Spending Time With The Father
Hi Werb’s Kids and Werb’s Parents!
How has your week been?
It’s getting colder and colder I can’t believe winter is coming!
I’ve already got my hot water bottle out and love having cosy evenings in.
As we begin to spend more time inside together again we’re actually looking at this week what it means to spend time with our heavenly Father!
Before you jump into this session think about how you spend time with others and what you love doing. And now think about whether you do the same with God. We’re gonna explore today where and when you can spend time with God, connect and pray.
A quick reminder again that we are still having services in person as well as online so do sign up and join us.
HERE is the link to our services page where you can find all the details and book your places.
I really hope to see you soon so stay safe and stay connected!
Amy x
FOLLOWING JESUS
We’re still on our journey learning about how we can follow Jesus and be more like him and what it means to be a…
DISCIPLE
Remember that word? Do you remember what it means?
Let’s quickly recap: a disciple is someone who is a pupil or student learning from their teacher. When you follow Jesus you become his disciple because spending time with him helps you to learn his ways and how to live the best life.
Do you remember what we looked at last week?
We talked about how the first step is knowing that we are loved by God and I really hope you’ve been continuing to learn the memory verse - Romans 8v38+39.
“For I am convinced that nothing, not death or life, angels or demons, today or tomorrow, highs or lows, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
But this week we’re thinking about how we are to love God back.
We are looking again at the greatest commandment that Jesus tells us in the bible. In Matthew 22:37-40
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbour as yourself.’”
God LOVES spending time with us this is his absolute favourite thing and Jesus knew this so he spent time with the Father ALOT.
Before we look at the importance of loving God and spending time with him…
LET’S PLAY A GAME!
Think right now about how you communicate with other people.
Most of us use our speech and when we talk to communicate with other BUT try for a bit to ONLY talk with someone using a different way.
Try using JUST facial expressions or only using your hands! OR maybe you could have a whole conversation through drawing. NO WORDS ALLOWED!
How easy was it? How long can you talk to someone WITHOUT using your voice or any words!?
You’ll have seen that we were looking at when Jesus goes away to private places to pray.
We learnt in the video how Jesus knew how important it was to spend time with God the Father.
As we heard he would often leave his friends and those around him, to go somewhere private and spend time with God.
Below is another video you can watch so you can understand better what it means to pray!
This morning we looked at the Mark 1 v 35
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
Jesus knew just how important it was to be with his heavenly Father and keep his relationship with him really good! It’s SUPER important that we should do the same!
Try and find some time this week that you can spend with God.
Now you can’t leave your house without telling anyone like Jesus did BUT you could if maybe you are someone who wakes up really early you could spend some time quietly in your room talking to God.
Or if you’re not a morning person then find a different time when you can sit and being really focus on spending time with God!
But what is also amazing is that you need to remember you can talk to God throughout the day ANYTIME! It doesn’t matter where you are or what you are doing tell God about it! Involve him in every part of your day. Whatever you’re up to God wants to know about it and be there with you. So why not invite him in!?
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that prayer is a conversation. Conversations are between 2 people and the best conversations are when they are NOT just 1 way! Friends chat to one another back and forth!
So don’t forget this when you talk to God. Don’t just talk at him. Allow him to talk back.
He’s like a PARENT you can talk to him about anything and he will always listen and often he’ll want to talk back to you so make sure you are listening out too.
SO when you talk to God you don’t just talk at him you have a conversation!
Talk and LISTEN! But be aware this does take practice. God talks to us in many different ways!
Voice - some people hear a voice say something. In the bible a man called Elijah heard a still small voice which was God talking to him.
Words - some people have a word pop into their head that wasn’t there before they talked to God.
Pictures - sometimes people have pictures or an image come into their heads.
Lyrics or a song - some people get lyrics from a song or a song will start playing in their head.
Other People - sometimes God uses others to talk to us. Or uses us to talk to others. God may not always say something directly to you but that doesn’t mean he’s not talking to you.
Nature - some people see things in nature or outside. Moses saw God in a burning bush!
Feelings - sometimes God uses our emotions. For example if someone is scared God might fill them with his peace. If someone feels sad God might fill them with his love. Or if someone feels angry or frustrated God may give them calm. Sometimes when people meet with God they cry - sometimes this is because God is healing something that has hurt them but sometimes it’s because they’re really happy.
Dreams - like in our story today sometimes people get dreams or visions from God. These sometimes don’t make sense at first but then God gives an explanation.
Bible - God loves to talk to us through the bible. Sometimes whilst reading a story or a verse in the bible it could make you feel a different way or maybe catch your attention in a particular way. This is often God telling you something by using the bible!
As well as this there are loads of ways that YOU can pray and talk to God you don’t just have to sit quietly!!
First why not make a Prayer Journal!?
You could buy a book or make one by getting some paper, cutting some holes in the fold and tying string through to keep it together.
You can write down your prayers here and who you’d like to pray for but also save pages for when you spend time LISTENING to God!
When you use a prayer journal, over time you will be able to see when you look back, you can see how God has spoken to you and answered your prayers!
Here are some ways you can pray in your prayer journal:
Healing Prayers - Get some plasters and write down the names of people who need healing right now. You may wish to write on one ‘Coronavirus’ and pray for all those around the world who currently have the virus to be healed.
I Spy Prayers - sit at a window and pray to God. Thank God for everything you see. If you see a person pray for them! Maybe pray protection over them and their family that they stay safe from the virus and don’t forget to smile and wave as they pass by! You can write all these things in your journal.
Bible - Pray this simple prayer “Lord please speak to me through what we are about to read.'“ Then as you read or talk about the bible see what stands out to you and why. You can write everything you feel or learn about the [assage in your journal.
Here are some bible passages you could look at.
(I prefer the NIV or the Message version as it uses easier English to understand)
-Psalm 139
-Luke 8v22-25 (Jesus calms the storm)
-John 6v16-21 (Jesus walks on water)
Here are a few other ways you could also pray!
Count Your Blessings - use Lego or Duplo to thank God for your blessings. Stack the bricks one by one naming something with each brick that you are thankful for.
Sensory Labyrinth - this is great for those who like to be tactile whilst they pray but also helps with focus. There are a variety of options on the link below! Check it out HERE
Boxes Prayer Game - this is a cool game to play which has been turned into a way to pray! Whoever creates the box with the line writes or draws something in the box to pray for. Check it out HERE
Jigsaw Prayers - This use pieces of a puzzle to help you pray!-Hold the jigsaw piece in your hand and pray for yourself.Ask God to help you. Thank Him for the good things in your life. Ask him to help you see the big picture of the plan He has for your life.-Look at the parts of your puzzle piece that reach outwards. Pray for people who reach out and help and show love to others. Thank God for the people who help and show love to you.-Look at the parts of your piece that have spaces waiting to be filled. Pray for people who have lost something or someone or who feel that they have something missing in their lives. Or maybe feel lonely at this time. Ask God to help them to know that they are loved by Him.-Try to fit your piece into the piece of the person next to you (it probably won't fit!) Pray for people who find it hard to fit in, people who have moved to a new place, people who feel they have no friends, people who are being bullied. Pray that they will find peace, friends and happiness.-Hold your piece and think of someone from your community, your friends or family that you would like to pray for. Thank God for that person and ask God to bless and help them.
CRAFT TIME!
We are DESPERATE to see what you’ve made. We would love to see your crafts and pictures and show them off at our next services online and in person! Please send a picture of ANYTHING you make from this week and Amy will include it in next week’s video!
Some things to do during the talk:
Draw a picture of yourself praying. You could write in these thought bubbles how you are feeling or how your day has been and anyone you want to talk to God about.
Get creative!
Make a spin wheel to remind yourself that you can pray anywhere.
HERE is the sheet you need to print out. This works better if its printed on card but will still work on paper! You will also need a split pin or something to put through the middle so that you can spin the wheel around!Make a prayer garden.
HERE is a great website where you can make flowers for the things you’d like to pray for. You can get creative with this and maybe also make bugs and other plants that could go in your prayer garden! There’s no right or wrong of how your garden should look as long as it helps you to pray.
WORSHIP
This week instead of a specific song spend some time listening one of our YouTube playlists
HERE is the link for our “Songs of Hope” playlist which you could put on in the background as you pray!
HERE is the link for our Werbs Kids’ playlist where you’ll find all the songs we’ve done recently along with some newer songs that you might want to learn!
Prayer is part of Worship so why not combine your praying along with your singing this week!?
Edited and adapted by Amy Farrar from several sources.
