Opening Activity

• Let’s make some rain with our hands.
  Before it rains,
  The wind starts to blow.
  When the wind is blowing, leaves on trees move.
  Let us all raise both hands in the air.
  Swing from side to side and say, “swish swoosh”.
  Then small drops start to come down
  Like this: Clap 1 finger on your other palm (show them)
  Then clap 2 fingers, 3, 4 and 5 to make heavier, louder raindrop sounds.
  (Repeat the activity 2-3 times)
• [Sing the song “Read your Bible, pray everyday”.]
• Today we are going to learn about pray. Do you pray to God every day like we just sung? When you pray, do you believe in your heart that God can answer your prayer?
• Our Bible story today is about a man who prayed and believed God would answer his prayer.

Bible Story

• Elijah was a man who loved God. (Show a love heart) Help the children to say E L I J A H (3 times). Ahab was King when Elijah got a message from God. One day, Elijah told King Ahab the rain was coming. The King was to go and eat. Elijah believed (cross your hands on your chest) God (point up) that the time of no rain
  will end. Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel. (Show picture of a mountain) Elijah bowed down to the ground, with his head between his knees and prayed to God (show the children this action) Elijah asked God to bring rain because it had not rained for (count with the children) 1, 2, 3 and a half years, yes for
  three and a half years. (Show picture of dry land with no rain).
• The land was very dry and no plants were growing. There was no food for the people to eat and hunger was everywhere! Oh how sad! Elijah prayed, and he believed (cross your hands on your chest) that God would hear him and answer his prayer. To pray and believe that God can do what you ask for is good. God says YES to our prayers. When Elijah prayed, and God heard him and said yes. It didn’t happen immediately though. Elijah prayed and prayed and he sent his servant to keep checking if there were any clouds of rain coming but, nothing!
• Again and again, there was nothing BUT Elijah did not give up. He kept praying and sent his servant back again and again to check. Let us count how many times the servant was sent (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). Yes, six times the servant went up and down to see if there were any clouds of rain. Count to six with me one more time: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (Have the numbers written on a sheet of paper for the children to count as you show them).
• Like the servant of Elijah, you should also obey your parents when they send you more than once (show the number 1 with your finger) to find what your parents need. It was only on the 7th time when the servant said, “I have seen a little cloud not bigger than a man’s hand (show them your hand to illustrate this), coming up from the sea.”
• Elijah knew that God had answered his prayers. Hallelujah! Let the children stand and say Amen. Elijah told King Ahab to go back to his home before the rain started. A few minutes later, dark clouds filled the sky, the wind started blowing and it started to rain heavily.
• When your prayers go up to God, God’s answer comes down like the rain. Say after me:
  Prayers go up (allow the children to respond)
  Answers come down (allow the children to respond) – repeat 2-3 times
• Let us make rain again as we did at the beginning [Repeat the rain activity.]
• Elijah prayed and believed that God could do what he was asking, and God did do it. God made it rain after three and a half years of no rain. It did not look like it was going to rain, but Elijah did not give up. Boys and girls, when you pray, you should pray and believe like Elijah did. You need to pray believing that God can do anything. God will not do anything to make you sad.
• God created everything and when you pray, remember nothing is impossible for God. May you know that God is always there for you when you pray to Him. May you believe in God when you pray to Him.