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 every day”.]
• Today we are going to learn about praying with faith. 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 completely believed God would answer his prayer. Let’s all sit still and listen carefully.

Bible Story

• Elijah was a prophet when Ahab was King (a prophet is someone who receives messages from God to share with God’s people). For a long time (three and half years) there was no rain in the land of Israel. One day, Prophet Elijah told King Ahab there was rain approaching and he told the King to go and eat. Elijah had faith that the drought was finally going to come to an end. He climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bowed down to the ground, with his head between his knees and prayed to God. He asked God to bring rain because it had not rained for three and a half years and the land was really dry and there were no plants growing to give the people food.

• When Elijah prayed, he prayed with faith. To pray with faith is to believe that God can do what we ask for as long as we are praying for something good that God agrees with. When Elijah prayed with faith, he asked his servant to go and look towards the sea to see if he could see any clouds. When it rains, there’s always some clouds that appear in the sky first. What colour are those clouds? [Allow the children to respond, then summarise that the clouds are dark or black clouds]

• Elijah’s servant went down the mountain and to the sea and came back with this report; “I don’t see a thing.” Elijah did not give up, he kept praying and sent his servant back down again to check. Again, there
  was nothing. Elijah still didn’t give up, he kept praying and sent his servant back again and again. Six times the servant went back and forth [can you count to six with me: 1..2..3..4..5..6]. Some of us don’t like being sent back and forth by our parents but Elijah’s servant went back and forth 6 times and each time there was nothing, but he did not give up just like Elijah. On the seventh time, the servant said “I have seen a little cloud not bigger than a man’s hand, coming up from the sea.” Can you hold up your fist in the air? [hold yours up too to show the children] The Bible says the cloud that Elijah’s servant saw was as tiny as a man’s hand. The clouds that come before it rains are normally dark, and black but they’re definitely bigger than a man’s hand.

• Even with that small cloud, Elijah immediately knew that God had answered his prayers. He ordered King Ahab to get into his chariot and go back home before the rain came so that he would not get stuck.
  Surprisingly, within a few minutes, the sky was covered with dark clouds, the wind started blowing and heavy rain started falling. Let’s make rain again like we did at the beginning [repeat the rain activity.]

• Prophet Elijah prayed with faith 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. At first, it didn’t look like it was going to happen when
  he sent his servant to go look for clouds and there were none, but Elijah did not give up. Boys and girls, when we pray, we should pray with faith like Prophet Elijah did. We need to pray believing that God can do
  anything. God has created everything so nothing is impossible for Him.