bible Dictionary prayer is described as a form of work. As we strive to teach our kids to pray, we hope that this lesson bundle will help your children understand how prayer works, that it takes effort, and how they can have more sincere prayers.
Download this week's Lesson Bundle HERE!
➤ L E S S O N
Open the lesson with a song and a prayer.
🎶 O P E N I N G S O N G : "A Child's Prayer"
➤ P R E P A R A T I O N
Cut out a heart shape from any sheet of paper. Also, find an image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father to use during the lesson.
➤ I N T R O D U C T I O N
Invite a child to hold the paper heart. Say: “This paper heart represents your heart, and I am going to represent Heavenly Father.” (Hold up the image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father.) “If your heart is far away from Heavenly Father, do you think it will be easy to talk to him? Let’s find out!”
Invite the child to stand far away (outside of the room if possible). Say the following phrase very softly (or any other phrase you wish to say):
“[Child’s name] I love you very much!”
Send another volunteer to see if the child could hear you. Then, tell them to move the child (and the heart!) a few steps closer. Try again using the same quiet voice. Repeat this process several times until the child is right next to you and they can hear you very clearly.
Invite the volunteers to sit down again, and then discuss the following questions:
1) When his/her heart was far away, was it easy for __________ to talk with Heavenly Father?
2) What did ____________ have to do to make it easier to talk with Heavenly Father?
3) How do you think _______________ felt when his/her heart was close to Heavenly Father?
4) How do you think _________________ felt when his/her heart was far away?
Hold up the paper heart and explain: “When we pray to Heavenly Father, he is always listening. But if our hearts and our thoughts are far away from him, it will be hard for Him to talk to us, and we won’t hear what he is saying.”
🎥 V I D E O : "The Baby Chick"
Say: “We are going to watch a story about praying to Heavenly Father. In this story, a baby chick wants to talk to someone—a rooster! Let’s see if the baby chick has a heart that is close to the rooster, or a heart that is far away.
Discuss the following questions after watching the video:
1) Did the baby chick have a heart that was close to the rooster? Or far away? (Close)
2) How do you know the baby chick’s heart was close to the rooster? (Discuss)
3) Was it easy for the baby chick to be close to the rooster? Or did it take a lot of work? (a lot of work)
4) Did the baby chick give up? Or keep trying? (Kept trying)
5) When the baby chick showed that his heart was close to the rooster, then what did the rooster do? (talked to him)
6) Who do you think is the baby chick? Who does he represent? (Each of us!)
7) Who do you think is the rooster? Who does he represent? (Heavenly Father).
8) If we want to pray and talk to Heavenly Father, what do you think we can do to have a heart that is close to Heavenly Father? (Discuss)
➤ S C R I P T U R E
Place the image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father somewhere in the room where everyone can see it. Invite a volunteer to hold the heart and to start by standing on the opposite side of the room, far away from the image while you read and discuss the following verses.
Say: “These verses tell us about when the prophet Enos was praying to Heavenly Father. Listen for words that tell us where his heart is. Is his heart going away from Heavenly Father? Or is it moving closer?
1) Was his heart going away from Heavenly Father? Or was it moving closer? (Closer)
2) What words did hear that helped you know about his heart? (My soul hungered, I kneeled, I cried unto Him, mighty prayer, all day long did I cry unto Him, raise my voice.)
Invite the child who is holding the paper heart to move a few steps closer to the image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father.
1) Was his heart going away from Heavenly Father? Or was it moving closer? (Closer)
2) What words did you hear that helped you know about his heart? (Desired, pour out my whole soul)
Invite the child who is holding the paper heart to move a few steps closer to the image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father.
1) Was his heart going away from Heavenly Father? Or was it moving closer? (Closer)
2) What words did hear that helped you know about his heart? (Unshaken, many long strugglings, prayed and labored with all diligence.)
3) What did the Lord say to Enos after he showed his heart was close to Heavenly Father? (Re-read verse 12 and discuss)
Invite the child who is holding the paper heart to move right next to the image of Jesus Christ or Heavenly Father.
➤ A C T I V I T Y
Invite children to color the image of the baby chick and the rooster talking. Remind children that the rooster represents Heavenly Father and the baby chick represents each of us. While children are coloring, lead a discussion on things that we can do to move our hearts closer to Heavenly Father.
➤ T E S T I M O N Y
Bear testimony of the truths found in the scriptures.
'Come, Follow Me' is a resource offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is designed to be used in the home to support personal and family scripture study to build faith in Heavenly Father and His plan of salvation and in the Savior Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Come, Follow Me is self-contained and adequate, when used properly. Products and materials designed to supplement this resource, though they may be helpful in some instances, are not necessary for a successful home study program.