An Illustration of Prayer
The
angel Gabriel was giving a newly arrived Christian a tour of heaven.
The two of them were walking side by side inside a large mailroom
filled with other angels.
Gabriel
stopped in front of the first section and said, "This is the Receiving
Section. Here, all the petitions sent to God in prayer are received."
The
Christian saw that the section was a very busy one with so many
angels sorting out petitions written on voluminous sheets of paper from
all the people of the world.
They
resumed walking until they reached the second section. Gabriel told
the Christian, "This is the Packaging and Delivery Section. Here,
the blessings of God in answer to prayers are packed and delivered to
the those who are praying on earth."
The
Christian saw how busy it was. There were a great many angels
working in that room because countless blessings were being packed
and delivered to earth.
Finally,
at the farthest corner of the room, they stopped at the last section.
To the surprise of the Christian, only one angel was there and he was
idle.
"This is the Acknowledging Section," Gabriel told the Christian.
"How is it that no work is being done here?"
"That's the sad thing," Gabriel answered.
"After people on earth received the blessings they asked for, very few of them bother to send their acknowledgments."
"How does one acknowledge God's blessing?"
"Simple," Gabriel answered. "Just say, 'Thank you, Lord.'"
Variation - An object Lesson or Children's Sermon on Prayer
This
could easily be converted into a sermon for kids, or an object lesson
for youth on "answered prayer." Collect a bunch of postcards and write
prayers to God on them. "Dear God... A Prayer... then sign it with a
name. Then in another box have deliveries that match the different
requests. (Note some of the deliveries might be different than the
actual request because God provides what we truly need and not what we
think we need.) Finally, have an empty box for the messages of Thanks.
To create a more balanced perspective on prayer, have messages of
Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication (A.C.T.S.)
Adoration is simply praise to God for who he is. Confession is an
acknowledgement of sin. Thanksgiving is of course a response to answered
prayer and for the blessing of God in life. Supplications are
requests. Many times we only see prayer as requests. The simplest
definition of prayer is "Talking to God" so have lots of messages that
are simply conversations with God. Have only one or two of thanks.
Close by giving the children or youth postcards and asking them to
write notes of thanks to God and fill up the last box.
Scriptures for For Famous prayers in the Bible
- Abraham, for Sodom – Genesis 18:16-33
- Daniel – Daniel 9:1-19
- David – 2 Samuel 7:18-29; 1 Chronicles 17:16-27
- David's Confession - Psalms 51:1-17
- David's Thanks - 2 Samuel 7:18-29
- Deborah – Judges 5:1-31
- Elijah's at Mount Carmel - I Kings 18:36-39
- Ezra – Ezra 9:5-15
- Habakkuk - Habakkuk 3:2-19
- Hannah – 1 Samuel 1:9-20; 1 Samuel 2:1-10
- Hezekiah – 2 Kings 19:14-20:3
- Hezekiah when Sick - Isaiah 38:2-8
- Hosea – Hosea 6:1-3
- Jabez - 1 Chronicles 4:10
- Jacob – Genesis 32:22-32
- Jehoshophat – 2 Chronicles 20:1-30
- Jeremiah – Lamentations 3: 21-26
- Jesus – Matthew 6:5-15: Luke 11:1-13; John 17
- Job – Job 1:20-21; 3; 42:2-6
- Jonah – Jonah 2:1-9
- Jude's Praise - Jude 1:24-25
- Moses – Exodus 15:1-18; 33: 12-23; Numbers 14:13-19
- Nehemiah – Nehemiah 1:4-10
- Paul – Romans 12:1-2; Ephesians 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Philippians 1:9-11; Collosians 1:9-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12, 2:13-17
- Paul, Knowing God's Will - Colossians 1:9-12
- Paul, Partners in Ministry - Philippians 1:3-11
- Paul, Spiritual Growth - Ephesians 3:14-21
- Paul, Spiritual Wisdom - Ephesians 1:15-23
- Solomon, dedication – 1 Kings 3:5-15; 8:14-61
- Stephen at His Stoning - Acts 7:59-60
- Tax Collector's Prayer - Luke 18:13
For More Youth Ministry Object Lessons , Visit Us On Object Lesson God's Love
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